NCLA-specific question re: taking food ashore

[beachchick]

Aloha all. I've posted this on the NCL forum too.

 

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

[spleen93]

I'm looking forward to hearing the answers!

 

Spleen

[beachchick]

Well...I've been researching the Hawaii state sites and also the Maui county site. So far, nothing at all relating to any restrictions about fresh foods between the islands. Still, we have county to county restrictions in CA, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are some in Hawaii as well. I'll keep trying to get accurate information.

 

beachchick

 

p.s. Spleen: We've put down deposits for next year's trip, so things are already looking up. Also, my surgeon says that things are looking good on that front as well...so, even though it's only one of many health challenges right now, it's still nice to hear something truly positive.

[spleen93]

I think the key question is whether NCLA provisions through Hawaii vendors - if so, there shouldn't be a problem since all their produce/plants will have been cleared by State Dept of Ag. But if they use their own and fly it in special from the mainland, then it might not be cleared by agriculture and might be prohibited from leaving the ship. I think the likelihood is that they use Hawaii vendors. But nobody really knows for sure right now (meaning us cruisers).

 

Spleen

 

PS: congrats on the good news! It's always a step in the right direction.

[CruisinMK]

They can't fly anything in to Hawaii "special", would have to be cleared by hawaii agriculture like 100% of everything else in Hawaii.

 

The agriculture restrictions in Hawaii are strict, but since the entire cruise is within Hawaii there should be no issues. The only exception I can conceive of is it the cruise had just come back from drydock in california and picked up some fruit there... That's a pretty obscure case

[beachchick]

Hm...now I'm remembering that it has been mentioned that pax returning to the ship go through 2 checks, ship security AND Hawaii ag, and that no fresh food is being allowed to be brought back onto the ship. I'm wondering if that means that the NCLA ships' provisions are all inspected first; whereas what pax bring onboard might not be. I can't think of any other reason because all pax will have to go through the ag check at the airport after the cruise, so there would be no reason, from island to island, to do an ag check for anyone taking fresh food out of the state. That's what made me wonder about county to county restrictions (because pax reported not being able to bring the fresh food onto the ship). In that case, I would hope that if all the ship provisions are inspected and approved that they could be taken off ship at all the ports. We'll see.

 

beachchick

[spleen93]

There are no county to county restrictions - otherwise, we'd be getting inspected each time we go on an interisland flight. :) I do admit the restriction in terms of bringing food aboard seems peculiar given that you're coming aboard in Hawaii and the food on shore should be fine.

 

Spleen

[beachchick]

Spleen: Yep, that's something my DH reminded me of last light. We've certainly never had any ag checks of any kind for interisland flights. I'm hoping it's the same for the ships. In that case, I can't imagine what ag checks they would be having at the ports (unless I'm mis-remembering again and it was only reported by pax on mainland-Hawaii cruises or the Wind).

 

beachchick