Cruises - Bringing Alcohol Aboard Carnival Cruise

Hello

I am cruising on the Carnival Celebration in about a month. After reading Carnivals terms and conditions, I see that it is not encouarged to bring alcohol on board but you can bring 1 bottle of champagne/wine.

My goal is to bring aboard some beverages, preferably some liquor, beer, and cokes that will last me for most of the 5 day cruise. Do any FTers have experiences bringing aboard alcohol onto cruises and even some strategies for doing so?

Will plastic bottles explode in checked cruise luggage? How do you get beer to stay cold without a fridge in the room? Is the coke card worth it to make mixed drinks or is bringing my own coke aboard the best idea.

Crusied carnival twice. Both times brought aboard 5-7 bottles of wine, and a case of bottled water (we just put a luggage tag on the plastic wrapped case).

You should not have a problem putting a fifth of your favorite beverage in checked luggage. Transfer it to a plastic bottle and if you're paraniod, put it in a ziplock.

Never bothered with beer due to the issue with keeping it cold.

Coke cards are a good deal as long as you drink about 3 a day or more.

I'll tell you why the cruise lines are tightening up on BYO booze....the excuse of security. The underlying cause may be fear of lost profit, but in truth most cruise lines are now seaching luggage for hard liquor. All cruise ships now do a search of luggage even to a degree greater than airlines. One bottle of wine is allowed on most ships, but not the hard stuff. If you are flying to the port of departure, the water and sodas will be a problem both to buy before boarding and shlepping along. Your room is also searched when you are away from the ship or at meals. I took the precaution of running a thread around some of the items in my suitcase and it was disturbed during the pre-boarding search. I did the same with items in some of our stateroom drawers. Same result. We've cruised more than 20 times over the years. Not complaining, but security is tighter than ever.

I'll tell you why the cruise lines are tightening up on BYO booze....the excuse of security. The underlying cause may be fear of lost profit, but in truth most cruise lines are now seaching luggage for hard liquor. All cruise ships now do a search of luggage even to a degree greater than airlines. One bottle of wine is allowed on most ships, but not the hard stuff. If you are flying to the port of departure, the water and sodas will be a problem both to buy before boarding and shlepping along. Your room is also searched when you are away from the ship or at meals. I took the precaution of running a thread around some of the items in my suitcase and it was disturbed during the pre-boarding search. I did the same with items in some of our stateroom drawers. Same result. We've cruised more than 20 times over the years. Not complaining, but security is tighter than ever.

Well, YMMV, but different cruise lines are different. I would expect Carnival to be one of the most strict given their image problems.

On the other hand, we recently (12/26/2004) watched our luggage get taken from our hands and delivered directly to our cabin with no inspection on an upscale cruise line (Sea Dream). We had a minor amount of alcohol in nips in the luggage.

Now, I've never seen a cruise line stop you from taking Coke, Water, or other softdrinks brought on board. If you take the trouble to transfer liquor to plastic bottles (dark liquids to coke bottles and light liquids to sprite / 7up bottles, etc), I suspect you will get away with it.

-STC

I've never had a problem, but never sailed Carnival.

I also would never bring five days worth wtih me at once. Get a bottle or two or more in each port stop, there isn't any need to lug it all on board the first day. We always come back from port with bottled water, wine, and Diet cokes.

You check the baggage in on the dock at a reception center and see it again in your stateroom. Everything was gone through. One woman complained that vodka she had in Evian bottles was taken. I don't know how much she tried to bring along for a 14 day cruise. Plenty? Crystal cruise ships travel the world and are very sensitive on security issues.

We brought a 12 pack of water aboard a Royal Carribean ship this summer with no problem. It was in a suitcase. We were also allowed to bring 4 bottles of liquor to our cabin the last morning of the cruise on the same ship this weekend.

I have never had a problem bringing any beverage on board - and I always have packed it in my luggage. In terms of going through bags - of course it's the same as an airplane. In terms of going through your belongings in your room - of course some of the cabin attendants do - however it's not to see if you have liquor...it's to see what other fun things you brought! Take the opportunity to wear all your jewellry if you bring it with you and USE THAT SAFE for any items you do not want your cabin attendant going through.

I've done many cruises and "every time", I've smuggled beer & soda's on board in checked luggage but....

The last cruise was Feb 2004 out of Galveston (7-day Elation) and the 3 cases of smuggled beer and 2-1.75l bottles of pre-mix Margarita all made it but the cold ones in a med-sized ice chest that we hand-carried onboard quickly became an issue.

Basically - we had a pre-boarding beer party in the bathroom not wanting it to go to waste. We were allowed 2 sodas or water per person for the week only to take onboard.

That medium sized ice chest then became the in-room cooler and I tipped the cabin steward 1st day to "keep it full of ice all week" then I would give him the other half of the tip at the end of the week based on his performance. He even offerred to buy beer for us at a big discount (plus tip of course) but we had plenty.

Other trips - same deal but I agree - some lines are super strict and others not quite but I do agree with the other posters - in the name of "lost revenue", not security.

It is also funny to be pool-side watching how many brands of beer folks are drinking that are not sold on the ship....it changes after ever port of call too (naturally)!

Have a great trip and "smuggle smartly"!

I had this very question before going on my honeymoon last year. A great resource with lots of suggestions from cruisers is www.cruisecritic.com . Go to their forums and do a search, and you''ll find a good amount of cruise line-specific tips/suggestions. We ended up not bringing any aboard due to logistics of purchasing it beforehand, but learned a lot from that site.

