Vitamins over the counter through customs

[serendipity1499]

Thanks everyone for all the good info. First cruise in 20 years. Always wanted to do Alaska.

Leave 7/1

 

Wow, that's great to be going on your first cruise in 20 years..:):)

 

My first cruise was in the early 70's as a single girl with a co-worker.. It took 13 years after that for my next cruise.. The later cruise is the one I enjoyed the most as both my Husband & our good Friends were with us.. We all talk about it to this day..

 

Hope you have a wonderful time.. Alaska is beautiful!

 

P.S. We take all prescriptions in smaller labeled containers which I get from our Pharmacy & all vitamins & OTC Meds clearly labeled in Zip lock bags or a small pharmacy container.. Never had a problem..

Edited June 28, 2015 by serendipity1499

[kazu]

You can order once you get on board. From my experience, the price is the same, but the selection is a little better. Sure, you can't begin pounding cocktails the second you get to the room, but at least you'll have a fighting chance of remembering which drawer you stuck your socks in.

 

ha! ha! I don't order to pound cocktails but to budget bit by bit. I guess obc would have been a better move :)

 

If you order piece meal, DH's don't always clue in to the total cost ya' know? ;):D:p

[cruz chic]

I put my vitamins in a small plasic container and thankfully I have not had to replace mine. So many drug store etc vitamins contain magnesium stearate which is a manufactioning flow agent. This can make the vitamins pretty much useless and can be unhealthy. Trying to find vitamins that don't contain it can be quite difficult and are not usually readily available, at least in Calgary.

[POA1]

Japan cares. When entering there is a limit on the number of days worth of drugs you are allowed to bring with you (30 days, I believe). When starting a couple of consecutive cruises out of Japan, that can be a consideration.

That's something I've never thought of. What do you do to get around the restriction? Do you ship refills to a port agent? Bribe other passengers to be your Plavix mule? (That was intended to be humorous.)

 

Seriously, though - I'm curious. How do you sail from a foreign port with this kind of restriction and still keep up with your medication regimen? (Not intended to be funny. Serious question.)

[RuthC]

That's something I've never thought of. What do you do to get around the restriction? Do you ship refills to a port agent? Bribe other passengers to be your Plavix mule? (That was intended to be humorous.)

 

Seriously, though - I'm curious. How do you sail from a foreign port with this kind of restriction and still keep up with your medication regimen? (Not intended to be funny. Serious question.)

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, I didn't get to find out.

The first cruise of my double-header was chartered out from under me that year, so I canceled the second portion, too. When I took the similar cruise this year, it started in Hong Kong. By the time I got to Japan, my drug cache was below the 30-day limit.

(I got the humor. ;))

[Shmoo here]

Japan cares. When entering there is a limit on the number of days worth of drugs you are allowed to bring with you (30 days, I believe). When starting a couple of consecutive cruises out of Japan, that can be a consideration.

 

Specifically what kind of "drugs"? Narcotics? Any prescribed medication?

[sail7seas]

I believe there are some countries where regardless you have a valid Rx from licensed physician, they do not permit certain legal drugs to be brought into their country. It is important to check about such things in advance of traveling.

It is my understanding no codeine medications are permitted to be brought into Dubai, for example.

[RuthC]

Specifically what kind of "drugs"? Narcotics? Any prescribed medication?

It was not limited to narcotics. I believe it was all prescribed medication; I don't remember about OTC drugs.

[Shmoo here]

It was not limited to narcotics. I believe it was all prescribed medication; I don't remember about OTC drugs.

 

Okey-dokey. I'll have to keep that mind. We may be doing a cruise that has Japan as part of it. Don't know for sure, yet.

[RuthC]

Okey-dokey. I'll have to keep that mind. We may be doing a cruise that has Japan as part of it. Don't know for sure, yet.

I will say that Japan as port stops (turn-around day was in Kobe, but I was already on board) was easy. There were no queries about drugs.

 

It was the prior year that was a concern, as the cruise was departing from Kobe, so Immigration/Customs would have been done at the airport arrival. I would have had more than a 30-day supply to start out with. That's the place where I suspect the drug inspection would have been more of a problem.

 

At least you are aware to research this now. I wish you luck, as this is an interesting area of the world to explore, and it would be a shame to miss out.

[POA1]

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, I didn't get to find out.

The first cruise of my double-header was chartered out from under me that year, so I canceled the second portion, too. When I took the similar cruise this year, it started in Hong Kong. By the time I got to Japan, my drug cache was below the 30-day limit.

(I got the humor. ;))

Thanks.

[kirin]

Okey-dokey. I'll have to keep that mind. We may be doing a cruise that has Japan as part of it. Don't know for sure, yet.

 

If you want to do some research, the website for the U.S. Embassy, Japan is one place to start. Go to "U.S. Citizen Services" and click on "Medical." Within that article there is a link to a page that actually lists a number of banned prescription and OTC medications.

