hi! DH and i have booked firsttime cruise on Eurodam 11/13/10. we have a S category deluxe suite so are paying quite a bit. we definitly enjoy our Ky. bourbon and am wondering how possible it is bring a bottle on board. we will also be purchasing onboard "fufu" drinks, so they will still be getting their drink share out of us. we just plan on enjoying a few drinks sans great private balcony and could sure enjoy the least cost!
You can probably wrap it up in bubble wrap and put in your checked luggage and be just fine. The official policy is that you cannot bring liquor on board so if it is confiscated then you will be without it until they return it at the end of the cruise.
My suggestion is to A: Pre-order an in cabin bar set up through the Bon Voyage department. It will be more expensive than buying it and schlepping it onboard but a heck of a lot easier.
B: The last time I sailed HAL you could order a bottle from Room Service. I believe this is still true. More recent cruisers can correct me if I'm wrong.
Have an enjoyable cruise,
Mike
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"There is a great difference between being well traveled and just having been to many places." ~Me
It's good to know that HAL is a lot more lenient than RCCL.
Before our cruise last December, I called RCCL to ask if I could bring ONE bottle of special wine to celebrate our anniversary on board. I was told no...absolutely not. And in point of fact...when we arrived at the San Diego dock, RCCL security was running fast and furious confiscating liquor from passengers who were caught with it in their luggage before boarding.
Just for your information NCL is the most difficult for bringing on booze and they will scan your bag closely and then hold in a small room better known as the "naughty room"You then report to that room where you are required to open your bag for close inspection and they know all the tricks for hiding booze. This can take up to an hour or longer depending on the number of bags.
HAL checks all carry-on bags and puts them through a scanner upon boarding. Checked baggage does not seem to have this same scanning procedure. How could they check each bag and get them to your room so efficiently? Wine and soda are not confiscated.
If you bring wine into the dining rooms, you are charged a corkage fee totalling $18. This is still better than purchasing their wines plus service charge and you can enjoy the wines you prefer. The wine stewards we have encountered always enjoy chatting about the wines we bring on and are most gracious.
Sometimes accidents with the longshoremen can result in one's bags being roughly treated and one's bottles of "adult beverages" being broken. I've seen the mess this can generate. Once in San Diego the longshoremen dropped a whole cage of luggage over the side of the pier and into the water beneath the Oosterdam. Scuba divers retrieved the luggage, the bags were sorted on the mustering deck and the passengers to whom they belonged were invited down to open their bags. All clothing items were then taken and cleaned by the ship. All items that were not clothing that were in any way damaged were either directly replaced by the ship or their value paid to the passengers in the form of cash (in return for the passengers signing a letter).
The ONLY passenger who wasn't in any way compensated was the fellow who had 4 bottles of black-label scotch in his bags. They all broke, soaking his clothing and turning everything brown. Indeed, some of the scotch from the broken bottles seeped into the bags of other people, further ruining their clothing. The Line refused to pay to replace any of that specific man's ruined clothing since the ruining was due to the booze that he had attempted to smuggle aboard ship in contravention of the Line's policy. That fellow was NOT a happy camper.
__________________ Greg+
Booked and Up-Coming:
MS Amsterdam -- Alaska 14 -Days, September 7, 2012
With all due respect, I think that this was an unusual occurrence. The bottles we pack are not breakable and therefore I don't think this would present a problem. We enjoy our beverages in our cabin and, therefore, do not present a problem to the onboard profit/loss. We also enjoy the happy hours in the ship's lounges and dining rooms.
With all due respect, I think that this was an unusual occurrence. The bottles we pack are not breakable and therefore I don't think this would present a problem. We enjoy our beverages in our cabin and, therefore, do not present a problem to the onboard profit/loss. We also enjoy the happy hours in the ship's lounges and dining rooms.
Oh, I entirely agree ... that's why I said that it "sometimes happens" that accidents and/or rough treatment of one's bags can produce bottle-breakage. The specific circumstances I cited are, indeed, unusual. But bottle breakage for various reasons does happen, from time to time. So-long as one accepts that there's a chance that one could have a disaster, then "you pay's your money and you takes your choice."
__________________ Greg+
Booked and Up-Coming:
MS Amsterdam -- Alaska 14 -Days, September 7, 2012
We sailed HAL the last time a couple of years ago and did bring scotch on. We put it in our luggage. Never a question. We were not trying to smuggle it I will mention, but we had so much wine to carry on we didn't have a place for the scotch. many lines now are cracking down, I would expect HAL to do so in the near future...You can still bring all the wine you want on board. Again, that may change soon as well. If HAL has a bar set up program you might be safer just going that way.
I have to correct that, now Carnival and RCI are as strict and RCI doesn't even allow wine to be brought on. These lines are x-raying everything now as well. Expect the rest of the cruiselines to follow before long..
