Bringing Alcohol

[alcheme]

And no, cruise drink prices are absurdly high, unless you're comparing them to upscale bars in major cities. I pay routinely $2.00 - $2.50 for a beer in local bars. I think I saw $7 on beers on the last RCI cruise. $7!!

 

TBH, I wouldn't know about the cost of beer, because I don't drink beer. The mixed drinks are comparable to what you would pay just about anywhere else. The wine definitely has a higher mark-up, though.

 

But all the rants about how it's not fair and you should be able to CHOOSE whether you bring you own or buy theirs is all a bunch of crap. They have every right to determine what is and is not allowed to be brought onto their vessel. You may not like their rules; you may not agree with their rules; but you have no entitlement to break their rules. I doubt any of your "local bars" would appreciate you bringing you own beverages and enjoying them in their establishment. (But their prices are more reasonable, so I don't have to . . . blah, blah, blah. . .) And I guarantee, if you were traveling by plane vs. ship, the airline wouldn't allow you to bring your own liquor to drink during the flight. You obviously feel you have the right to do whatever you CHOOSE, but that's just not the case. You might do it anyway, but none of your justifications make it right. And, to be honest, it doesn't really bother me that much. It just amazes me sometimes how some people will argue so hard to defend their "right" to not follow the rules.

[qorc]

no, the cruise ships have no such "right." Show me in international law where the right to rip people off exists.

 

In fact, such practices are known as "price gouging" and in many countries in some businesses, it's prosecuted.

 

They can TRY and force you to buy their liquor, but I won't buy it. I choose to bring my own.

 

So while they are exercising their 'rights', I'm exercising my "right" as a consumer to get around their foolish rules.

 

If you want to be one of the lemmings, be my guest. But don't try and compel me to be as similarly foolish.

 

oh and by the way, it's the same on airlines. I choose not to buy THEIR ridiculously priced drinks. I'll take my free coke, and I usually have a small, plastic flask of liquor on board with me to mix my own. Nobody on the airlines prohibit it and no one has ever said a word when I mixed my own. Ever.

[alcheme]

Sorry gorc, but price-gouging generally refers to overpricing a necessity to take advantage of a shortage, usually due to a natural disaster or some such. A restaurant, hotel, cruise ship, movie theater, ballpark, etc. can charge whatever they please. Generally, people who don't like the prices don't got to that restaurant, hotel, cruise ship . . . That $7 beer on a cruise ship is not a necessity. But some cruise lines allow you to take beer onboard, so you actually have the option of choosing a business that you don't have such contempt for.

 

And you must not have flown recently, if you're bringing a flask on the plane (unless you live somewhere that airline security is more lax). They're being very strict on any kind of liquids carried onboard for security reasons.

 

I'm sure I won't convince you that you don't have any "right" to break the rules, but everybody with any sense knows it. Even most of the ones who do smuggle alcohol aboard realize that it's not something they have a right to do; they just do it anyway.

[qorc]

as I said, you can do what you wish. Perhaps you have money to burn. We don't.

 

But I'm not foolish enough to buy their drinks. The last time I checked, I'm neither depriving the cruise lines of anything (I would go without than buy their liquor) nor breaking any international law.

 

and yes, genius, I fly regularly for work and pleasure. Security isn't "lax". But Walk Through Metal Detectors do not pick up glass flasks. They're not designed to and never will. All I do is put it in my pocket. Plus, under the "3-1-1" guidelines, I could put an airline sized bottle inside a 1 quart plastic bag and it is not confiscated in the x-ray machine. Duh. But fortunately the airlines don't search passengers for liquors as if we were criminals. They make their drinks available, but do not prohibit you from bringing your own on board. Cruise ships should follow suit. But thanks for the insight. You must really know alot about airport security! LOL

 

So do what you wish. It's foolish. But I'm glad someone is paying their prices and supporting their profit goals. Helps those of us that don't wish to.

[alcheme]

Ummm . . . No, they don't allow you to bring liquor on a plane. If you sneak it on, that's no different than sneaking it on the ship (except that the TSA may be less forgiving, if they catch you).

 

Have you tried putting a couple minibottles in a ziplock bag and showing it to security on your way onto the plane? If not, try it. I'd like to hear how that goes. Will be off the board for a while, but take care. :D

[qorc]

Ummm . . . No, they don't allow you to bring liquor on a plane. If you sneak it on, that's no different than sneaking it on the ship (except that the TSA may be less forgiving, if they catch you).

 

Have you tried putting a couple minibottles in a ziplock bag and showing it to security on your way onto the plane? If not, try it. I'd like to hear how that goes. Will be off the board for a while, but take care. :D

 

Liquor is not a prohibited item at the checkpoints. Go to TSA's website and show me where it is, genius. But since I'm sure you couldn't find your way there, I'm going to give the link to you:

 

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm

 

Show me where on that page that says that alcohol of any kind is prohibited. As long as your items are 3 oz. or less and in a 1 quart zipped bag, they are allowed. You can pretty much take as many mini-bottles you want. The ONLY restriction is that you can't have liquor in excess of 140 proof (usually not a problem and if it's in a clear, unmarked bottle, no screener in the world would know which are and which aren't anyway).

