Embarking With Mini-bottles of Jack Daniels

[Hawkstar33]

Yeah NO.....Maybe some Grand Ole Opry memorabilia would be a better choice..Hand out Elvis pics, or some of Dolly....

[Marie51]

I would not give alcohol or scented soaps to anyone unless I was absolutely sure they could use them.

[canderson]

11 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Actually probably not.  Confiscated liquor is usually disposed of, not returned to you, which is different from other confiscated items like kettles and irons which you would get back.

Wondering about confiscated vs. voluntarily surrendered.  We picked up an unusual liqueur in the islands once and turned it over at the brow.  Was delivered to our stateroom door on the last night of the cruise, same as if we'd purchased duty free aboard.

[WestLakeGirl]

Yes, there is a difference between confiscated and voluntarily surrendered. The difference primarily being that the confiscated alcohol was something that someone was trying to sneak on board.

Edited July 12 by WestLakeGirl

[Rick&Jeannie]

LOL! Thanks for everybody's input! I guess I have my answer...don't take the mini-bottles! It makes perfect sense (now) in light of the "no booze except wine" rule.

[Miaminice]

12 hours ago, jwlane said:

Tour guides will prefer the $$$ one would spend to purchase the miniatures.  JD is readily available in Japan.

 

We will be doing our 4th cruise / trip to Japan next year. We always use private guides. Except for one the others downright declined $$$ tips!

Since then we bring small tokens of appreciation from our home and they like it. One guide became a friend over the years and he confirmed that that´s the better way.

But I do agree, bottles of booze, no matter how small, might not be well received.

[Liao]

10 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

LOL! Thanks for everybody's input! I guess I have my answer...don't take the mini-bottles! It makes perfect sense (now) in light of the "no booze except wine" rule.

Maybe a Dolly Parton album?  Nothing says Tennessee like Dolly!

[fenton04]

Not so fast.  Instead of using for a tour guide.  I propose getting the GPSmyCity App.  Take the self guided tour and tip your “guide”.  Get it the tour “guide”.  Wink, wink, nod, nod.😊

[twins_to_alaska]

4 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Why not Goo-Goo Clusters? Those are more "Nashville" than Jack Daniels.

I had to look these up... They're small portable individually wrapped... and Nashville. I'd be happy to take some!

Some of my family went to China to visit my sister-in-law's family. They took local candy and it was graciously accepted.

But it could have been thrown out later. 🙂

 

Edited July 12 by twins_to_alaska

[mrgabriel]

3 hours ago, Marie51 said:

I would not give alcohol or scented soaps to anyone unless I was absolutely sure they could use them.

 

Agreed. The only thing that everyone uses is money. I know we all love to give people things to express our thanks - but cash and a glowing recommendation to their employer probably goes a lot further than something they will never use and will wind up throwing in the trash or shoving in the back of a drawer. 

[DaKahuna]

17 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I've been reading about the lack of tipping culture in Japan.

 

 My DW is Japanese.  We were on Millennium in May for the 13-Day Best of Japan cruise.  When we did excursions she would tip both the driver and the tour guide.  

 

 Where we did not tip was in restaurants, bars, convenience stores, etc.  While Japan does not have a tipping culture there are still places where it is acceptable if you choose to do it.  It is not as expected as it is in say the Caribbean, but it is still acceptable under certain circumstances. 

 

 When we travel we have two rules we go by - always tip when warranted and always tip in cash.  You can never be wrong tipping with cash. 

 

[Georgia_Peaches]

5 hours ago, Marie51 said:

I would not give alcohol or scented soaps to anyone unless I was absolutely sure they could use them.

The lady I referenced in my post bought scented soaps for family. 
 

who knew scented soaps (or JD) would spark such controversy 😂

[Georgia_Peaches]

Crazy how a seemingly nice gesture can be turned into something so offensive to some. SMH. 