Is that a pun referring to Natural Lite/Ice Beer?

:p

Great responses so far, thanks for the input. I think I am going to bring a handle of McCormick's Vodka in a plastic bottle, and some cokes in my carryon.

Keep the good advice rolling!



It is also funny to be pool-side watching how many brands of beer folks are drinking that are not sold on the ship....it changes after ever port of call too (naturally)!

Bring on a bottle of rum, sit at the pool and order" Virgin "Pina Coladas :)

Princess allows wine for stateroom OR for dining room consumption. We brought 6 bottles last cruise and my husband hands a bottle to the dining room captain before we are seated. There is a $10 corking fee but the savings are fab anyway. We took them in my husbands handcarry and had no problem.

My family had mixed results...my brother had a bottle in his luggage, and it was confiscated for security reasons, however, I chose to wrap two presents to myself (Liquor) and put them in my luggage, they were not searched, and I saved about $1000.

My family had mixed results...my brother had a bottle in his luggage, and it was confiscated for security reasons, however, I chose to wrap two presents to myself (Liquor) and put them in my luggage, they were not searched, and I saved about $1000.

Geez - how much were they charging for drinks?

My husband and I just got away with taking our own booze with us - and escaped all the hyped up charges for drinks. Before we left, we bought some CamoCaps (just Google it) which are simple bottle caps that make your own water bottles look factory-sealed. No kidding - it was the perfect solution and Carnival never suspected. Saved us mucho $$$!

These worked for me last year Rum Runner Flasks (http://www.kegworks.com/product.php?productid=172158). I put two of the small ones in my checked luggage (put one in my jeans pockets and the other one in the side pocket of my suitcase) and put the larger one in my carry-on... No issues either way...

HIt or miss. Might get through, might get called to the "naughty table" might get (doubt it severely) booted from the ship.

If you are gonna try it, use the rum runners or something similar

>"My husband and I just got away with taking our own booze with us"
But isn't that just illegal?

>But isn't that just illegal?

Don't know if it's illegal, but it's against some cruise ships rules... They each are different. Last year, leaving San Juan on Princess, we were told by the princess staff that we could bring two bottles of wine or champagne each onto the ship. On another cruise on Princess in the Baltic, they scanned our carry-on and I had two bottles of wine in it. Cruise literature said that you can have one bottle of wine or champagne.

The basic reasoning behind it is that they want to sell you the booze... If drinks were $4.00 or $5.00 each, a lot people probably wouldn't care and would just buy drinks on-board, but when they start hitting $8.00 or $10.00 per drink, some people look at it differently...

I am well aware of the cruise lines rules and regulations. I appreciate the pricing of drinks. OK, perhaps 'pricing' is not the best description. I know this topic is discussed ad nauseum on the Cruise Critic boards. But still...

My husband and I just got back from a great cruise where we were able to save bundles of money by taking our own liquor onboard just by using a simple product called Camo Caps (you can Google it) that makes an ordinary water bottle look like it's still factory-sealed. We came and went through lots of port security, carrying our special water bottles. No prob!

My husband and I just got back from a great cruise where we were able to save bundles of money by taking our own liquor onboard just by using a simple product called Camo Caps (you can Google it) that makes an ordinary water bottle look like it's still factory-sealed. We came and went through lots of port security, carrying our special water bottles. No prob!

So this is your second post for the same product in this thread! Do you work for them or something?? :D Why would that prevent the ship personnel from confiscating the bottles? If they x-ray your luggage and see the "water" bottles, wouldn't that raise a red flag? As opposed to the Rum Runners which hopefully and apparently get by undetectable? Just curious. Anyone else use the "Camo Caps" besides partypunch?

My husband and I just got back from a great cruise where we were able to save bundles of money by taking our own liquor onboard just by using a simple product called Camo Caps (you can Google it) that makes an ordinary water bottle look like it's still factory-sealed. We came and went through lots of port security, carrying our special water bottles. No prob!

Curious.......Where are you from???

a simple product called Camo Caps

Great product. Ridiculous price. Wonder how much it costs to manufacture...

I appreciate the pricing of drinks. OK, perhaps 'pricing' is not the best description. . I call it more of gouging... Kind of like the price of gasoline right now in the US... :(

> "I call it more of gouging."

Call it what you will, it is still cheating.

> "I call it more of gouging."

Call it what you will, it is still cheating.

I guess it's to each his/her own...

CAMO-CAPS are just blank caps the bottlers buy in bulk to seal up their bottles.

Take one full unopened water bottle. Puncture the bottle to empty out the content. Cut bottle apart leaving cap with seal intact.

We took some onboard recently and the couple with us got caught. They took all theirs and tried to make them like criminals. I guess it's hit or miss with the person looking at the machine at the given time. Hand carring water bottles seems to work. Of course you can only carry a few, but it's something.

Get the rum runners... They worked like a charm... Was able to get booze on the ship at every port. Got the smugglers option and even some extras in case I got caught. The idea to continue to "smuggle" more onbaord came once we were in port and found it much easier to almost immediately get back on ship after arriving. Think cargo shorts was the great option too!!

We were successful with putting vodka into a screw top wine bottle. Our friends tried to put Seagram's seven in a red wine bottle and were caught. Another one of our friends just tried bringing alcohol checked in their luggage. They were also caught and that was removed. We were the only ones that were able to get through.