First time cruiser~ on a budget. Conflicting info on policy of bringing alcohol from home to cruise/ From what i read~ no alcohol from home/will be confiscated. BUT! Wine and Champagne is permitted to bring on board and have in room. No limit to quantity?? Any info appreciated......... thanks

Me again. the newbie. Also read below beer can be brought on? really?

Hello , let me reconfirm as I have many posts about alcohol, you may take on wine and carnival says one 6 pack of beer per adult,embarking, when you arive in each port you may bring on wine and One 6 pack of beer per adult at each port you may buy alcohol in each port but they usually take and hold it till the last night of cruise and deliver it to your room, you may buy alcohol in ships store but that is also held till the last night, I have been on 6 cruises and it seems that the last port you go to they let the rules slip , we bought liquor on board the last port and they did not bother to take it, as for embarking I have tucked bottles in my checked luggage and a smoothie blender and the mixes and it was not bothered with, I have taken little airplane bottles one time, regular litres and pints we did wrap them very well in bubble wrap and freezer bags to hinder the breakage and so far so good, the contrband was in the CHECKED luggage if you carry it on they will take it away, as it did happen to me on a cruise to no-where as they do not let you check luggage you have to carry every thing on so my booty got held till returned and I got it back for my next 7 day cruise, lol There was a party of 30 people in line with us they had a suite case you could stuff a body in it was full of beer and wine I questioned the lady who took my stuff and the reply was beer and wine were allowed but no hard spirits, so hope that answers everyones questions happy cruzn

YES! that makes clear sense to me now, I appreciate your help.. i will be sure bring what I Can!
we are headed Dec 05 Carnival Victory.
THanks

well again let me reconfirm I went on several cruises and I was told by the confiscating officer that took my hard spirits that I would be able to bring on wine or beer, how do I know this as the x ray fellow, xrayed my luggage and seen the bottles ask me if they were wine or hard spirits not to be embarassed by denying it was liquer, I told him hard sprits he in turn sent me to a desk where it was retrived from my luggage, meanwhile the group of 30 drunks in front of us were swinging Hennikens around and drinking in line and they had beer in thier suitcases, and were passed thru, I ask the lady officer why they got to bring on thier beverages and the reply was they may bring wine and 1 sixpack per adult with out any problems, hard spirits were not allowed, so all in all if you are going to bring anything aboard I suggest CHECKED luggage and at the ports we asked the officer at the debarking gate if it was all right to purchase beer in the port to bring on board and the officer said 1 six pack per adult so the four of us went off ship bought a case and each of us carried it on board in a bag each and they did not take it away but they did take the hard liquer we purchased and it was delivered the last night on board, so I guess it depends on the officer at the boarding ramp, and possibly which cruiseline these were all Carnival

I agreee with peachcrek. Definitely put your alcohol in your checked luggage. Also, wrap it well, because i saw a guy at the airport that had a bottle of banana rum in his suitcase burst. It wasnt pretty.
Just as a reference, a double Crown and COke on the ship was 11.39. I will definitely pack my own next time.

I like vodka, so I take the extra step of taking it out of the store bottle and put it in water bottles. So far so go. And that is the stuff that goes in the checked baggage. Enjoy your cruise.

The Policy is clearly stated on page 110 of the current brochure. Not to dispute Peachcrek, but I have not found any allowance for six-packs. My best advice is to pack in checked luggage and not flaunt it around and you will be fine. Carnival has updated the Policy, Spirits confiscated at port of embarkation will "not" be returned at end of cruise. I have in the past prior to post 911 security bought beer at the port on St.Thomas and carried on in plain sight..but that was the good ole days. Just wrap it up good and will arrive in your cabin, and most of all..Have a Great Cruise! Island

Hey Lewis. non-cruise question, Once in awhile I help a Friend out that runs a Hotel here when the bartender is on vacation or emergencies. We mostly have Golfers in off season and they want "Grey Goose" vodka! I was wondering if it actually is better, or are they just showing off to each other? It costs 5 times the house brand. If we were not the only mini-bottle state in U.S. I would be tempted to fill up the Grey Goose bottle with Smirnoff to just see if they noticed Take Care, Island

quote:

Originally posted by lewis:
I like vodka, so I take the extra step of taking it out of the store bottle and put it in water bottles. So far so go. And that is the stuff that goes in the checked baggage. Enjoy your cruise.

well I got my stuff back they gave me a reciept for it and it was returned to me when I came back in to ny at the embarking port they were very nice about and I was not the only one that got busted with the hard stuff I was telling any one to vcarry it on board at embarking I said put it in checked luggage if you can read, the ports that we stopped at they let us bring on 1 sixpack per adult and we asked before we did it it could depend on who is standing at the gang plank, I was not telling everyone to bring a bar on board, and it was ok use disgretion of course duh!!

Island - Since I drink my vodka with grapefruit juice, I don't see the need to buy that high price stuff. All I taste is the juice. So I buy quality grapefruit juice. If I was drinking it straight or if the cheaper stuff gave me headaches I was switch. So, I buy the cheap stuff and use the extra money on quality grapefruit juice.

