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The official policy of all cruise lines is that you cannot bring alcohol on board. But for those who are willing to be a bit creative and discreet, you might just succeed in supplementing your beverage intake. |
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The official policy is that you cannot bring alcohol on board except that wine enthusiasts may bring fine wine or champagne on board only during embarkation at the beginning of the cruise. Officially, all other liquor and excessive quantities of wine will be confiscated and discarded without compensation. |
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A Note About Personal Bottles of Wine |
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For most most cruise lines, you ARE allowed to bring one or two bottles of your own wine. But, officially speaking, this is supposed to be turned over to the embarkation crew at Check-In and they will deliver it to your dining room and serve it to you at dinner. There is a $10 corking fee for this service. |
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Cruise ships enforce their Alcohol Policy “at the discretion of security and/or embarkation personnel”. So, as long as you recognize that you could lose your booze if you bring it on board, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll be able to stash a bottle or two in your CHECKED luggage. It’s equally certain that any booze you bring in your carry-on bag will be discovered when you go through the x-ray machine and you’ll lose it. |
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Now, we’re not advocating that you should ignore the stated official policy (that would be rude), but if you are going to be seduced by the dark side, here are a couple of suggestions. |
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Pack Carefully |
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First and foremost, keep in mind that your luggage is handled by about 10 different people during embarkation, two or three of whom will be driving fork-lifts. So pay extra attention to protecting your luggage in the even of breaks or leaks. (Actually, this applies to any liquids you pack, not just your booze.) |
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We don’t use glass bottles, except for bottles of wine if we bring them. If we can’t find our preferred beverage in a plastic bottle, we transfer it to a sturdy Nalgene bottle (we get those at REI) or a metal flask. We’re also very fond of those little airline bottles that are now available anywhere that sells liquor. |
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When packing, we take care to make sure that any liquids are packed near the center of our luggage and we place all containers inside heavy-duty freezer storage zip-loc bags in case something leaks. A pint bottle, or several airline bottles, fits nicely inside of a shoe, which is an efficient use of space and the shoe provides an extra layer of protection. (Speaking of shoes, we always take advantage of the empty space and pack something inside of them – electronics, suntan lotions, socks, underwear, small garments, etc. It helps to conserve packing space.) |
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We ALWAYS pack our party favors in our CHECKED baggage. During the check-in process, your carry on luggage will be screened by the same type of x-ray machines used in airports. You can be absolutely certain that these machines will identify bottles of liquor or anything that looks suspiciously like it might contain liquor. |
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If you aren’t too greedy about how much alcohol you pack, and if you are discreet with what you do pack, the odds are pretty good that you’ll be okay. If it turns out that you get busted, don’t be unpleasant about it. After all, you are breaking the rules and if you get caught, just learn from it and then get on with your cruise. . |
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And, finally, just so you know what to expect, you're probably still going to have a bar tab. Let's face it, gang. If you're the kind of person that would go through all this trouble to smuggle booze on board, you're probably the kind of person who will drink when you're ready, even if your stash is back in the cabin. So, be careful. (In fact, you should probably read "Don't Get Bilged By Your Own Anchor" in The Articles of Ferquan The Pirate. |
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Articles we've written about
Cruising In The Caribbean |
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Ten Mistakes When Taking A Cruise - It’s a shame to lay out
$250 - $2,500 on a dreamy
cruise vacation only to encounter unnecessary mishaps and
inconveniences. So, in an effort
to minimize the likelihood of a
bump in the road to your perfect
vacation, here are some common
potholes that can tarnish your
experience.
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Eleven Expert Cruising Tips - Some useful,relevant tips and
ideas, and other neat stuff you
can use to make their cruising
experience better.
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Hooked On Cruising (And I Like It!) - It's official! I have a
condition, a disorder by some
people's assessment. It's called
"Caribbean Obsession Disorder",
and there really is such a thing.
Imagine that!
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On the other hand, you will find plenty of stores in port who will just sell you the booze and they don't care what you do with it. In this case, you are supposed to turn it
over to ship's staff when you return from shore. Here again, you will go through an x-ray machine when you re-board, so there's a pretty good chance that any booze will
be discovered. For a variety of reasons, it may or may not be confiscated. If you're determined to buy booze for consumption once you get back on board, buy small bottles
and keep it in your pockets. Of course, if your selected stash has a metal lid, you just may trigger the metal detectors when you re-board. (Ooops, did I forget to mention
metal detectors?) |