 

Yes, on planes you're not allowed to bring your own. FAA rule. Funny. In all the years I've been traveling and carrying a plastic flask or minis, no one has ever stopped me. It's a rule unenforced. why? because it has no purpose other than to try and line the pockets of the airlines, and they know it.

 

Yes, I'm a professional in the airport security field. I know what i'm talking about.

 

you, on the other hand, are pulling it out of your keyster.

[janetz]

I wonder if the cruise lines were to lower their drink prices if people might buy more and not need to smuggle. I don't like being held hostage to their prices. I feel the same way about sodas at restaurants too. I end up feeling like I've been taken advantage of (that's polite talk for what I was thinking)

 

 

Notice the amount of bars there are onboard ships. This is their biggest moneymaker. :cool:

[alcheme]

you, on the other hand, are pulling it out of your keyster.

 

No, not out of my keyster, as you so eloquently put it. :rolleyes: It's an FAA rule, as you stated yourself. Maybe the TSA don't enforce it. I don't know, because I'm not so desparate for alcohol that I have to bring my own with me wherever I go. If it's a rule that I'm not supposed to bring it, then I don't. I don't qubble about which agency's rule it is.

[Janet Foster]

Not desperate for alcohol but desperate to act like ya know everything and point fingers. This topic is MONEY SAVING TIPS.. we wish to share tips. It isn't called MONEY SPENDING TIPS... See ya Al!

[janetz]

+1

 

Again, I pay plenty to go on a cruise. I'm not in an interior cabin on the lower decks. We get balcony rooms, usually jr. suites. 4 of us. We pay plenty to sail.

 

However, I should not be held hostage to their drink prices, however. If I don't buy their drinks on board, who am I hurting by bringing my own, more reasonably priced drinks on board with me?

 

answer? nobody.

 

And no, cruise drink prices are absurdly high, unless you're comparing them to upscale bars in major cities. I pay routinely $2.00 - $2.50 for a beer in local bars. I think I saw $7 on beers on the last RCI cruise. $7!! In fact, for the beer I saw, you can buy a whole 6 pack of it at a retail store for $7, not just one!

 

That being said, some lines are cheaper than others. We take RCI and I've read that they have some of the highest drink prices. Princess and Carnival among the lowest. If I was taking those lines, I would probably buy their drinks more and smuggle less.

 

That being said. Drinks should be like anything else - you can CHOOSE to buy them at their inflated prices (with 15% automatically added on top), or I should be able to CHOOSE to not buy them and bring my own. But to have bags searched as if passengers were trying to smuggle heroin or guns on board is the height of absurdity!!

 

Buying a ticket on a ship or a movie theater should not require someone to agree to out and out robbery.

 

If you want to go along with it, be my guest! I choose not to.

 

 

 

You are not in an interior cabin, on a lower deck? Big deal. What is your point here? Inside cabins on the Carribean Princess next year start at 1100.00 pp. We have paid much less for an aft balcony on the same ship! I just don't understand your comment. :rolleyes:

[alcheme]

Not desperate for alcohol but desperate to act like ya know everything and point fingers. This topic is MONEY SAVING TIPS.. we wish to share tips. It isn't called MONEY SPENDING TIPS... See ya Al!

 

Butt out. I was just talking to gorc, who seemed to believe that bringing your own alcohol to drink on a plane was within the rules.

 

You are free to talk about whatever rule-breaking tips you please, as long as the mods allow it. So why not just ignore me, as you've promised to do before, and go on chatting about how best to cheat the cruise lines.

[qorc]

You are not in an interior cabin, on a lower deck? Big deal. What is your point here? Inside cabins on the Carribean Princess next year start at 1100.00 pp. We have paid much less for an aft balcony on the same ship! I just don't understand your comment. :rolleyes:

 

the point being that I'm paying a lot already for being on the ship. I'm not buying a bottom, cheapo room and smuggling booze aboard. EG, I'm willing to spend money and do so on the cruise lines. I'm not a cheap person.

 

and since i'm handing over roughly $2000 already to the cruise line, I'm not about to be held hostage to 200%-400% mark-up on drinks. No way.

[qorc]

Not desperate for alcohol but desperate to act like ya know everything and point fingers. This topic is MONEY SAVING TIPS.. we wish to share tips. It isn't called MONEY SPENDING TIPS... See ya Al!

 

exactly.

 

It's a problem with some of the holier-than-thou types here.

 

I don't care what he does - he can spend himself broke on cruises. I don't tell him or others what to do.

 

but they want to tell the rest of us what to do, while whining "BUT IT'S AGAINST THE RULES!!! *sniffle sniffle*"

 

Not rules for safety. Not rules to conform to American or international laws. Not rules dealing with illegal, controlled substances, but rules designed ONLY to line the pockets of the cruise ships.

 

And then tries to tell me that TSA prohibits alcohol at checkpoints! lol. THEY DON'T.

 

But there's no arguing with morons.

[alcheme]

No, gorc. I haven't tried to tell you what to do. I've just debated a bit with you on your apparent attitude that you're entitled to break any rule that you don't feel is important. No need for childish name-calling. :)