 

However, Japan is not draconian. Entering at an airport and having Sudafed in your luggage is not going to get you taken away to jail. (Although, probably the Sudafed will be taken away to be disposed of.)

 

As long as you "know before you go" and adjust what you are bringing as necessary, you should be fine. Honestly, I doubt they care what people arriving and departing by cruise ship have with them for their personal purposes. Questions may be asked at airports, but if you are only doing port stops as part of your itinerary, you should be fine.

 

Kate

[emmtee]

We buy our OTC stuff in Costco sized bottles so there is no way I am going to haul them around.

 

I buy my vitamins at Costco as well, and I take a lot of them. If I were to bring them in their original bottles, they would take half the space in my carry on suitcase.

 

In the past, I've just left my vitamins at home, but now I'm taking some that have been suggested by my doctor, so I really don't want to miss taking them. I think I'll pack them in pill pouches and bring a list of what they are.

[JB&JLG74]

I too will move my meds to a smaller container. I get a 90 day supply of very small pills mail order that always come in a bottle much larger than needed (about 3 inches tall). I move these to a one inch bottle, which can hold the whole 90 days, and I write on the bottle what they are. Then I carry the prescription order/refill form that came with the meds. I am usually on a long cruise that requires the 90 day supply. But it is nothing that should set off alarms, no narcotics. Mainly just larger dosages of vitamins that I can get in smaller doses OTC.

[Typhoon1]

We've carried both prescription medication and vitamins in a pill carrier and have never been questioned.

 

Anyone suspected of smuggling narcotics would be carrying much larger quantities.

[Lizzie68]

[quote name='RuthC'][FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=RoyalBlue]I always carry medicines---both prescription and OTC---in bottles that identify what the drug is. Sometimes I transfer pills from a large bottle to a smaller bottle of the same drug, but it's always a bottle from the company or pharmacist.

That way, no matter [I]what[/I] country I enter, there is never a question as to what the drugs are.
I just am more comfortable doing it that way. It feels safer to me.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/quote]

That is exactly the way to do it. I know for a fact that Canada requires all prescription meds be in the original (or smaller original!) containers. Those who say they have not done that and had no problems have simply been lucky, and are taking their chances. I have been involved in the air lifts to Disneyland from BC Children's Hospital and the requirements have been drummed into us. So on a personal level, we do carry all meds in original containers, though we fill our daily pill boxes as well if on a longer trip. The labels on the containers carry all the information needed if questioned, so no actual prescription from the doctor is needed. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

I don't think there is any requirement to carry vitamins in original containers. But I guess they should be easily identifiable as such. Edited June 30, 2015 by Lizzie68

[kandagal1939]

At present I am on mega dose of steroids for a medical condition. Cruising soon. Hope I don't have trouble with these.

[wander]

So, I wonder what folks going to Japan for a couple of months of travel do?

[1of4]

As long as prescription medications are in a container with the ID label clearly visable there is no issue. It has the drug identification number, the dose, the strength, and the doctor. It also has your name.

People on longer cruises have to carry the full amount needed for the duration of the cruise. This may require a special visit to the doctor and pharmacist.

I have carried liquid meds and syringes for the duration and never had an issue, even right after 9/11. I also brought a glass jar to dispose of the sharps in. The cabin stewards never touched it. But I did have a letter from the doctor explaining what it was just in case as we were flying into the USA. Nobody asked.

OTC vitamens and other meds are okay in smaller containers. I brought some on the Westerdam for 20 days and again no questions from US Customs and Immigration or in the terminal for boarding. I carried one bottle of B12 because both dh and I take it but I put the Omega 3 liquid gels in a smaller container and carried it in had luggage to be able to show but nobody was interested.

[POA1]

I always take the paper printouts for my prescriptions with me. I keep the medicine in my "little old man" day-of-the-week poll organizer. We keep our vitamins in pill pouches. The vitamins go in our checked bags because they're not as important. We figure we're not going to drop dead if we miss our CoQ10.

[peaches from georgia]

We travel with lots of meds and we have never been questioned or our med bottles even looked at by TSA or Customs. Haven't once read on here that I remember any pax saying they have ever had a problem. Let's face it, these agents know how to spot people they might suspect of smuggling drugs into the country and it's not your average 70 year old cruiser. :eek:

[sapper1]

[quote name='POA1']I always take the paper printouts for my prescriptions with me. I keep the medicine in my "little old man" day-of-the-week poll organizer. We keep our vitamins in pill pouches. The vitamins go in our checked bags because they're not as important. We figure we're not going to drop dead if we miss our CoQ10.[/QUOTE]

I may buy a day of the week pill container when I get old too!:D

[summer slope]

Just making sure I understand, if we are going from a US port to a US port we shouldn't have any problems with prescription meds? Correct? I want to use our 7 day containers and refill as needed from the meds in baggies.