Excursions- Need Advice on Bringing Food off Ship

I am hoping you all could offer some advice. My husband and I are cruising on The Coral Princess next month. Two of our excursions are in Alaska and are over four hours long around lunch time. The excursions offer light snacks, but not lunch food. My husband has diabetes and needs to eat something more than snack food. What am I allowed to bring with us off the ship for him to eat for lunch? I’d love it if we could bring a sandwich or something for him. We plan to bring protein bars as a back up option if we are in a real bind. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Dawn

Updated location of ports

In many countries, you are forbidden to bring any type of unsealed food off the ship. They actually have food sniffing dogs in many of them. Bringing a sealed snack such as bar is OK almost anywhere however.

DON

You will be allowed to take off pre-packaged "sealed" foods. Most countries do not allow you to take off food from the buffet or other fruit/meat items. Grab a box of cereal from the buffet in the morning. Some stores have self stable milk in one serving sizes. Please check the patter and listen to the CD instructions for each port.

We are cruising Alaska if that helps. So it will be US ports.

Thanks!

I am hoping you all could offer some advice. My husband and I are cruising on The Coral Princess next month. Two of our excursions are over four hours long around lunch time. The excursions offer light snacks, but not lunch food. My husband has diabetes and needs to eat something more than snack food. What am I allowed to bring with us off the ship for him to eat for lunch? I’d love it if we could bring a sandwich or something for him. We plan to bring protein bars as a back up option if we are in a real bind. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

 

Dawn

My Dad had diabetes and always took prepackaged snack food when he was off of the ship. The rules are that you can not bring food off of the ship unless it is commercial, prepackaged items. Sometimes the rules are enforced and sometimes they aren't. Go prepared for either eventuality.

The only food you can take ashore is processed products like granola bars, snack bars, packaged snack items, bottled water. No fruit, no vegetables, no sandwiches. There are even places where you can't take a cup of coffee off the ship.

I would suggest you decide what you want to take on your excursions and have it with you when you embark. The selection of snacks for sale aboard ship is small and grossly over-priced.

Cruising Alaska will make no difference. The ship is not registered in the USA. Alaska has lots of food once you get off the ship. Take something to carry him over then enjoy a nice lunch in port.

We are cruising Alaska if that helps. So it will be US ports.

 

Thanks!

The U.S., including Alaska, does not allow food off of the ship, except for commercially prepackaged items such as granola bars, etc.

In addition to cereal/protein bars, I would probably purchase small bags of almonds or nuts, cheese sticks or baby bel cheeses, or take some small boxes of granola if they have them in the Horizon Court at breakfast.

Doesn't matter that it is a US port. We are in Alaska on the Island Princess right now and have a notice in our Patter.

From today's Patter:

"The U.S. Agricultural Departments remind you that heavy fines can be imposed for bringing any fruit, vegetables, flowers, plants, meats or dairy products into our ports of call."

Just as an aside. A few years ago the PBS travel show guy Rick Steves was on a Princess European cruise with his girl friend. They had a standard balcony cabin, but, being who he was, Princess comped them the suite perk of breakfast in Sabatini's. The girl friend posted in their travel blog that they always ordered a couple of ham-cheese-on-croissant breakfast sandwiches to take with them and stash in their backpacks for lunch while in port. Guess some people can get away with stuff like that. :confused:

Yes, sometimes you get the munchies. ;p

We are cruising Alaska if that helps. So it will be US ports.

 

Thanks!

They don't care where you cruise. Some of the raw products come from other countries like Mexico , Canada , China to mention a few.

They are very strict about any fruits or unprocessed foods in US ports. I got stopped at an airport at US entry once. Because I had a long trip before arriving in the US, I'd packed a lunch. I didn't eat all my grapes and put them in my backpack. Got dog sniffed. It was NOT a huge deal--I had to turn over the grapes and go to a "special inspection" line. Interestingly (and I don't think it was coincidence), on my next 2 US airport entries, I was also flagged for "special inspection." They didn't do a thing! I walked into the office and said "I think I'm here because on my last flight I had a partially eaten lunch in my bag." The guy laughed and waved me on--NO inspection at all.

You will often find containers reminding you to dispose of any fruits or unprocessed foods before approaching the immigration agents.

For your medical needs--take packaged, processed foods or plan on eating at a restaurant in town.

Bring things like pre-packaged food. Crackers, cookies, etc.

I am hoping you all could offer some advice. My husband and I are cruising on The Coral Princess next month. Two of our excursions are in Alaska and are over four hours long around lunch time. The excursions offer light snacks, but not lunch food. My husband has diabetes and needs to eat something more than snack food. What am I allowed to bring with us off the ship for him to eat for lunch? I’d love it if we could bring a sandwich or something for him. We plan to bring protein bars as a back up option if we are in a real bind. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

 

Dawn

Updated location of ports

Protein bars will work,

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/23/us/apple-delta-fine-customs-flight-500-trnd/index.html

Read about this "apple" mistake.

Yes, sometimes you get the munchies. ;p

Sadly, even if you have a medical need and a doctor's note, even if you're embarking in San Francisco (legal) or Seattle (legal) and visiting Alaska (legal), you can't take your munchies-making medicine with you.

As adorable little Jeff Sessions said, "Good people don't smoke marijuana." I guess his friends all use edibles instead.

Just as an aside. A few years ago the PBS travel show guy Rick Steves was on a Princess European cruise with his girl friend. They had a standard balcony cabin, but, being who he was, Princess comped them the suite perk of breakfast in Sabatini's. The girl friend posted in their travel blog that they always ordered a couple of ham-cheese-on-croissant breakfast sandwiches to take with them and stash in their backpacks for lunch while in port. Guess some people can get away with stuff like that. :confused:

they should have been stopped and fined and they wouldnt do it again

they should have been stopped and fined and they wouldnt do it again

Could'a, would'a, should'a. Like I said, some people apparently can get away with stuff like that. I'll never know because I will never have any celebrity status like Rick Steves has.

My husband is a diabetic and we always travel with Glucerna snack bars. Each bar is individually packaged and we have never had an issue taking them off the ships. Fresh fruit is a big no-no in many countries.

Just as an aside. A few years ago the PBS travel show guy Rick Steves was on a Princess European cruise with his girl friend. They had a standard balcony cabin, but, being who he was, Princess comped them the suite perk of breakfast in Sabatini's. The girl friend posted in their travel blog that they always ordered a couple of ham-cheese-on-croissant breakfast sandwiches to take with them and stash in their backpacks for lunch while in port. Guess some people can get away with stuff like that. :confused:

Celebrity status didn’t help Johnny Depp when he smuggled his dogs into Aus.

Could'a, would'a, should'a. Like I said, some people apparently can get away with stuff like that. I'll never know because I will never have any celebrity status like Rick Steves has.

Sorry we havent heard of him in Australia but even tho they should know better

Celebrity status didn’t help Johnny Depp when he smuggled his dogs into Aus.

yes our government were going to put the dogs down because they broke the law

yes our government were going to put the dogs down because they broke the law

I certainly didn’t agree with putting the dogs down, but did agree with stopping him from bringing them in.