Taking food off the ship

We are cruising the Caribbean, and have a private tour on one of the islands arranged. The tour operator says lunch is not included or available in this itinerary, and says we should bring lunch from the ship.

How does that work? I know in many ports it's not okay to bring food off the ship. But not sure about this one, as apparently this tour operator must require this often. Will there be food available for us to bring - a packed lunch? (We are in a PH if that makes any difference.)

Any thoughts?

Usually they request no food to be taken off the ship

What type of tour are you taking where food will not be available ??

I usually take power bars for times when we will need a snack ashore if on a tour

I just did a tour last weekend, we didn't leave port but I did take a guys burger off the ship lol [emoji23]. Idk how strict they are when your in a different country.

ETA:I was on carnival [emoji51]

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Some countries are very strict all the time, sniffer dogs and human checkers, others only some times, and some just don't have the resources, or economy. I don't think authorities would be too happy if an orange was brought into California for example.

IMHO the tour guide, as a business, should not be passing this off to be your problem to smuggle food off the ship. Granted they cannot provide lunch but could they not find a local food provider to service their customers.

Generally speaking, you're not allowed to take food off a ship, especially meats, cheese, fruit and vegetables. It's usually written in the daily that taking food off is illegal, unless it's factory sealed items. I've personally seen dogs sniffing around and have seen bags and backpacks being searched.

We are cruising the Caribbean, and have a private tour on one of the islands arranged. The tour operator says lunch is not included or available in this itinerary, and says we should bring lunch from the ship.

 

How does that work? I know in many ports it's not okay to bring food off the ship. But not sure about this one, as apparently this tour operator must require this often. Will there be food available for us to bring - a packed lunch? (We are in a PH if that makes any difference.)

 

Any thoughts?

Commercially pre-packaged food items (e.g., unopened granola bars) should not be a problem.

But, taking unsealed, uninspected (by the appropriate govt. authority) food off/on a ship is a "mortal sin" in any country/region/state dependent upon agriculture for the health of its economy. The problem is the hitchhiking things you can't see, which have the capacity to decimate (or do worse to) crops.

It looks from your profile that you are from Santa Cruz. You've got to be familiar with our California Agricultural Inspection Stations at key border crossings. Remember the medfly devastation?

Better safe than sorry! Either eat a hearty breakfast and/or do the research regarding the specific countries you will visit and take only what commercially prepared/packaged foods are allowed.

Just take protein bars with you. Also. I have seen notes in the dailies about not taking food off but not always. Many guests take an apple or banana and eat it on the bus.

Commercially pre-packaged food items (e.g., unopened granola bars) should not be a problem.

 

But, taking unsealed, uninspected (by the appropriate govt. authority) food off/on a ship is a "mortal sin" in any country/region/state dependent upon agriculture for the health of its economy. The problem is the hitchhiking things you can't see, which have the capacity to decimate (or do worse to) crops.

It looks from your profile that you are from Santa Cruz. You've got to be familiar with our California Agricultural Inspection Stations at key border crossings. Remember the medfly devastation?

 

Better safe than sorry! Either eat a hearty breakfast and/or do the research regarding the specific countries you will visit and take only what commercially prepared/packaged foods are allowed.

Yes, I'm certainly aware of the potential problems that can be caused by introducing foods, particularly fresh produce, into a different area. I was just so curious about this, because it was written into the tour description. This is a tour that is offered outside the ship's official tours, but not "private" in the definition of hiring some individual local person.

We can easily bring along a couple prepackaged protein bars.

What port are you doing this tour ?

Maybe someone can suggest a place to pick up something before the tour

Prepackage protein bars will be fine.

Day after day in NZ, our CD announced "NO fruit or vegetables can be taken off the ship. Normally he announced it two or three times each morning at each port. We were heading out for our tour in Wellington and we see all this commotion as one of the cruisers is being hauled off (forceably) by customs and the dock police. His wife is there screaming her lungs out! The dumba... had decided to bring a banana ashore! :rolleyes: He meet up with the ship a couple days later, short a lot more cash than lunch would have ever cost him.

Here's a hint. I've been on nearly all of the Carribe islands, and have never found one that a lunch couldn't be procured easily from not far away. eaLet your tour guide know you want to eat local, and forget the protein bar.

New Zealand is one of those areas where taking any food off the ship is a real no-no. I don't know about Caribbean ports.

When we did the Black Sea cruise a few years ago the person who arranged our tours recommended in a few of the ports that we bring lunch so as to save time; in some places we weren't anywhere near a place where food was available. So we either ordered a sandwich from room service or collected items from Terrace to create our own. No one stopped us and it worked out fine.

But if you're at a port where you are specifically advised that you are not permitted to take food off the ship, don't be tempted to ignore the advice!

Mura

Yeesh, didn't realize this was an old post, sorry!

Australia is another country which would jail someone (well, maybe not jail...heavily fine anyway) for bringing in fruit and veg. In fact on arrival once in Perth from Sydney by air I saw a sniffer dog find something in a passenger's carry on. Turned out it was fruit and confiscated and there was a real row about it.

Once we needed a packed lunch and we asked our Butler who got it for us the morning we left for the excursion. But that was a long time ago... on a Latin American cruise I think.

Several years ago we were disembarking in Baltimore. I went to retrieve the luggage in the Customs area while my DW waited along a wall. Up walks a cute beagle that signaled on her. The border agent inquired if she had any fruit. She didn't but the dog alerted on a banana that had been in her purse the day before while on the ship. The nose knows.

The occasion is very rare when anyone would need to take food off the ship. If your tour guide can’t direct you to a local safe place to acquire food ashore, perhaps you have the wrong tour guide.

Up walks a cute beagle that signaled on her. The border agent inquired if she had any fruit. She didn't but the dog alerted on a banana that had been in her purse the day before while on the ship. The nose knows.

Same happened to me in Brisbane, Australia, The beagle smelled food from several days before when we did a land trip.

Caribbean islands don't have the man- and dog power to check on food brought from the ship. We bring power bars and bottled water if necessary.

We've never tried to take food off the ship in places where we've been particularly warned NOT to -- like Australia, New Zealand, and the like.

When we did the Black Sea cruise in August 2012 we did, because the person who organized all of our private tours decided that in several of the ports we should bring lunch with us. This saved time, but also as I recall in a few of the ports there really wasn't a way to buy lunch on a full day tour. In cities like Odessa we DID have a "real" lunch.

So we borrowed items from Terrace to make sandwiches on several days of the cruise ...

Don't think I'd try to do that again, though. It seems that rules are stricter these days. Or maybe we were just ignorant and naive!

Mura

We never take fresh food off the ship.

Mo

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Coming back home to Boston we saw a lady from Germany trying to bring in sausages. Dogs sniffed her out. Dog handler took said sausages fed them to dog. Lady was mortified.

Coming back home to Boston we saw a lady from Germany trying to bring in sausages. Dogs sniffed her out. Dog handler took said sausages fed them to dog. Lady was mortified.

Sounds like the dog handler had their own special decontamination technique.