ok to take food off ship on excursions?

Hi all,

We're sailing on the Island Princess through the Panama Canal (2day transit), embarking from Fort Lauderdale on 2/19/15. There's a ship excursion that looks interesting, in Mexico (Puerto Chiapas). Princess gives 2 possible times to take the tour, at 8:30 or 10:45 am. We'd prefer the later time, but there doesn't seem to be any food offered on this tour and we'll want lunch. Is it possible to get sandwiches, fruit, chips, etc., "to go" onshore? How about frozen ice-packs..?How would we do it: buffet, room service, or ..? We'll have our own cooler bag.

Thanks😄

They do have food in Mexico. Honest.

Lots of place do not want any food taken into their country.

In almost all ports it is against local agriculture laws to take fresh fruit, veg and meat off the ship. Punishable by a steep fine. Pre-packaged factory sealed things such as granola bars are acceptable.

The only things you're allowed to take off the ship are factory sealed items. There are printed statements in the daily that items like meat, baked goods and fruits and vegetables are expressly forbidden to be taken off the ship. Just like the US has strict agricultural laws, most foreign countries have the same laws.

Dont do it.

As was mentioned previously, there are laws in place to protect the agricultural and biological integrity of each country. You (and your bags) can be searched for meat, fruit, vegetables, etc. before departing the ship. At some ports of call, dogs are brought in to "sniff out" any forbidden items. As people line up to leave, you may even see a garbage can full of sandwiches, fruit and other packed lunch items that people attempted to bring off the ship. The fines for bringing these items on shore are stiff, and can lead to extensive questioning and investigation. This is especially true in Mexico. They take this VERY seriously.

Take a few prepackaged snacks to tide you over. When it is time for lunch, you can either find a nice restaurant or head back to the ship.

The cruise program will note the local restrictions for each port and this does vary by port.

Keith

In some countries like Australia and New Zealand, it is illegal to take even chewing gum or mints ashore. You will be arrested and fined if caught.

Eat a LATE breakfast, and take some sort of prepackaged stuff....if you're on a tour, you certainly don't want to be eating a full meal in front of the other folks on the tour, and as others have said...it's illegal to take fruits, meats, cheeses, flowers, etc...ashore.

Only prepackaged foods can be taken off the ship. Some places have significant fines. In some places collecting the fine and the talk that will go with it will cause you to miss the tour.

Hi all,

We're sailing on the Island Princess through the Panama Canal (2day transit), embarking from Fort Lauderdale on 2/19/15. There's a ship excursion that looks interesting, in Mexico (Puerto Chiapas). Princess gives 2 possible times to take the tour, at 8:30 or 10:45 am. We'd prefer the later time, but there doesn't seem to be any food offered on this tour and we'll want lunch. Is it possible to get sandwiches, fruit, chips, etc., "to go" onshore? How about frozen ice-packs..?How would we do it: buffet, room service, or ..? We'll have our own cooler bag.

Thanks��

The talk about laws is true, we take a sandwich plastic bag with you!

We sometimes make a sandwich! No one ever stopped us! The crowds at the ports leaving the ships are just too much!

If it worries you,,,bring some pkged. granola bars!

Some people with diabetes, etc. need a little pick me up!:)

Mexico is fairly cheap when it comes to food, Grand Cayman was really expensive! :eek:

Hi all,

We're sailing on the Island Princess through the Panama Canal (2day transit), embarking from Fort Lauderdale on 2/19/15. There's a ship excursion that looks interesting, in Mexico (Puerto Chiapas). Princess gives 2 possible times to take the tour, at 8:30 or 10:45 am. We'd prefer the later time, but there doesn't seem to be any food offered on this tour and we'll want lunch. Is it possible to get sandwiches, fruit, chips, etc., "to go" onshore? How about frozen ice-packs..?How would we do it: buffet, room service, or ..? We'll have our own cooler bag.

Thanks😄

no. you are not allowed to bring anything off the ship other than bottled water and factory sealed items

The talk about laws is true, we take a sandwich plastic bag with you!

We sometimes make a sandwich! No one ever stopped us! The crowds at the ports leaving the ships are just too much!

If it worries you,,,bring some pkged. granola bars!

Some people with diabetes, etc. need a little pick me up!:)

Mexico is fairly cheap when it comes to food, Grand Cayman was really expensive! :eek:

Just because you have gotten lucky by taking a sandwich off the shop does not make it legal.

To the OP, if you are concerned, bring pre-packaged foods with you like granola bars.

The talk about laws is true, we take a sandwich plastic bag with you!

We sometimes make a sandwich! No one ever stopped us! The crowds at the ports leaving the ships are just too much!

If it worries you,,,bring some pkged. granola bars!

Some people with diabetes, etc. need a little pick me up!:)

Mexico is fairly cheap when it comes to food, Grand Cayman was really expensive! :eek:

and here we have "the rules of another country don't apply to me" cruiser.

