Why do you bring food?

I've seen several posts lately about bringing food on board, or stopping at Walmart in port to pick up snacks, etc. I'm still a newbie (only 3 cruises with a 4th booked), but I'd never heard of doing this before. And I'm not sure I understand why. Can someone fill me in on the benefits of bringing your own food? I'm wondering if I'm missing some great cruise hack or something.

I totally understand why you'd bring your own if you have a special diet, or bringing on some soda or booze so you don't have to pay bar prices. I'm just talking about the regular old stuff (chips, candy, peanut butter, etc) that I've seen posted lately. We've always just been fine with the food on board, so unless there is some compelling reason, I doubt we'll start doing it, but it just made me curious!

TIA!

I wil frequently bring some pre-packaged snacks like granola bars or crackers to bring on excursions. You cannot take food off of the ship unless it is pre-packaged. I generally don't buy much food in the ports, since the ship has plenty of food that I paid for. Therefore the snacks help me from getting too hungry while on shore.

I bring my own tabasco in case they do not have it but other than that, I don't bring food. Plenty on the ship for us.

While there is a great abundance of food.

Salty and sweet snacks are lacking. If someone likes to have their favorite snacks its better to just bring them on.

They sell them on the ship,but at a huge markup.

If you haven't seen a need to purchase them in the past,probably not anything you are missing out on.

Triumph...

It is nice to have something in the room and I really like oreos and potato chips.

I bring low calorie cookies and chocolate candy so I don't go crazy on sweets :)

I have a kid. That changes life. :eek: I keep fruit/veggie pouches & granola in our travel backbag. I don't buy food at ports, we've always brought boxed cereal for ports.

If my kid was picky, I could see having a jar of peanut butter if the cruise line didn't offer pb&j! And yes, they are lacking in chips/candy. I never felt the need to bring or buy that kind of stuff.

Before kid I'd buy a lollipop (the big ball ones) before the main show. I have no idea why. i know it would have been cheaper to bring with me, but idk, never thought about it.

We do same with sweets like candy and crackers and stuff to tide us over. We also bring soda and bottled water. Even still we buy stuff on board too. It's just in case we are between meals and don't want to go to the store for snacks.

While there is a great abundance of food.

Salty and sweet snacks are lacking. If someone likes to have their favorite snacks its better to just bring them on.

They sell them on the ship,but at a huge markup.

 

If you haven't seen a need to purchase them in the past,probably not anything you are missing out on.

I agree with DaytonCruiser. Salty snacks especially are lacking. Carnival used to have salty snacks on the bar, but stopped. I guess that was one of their cost cutting measures. They also cut out the free sushi on promenade in the evening before dinner. So if you like a salty snack with your favorite beverage, you have to bring it yourself.

And sometimes I just wake up in the middle of the night and want a snack and don't want to wait an hour on room service. It's just really convenient to have a snack in the cabin for when you don't want to get dressed, or there's nothing open but pizza.

I bring granola bars onshore because I would not eat anything on most islands.

I have never found a lack of food at anytime of day or night, but healthy food is a whole different story. I try to plan excursions when they dont mess with meal time, but when I take the next Elation trip, and the excursion is a whole day, I will take something like KIND bars. Diagnosed a diabetic last year, makes a lot of sense of my previous munching habits, but do need a snack during the afternoons. Too bad they dont allow you to take an orange or apple off of the ship, but i understand the reasons. And not sure i would want to eat fresh produce in MX, after getting the tummy terrors years ago with the same traveling friends.

There is so much salt in the foods on the ship, I am always searching for healthy, so salty snack is not something i am looking for, and sweet? I do tea every sea day.:p

On my first cruise, i loaded up with stuff to nibble, now that I know what is there, and have to plan each meal, each calorie and carb? I travel light and check out the menus on zydeco's carnival menu web site.

I had to laugh at the Triumph comment, now all ships have added generators, for just such a time. and hopefully there never will be another time.

We are going on our 4th cruise and have never packed our own food. I just don't see the need. Although those with kids I can totally see how life changes and and so do circumstances!

We will for the first time on this cruise be brining drinks! We will probably bring a few energy drinks and likely a few sodas!

I'm planning on bringing a bag of tortilla chips on the Conquest. I hear the Conquest has salsa but no chips. Yikes!:eek:

I have a kid. That changes life. :eek: I keep fruit/veggie pouches & granola in our travel backbag. I don't buy food at ports, we've always brought boxed cereal for ports.

 

If my kid was picky, I could see having a jar of peanut butter if the cruise line didn't offer pb&j! And yes, they are lacking in chips/candy. I never felt the need to bring or buy that kind of stuff.

OP here. We have two kids as well (2 and 6 on our upcoming cruise), but trying new things in ports is one of our favorite activities. But it sounds like eating the local food is a common concern among those of you who answered, so I can see why you would bring snacks if that wasn't your thing. DH LOVES his street tacos, so we'll probably have to seek those out every day we are in port on our Mexican Riviera cruise :p

Thanks so much to everyone who answered, you've helped me understand the rational. I think we'll save the space in our luggage, but it's good for reference! Though after that post about the Triumph, I'm tempted to bring a suitcase of nothing but food!

Triumph...

Naughty

I bring my own tabasco in case they do not have it but other than that, I don't bring food. Plenty on the ship for us.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who brings my own Tabasco ... just in case! :D

Triumph...

Or being stuck in the Long Beach Dome for six hours waiting for the Sheriffs and FBI to finish investigating an overboard.

We bring on hard candy and add-ins for Hot Chocolate. Some liquids and peppermint kisses and puny dried marshmallows.

When sailing Princess we also bring on HC.

I wil frequently bring some pre-packaged snacks like granola bars or crackers to bring on excursions. You cannot take food off of the ship unless it is pre-packaged. I generally don't buy much food in the ports, since the ship has plenty of food that I paid for. Therefore the snacks help me from getting too hungry while on shore.

Me too.

Plus for the plane trip to the ship and back home.

We find more than enough to eat on board. We do bring some pre-packaged food to take on excursions. We take mostly private excursions which often do not include a meal

Just my tea.

As a diabetic I often bring my own snacks for excursions or healthy munching in the cabin. People who don't have to worry can just go grab a slice of pizza or some cookies or something. I have to be more careful. :)

My husband used to like to have salty snacks such as cashews or barbecue potato chips. He would have them with a drink while I'd be getting ready for the evening.

I have never seen those chips on a ship nor did they have cashews for sale. I know some bars used to have things like goldfish or sesame stix mix, but others had their hands in them and who knows where those hands were before eating the snacks?

My husband would also have these snacks at home in the late afternoon, so he wanted them while away. I wouldn't think of having a burger or something for a late afternoon snack, but would have regular chips if I wanted something. I didn't bring any of those for me, just things for him. So, even though there is food all around, it doesn't mean that it is something that we crave at the time.

I got five individual packages of teddy grahams and goldfish - a) for the plane rides, b) for layovers, c) if I'm locked in my room because of a typhoon, and d) if I need a snack - don't like the room service offerings and the pizza bar sucks at 1am.

I bring them for the trip to the ship and back home. Also for excursions. I tend to do all day excursions that don't always provide lunch so I need something to keep me going. And worse case scenario, the ship loses power and can't cook food, at least I have my granola bars. ;)