Liquor Allowance

[Nice Boat]

From reading various Caribbean travel books, I understand that each passenger can purchase and return to the US mainland with 5 liquor bottles each if purchased from a US port such as St. Thomas, provided one was produced at an island in the US territory.

 

I'm going on the Caribbean Princess (Eastern route - St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Princess Cays) with my husband at the end of August and would like to bring back bottles as gifts to friends and family.

 

How does US Customs keep track of where the alcohol is purchased, St. Thomas (US territory) vs. St. Maarten (foreign port)? When returning and going through US Customs, will we need to show our receipts as proof of where the alcohol was purchased?

 

From posts on CC, it sounds like bottles cost a bit less at St. Maarten. So I'm curious but also want to be on the safe side on wanting to be able to come home with all our alcohol purchases within the allowance.

 

Thank you.

[Krazy Kruizers]

:)

 

In St Maartin, US citizens can bring back only 1 liter per person.

In St Thomas you can bring back 4 liters and another bottle (a 1/5) of a local product like rum that is made there. Or you can bring 5 fifth bottles.

The rules for the 2 islands are different.

You might want to check with your airline about carry-ons. US Airways has changed their rules and allows only 1 carry-on per person. So if we buy alcohol, we can't take our carry-on the plane as the box counts as the carry-on. We used to bring back alcohol from St Thomas all the time.

Your alcohol will be stowed on the ship until the last evening of the cruise when it will be delivered to your cabin. We have never had to show a receipt as we went through customs. But I do keep all receipts handy. They are accustomed to seeing passengers get off the ship with their duty-free liquor boxes.

:)