Getting booze on board
 

Thanks for all of your answers to my previous questions. I'm at 1.5 days and counting until my cruise. I just discovered how hard RCCL is on their bring-on-board booze policy. So how do you do it? What's your secret? Some people say nalgene's. Others say just wrap every bottle in a couple layer of clothes. How are the prices in the duty-free shop? Is it worth it to buy the bottle and pay the consumption fee? How do I get around the corking fee?

Thanks!

We refilled our water bottles with vodka and other clear liquors, and our friends wrapped several bottles of wine/champagne in their clothing. Packed clothes, not the ones they were wearing.

We drank a lot on board, too, so it's not like they didn't make any money off of our group...

Just put your booze in your checked luggage.

Don't bother with putting it in unmarked bottles. They won't even notice. In fact, I recommend using teh real glass bottles, unopened, to ensure that you don't have liquor all over yoru clothes.

If it's in your carry-on, they'll find it and confiscate it. If it's checked, they won't.

All that said, I smuggled some on my cruise last summer and never drank any of it. It's easier just to drink at the bars.

We were advised to wait until the first port because they don't check when you get back on board unless it is blatant. That said, I never opened the dang bottle!!! Always went to one of the bars even though we had this nice balcony lol!!! Linda

You can feel free to bring on as much wine as you'd like on board cruise ships. They allow this and they hope to charge a corkage fee to you if you bring your bottle to dinner. Some waiters charge the corkage fee and some don't. I believe that the fee is usually around $10. My wife and I usually bring a number of bottles on board, open them in our room, and drink the bottles at our leisure. You may want to bring a few magnum bottles on board for dinner since they are twice the normal size of a bottle and you can double your available wine for dinner while paying one corkage fee.

I have never had a problem with hard alcohol. I tend to either transfer the contents to plastic containers (soda bottles, water bottles, vodka bottles) primarily to help my luggage to be lighter. If I plan to drink at the pool, I generally pre-mix something with grenadine (ie. 1 part vodka, 1 part amaretto, 1 part southern comfort, 0.5 parts grenadine) so that I can mix it with either orange juice (to make an Alabama Slammer :D ) or lemonade (if available. You can purchase a fancy tropical drink glass at sailaway and then keep refilling it during the cruise to look like you have one of their drinks and you have a nice souvenier.

Either way, don't worry too much about getting anything confiscated as long as it is in your checked luggage.

Cheers!!

On some lines, anything you purchase in the duty free on board they hold for you.

I've never had a problem bringing stuff, I just stick in in the suitcase, or if coming back from shore in whatever carrying bag I'm using.

I'm pretty sure on RCC the alcohol purchased at the duty free shop was held until we got back to LA. I was so busy drinking, however, that my memory is a little fuzzy about the entire cruise. :)

I've brought a case of water in my checked luggage with no problem. I've also carried on liquor bought in port without confiscation.

I buy my drinks at the bar and wine at dinner. It just seems like too much trouble to smuggle and mix. I don't sit in my cabin and drink. That's no fun. That's what the bars are for.

Do you bring a bottle of liquor with you when you go to a bar? Do you bring your own wine when you eat in a restaurant? I don't find the prices on a RCCL ship to be any different, so why would I not buy my drinks there? How much money are you really saving?

how much are drinks on RCCL?

Mrs. Swede and I brought 3 bottles of wine onto our RCCL cruise (two Merlots and one Chardonnay). They were in one of our carry-on bags, and they were not confiscated. We took the Merlots to enjoy in the dining room (and paid the $12 corkage fee for each bottle). One afternoon, we decided to open the Chardonnay in the room. We passed our room attendant in the hallway and asked for some white wine glasses. When we returned to our room, there were two wine glasses, AND the bottle of Chardonnay was in an ice bucket! :)

About 10 years ago, my husband and I sailed around the Society Islands on the Windstar. The cruise just lent itself to drinking tropical drinks around the pool. After a couple of expensive Pina Coladas in which the alcohol was barely discernable, many of the pax upon docking in Bora Bora went right to the General Store and picked up a bottle of rum. It was kind of funny seeing how many "virgin" drinks were ordered after that. Nearly everyone by the pool had a beach bag which contained a bottle of rum or vodka. No doubt the cruiseline was aware of what was going on but it never became an issue.

As some others have stated here, just don't make a big issue of bringing it on board and you should be OK. Pack it in your checked luggage as others have suggested and make sure it's between some clothes as extra protection for breakage.
And if you're going to pick up some booze in port, don't carry it back on the ship while swigging out of a bottle. ;) Or by carrying it on board in a sack marked "Jose's Liquor Emporium". Just pack it in a generic shopping bag.

What others have said. If you bring it on board in an obvious fashion, it will be taken from you, and returned on the last night of the cruise.

If someone asks, "Do you have liquor in that bag?" just say no. You'll have no problems.

On Royal Caribbean, we brought a bottle of champagne on board and decided to share it with our table on the 2nd formal night. Our waiter started to get the corkage fee papers, and the head waiter came over and told him not to charge us.

we have had no problem on any cruise line....

have always put it in the checked bags...

also, no problem w/ that bought at port calls....

it varies by line whether you can drink stuff bought from the duty free on board....have seen it both ways....on one, you paid a couple of $ more at one of the bars for a bottle.....the pacific princess, iirc hnl-osaka a couple of yrs back...

have fun.

I just got back from our 4 night cruise. I did what was suggested and packed 2 bottles in my checked luggage. It got to my room no problem. As many have said earlier, we didn't really drink that much in the room, but we did have a couple people in our group who got the coke package and ordered cans of tonic for our gin which we carried to the pool deck in a water bottle. All in all, it was very successful and we figure that we saved everyone who dabbled $20-$50. Long story short, if you bring it on board, it won't save you a ton, because you're not going to carry it with you a lot. But it will save some money if you figure ways to use it. Still didn't stop my girlfriend and me from racking up $400 in room charges (not just on booze). C'est la vie.

As for wine, I wish I'd had a chance to pick some up for the cruise beforehand. We bought the gold wine package and got 5 bottles for the cruise for a little more than $100. Not a great deal, but not bad either. 1 for each night at dinner and 1 more that we ended up bringing home.