NCLA-specific question re: taking food ashore

[beachchick]

Hello all. Now some of you may know me as a "no fresh food off the ship when the host port laws say "NO" fanatic"--and I am extremely fanatic about that. In this case, I'm asking specifically and only about the NLCA ships and whether the intra-state (inter-county/island) regulations allow pax to take such things as sandwiches ashore. I'm not asking about whether anyone has tried to sneak off food (don't get me started...) or whether anyone thinks it's okay (I've tried NCL, but can't get a good answer; honest, I tried going to the source first); I'm asking about whether it is allowed. In our state, there are agricultural regs between counties, so I'm wondering if, for example, Maui county has any laws forbidding fresh food to be taken off the ship when it comes in from the BI.

 

I'd love to be able to legally bring picnics with us on our shore adventures. I would appreciate any first-hand experience. (I will also follow up with the state dept of ag, just in case they have some info; if so, I'll post it here.)

 

Mahalo everyone.:D

 

beachchick

[CruisinMK]

Hawaii has relatively strict agricultural laws but since the NCLA ships are in Hawaii for the entire itinerary there should be no issues. Maybe if the ship went to drydock in california and picked up some fruit there it would be a problem

[beachchick]

Aloha Mike. That's my question though. I'm pretty familiar with the import/export agriculture laws of Hawaii (into or out of the state), but don't know about intra-state regulations. For example, in CA there's a pest that is destroying crops 2 counties away from us, so certain plant products are under quarantine and can't be brought into our county. Or the days in the late 70s and early 80s where we had region-specific quarantine because of the fruit fly infestation. Since Hawaii's counties are even further separated than ours are (islands versus just a big land mass), I'm wondering what, if any, restrictions are in place from county to county.

 

Mahalo for the prompt response. (We are soooo looking forward to our next visit to your lovely islands.)

 

beachchick

[CruisinMK]

I don't think there are any county by county quarantines. They don't do anything for interisland flights, it is like a bus. :)

[tomluvsaida]

If you drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles the border patrol (or whatever they are called between states) does check for fruits and vegitables. Hawaii however is all one state from island to island. The ship itself does have excursions where a meal is incuded but I don't know if the food comes off the ship itself or from some other place in the local vicinity.

[beachchick]

To clarify. I am of course aware that the state of Hawaii is composed of several islands. But just because it's all one state doesn't mean there aren't any county to county (that is, island to island) restrictions similar to the county to county restrictions in CA (and also in FL I believe). That it's all one state is no guarantee that there aren't additional restrictions.

 

MikeKaye: I think your answer is most telling. In fact, it's something my DH reminded me of last night. We've never had any ag checks for interisland flights. That's a positive thought for sure. I'm hoping it's the same for the ships.

 

beachchick

[smeyer418]

I am positive that on inter islands flights they screen for agricultural products in Hawaii and are VERY strict about it. Its not the bread its the fruit but the rules are the same. They are not supposed to take any non canned/ pre packaged food off the ship.

 

http://www.hawaiiag.org/hdoa/pi_pq_interisl.htm

[One_Up]

I'm confused if your "shore adventures" are really "shore excursions" that you paid for or if you are referring to what you and your family/friends will be doing on your own after going ashore.

 

If these are "shore excursions" many have lunches and snacks included in the fares, so there is no need to take food with you. If you are doing your own thing, I suggest that you not be so cheap and dish out a little cash at a restaurant/eaterie...after all you are on vacation.

[spleen93]

I am positive that on inter islands flights they screen for agricultural products in Hawaii and are VERY strict about it. Its not the bread its the fruit but the rules are the same. They are not supposed to take any non canned/ pre packaged food off the ship.

 

http://www.hawaiiag.org/hdoa/pi_pq_interisl.htm

 

That's an interesting point. There are no ag inspections though on interisland flights, unlike on mainland-Hawaii flights where they are VERY strict. Probably because fruits (which would be the most commonly transported items) are not restricted. Primarily the restrictions apply to cuttings/plants which most tourists would not be taking with them from island to island anyway. A lot of us locals transport fruits/flowers from island to island regularly.

 

So, the question remains unresolved, apparently. We would almost need an answer from the state dept of ag to say for sure whether food was allowed to go on and off the ship. If NCLA is being strict about the issue, good for them and any additional protection certainly won't harm the environment.

 

Spleen

[2cruiseagain]

If you are doing your own thing, I suggest that you not be so cheap and dish out a little cash at a restaurant/eaterie...after all you are on vacation.

 

I don't think anybody plunking down the money it takes to vacation in Hawaii is cheap. It's a lot easier pulling a snack out of your backpack while you are treking the Thurston Lava Tubes and your kids are whining about being hungry then it would be to drive out of the park looking for food.

