Bringing food onboard the ship

[rocklinmom]

Thanks to being middle aged now and in menopause (oh joy) I will have to bring along my AllBran Buds cereal. They don't have it onboard and I have to eat some every night. Last cruise I couldn't find any full bran cereals. So I will bring a new unopened box of it and see what happens at the pier (SF). 

[Cruise Raider]

11 hours ago, Ombud said:

So more changes coming. I think my bars fit the updated regs as they are factory sealed

Im not really sure this is a very recent change.  We brought a homemade meal a couple of years back for a birthday party for one the staff and her coworkers.  We asked if we could do that again last year and were told it wasn’t possible.  I totally understood their reasoning once it was explained to me.  They don’t want their crew to get sick off of meals made in kitchens that might be questionable.  It was also brought up that that the transport to the port may not adhere to their strict regulations.  We now just bring gifts and individually factory sealed snacks and chocolates.  I’m sure yours for personal consumption will fit the guidelines. 
 

[tonit964]

I always bring a can of mixed nuts to nibble on with my drink on the balcony in the afternoons. 

[Cruise Raider]

14 hours ago, SCX22 said:

 

My gripe about enforcement of this policy is, if Princess is going to take this privilege away from passengers, then they need to take it away from crew as well.  They're human too and are subject to the same food borne illness as passengers are.  Let's see how well this policy goes over when the crew begins to complain.

You sound a bit miffed and that was never the intent of this post.  It was to help out those that might otherwise may waste their time on money on bringing food to the terminal they might not be able to bring onboard.  

Whatever rules Princess comes up with for rules and policies for the crew, that is their business and it may not necessarily be the same as that for passengers.  

 

@MsSoCalCruiserwas kind enough to post this letter in another thread and I shared the last paragraph for others, as I’ve heard this policy previously but then saw it in writing.  

Whatever level of enforcement occurs at every port is yet to be seen.  
 

[Ombud]

39 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

Im not really sure this is a very recent change.  We brought a homemade meal a couple of years back for a birthday party for one the staff and her coworkers.  We asked if we could do that again last year and were told it wasn’t possible.  I totally understood their reasoning once it was explained to me.  They don’t want their crew to get sick off of meals made in kitchens that might be questionable.  It was also brought up that that the transport to the port may not adhere to their strict regulations.  We now just bring gifts and individually factory sealed snacks and chocolates.  I’m sure yours for personal consumption will fit the guidelines. 
 

I'll keep bringing Ghirardelli Chocolates and individual wrapped nuts. Chips take up too much space. 

 

Thanks for the FYI

[Cruise Raider]

28 minutes ago, tonit964 said:

I always bring a can of mixed nuts to nibble on with my drink on the balcony in the afternoons. 

I usually bring a small bag of pretzels so I have a little something in my stomach to take my vitamins in the mornings.  

[Cruise Raider]

1 minute ago, Ombud said:

I'll keep bringing Ghirardelli Chocolates and individual wrapped nuts. Chips take up too much space. 

 

Thanks for the FYI

I take the Ghirardelli chocolates, too but for the crew.  I always leave some on the bed for our room steward and give them for anyone bringing our food/ beverage delivery, along with cash.  They are always much more excited about the chocolates.  
I agree that chips take up to much space .. we’ve found the individual packets of beef jerky they sell at Costco are compact but also a favorite of many of the crew.  We do take nuts and protein bars for those that prefer that over candy.  

 

[SCX22]

27 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

You sound a bit miffed and that was never the intent of this post.  It was to help out those that might otherwise may waste their time on money on bringing food to the terminal they might not be able to bring onboard.  

Whatever rules Princess comes up with for rules and policies for the crew, that is their business and it may not necessarily be the same as that for passengers.  

 

@MsSoCalCruiserwas kind enough to post this letter in another thread and I shared the last paragraph for others, as I’ve heard this policy previously but then saw it in writing.  

