embeecee Posted July 6, 2013 #1 Share Posted July 6, 2013 I've seen on here where people pack cold drink cups/re-usable water bottles and wanted to be sure before I pack them, are they allowed off (and back on) the boat on excursions? We went on a disney cruise to Canada last yr (my 1st/only so far) and people tried to take food off the boat but weren't allowed. Tks! embeecee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul929207 Posted July 6, 2013 #2 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Food is restricted because it may contain insects that would be harmful to native vegetation and/or animals. As far as I know there are no restrictions on carrying water off the ship. We sail with Princess and always carry our water bottles off. We refill them on the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ducklite Posted July 6, 2013 #3 Share Posted July 6, 2013 We've taken reusable water bottles to the Caribbean, Bahamas, and Europe with no problem. We don't believe in plastic water bottles when there is an option to refill our bottles with potable water either from the ship or onshore (obviously some discretion on this is strongly advised in some countries!) and we figure we've saved at least 3000 plastic bottles from going to the dump and have kept thousands of dollars in our pocket since we switched to reusable. The only countries which may not allow you to bring a filled water bottle onshore would be Australia and New Zealand, however you should be able to carry an empty refillable and then fill it with potable water once on land. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul929207 Posted July 6, 2013 #4 Share Posted July 6, 2013 We've taken reusable water bottles to the Caribbean, Bahamas, and Europe with no problem. We don't believe in plastic water bottles when there is an option to refill our bottles with potable water either from the ship or onshore (obviously some discretion on this is strongly advised in some countries!) and we figure we've saved at least 3000 plastic bottles from going to the dump and have kept thousands of dollars in our pocket since we switched to reusable. The only countries which may not allow you to bring a filled water bottle onshore would be Australia and New Zealand, however you should be able to carry an empty refillable and then fill it with potable water once on land. We had no problem with bringing re-filled water bottles ashore in Australia. They checked our bags for food items, but did not care about the water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted July 6, 2013 #5 Share Posted July 6, 2013 You can not take food off the ships. But you can bring food items onto the ship for consumption. If you have pre-packaged food like snack crackers that have not been opened, you can take those off the ship. For excursions, we have always taken our own re-usable water bottles off the ships -- never had a problem anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leslieart Posted July 6, 2013 #6 Share Posted July 6, 2013 I always advise people to bring water bottles. Drinking water can be scarce in port and bottled water gets expensive. And...it's hot in the tropics. It's easy to get dehydrated, especially children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmoo here Posted July 6, 2013 #7 Share Posted July 6, 2013 We've only had one port in all our cruises that we had to have a sealed water bottle if we wanted to take water ashore. All the other ports, we've just use our re-usable ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipgeeks Posted July 6, 2013 #8 Share Posted July 6, 2013 For hygiene reasons, there might be a restriction on filling personal water bottles direct from the dispensers in the buffet. It's better to ask a server to fill them, or use a pitcher, or fill them in your cabin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul929207 Posted July 6, 2013 #9 Share Posted July 6, 2013 For hygiene reasons, there might be a restriction on filling personal water bottles direct from the dispensers in the buffet. It's better to ask a server to fill them, or use a pitcher, or fill them in your cabin. On Princess there are signs asking people not to refill glasses. I get a clean glass, fill it with ice or water and pour that into my bottle. Repeat until full. BTW, we like the bottles with the wide mouth as it is easier to fill with ice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slidergirl Posted July 7, 2013 #10 Share Posted July 7, 2013 If you are worried about that empty bottle taking up valuable luggage space, you can look into the Vapur and Platypus brand "bottles". They are totally flat when empty, except for the spout. Various sizes are available. You can find them at REI, Amazon, Eddie Bauer, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul929207 Posted July 7, 2013 #11 Share Posted July 7, 2013 If you are worried about that empty bottle taking up valuable luggage space, you can look into the Vapur and Platypus brand "bottles". They are totally flat when empty, except for the spout. Various sizes are available. You can find them at REI, Amazon, Eddie Bauer, etc. You can also fill the bottle with other items if space is a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted July 7, 2013 #12 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Reusable water bottles are fine. Food varies by port around the world. In general it is fine to take pre-packaged food off the ship but not regular food. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ducklite Posted July 7, 2013 #13 Share Posted July 7, 2013 If you are worried about that empty bottle taking up valuable luggage space, you can look into the Vapur and Platypus brand "bottles". They are totally flat when empty, except for the spout. Various sizes are available. You can find them at REI, Amazon, Eddie Bauer, etc. We filled ours after security at the airport and carried them on, they don't count as a carry on item. We have gotten into the habit of carrying a water bottle with us everywhere, and drinking from it regularly. We drink a half gallon a day minimum this way, which is very healthy for your body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delily Posted July 7, 2013 #14 Share Posted July 7, 2013 On my recent cruise to the Med, we took our water bottle off the ship everyday. There was one port however (I don't remember which one) where we were told we could not bring water back on board. It wasn't a big deal though. We just dumped the water out and carried on our empty bottle. In Florence, we were not allowed to take any water into the Uffizzi. Again, we just emptied our water out and carried the empty bottle in our bags. People who had regular bottled water had to throw their bottles away before they could enter the museum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizG12 Posted July 9, 2013 #15 Share Posted July 9, 2013 In Florence, we were not allowed to take any water into the Uffizzi. Again, we just emptied our water out and carried the empty bottle in our bags. People who had regular bottled water had to throw their bottles away before they could enter the museum. just curious... couldn't they have also emptied out the 'regular bottled water' and re-used the bottles later? :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chengkp75 Posted July 9, 2013 #16 Share Posted July 9, 2013 On my recent cruise to the Med, we took our water bottle off the ship everyday. There was one port however (I don't remember which one) where we were told we could not bring water back on board. It wasn't a big deal though. We just dumped the water out and carried on our empty bottle. In Florence, we were not allowed to take any water into the Uffizzi. Again, we just emptied our water out and carried the empty bottle in our bags. People who had regular bottled water had to throw their bottles away before they could enter the museum. Reusable water bottles are fine, whether rigid, collapsible, or even the Brita filter type. CDC/USPH requirements do not allow anything that has touched your mouth to be used to depress the dispensing lever of the drink dispensers onboard, or to touch the spout of the dispenser. This is the reason for requiring a clean glass every time, and why you use a clean glass to fill your bottle, not the bottle directly. If you carefully pour from the glass to the bottle without touching the glass to the bottle, you may reuse the glass to continue to fill your bottle, but if the two items touch, you should use a clean glass every time. Don't worry, there are plenty of glasses, and separate dishwashers for glasses, so they get done quicker. Unsealed water bottles coming ON the ship are frequently asked to be dumped, as the ship cannot verify the safety of the water, even if it was filled onboard and not finished. Taking water off the ship is generally no problem, but some ports will have restrictions. I think the museum was just requiring no liquids inside, so it didn't matter whether the bottle was sealed or not, you had to dump them out before entering. Be aware that there is a cottage industry in some countries of refilling water bottles with local water and installing a new sealed cap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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