[One_Up]

I don't think anybody plunking down the money it takes to vacation in Hawaii is cheap. It's a lot easier pulling a snack out of your backpack while you are treking the Thurston Lava Tubes and your kids are whining about being hungry then it would be to drive out of the park looking for food.

 

Having a picnic (as the author of the topic suggests) and grabbing snacks from a backpack for whining kids are two different things in my book. Let's not get sidetracked and go off on tangents here.

[kabookie]

Having a picnic (as the author of the topic suggests) and grabbing snacks from a backpack for whining kids are two different things in my book. Let's not get sidetracked and go off on tangents here.

 

Seems to me that you are the one going off on a tangent by calling the original poster "cheap" when refering to her desire for a picnic. :rolleyes:

 

I have seen the question about food coming off the Hawaiian ships before, with no definite answer - and I am interested in what is permitted.

[kabookie]

Having a picnic (as the author of the topic suggests) and grabbing snacks from a backpack for whining kids are two different things in my book. Let's not get sidetracked and go off on tangents here.

 

Seems to me that you are the one going off on a tangent by calling the original poster "cheap" when refering to her desire for a picnic. :rolleyes:

 

I have seen the question about food coming off the Hawaiian ships before, with no definite answer - and I am interested in what is permitted.

[beachchick]

I'm confused if your "shore adventures" are really "shore excursions" that you paid for or if you are referring to what you and your family/friends will be doing on your own after going ashore.

 

If these are "shore excursions" many have lunches and snacks included in the fares, so there is no need to take food with you. If you are doing your own thing, I suggest that you not be so cheap and dish out a little cash at a restaurant/eaterie...after all you are on vacation.

 

Mahalo so much for the nice little insulting jab...:rolleyes: Let's see. We don't typcially do any of the formal shore excursions. We don't care for the "herding" and we're extremely familiar with the islands. We don't need anyone to lead us around.

 

I'm perfectly well aware that I'm on vacation. I'm also aware that I paid my cruise fare and that it includes lunch. So, exactly how am I being "cheap" in wanting to take advantage of food I've already paid for? If we drive our rental car back to the ship and have lunch onboard are we being cheap? (Actually, that would be wasteful because we'd use extra, and very expensive, fuel for the extra driving.) When we stay in the islands, we often rent a house or condo, go to the grocery store, and eat in or take picnics. Is that okay because we've bought food on the islands or should we be going to restaurants instead?

 

My question is whether is it legal to take a picnic lunch with us, not whether you think we're cheap. When it's not legal (that is pretty much every other cruise we've ever taken), we do not, as others do, try to sneak food off the ship. That is wrong and, when people try to rationalize it with "trying to save money" or "afraid of the food in countries I don't know," I go into my agricultural-law fanatic mode. The laws are there for a reason and shouldn't be broken under any circumstances.

 

BTW, as you obviously don't know anything about me and my DH, we are frequent visitors to Hawaii--so much so that we qualify for a permanent Maika'i card at Foodland--and spend a large percentage of our vacation dollars there. OTOH, why am I feeling like I need to justify myself to you? Anyway, I don't think it's "cheap" at all to want to legally...which is the question here...bring a picnic with us so that we don't have to stop at one of the numerous fun and inexpensive lunch places we know of on all the islands. We'd rather just pack it and go on these short port days.

 

And to everyone else, mahalo for the feedback. I fear Spleen is right, but I can't get any real info from the state websites (at least not yet). Also, we've never gone through any kind of ag check whatsoever for interisland flights, so I am hoping that that is the benchmark. I'll keep trying to get an accurate answer.

 

beachchick

 

p.s. Our DD is an adult, and rarely whines. Now my DH when he needs a little snack, that's reason enough to have a few cookies on hand.

[2cruiseagain]

A one gallon ziploc and a few of the breakfast muffins seem to do the trick for us. I can't see how this could possibly hurt the environment. We were never told about any laws or rules regarding removing food from the ship. I did notice the soda sticker didn't work at the ABC stores though:D.

[dyslexic pirate]

We don't refer to pinching pennies as being cheap...it's being thrifty!;)

 

We plan to grab some sandwiches or other portable food, stuff it in a ziplock and get rollin! We'll be on our own. We want to save money and time. There's no way we'd sit for an hour and a half just to have lunch when we can munch on a sandwich enroute to our next hike/waterfall whatever. Might be different if we were spending a week on a island but when it's just hours the food is secondary to the sights!