Whatever level of enforcement occurs at every port is yet to be seen.  
 

 

Just reacting to the script you posted.  If Princess wants to make this policy and to try to enforce it, then they need to make it public, not just sent as personal e-mails to certain individual passengers who ask.  The outside beverage policy is written out on their website, and the outside alcoholic beverage policy is even included in the cruise contract, so it can be enforced should the powers that be want to enforce it.

[Ombud]

1 minute ago, Cruise Raider said:

I take the Ghirardelli chocolates, too but for the crew.  I always leave some on the bed for our room steward and give them for anyone bringing our food/ beverage delivery, along with cash.  They are always much more excited about the chocolates.  
I agree that chips take up to much space .. we’ve found the individual packets of beef jerky they sell at Costco are compact but also a favorite of many of the crew.  We do take nuts and protein bars for those that prefer that over candy.  

 

The chocolates & nuts are for the steward & room service, the protein bars are for me as I usually only take for 1/2 the # of port days (space issues).  I'm never sure what they like. 

[Cruise Raider]

2 minutes ago, Ombud said:

The chocolates & nuts are for the steward & room service, the protein bars are for me as I usually only take for 1/2 the # of port days (space issues).  I'm never sure what they like. 

Even though we live close to the port, we were quite loaded down on our last cruise out of SF.  It was a B2B, so we brought enough goodies for two weeks.  We probably won’t bring that much stuff for the crew again and we certainly don’t take much at all when we have to fly to get to the port.  

[Seafan22]

Has anyone had success being able to bring on board a loaf of Boudin's Sour Dough bread in the San Francisco port?

[SCX22]

6 minutes ago, Seafan22 said:

Has anyone had success being able to bring on board a loaf of Boudin's Sour Dough bread in the San Francisco port?

 

Yes.  SF is my homeport and during the cruise restart when the Royal was homeported here, I was able to purchase sourdough from the Fisherman's Wharf Boudin before embarkation, and successfully bring the bread on board.  I hadn't made it out to a proper Boudin the entire pandemic, so the hankering was there.  I "concealed" it in my rolling carry on.  Costco here sells Boudin Rounds, but they don't quite taste the same as getting it from an actual Boudin--not as tangy. 

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, Seafan22 said:

Has anyone had success being able to bring on board a loaf of Boudin's Sour Dough bread in the San Francisco port?

We’ve seen people bring Boudin’s sourdough bread onboard in SF.  We’ve also seen a Boudin’s sandwich get tossed.  I would think the bread alone would be fine but, I don’t make the rules.  

[IrieBajan54]

Has anyone ever had outside food confiscated when carried in their beach bag or similar?

[jwattle]

20 hours ago, Ombud said:

Exactly. Which is why I post the date I noticed something. I've noticed more than a few changes between the earliest ship back on (Majestic Princess August 15, 2021) and the latest ship back on (Royal Princess April 6, 2024). Not just in how we're greeted when boarding (no more lines applauding us & thanking us for boarding) 

 

The difference in how you were greeted was due to the return to service after the pause I think.... 😄

 

[Ombud]

7 minutes ago, jwattle said:

The difference in how you were greeted was due to the return to service after the pause I think.... 😄

 

Of course. Cruising returned July 25th and Aug 15th was just the 4th one back. Things are back to pre-pandemic cruising but still great IMHO

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

8 hours ago, rocklinmom said:

Thanks to being middle aged now and in menopause (oh joy) I will have to bring along my AllBran Buds cereal. They don't have it onboard and I have to eat some every night. Last cruise I couldn't find any full bran cereals. So I will bring a new unopened box of it and see what happens at the pier (SF). 

 

I tried ordering Raisin Bran a few times from Room service menu and Ocean now.

I was expecting a couple boxes?  Nope.

They were either Out of it?  Didn't understand?

But I got a couple different types of cereals and never Raisin bran.