On my last two cruises I have seen dogs smelling people on piers looking for food. In one case, a family with children was asked to to go with the dogs handler. He didn't look very friendly. I would not want to subject my family to that.

As stated by many people here (and on previous threads on the same topic), do not take off ship's food. For some ports (as BM noted above, Australia is a concrete exception -- that is one place not to have any food on your when you leave a ship), you can bring an unopened, factory sealed item such as a granola bar or power bar if you feel you'll be away from food. Often long excursions will have a food stop (hopefully this will be listed in the description).

And please if you ever visit California, we do take laws regarding entering with fruit and vegetables very seriously. We're not fond of mass pest spraying here.

Hi all,

 

We're sailing on the Island Princess through the Panama Canal (2day transit), embarking from Fort Lauderdale on 2/19/15. There's a ship excursion that looks interesting, in Mexico (Puerto Chiapas). Princess gives 2 possible times to take the tour, at 8:30 or 10:45 am. We'd prefer the later time, but there doesn't seem to be any food offered on this tour and we'll want lunch. Is it possible to get sandwiches, fruit, chips, etc., "to go" onshore? How about frozen ice-packs..?How would we do it: buffet, room service, or ..? We'll have our own cooler bag.

 

Thanks😄

DO NOT TAKE ANY UNINSPECTED AND NOT PREPAGED (for retail sale) FOOD OFF A SHIP ANYWHERE IN CALIFORNIA. AGRICULTURE IS ONE OF OUR MAJOR INDUSTRIES. WE DO NOT NEED YOUR PESTS OR EVEN THE POSSIBILITY OF YOUR PESTS. I think I speak for residents of Hawaii as well.

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DO NOT TAKE ANY UNINSPECTED AND NOT PREPAGED (for retail sale) FOOD OFF A SHIP ANYWHERE IN CALIFORNIA. AGRICULTURE IS ONE OF OUR MAJOR INDUSTRIES. WE DO NOT NEED YOUR PESTS OR EVEN THE POSSIBILITY OF YOUR PESTS. I think I speak for residents of Hawaii as well.

 

 

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This is true for many parts of the world. Introducing species to an area can have enormous consequences for the native species.

Bottom Line: Do NOT take food off the ship with you. ;)

In some countries like Australia and New Zealand, it is illegal to take even chewing gum or mints ashore. You will be arrested and fined if caught.

Arrested n Australia for taking food off a ship, I think not.

Fined YES!

The talk about laws is true, we take a sandwich plastic bag with you!

We sometimes make a sandwich! No one ever stopped us! The crowds at the ports leaving the ships are just too much!

If it worries you,,,bring some pkged. granola bars!

Some people with diabetes, etc. need a little pick me up!:)

Mexico is fairly cheap when it comes to food, Grand Cayman was really expensive! :eek:

And one day you'll find one of the cute little Beagle pups sitting down next to you. My bride was once pulled out, on a cruise that didn't even leave Australia because a day or so earlier she had had a Banana in her bag, all waqs fine after they looked in her bag but some countries take this issue extremely seriously.

At baggage claim after an international flight into the US, the beagle picked up on a woman near us. After she denied having any fresh food, they found two apples, She was pretty rude to the Ag guy. Last we saw of her she was being led to a room. We headed to our connection so I don't know what happened, how long it took or how much it cost.

At baggage claim after an international flight into the US, the beagle picked up on a woman near us. After she denied having any fresh food, they found two apples, She was pretty rude to the Ag guy. Last we saw of her she was being led to a room. We headed to our connection so I don't know what happened, how long it took or how much it cost.

Thanks for this because it really does happen.

We had this happen with some ahead of us on a simple Caribbean cruise at a port stop in Barbados. Seems they had packed sandwiches & fruit from the ship and were caught and led away to someplace. Don't know the outcome because we just moved on as directed. :rolleyes:

LuLu

I was visiting some friends in Ottawa a few months ago and their cable tv (Rogers) had a show about people trying to bring things through Canadian Customs. Really interesting. One segment showed a lady insisting she had no meat in her bag. Upon inspection she had, if I remember correctly, some sort of small meat biscuit - several of them.

I was visiting some friends in Ottawa a few months ago and their cable tv (Rogers) had a show about people trying to bring things through Canadian Customs. Really interesting. One segment showed a lady insisting she had no meat in her bag. Upon inspection she had, if I remember correctly, some sort of small meat biscuit - several of them.

I don't ever want to see the words 'small meat biscuit' again.

Just sayin' ,,,,,,,

Wow, thank you, everyone, for setting me straight. Sometimes it's easy to see trees where the forest should be ...

We'll figure it out. Nobody will starve. Living in L.A., I'm well aware that "they have food in Mexico," as one poster had it. I just was thinking about creature comforts rather than the fact that we would be going into a sovereign nation with its own laws, etc. Having spent an extremely nervous half-hour once in an Ensenada police station, I know they have laws in Mexico, too.

I'll try to ask a less ridiculous question next time.😌