[Marie51]

11 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

The lady I referenced in my post bought scented soaps for family. 
 

who knew scented soaps (or JD) would spark such controversy 😂

Well, you never know when somebody is allergic to something in soap, lotion, or other products. But of course, it is a nice gesture, if usable😊

[Rick&Jeannie]

12 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

who knew scented soaps (or JD) would spark such controversy 😂

As the OP, I surely didn't!😀  but I'm glad I got the feedback...

[Rick&Jeannie]

Just now, Rick&Jeannie said:

As the OP, I surely didn't!😀  but I'm glad I got the feedback...

We will likely have some yen on hand and just "play it by ear"... All of our tours are ship-sponsored.

[Miaminice]

34 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

We will likely have some yen on hand and just "play it by ear"... All of our tours are ship-sponsored.

Well, if you take the ship tours, then the guides accept cash. They are used to the western urge to give $$$. Private guides ate still different.

[NMTraveller]

5 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

LOL! Thanks for everybody's input! I guess I have my answer...don't take the mini-bottles! It makes perfect sense (now) in light of the "no booze except wine" rule.

You can send them to me.  I will hand them out to my peeps.  🤣

[Rick&Jeannie]

14 minutes ago, Miaminice said:

Well, if you take the ship tours, then the guides accept cash. They are used to the western urge to give $$$. Private guides ate still different.

Yes, but would that be yen or US$?

[WestLakeGirl]

Whichever.  Most local guides prefer local currency but they do recognize that tourist may not always have it and they will accept dollars from you if that is what you have

[Mark_K]

18 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I've been reading about the lack of tipping culture in Japan. We're booked on the Millie in 1 month for a Japan itinerary. I read that the Japanese are appreciative of small gifts from your hometown. Half of our traveling group is from Nashville. Would mini-bottles of Jack be appropriate and would we be able to embark the ship with them? This would be for tour guides...opinions?

Just a guess on my part, but I’d guess they would rather get a $10 or $20 bill than a $2 bottle of Jack. Which is hardly a Nashville home town product, regardless.

[Miaminice]

24 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Yes, but would that be yen or US$?

I would say either but probably prefer yen. I can’t say for sure because we never do ship tours. And as mentioned our guides didn’t want to be tipped. They even brought us gifts. So from the second trip on we brought them gifts as well. 
 

My wife works for a company owned by a Japanese mother company. So we asked some Japanese coworkers what they bring home from Germany. German chocolate and sweets were on top of the list. So we brought that. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

19 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I've been reading about the lack of tipping culture in Japan. We're booked on the Millie in 1 month for a Japan itinerary. I read that the Japanese are appreciative of small gifts from your hometown. Half of our traveling group is from Nashville. Would mini-bottles of Jack be appropriate and would we be able to embark the ship with them? This would be for tour guides...opinions?

 

There's an extremely good chance you'd get them on the ship but that isn't guaranteed.  Also, too many people shoot themselves in the foot by saying something along the lines: of "I heard from ABC I could bring this XYZ onto the ship, is this true?"  Be sure not to bring up alcohol to anyone working in the terminal

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

There's an extremely good chance you'd get them on the ship but that isn't guaranteed.  Also, too many people shoot themselves in the foot by saying something along the lines: of "I heard from ABC I could bring this XYZ onto the ship, is this true?"  Be sure not to bring up alcohol to anyone working in the terminal

Nah...not even going to try. Too many things wrong with our plan to use them in lieu of tips for excursions. Just not practical. 

[DaKahuna]

5 hours ago, Miaminice said:

German chocolate and sweets were on top of the list. So we brought that. 

 

 We were talking with our assistant water on one cruise and found out she liked chocolate.  I had some York Peppermint Paties in the room so next meal I brouight her one.  Made a lot of folks jealous. Next port of call was San Juan .. Went ashore and bought a bag of them and was passing them around, all the Luminae wait staff, bartender, waitstaff and concierge in the Retreat Loung,   Even the bartenders in the Martini Bar made a fuss over them.