Holland Americas Liquor Policy

I called Holland America and got conflicting answers. I tried a search on Cruise Critic but obviously don't know how to make this work. What I'm trying to find out is...1. Can you legally bring your own liquor onboard or...2. can you buy it on the ship and use it in your room...or 3. do you have to pre-order like a bon voyage gift to yourself? I understand how it works with wine, but I'm specifically needing to know about the hard stuff. Thanks for your help!

I would be interested in knowing how HAL answered that was confusing.

 

1. You cannot legally bring on liquor or beer. You can legally bring on wine and champagne.

 

2. You can buy a bottle of liquor onboard legally from any bar or from room service and drink it in your cabin. It is not duty-free prices. If you buy or bring on duty-free liquor in a port, it will be held for you until your last night.

 

3. You can pre-order liquor as a gift to yourself before boarding through Ships Services, but you do not have to. See #2.

 

I hope that clears up some of your confusion. :)

Thank you Peaches. Number 2 is the part they are struggling with at HAW reservations. I was told..."No" - anything purchased onboard is held. I specifically asked about the "gift to myself" and was told only wine would be offered. You've given me a ray of hope!

I am also interested in what confusing info you got from HAL. This policy has been in effect long enough that there is no longer any confusion. All the reps know the policy.

:) Seems we were posting at the same time.

 

 

 

You can call Ships Services in advance of getting to the ship and order liquor you want to drink in your cabin. It will be in your cabin when you arrive.

 

 

 

You can order liquor from Room Service or buy a bottle from a bar. The prices are about the same as you would pay in a liquor store...maybe slightly higher depending upon how good your prices are in your area.

 

 

 

No confusion on the ships. IF you buy liquor in the Liquor Store on board, that is when they hold the bottle until the last night. That is the lower price liquor and you cannot take that to your cabin for consumption during the cruise.

Thanks again guys. You've answered my question. I'd die of embarrassment if I broke the rules. I really appreciate your prompt answers.

Thank you Peaches. Number 2 is the part they are struggling with at HAW reservations. I was told..."No" - anything purchased onboard is held. I specifically asked about the "gift to myself" and was told only wine would be offered. You've given me a ray of hope!

(color added) AHA! Ask "ship services" to e-mail you a liquor and wine list. They even have popular packages (eg gin&tonic; rum&cola)"", then call them back to order it for your cabin. Reservations is the left hand, ship services the right. :)

Cheers

MarkB

Looks like my post got the GHSA!

Huh? Please translate GSHA. It it good???

Yes, mushroom, very good. Means my reply to you definetely had the correct information.

 

It really is confusing when you get conflicting answers from the cruiseline people and there is no excuse for all service areas not to know the policies, but it happens all the time. Glad you want to follow the rules. :)

May I muddy the waters with my question: When I am on my transatlantic cruise, if I buy alchohol at the European ports, what are the rules for bringing on wine and for bringing on liquor?

 

My last cruise was totally within Europe, so HAL did not seem to care. Does anybody know? susana.

Since the policy doesn't distinguish as to location/itinerary, I'd say it's the same. On our recent Prinsendam sailing round trip Amsterdam (totally within Europe) they were confiscating a fairly large quantity of spirits at the embarkation security checkpoint. We saw maybe 8-10 bottles, and we were relatively early boarders.

Huh? Please translate GSHA. It it good???

 

GHSA = Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval

I was also somewhat confused, and emailed HAL (from their website) inquiring about their hard liquor policy for cabin consumption. My request, and HAL's reply, are copied below:

 

To: HAL Ship Services (HAL)

It is our understanding that wine may be brought onboard, subject to a corkage fee. Please advise, however, if a bottle of liquor may be purchased onboard for consumption in our cabin. Thank you.

 

Subject: RE: Stateroom gifts and packagesDate:9/15/2005 7:34:05 PM Eastern Standard TimeFrom:HAL_Ship_Services@HollandAmerica.com

 

 

Thank you for your request, I am sending you the listing of our prices &

you can purchase this items prior to your sailing on directly onboard of

ship.. Please let me know if you have more questions or concerns.

 

Sincerely,

Miriam

 

Attached to the reply was a complete wine list, hard liquor list, and package list (liquor and mixers). Please note that the prices for liquor were comparable to what we would pay in our local store.

Yes you can have a bottle of liquor delivered to your cabin. You cannot buy one in the duty-free shop and take it to your cabin nor can you purchase a bottle ashore and take it to your cabin.

We were on Rotterdam in the Med in 04, and in greece for the Olympics visiting my wife's family. I came up with the idea to purchase small little bottles of Ouzo to hand out to co-workers when I got home. So during our port call in Crete, we found a little shop that had them. We haggled (more like DW who is greek haggled, I just loooked interested)on the price and got 25 of them for about 1 Euro each. We took them back to the ship from the tour we were on and passed right through ship's security pierside no questions asked. Now maybe they were smart enough to figure that these were gifts, I don't know and I can't say how they would react if we tried to bring a large bottle on. I would think in the case of visiting say San Juan, where rum is cheap, that they would let you buy it in town and let you bring it back provided it did not exceed the amount allowed by customs, and store it for you on board ship until you reached port.

 

You can buy things like Rum at the bar, usualy in a package deal with a couple of cans of soda tossed in, they will deliver it to your room but it's pricey. My DW who tends to go a bit far did that for me on Rotterdam and I couldn't finish all that in 16 days, so I brought it back to my favorite bar tenders in the Crow's Nest and gave it to them for thier next crew's party. Got an e-mail from them after I got home thanking me again.

 

Sorry for getting long winded.

 

Bob