I was always an Absolut drinker but switched to Skyy a few years ago. I really really really noticed the switch- Skyy is excellent. tastes better, no hangover, just much better. Stoli I can take or leave. The cheap stuff gives me a wicked headache the next day and again, I am a Skyy drinker and that is that.

Last cruise the liquor store in Galveston only had mega bottles of Skyy so I took Absolut. Tasted like medicine.

I hear you on the grapefruit juice. Skyy with Ruby red is my drink.

Thanks for the reply, I only try to tend the bar on emergency situations. Do me a big favor, tell your other Vodka/Grapefruit drinker buddies to just order that please..It is a little hard to look up what a "greyhound" is when you don't know what the heck you are doing, and have 20 Harley Bikers yelling at you! Needless to say I will always know what a greyhound is

quote:

Originally posted by lewis:
Island - Since I drink my vodka with grapefruit juice, I don't see the need to buy that high price stuff. All I taste is the juice. So I buy quality grapefruit juice. If I was drinking it straight or if the cheaper stuff gave me headaches I was switch. So, I buy the cheap stuff and use the extra money on quality grapefruit juice.

See that is why I am a bad bartender, I don't drink liqour, I drink a few beers sometimes. Then I get the picky ones and the ones trying to impress the buddies. I don't know the difference in Absolute Smirnoff Stoli Skyy GreyGoose ..if they don't say they get house Poplov! I still have absolute bought on St. Thomas 3 years ago..is it still good?

quote:

Originally posted by Carlalena1:
I was always an Absolut drinker but switched to Skyy a few years ago. I really really really noticed the switch- Skyy is excellent. tastes better, no hangover, just much better. Stoli I can take or leave. The cheap stuff gives me a wicked headache the next day and again, I am a Skyy drinker and that is that.

Last cruise the liquor store in Galveston only had mega bottles of Skyy so I took Absolut. Tasted like medicine.

I hear you on the grapefruit juice. Skyy with Ruby red is my drink.

Yo! At least I'm not ordering Cosmos, etc!

Popov is rank.

The Absolut is still good for someone who doesn't know the difference between Smirnoff and Cosco...LOL... of course the vodka is still good.

It would be far better if we could just pick up the local specialty and blaze away on board, but such is life.

quote:

Originally posted by Carlalena1:
Yo! At least I'm not ordering Cosmos, etc!

Popov is rank.

The Absolut is still good for someone who doesn't know the difference between Smirnoff and Cosco...LOL... of course the vodka is still good.

OK I'll be a real Vodka snob (and show off that I lived in Europe for a few years )

The best stuf out there is Kettle One (IMHO) It is a Dutch Vodka and I find it superior to just about anything out there.

But Carla is right...since you are usually mixing it (I like Cranberry juice) it really doesn't matter...some of the off-brands are just as good when mixed

..and some of the off-brands are just re-labeled premium brands - you just have to be in the know - - for example, Albertson's (chain grocery store) vodka is purchased from Sminroff...

My philosophy is: if you are mixing, use whatever doesn't give you a headache

Hey Bob. None of them give me a headache from drinking them, because I don't. Just trying to mix them when filling in as barkeep! I am going to try one liqour drink on my cruise though, ..Sapphire Martini with 3 Olives! Just cause it smells good. Hope you have a great Cruise!

Not to hijack the the thread, but I am a bar owner, and can tell you that 99% of people can not tell the difference in vodkas if it is mixed with <i>anything</i>. Some can't even when it's up, or worse, even clean.

We just got back from a carnival cruise to mexico and brought on board in our checked luggage, 6 botles of wine. We wrapped it in bubble wrap and was no problem.
I also bought a bottle of Tequila in port and brought that back on board also no problem, although I think I was lucky on that one. I was prpared to have it confiscated but that didn't happen. We had wine bottles in our room that were partially open and had no problem from the room steward. I really believe they know the tip can and will be adjusted if they give you a problem. They are there to make your stay as enjoyable as possible so I don't think they want to cause unhappiness. At dinner we brought in wine and the waiter did not even charge a corkage fee. We did buy several drinks from the bar on the ship and I have to say that I found the prices reasonable and the drinks strong. Take advantage of the daily drink specials, they are a good deal. We never tried bringing beer on board so I can't comment on that.

quote:

Originally posted by IslandCruz:
The Policy is clearly stated on page 110 of the current brochure. Not to dispute Peachcrek, but I have not found any allowance for six-packs. My best advice is to pack in checked luggage and not flaunt it around and you will be fine. Carnival has updated the Policy, Spirits confiscated at port of embarkation will "not" be returned at end of cruise. I have in the past prior to post 911 security bought beer at the port on St.Thomas and carried on in plain sight..but that was the good ole days. Just wrap it up good and will arrive in your cabin, and most of all..Have a Great Cruise! Island

I can tell the difference between Grey Goose and Smirnoff easily. However after a couple of drinks everything tastes the same.

Smirnoff isn't bad vodka though and I think it tastes way better than Absolut which costs twice as much. Grey Goose is expensive but it doesn't cost 5 times as much as Smirnoff it costs about 2 and half times as much for a bottle, but at the bar it's only a dollar or two extra and worth it.