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Bringing whiskey on

Ifortworth

By Ifortworth,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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cfr70

cfr70

Posted
Posted

I debated trying rum runners for my last cruise, but in the end decided the hassle just wasn't worth it. You have to buy the runners as someone else mentioned for $20, then get your $20 alcohol, then pour everything into them, then hide them under the clothes, then wonder if they'll even make it past security....all for what, saving $40 bucks?

 

I'd rather save all that headache and nonsense and just purchase the $85 bottle of Skyy Vodka for the room and be done with it. No fuss, no muss.

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momof3cruisers

momof3cruisers

Posted
Posted
Even better: deny boarding without refund to anyone caught trying to bring contraband onto the ship. That would stop the nonsense instantly. Lay it out in the contract in big letters and then enforce it.

Except that Carnival would rather sail full than with empty cabins. A person who sneaks on alcohol will most likely still spend money on drinks, bingo, excursions, etc. Plus the employees need the passengers on board in order to get paid their tips. Personally, I think that is why they confiscate it when they find it but don't do anything else.

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pacruise804

pacruise804

Posted
Posted
Not really. One doesn't "install a radar gun" to get away with speeding. One needs a radar detector to help detect the use of radar/laser guns so we can speed. :cool:

 

I've really got to get better about previewing my posts before submitting:o Radar detector was what I meant. (And thank you for keeping me humble - I'll make even more of an effort to extend grace to others in their posts and assume a mis-type vs. intentional rudeness)

 

While the poster used incorrect terminology, the analogy was spot on and you knew exactly what was meant otherwise you wouldn't have been able to correct it. :cool:

Thank you:)

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ryano

ryano

Posted
Posted
I debated trying rum runners for my last cruise, but in the end decided the hassle just wasn't worth it. You have to buy the runners as someone else mentioned for $20, then get your $20 alcohol, then pour everything into them, then hide them under the clothes, then wonder if they'll even make it past security....all for what, saving $40 bucks?

 

I'd rather save all that headache and nonsense and just purchase the $85 bottle of Skyy Vodka for the room and be done with it. No fuss, no muss.

 

This right here ^. I smuggled booze on a RC ship once. They dont allow you to prepurchase liquor for your cabin like Carnival does. No rumrunners though. I just put a bunch of small airplane bottles of vodka inside my wheelchair cushion and rolled right on. They NEVER check us very well :rolleyes: I wound up bringing it all back home with me :rolleyes: Im not one to spend much time in my cabin nor do I need a drink in the cabin while everyone is getting ready. Every time I did want a drink I was nowhere even close to the cabin. It turned out to be a hassle not worth it.

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WIFamily

WIFamily

Posted
Posted

Wine bottles re-corked and capped.

 

Our recent Fascination cruise out of San Juan was so lax. My wife and I sailed with her brother and his wife. We were in two cabins. I used a carry on sized rolling suitcase to carry three of the four bottles of "wine" and an 8 pack of soda. My brother in law carried the other bottle and three 8 packs of soda (we flew down with the "wine" in our checked bags in specially designed wine bottle bags and bought the soda at the CVS just across the street and two blocks West of the dock).

 

Security scanned the bags and waved us through - I did not have to explain that the contents of the carry on were for the four of us, and my BIL didn't either. Once our rooms were ready we dropped off the supplies, went back off the ship to Walgreens (even closer to the dock than CVS). We brought on 4 more bottles of wine, some more soda, and my BIL and I brought on a 6 pack of beer each. Same thing through security, waved us through.

 

Even better was port of calls. Boarding was the xray of the bag, "sir you'll have to check your bottle over at the security table", me "Ok" and walk up stairs.

 

If anyone is wondering on tips, we left the defaults and handed our waitstaff an extra 60 per room, and our stateroom guys 40 per room. We also chose only a single turn down / cleaning per day instead of both. We're in our 40's and 50's respectively so we're not in the spring break / get obnoxiously drunk crowds. It was nice to have a rum and coke or a glass of wine on the balcony. We saw lots of people walking around openly with their glasses of wine and own mixed drinks at dinner and shows. We used tumblers to not be flagrant with ours.

 

Am I cheap? Maybe.... We did cruise in Grand Suites, and we did an excursion in every stop (St Thomas, Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts, and St Maarten). We did tip every excursion operator. If we had to spend money on drinks, we either would have skipped some excursions or we would not have tipped as well on and off the ship. I don't think Carnival lost any money from us, we had a budget before we decided to manage our own drinks and would have stuck to it if we were buying drinks aboard.

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SNJCruisers

SNJCruisers

Posted
Posted
Wine bottles re-corked and capped.

 

Our recent Fascination cruise out of San Juan was so lax. My wife and I sailed with her brother and his wife. We were in two cabins. I used a carry on sized rolling suitcase to carry three of the four bottles of "wine" and an 8 pack of soda. My brother in law carried the other bottle and three 8 packs of soda (we flew down with the "wine" in our checked bags

 

Security scanned the bags and waved us through..... went back off the ship to Walgreens (even closer to the dock than CVS). We brought on 4 more bottles of wine, some more soda, and my BIL and I brought on a 6 pack of beer each. Same thing through security, waved us through.