 

 

[Cruise Raider]

11 hours ago, rocklinmom said:

Thanks to being middle aged now and in menopause (oh joy) I will have to bring along my AllBran Buds cereal. They don't have it onboard and I have to eat some every night. Last cruise I couldn't find any full bran cereals. So I will bring a new unopened box of it and see what happens at the pier (SF). 

A factory sealed box of cereal should be absolutely fine.  

[Cruise Raider]

2 hours ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

 

I tried ordering Raisin Bran a few times from Room service menu and Ocean now.

I was expecting a couple boxes?  Nope.

They were either Out of it?  Didn't understand?

But I got a couple different types of cereals and never Raisin bran.

 

 

The funniest thing I’ve ever received is ketchup with my quesadillas I ordered .. not once, not twice but three different times.  Were they out of pico de gallo or was there just a misunderstanding in the room service galley?  

[PR-Texas]

Hearing about the ketchup with quesadillas reminds me to put Taco Bell fire sauce on my packing list. 🤣  Since Australia and New Zealand have really strict biosecurity rules we'll be taking prepackaged nuts and granola bars as well as chocolates for the crew. When our daughter worked on Disney Cruise Line she said the room stewards and servers were often too busy to get off the ship on port days so chocolates were really appreciated.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

13 hours ago, Ombud said:

I'll keep bringing Ghirardelli Chocolates and individual wrapped nuts. Chips take up too much space. 

 

Thanks for the FYI

Thanks for the reminder… I need to pick up some packages of nuts. They are always good in a pinch. 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

On 5/22/2024 at 8:20 PM, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I should have listed the date. I received the email today, 5/22/24, from the Princess Dietary Department. @Cruise Raider was kind enough to start this thread so others would be aware.

I appreciate that you and my dear friend @Cruise Raiderhave made an effort to keep us informed of this (change?) in policy.  I keep reading CC as I seem to always find the latest information regarding what’s actually happening on board the ships. 
 

In my humble and totally unimportant opinion an email sent to one (or even many) passengers does not imply or create an enforceable fleet wide policy.  
 

I read the passenger contract line for line when they updated it after the pause and the restrictions in the email were not in that document. Bonus from reading that tiresome small print doc was realizing I could bring on my small Swiss Army knife  yay!  No more cutting apples and oranges with a butter knife lol.  I guess I need to go check and see if it’s been updated yet again. 

[chengkp75]

17 hours ago, SCX22 said:

Just reacting to the script you posted.  If Princess wants to make this policy and to try to enforce it, then they need to make it public, not just sent as personal e-mails to certain individual passengers who ask.

This is really not a Princess policy, it is part of the USPH/CDC Vessel Sanitation Program, where food quality (time/temperature for potentially hazardous foods) and handling have to be verified for all food sources.  Whether or not Princess is seeing a stronger enforcement of this by the USPH inspectors during their inspections, or whether CDC has been getting reports about GI illness on the ship from food brought onboard, I can't say.  And, if crew are bringing back cooked food from restaurants, this is a violation, and likely one that becomes obvious to USPH inspectors, so Princess may have been "dinged" on this in past inspections.

[latebloomer56]

17 hours ago, IrieBajan54 said:

Has anyone ever had outside food confiscated when carried in their beach bag or similar?

Yes but it was years ago. I knew we couldn't bring fruit off the ship in ports but didn't know I couldn't bring it on board. I bought some awesome cherries at the market in Vancouver. They took them at security. Maybe wouldn't have noticed if they were in my backpack, but were in with other items in my shopping bag. Just the cherries were taken, packaged and Jared items were not.

[latebloomer56]

I always bring sealed foods on our trips. Not just packaged crackers or trail mix for excursions. We sail in Oct. most years and if Halloween falls during that period I bring mixed mini bars for a candy bowl 😊. Cabin stewards (and sometime cabin crawlers) get to enjoy a little treat.