On one RCCL cruise the passengers in the cabin next to ours had their luggage held and they had to go get it...That was the first time we had ever heard of luggage being held. But it gave us the idea that all luggage is being scanned. Hey and these days...it's fine with me, scan away.
BTW: Later we happen to see our cruise neighbors coming back down the hall with their luggage, and they didn't look happy. They didn't volunteer any information and we of course didn't ask....but I was curious...
Splendour of the Seas 97
Veendam 05
Westerdam 06
Serenade of the Seas 07
Liberty of the Seas 07
Jewel of the Seas 08
Westerdam 09
Volendam 09
Solstice 10
Solstice 10
Caribbean Princess 11
Nieuw Amsterdam 11
Oasis of the Seas 12
Queen Elizabeth 12
Eurodam 13
Carnival Valor 13
yep, RCI and Carnival have taken the clue from NCL. I haven't heard anything about Celebrity but my guess is they will soon follow RCI, just a guess. In fact my guess is, all lines will within a year.
The only way to bring liquor on board is to pack it real well and put it in your luggage. I don't know about screening purpose, though. I had a friend that drank vodka and he carried it on in a large water bottle. Never got caught. You can purchase a bottle on board from any of the bartenders. Some passengers do this.
On all of our HAL cruises we have taken wine on board at the embarcation port and at several ports of call. Sometimes the bag of wine has included rum or brandy but we have only once been asked to leave liquor in storage until the last night.
We usually enjoy the wine in our room or on deck. We have also paid the $18 corkage (same for 750ml and 1.5L bottle) and enjoyed a shore-purchased bottle at a total cost that is less than a better wine on the HAL wine list.
On RCCL you cannot even buy liquor in Port and bring it on board without it being taken and stored until you leave the ship.
We were on deck watching passengers board in P.V. Mexico when a group tried to bring a couple of bottles of Tequila on board. We saw Security attempt to take the bottles but these passengers decided to open and finish both bottles right then and there. WHY???? We think it would have been a lot easier on them just to give the Tequila to Security and it back when the cruise was finished. But it did make for some good entertainment watching them try.
Mike, my recollection is exactly the same as yours. I don't know if you can still buy the bar set ups or not or bottles from room service. But even when you could the selection was very limited. If they want to charge a premium, that's fine, but I think they should let you buy liquor an board so you can mix your own drinks. That was the case years ago. The old Crown Odyssey had a liquor store aboard that had a good selection of rather over priced booze.
Frankly, I have yet to find a bartender that can make a Margarita the way I like it.
__________________
RichStacy
Landlocked in Denver, but cruisin every chance we get.
Polynesia, Carib. '86
Cr. Odyssey, Scandinavia, '91, 30 Day S Pac. 2002
Crystal Harm, Aust., N.Z., '94
Royal Odyssey, AK,'96
Old Cr. Pr. Canal, '97
RCCL, Carib, 1998
Volendam, Car, 2000
Ryndam, 35 day S. Am., Antarctica, '03
Is. Pr., Canal, 2004
Statendam, 34 day China, Japan, AK '06
Cr.Pr., Carib. 08
Eurodam, Atlantic, Med. '10 Golden Princess
I feel like an AA but, however, we wrap our bottles in whatever in our checked baggage and have had not encountered a problem. Hawaii (08 Zaandam) was a different situation in that there was an outside security checkpoint and once you passed that, you were "home free". We could go to any ABC store at the pier and purchase whatever and there was never any question. Have to say that HAL onboard drinks are not prohibitive and happy hours were generous. But, on the Eurodam, happy hours were from 5-6 PM which was early for us. Once we discovered the time differential, we just adjusted our happy hour. On the Noordam in November 09, happy hours were from 7-8 which was more reasonable for us.
I am fearful that if we continue this discussion, we will encounter more limitations on the various lines. Be careful what you wish for, it may come true. !
I always buy the largest bottle of Scope mouthwash, the clear one. Empty it, pour boiling water in, rince, a few times and you have a plastic bottle with no smell or taste. I am careful to not mess the labels up. I then fill it with vodka. Wrap in the middle of the luggage, and bring aboard! Never had a problem.
To avoid breakage, make sure the liquor is in a plastic bottle. I also buy the largest size Ziploc bags and put the bottles in those as well. This way, if the plastic bottle breaks (unlikely), there will be some barrier around it to protect your belongings. I actually do this with anything I pack that could leak (lotion, contact lens solution, perfume, hair products...).
__________________ Dec 2007 - Mexican Riviera - Dawn Princess Sept 2009 - Alaska - Golden Princess Nov 2010 - Mexican Riviera - Oosterdam
I have cruised 4 times already and the way that we are able to bring liquor on board is in our plastic soda bottles. I drink Kahlau and put it in a coke bottle,. my husband puts Crown in a Lipton Ice tea bottle and they never seem to care. Just match the color of alcohol with soda or tea color and you should be all set. Hope this helps
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bringing liquor on board?
Greg+
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