Excursions: Take food off ship to bring?

Here they are and they had 4 bags full from the two ships. I could not believe the amount of food stuffs people would bring off.

The rule is no food, but they never check. I' be thought about taking a sandwich off in a zip lock bag which we always carry. Never have but do carry snack bars.

Basically your advice is to the poster, it's ok break another's countries laws because you did successfully?

Seriously, it's against just about every countries laws not to bring or import food unless it is a sealed package. Just don't do it, and you will be fine.

No. I have never taken food off the ship other than prepackaged snack bars. Please read before you jump me. I said they have never checked.

We are taking the Dream late June and we were looking at excursions and some of them last 6 hours or more. There are options to take the excursions with or without a meal. I'd consider without the meals and save a few bucks if I can take food off the ship and eat it on the bus or at the destination. Is that acceptable or are there rules about taking food off the sip at ports of call?

Only factory sealed pre packaged foods are allowed off. Everything else is subject to confiscation and a fine.

Figure out your port times, sometimes you get off the ship early, other times you will be back for a late lunch. Also look to see what local budget treats are. My kids are picky but many places have a local bread or pastry to try. I've never booked an excursion through Carnival. Some independent excursions include some food or at least drinks. We always have extra boxed cereal in our room as my son will eat that during the day even if we are on the boat. So we bring a few of those along.

Buy the excursion with the meal....jeez.

Here they are and they had 4 bags full from the two ships. I could not believe the amount of food stuffs people would bring off.

Same here! :rolleyes: Totally amazed at the amount and variety of food confiscated in Barbados! People had big zip lock bags full of cold cuts and such in addition to massive amounts of fruit! :eek:

LuLu

My husband is a diabetic, and needs to eat on a fairly regular schedule. We *always* bring some pre-packaged items with us that we can take off the ship for excursions. I usually bring an assortment of nuts, crackers, candies and the like that can be used to get his blood sugar levels up if he's starting to get shaky. Many's the time we've seen others staring at us longingly while we enjoy our snacks, if the excursion runs especially long.

Years ago it was allowed to bring food off the ship but the local authorities decided to enforce their rules and searching passengers bags. The rule basically designed to stop the spread of pest but in reality it is to help the local economy.

This is kind of a no brainier. Wild fish were not meant to eat our highly processed sugary cereals. Lots of snorkel tours will throw out chips, crackers, etc and it is not good for the fish, though they do go crazy for it.

It's not good for people either but they do go crazy for it too.

I have never understood not eating in the port, rather than bringing food off, or rushing back to eat. No confrontation here, its just one of those things that we look forward to at each port, is someplace to try the local foods.

 

I have never been disappointed. :)

Think of it this way, the cost of all your meals is part of your cruise fare, so all your food is paid for. Any meal you buy in port has been paid for twice and is a money loser.

That being said, I don't plan my port excursions around meals and will pony up money for food if I need to, but if port time is short, you can bet me and my kids are having a big breakfast onboard and a late lunch when we get back.