Can you bring alcohol onboard?

[RuffinReady]

Are you allowed to bring your own alcohol onboard a HAL ship, at embarkation or at ports?

Is the alcohol that you can buy at the store onboard kept stored until you depart or can you take it back to your cabin?

Ruffin

[ekerr19]

You are only allowed to bring wine and champagne. All liquor is confiscated at the gangway and held til disembarkation.

Any liquor purchased on board is also held til the evening before disembarkation.

Too many folks abused HAL's liberal policy allowing personal consumption - the new policy was put into place last year.

[jhannah]

I'm sure others will be along soon to tell you how you can "sneak" it onto the ship. Such tactics may or may not work. Ekerr19 is correct, however, that it is against HAL policy to bring any alcohol on board except for wine and champagne.

[ekerr19]

I'm sure others will be along soon to tell you how you can "sneak" it onto the ship. Such tactics may or may not work. Ekerr19 is correct, however, that it is against HAL policy to bring any alcohol on board except for wine and champagne.
Seriously - I've never understood the "sneaking"... personally, I'd hate to take a chance and have something break or open inside my luggage. We've watched the baggage handlers too many times!

Also, I forgot to mention - you can pre-order alcohol from Ship Services and it will be in your cabin at embarkation. I think the prices are all over the map, so it's best to call - but, we did get a good deal on ours.

[jhannah]

Seriously - I've never understood the "sneaking."Nor I. It just seems like it's not worth it to save a few dollars. As you said, order your favorite brand ahead of time ... or just try something different for a week or two.

[RuffinReady]

Also, I forgot to mention - you can pre-order alcohol from Ship Services and it will be in your cabin at embarkation. I think the prices are all over the map, so it's best to call - but, we did get a good deal on ours.
How do you go about ordering alcohol from Ship Services?

I will be going on the Prinsendam for 26 days and might like to have a bottle in my cabin.

Ruffin

[Krazy Kruizers]

RuffinReady

You can pre-order alcohol by calling ship-services at 1-800-541-1576. They have limited number of choices which includes 3 cans of pop for around $27.50 - $30 per package.

Or you can wait till you get on the ship and either call room service or go to a bar and order a bottle of your favorite alcohol for around $27 - no pop. But will include a 15% gratuity. And if your ship is leaving from any Florida port, unless you wait till you are at least 10 miles out to sea, you will get hit with another 7% tax.

26 days - you will need more than one bottle!

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have been on several cruises since this new alcohol policy went into effect.

On nearly every cruise, someone was at the gangway in each port to collect any alcohol you bought on shore. They would make the bottles with your name and room number and store it till the end of the cruise.

The only exception to this was on our last 21 day Pan American cruise on the Statendam - no collected anything from any of the ports.

[Cruise Junky]

We have friends who just did the 28 day up the Amazon and had two bottles of scotch taken when they boarded, but did witness a couple of people getting away with it at different ports.

[tommy]

In Oct. they basically checked in Ft Lauderdale,and not as much at the other ports we brought beer on at 2 different ports just kept it in a bag.If you get it thru ship services for the cost of of 3 beers you can buy a case in most ports. TOM

[elmorejj]

The bottles you order from room service have gone up considerebly since they started doing it. There will be a list inside the blue folio in your cabin. The rates run from about $27 all the way up into the hundred or more..of course thats according to what you drink. I drink J & B scotch, it was $35, my DH drinks Bacardi gold and it was $27. The bottles are slightly over a liter, more like the 40oz in Canada.....jean :cool:

[RuffinReady]

That's one of the things that irritate me about cruise ships. They profiteer when it comes to the purchase of alcohol onboard. They purchase it in bulk, pay no taxes of any kind and then want to charge as much or more than I would pay in a local bar or resturant. Greed, greed, greed. :mad:

Ruffin

[CanadianMAG]

So if you pre-order (wine in my case) you will save on the tip? and taxes?
did I understand that correct?
Do the prices of the bottles stay the same before the cruise, and during?

