Can liquor be purchased onboard?

THis is my third Celebrity cruise. This time we are doing back to back repositioning cruises. September 17-OCtober 15. (Imagine the bar bill!)

Anyway, I read on another board that some ships allow you to purchase liquor at the Duty Free on board, and you can consume it immediately(OK, NOT outside the store, wait until you get to the cabin.!) Supposedly you pay what might be considered a corkage fee. The example given was a $9 bottle of Smirnoff with a $9.50 fee to permit consumption on board.

Does anyone know it this policy is available on Celebrity ships.

I know all about how to smuggle liquor on board. (I finished reading the Carnival liquor smuggling threads and know all about the amount of food coloring needed when replacing Scope with Vodka. ) We will be flying in to Vancouver from Florida so we will already be risking customs search there. It just is not worth the hassle of bubble wrapping booze in the middle of the suitcases.

So if you know the answer to that question, please let me (and the others here) know.

Mucho thanks

Evana

Hi there: No you cannot comsume it on the ship they give it to you when the trip is over. So you just have to sneak it on like the rest of us. Lorelle

Thanks for the reply.

I had no problem at Xmas simply carrying a bottle of Vodka on in my carry-on. I was hoping that I could avoid the extra weight of the alcohol this time.

On both HAL and RCCL we were able to purchase bottles of licquor on board, of course not getting it duty free but paying about what we do at home and then taking it for cabin consumption. In fact on RCCL you can order it as a bon voyage gift. Too bad you cannot do this on Celebrity (can't do it on Carnival either)

When doing a b-2-b, purchase your needs the last day of your first cruise, and, walk to your room with your "duty free's"....that will solve half the problem!

I looked at the Bon Voyage packages 2 days ago, and noticed one that included a bottle of spirits, price started at $45 and went up to $55 depending on the quality of the brand.

Celebrity Century

Millenium Thanksgiving!

The policy and practice on this seems to vary from ship to ship, cruise to cruise. On my transatlantic cruise, we were allowed to purchase liquor in the duty free shop at duty free prices and take it back to our rooms in our own shopping bags. The shop was closed, of course, when we were in port.

bananavan,

On the Mercury last October, there was liquor for sale in the shop on-board, basically it was as you mentioned - extremely low price for consumption after the cruise - or with an additional amount added ($9.00-$10.00) for immediate use on the cruise. There are also packages that can be ordered prior to cruising, includes one bottle of liquor, mixers ans some snacks (nuts). Look on the CC website, under Bon Voyage.. As far as bringing your own, sounds like others, like myself, have had no trouble bringing it on board. However, you need to weigh the initial cost, plus the hassle, plus the corkage fee (if you want to consume it in the dining room). You'd have to weigh all the pros and cons for yourself.

Good luck!!

Tim

bananavan, what are your ports? Any chance you could just buy your necessities on your first or second port? I've had no trouble bringing a bottle onboard with my souveniers. Never been taken from me.

Going on CENTURY! Third X Cruise In Four Months!

As long as the liquor you purchasse is not duty free, they don't care if you bring it on board. Any duty free purchases will be held until the end of the cruise, whether it is purchased on shore or on ship.

Sun Princess 5/96

Sun Princess 12/97

Crown Princess 1/98

Sun Princess 11/99

R2 5/2000

Sea Princess 9/2001

GTS Summit 12/2002

GTS Summit 5/2003

GTS Summit 9/2003

Until Galaxy Transatlantic

I went o the century last summer, western, and i bought from the duty free store, a bottle of rum for about $18. and paid $9 bucks for the in cabin comsumption. So the answer to your question is YES you can buy from the ship and drink it on the ship.

My wife and I did b-2-b's on Constellation, 4/24, the transatlantic to Dover, and, the r/t Dover, to St. Petersburgh, 5/8-5/22.

On the transatlantic, they "confiscated" bottles at St. Thomas and St. Maarten, for "holding" until the end of the cruise. I purchased one bottle in each port; they were both "held"! I questioned the chief consierge, on the first day; he indicated "confiscations" were new company policy. I informed him that Celebrity's policy was not enforceable, and, my rights were being violated. The bottle was delivered to my room about two hours later. Same the next day, after leaving a telephone message to him.

Then, on the last day of our first cruise, I purchased two bottles in the ship's shop, and, walked them to our cabin.

So it appears that there is no real policy for Celebrity on this one.

So many different answers.

I have already decided that I will put one bottle into my back pack and carry it on to the ship. I did not have a problem with that at Xmas.

Tuggers, Are you also sailing on one of my trips on Summit? I noticed you answered on one of the Roll call threads. We will be doing the Alaska repositioning, September 17, and the Panama canal from San Diego to Lauderdale, October 1.

Hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend.

Evana

I was considering the Summit but switched to the Infinity.

Going on CENTURY! Third X Cruise In Four Months!

On Splendour of the Seas (RCI) we could buy bottle and pay $9.50 so we can take it with us to the cabin.

On the first night they had a special. We bought 2 bottles of vodka but payed only $9.50 once. (Same to Kahlula)

Don't try to sneak anything in. Even with $9.50 fee price was equal or cheapper than land prices!!!

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<UL TYPE=SQUARE>

<LI>Zuiderdam 8/21/04 FLL - Key West - Cozumel - Grand Caymans - Half Moon Cay - FLL

<LI>Splendour of the Seas 05/15/04 Barcelona - Marseilles - Villefranche - Livorno - Chivitavecchia - Naples - Barcelona

<LI>Century 07/12/03 Eastern Caribbean FFL-San Juan - St. Thomas - St.Maarten- Nassau -FFL

<LI>Komarno(Volga)07/91 Moscow - Astrahan' - Moscow (honeymoon)

<LI>Komarno(Volga)07/90 Moscow - Astrahan'- Moscow

<LI>Admiral Nachimov(or Nakhimov) (Black Sea)04/1986 Odessa - Batum

GO BRUINS!!!!

Tatka

The problem seems to be that they don't have a standard policy. If we knew we could buy for a reasonable price ($10 per bottle plus $10 'corkage') that would be fine. If ours turns out to be a cruise where they hold till the last night we will regret not trying to bring it on!!

Part of the confusion may stem from the operation of the onboard liquor store. My understanding is that it, like the other shops, is run by an independent contractor and not directly by Celebrity (although this may have changed). If so, then shop operators may have different policies about onboard purchases from those of Celebrity.