 

Am I cheap? Maybe.... We did cruise in Grand Suites, and we did an excursion in every stop (St Thomas, Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts, and St Maarten). We did tip every excursion operator. If we had to spend money on drinks, we either would have skipped some excursions or we would not have tipped as well on and off the ship. I don't think Carnival lost any money from us, we had a budget before we decided to manage our own drinks and would have stuck to it if we were buying drinks aboard.

Just to recap.....San Juan security very lax and lets you bring on an extra 4 bottles of wine and two six packs of beer and you brought on your own "wine", which was obviously liquor in re-corked and resealed bottles. On a positive note, you were a good tipper, which I will commend you on and you are sending mixed messages about whether you are cheap or not. You did drop money for Grand Suite accommodations, but you counterbalanced that by smuggling on four 750 ml bottles of liquor. You state that if you had to spend money on drinks, you would have either skipped excursions, or not have tipped as well on those excursions. How about staying in an inside cabin and spending money on the Cheers package? Under your scenario, you decide to splurge on a Grand Suite and then you each have 23 oz of liquor to enjoy per person over the course of a 7 day cruise, which is basically 2 drinks per person per day. To each his own, but I would prefer to get the Cheers package, enjoy up to 15 drinks per day all over the ship and not be restricted to only 2 drinks per day that I smuggled on. You certainly are a conundrum when it comes to vacationing. You splurge on a cabin, go on excursions in every port, tip well and then you smuggle on liquor, and brazenly bring on 2 six packs of beer through lax security in San Juan. :confused:
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salty dingo

salty dingo

Posted
Posted
I debated trying rum runners for my last cruise, but in the end decided the hassle just wasn't worth it. You have to buy the runners as someone else mentioned for $20, then get your $20 alcohol, then pour everything into them, then hide them under the clothes, then wonder if they'll even make it past security....all for what, saving $40 bucks?

 

I'd rather save all that headache and nonsense and just purchase the $85 bottle of Skyy Vodka for the room and be done with it. No fuss, no muss.

Well, if you take multiple cruises, the rum runners are reusable. If you expense them all for one cruise, then you have a point. I have used mine at least four times since I got them. So that would be like $5 per cruise.

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Micahs Grandad

Micahs Grandad

Posted
Posted
Well, if you take multiple cruises, the rum runners are reusable. If you expense them all for one cruise, then you have a point. I have used mine at least four times since I got them. So that would be like $5 per cruise.

 

Uh oh the smuggling police will not like your post at all:)

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ParrotRob

ParrotRob

Posted
Posted
Interesting, you just explained your exact posts..name calling, calling people trolls, using **** for foul language. Which by the way are all against the rules. I find that hypocritical coming from someone who lectures about following rules. I will block you now, I have no desire to see anymore of your nasty comments.

 

Good. I don't want to hear any more of your BS.

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ParrotRob

ParrotRob

Posted
Posted
Do you mean that Skol vodka @ 10.00 per half gallon almost 40 years ago wasn't quality stuff? :rolleyes::rolleyes: It was good enough to enjoy in the dorms.

 

Well if it's Skol, then by all means carry on. You can't tell the difference between that and shampoo anyway.

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splash_in_the_water Great Review Rare

splash_in_the_water

Posted
Posted
I don’t smuggle on booze but a lot of posters better be careful about throwing rocks in their glass houses. Nobody is completely righteous. Whether it be on a ship or other parts of life.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

This. All righteous and such,..then they say things like "that's why prices keep going up" etc....because a handful of guests smuggle some booze? Sure there's a % of potential lost profit, there always is...But is that reeeeaaaallllly the biggest driver of it all? I doubt it. I think it's mostly just the lets see how much we can squeeze the passengers if they want booze.

 

I'll admit we've smuggled booze once or twice. Last cruise though we both had cheers and

got as much as we needed. I drink quite a bit and hit 15 maybe one night....10-12 others. And I had plenty.

 

It was nice to just get what we got and not worry or think about smuggling. I understand both sides if the argument. If you want to make a try for it, then whatever. If you do, then that's your business, and I don't think that overall that's what really makes the shirts up the prices.....we're not rich by any means, and if we didn't want to get cheers we could pay by the drink if we wanted to. Either way it's a pretty tired convo.

 

but who knows . maybe I'm wrong. Happy cruising everybody.

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salty dingo

salty dingo

Posted
Posted
I have no idea what you mean but will agree with you. I think.:)

What I mean is this. Carnival lures people on to cruises with low fares, below what they need to earn to stay afloat (No pun intended.)

 

Alcohol served at sea costs Carnival little. They buy in bulk and have no taxes. It is served by low wage workers. The savings are not passed on to us.

 

Result is that those who cruise and do not pay for drinks or any other extras could be viewed as stealing from the drinkers, since they cruise for less than a fair price while drinkers pay more than a fair price.

 

Smuggling evens the playing field. Perhaps Carnival will come around some day and raise fares and reduce drink prices. Until then, smuggle away!

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