[PaulaJK]

They were aggressively collecting alcoholic beverages
upon returning to the ship. The young man in front of me
passed through in the midst of some confusion....but the
x ray monitor shouted out and the pax was pursued to the
nearby elevator where it was collected.

While I would not like to be carrying a suitcase of
booze, I can imagine why some people would like to collect
either local brew [eg tequila] or duty free bottles while
on land. The mixed drinks run 5.75 up and the bar bill
can become hefty quickly [also, they are weak pours].
A can of diet coke is 1.75. Wines run about 3-4x retail
price at home,a price increase you would see in
UPSCALE restaurants.

[jhannah]

That's one of the things that irritate me about cruise ships. They profiteer when it comes to the purchase of alcohol onboard.Well, they "profiteer" with photos and soft drinks, too. They are in business to turn a profit. But those things are optional. If they care to make money there so they can keep basic cruise fares affordable, that benefits the most people. Just like refreshments at the movies. Outrageous what they charge. But I can take it or leave it.

[Philip217]

Ruffinready,

In the "good old days" alcohol for ships was very low cost and they did make a healthy profit on it while charging very little.
Today is usually a different story.
The States are "nickel and diming" the cruise lines too. In many cases and in many states the company is required to pay a hefty tax on their so-called Duty Free alcohol.
That is after they pay a healthy fee to store it in a State-controlled Bonded Warehouse, but before they pay the union stevedores a small fortune to "handle it" through the warehouse.
If he alcohol comes aboard outside the USA, there is usually a tax levied by the country they are in.
Did you notice that many of the wines and spirits on the ships are produced in America? Most modern cruise ships have surprisingly small storage areas for things like cases of alcohol. It costs a lot of money to airfreight those thousands of cases to faraway ports for delivery to the ship. And taxes. American wine delivered in places like Brazil is rarely tax-free.
Add to that the current trend of drinking more wine and less booze. Wine is a high cost / low profit item compared to spirits. When the majority of guests drink wine, profits plunge.

A large ship today (1000 cabins / 2400 pax) sells about $150,000 in total beverages per week. Average NET profit (after ALL costs are covered) is about 10%. If a land-based hotel did so poorly, they would be bankrupt.

[RuffinReady]

Philip217,
I understand and accept that cruise lines must make a profit to stay in business, and that fares are only one item in that calculation. I didn't realize that they had to pay heavy taxes in foreign countries, especially in Caribbean islands for their alcohol. I am surprised to learn that most of their wine and hard liquor come from the states. I assume that Scotch is generally bottled in Scotland. Bourbon of course is from the states, and California and Washington are big wine producers but I expect that they are exported.

Even considering your employment by the industry, I am inclined to accept your explaination on it's face value. Philip217, thanks for your perspective.

Vegas Jim,
Okay, your points are well taken, but I don't know about the movies as I don't go there anymore. I wait for them to be on cable or available on DVD rental. I can give up the theater, but I'll be damned if I will give up my cruises!

Ruffin

P.S. I was allowed to bring several bottles of alcohol back onboard the Galaxy during a cruise to the Caribbean in June 2003. :)

[dakrewser]

I assume that Scotch is generally bottled in Scotland. Much Scotch is bottled in Scotland, then shipped to the US. Some is shipped in bulk and bottled here. In either case, it goes to an importer who sells it to the cruise line collecting taxes for the US and state governments (just like hotels and restaurants are charged). "Duty free" booze is sold only to individuals and is tightly controlled.

(Before I was in the computer security business I spent 15 years in the imported beverage industry!)

:)ave

[bdmarine]

I'm sure the beverage experts know what they are taling about. The bartenders must spend their mornings carefully pulling off the tax stamps since I've yet to see a tax stamp on a liquor bottle top in a cruise ship bar.

[dakrewser]

I'm sure the beverage experts know what they are taling about. The bartenders must spend their mornings carefully pulling off the tax stamps since I've yet to see a tax stamp on a liquor bottle top in a cruise ship bar.
You won't find them in most bars & restaurants, either. Tax stamps went the way of the dodo years ago in most states.

-dave