[One_Up]

Mahalo so much for the nice little insulting jab...:rolleyes: Let's see. We don't typcially do any of the formal shore excursions. We don't care for the "herding" and we're extremely familiar with the islands. We don't need anyone to lead us around.

 

I'm perfectly well aware that I'm on vacation. I'm also aware that I paid my cruise fare and that it includes lunch. So, exactly how am I being "cheap" in wanting to take advantage of food I've already paid for? If we drive our rental car back to the ship and have lunch onboard are we being cheap? (Actually, that would be wasteful because we'd use extra, and very expensive, fuel for the extra driving.) When we stay in the islands, we often rent a house or condo, go to the grocery store, and eat in or take picnics. Is that okay because we've bought food on the islands or should we be going to restaurants instead?

 

My question is whether is it legal to take a picnic lunch with us, not whether you think we're cheap. When it's not legal (that is pretty much every other cruise we've ever taken), we do not, as others do, try to sneak food off the ship. That is wrong and, when people try to rationalize it with "trying to save money" or "afraid of the food in countries I don't know," I go into my agricultural-law fanatic mode. The laws are there for a reason and shouldn't be broken under any circumstances.

 

BTW, as you obviously don't know anything about me and my DH, we are frequent visitors to Hawaii--so much so that we qualify for a permanent Maika'i card at Foodland--and spend a large percentage of our vacation dollars there. OTOH, why am I feeling like I need to justify myself to you? Anyway, I don't think it's "cheap" at all to want to legally...which is the question here...bring a picnic with us so that we don't have to stop at one of the numerous fun and inexpensive lunch places we know of on all the islands. We'd rather just pack it and go on these short port days.

 

And to everyone else, mahalo for the feedback. I fear Spleen is right, but I can't get any real info from the state websites (at least not yet). Also, we've never gone through any kind of ag check whatsoever for interisland flights, so I am hoping that that is the benchmark. I'll keep trying to get an accurate answer.

 

beachchick

 

p.s. Our DD is an adult, and rarely whines. Now my DH when he needs a little snack, that's reason enough to have a few cookies on hand.

 

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...Like I said, "Don't be cheap".

[beachchick]

As my teen niece would say, "whatever." If it suits you to think that pax who want to take advantage of food they've already paid for are cheap, fine. Do you actually have anything whatsoever to contribute to answering the question or do you just like to be rude?

 

beachchick

[2cruiseagain]

As my teen niece would say, "whatever." If it suits you to think that pax who want to take advantage of food they've already paid for are cheap, fine. Do you actually have anything whatsoever to contribute to answering the question or do you just like to be rude?

 

beachchick

 

I think Captain Kool-Aid is just having fun with you...

[TNlovestocruise]

I just got back from a cruise on the Pride of America. In Hilo and the two days on Maui we (3 couples) took sandwiches off the ship. No one looks at what you take off the ship but they do check thoroughly what you bring back to the ship. We would order room service the night before (sandwiches and fruit). I brought baggies and put everything in the refridgerator in our room. We also took oranges and apples from the Aloha cafeteria. We felt like we had paid for lunch, would not be eating it on the ship, so took it with us. By the way, some of the touring does not have restaurants along the way!! (Road to Hana for example)

[pegatha]

Food prepared on board the ship is okay to be taken off the ship and eaten on any island.

 

Ron Nakamura

HDOA/Plant Quarantine

[beachchick]

pegatha: Mahalo so very much. That's great to hear.

 

beachchick

[cruzfiend]

TNloves...' when you say they check what you bring onboard - Are they confiscating liquor?

[mbisson]

Hello all. Now some of you may know me as a "no fresh food off the ship when the host port laws say "NO" fanatic"--and I am extremely fanatic about that. In this case, I'm asking specifically and only about the NLCA ships and whether the intra-state (inter-county/island) regulations allow pax to take such things as sandwiches ashore.

 

beachchick

 

Hi beachchick,

I really appreciate your position of doing this only if allowed. But it seems that from the responses thus far, no one knows for sure if it's OK or not (just that some have done it-legal or not). I'm afraid you'll probably have to check when the personel on the ship itself and won't be able to get an accurate answer in advance.

 

 

Oh, Have a great cruise!

-Monte

[smeyer418]

Hi beachchick,

I really appreciate your position of doing this only if allowed. But it seems that from the responses thus far, no one knows for sure if it's OK or not (just that some have done it-legal or not). I'm afraid you'll probably have to check when the personel on the ship itself and won't be able to get an accurate answer in advance.

 

 

Oh, Have a great cruise!

-Monte

 

Monte someone identifiying him self as from the Hawaii Department of Ag says is ok above,..

 

Thanks all...I think we have a definitive answer.