PR Duty free alcohol allowances

[belak]

I've read several posts and am a little confused about alcohol allowances that would not incur duty. If someone can clarify, I'd appreciate it

 

We'll be cruising HAL out of Ft Lauderdale to Grand Turk, San Juan, and St Thomas. The only thing I'm interested in buying is some alcohol. I've heard Old San Juan pier duty free shop has good prices. Would I be able to purchase alcohol there even though we do not embark from PR? If so, is there a limit before incurring duty given that it's in the US, and we are US citizens? Would I be better off buying from St Thomas in terms of prices and allowances?

 

I don't care if the alcohol is confiscated until the end of the trip.

 

Thanks for clarifying..

[cruisinpatley]

Generally, 1 L per adult is the rule, but if you buy at least one local 1 L bottle, you can bring back 2 L bottles per adult. Attached is the regulation (see page 17 of the list of the countries). For US Virgin Islands, America Samoa and Jamaica, (Puerto Rico is part of this list) you can bring back 5 L per adult as long as 1 L was from the country (See page 18). If you exceed this limit and the agent asks you where you bought it, you might want to answer at a local liquor store in PR. I’ll leave it to you if this is a truthful statement or not. I don’t know about the price difference from island to island. I normally like to get local liquor that is hard to get in the states. Happy shopping or should I say, happy drinking! :D

 

http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/...eforeyougo.pdf

[RayInPR]

The duty free shops at the piers in Old San Juan (including the PanAm pier) are only open during embarkation.

[kjunea]

So they are not open when other ships come in to port?

[RayInPR]

They're located between where you checkin with the cruise line and where you board the ship. So you can only physically get to them when you're initially boarding the ship.