Do NOT try to smuggle or check wine in Miami

[LemurCat]

I see your point and I'm sure the bean counters are running the numbers. I guess we will find out eventually! Part of the value of a Carnival cruise was the easy ability to smuggle large amounts and that option had a dollar value to it. How much, I don't know.

 

I can't speak to that, as I've never smuggled booze -- therefore that's never been CCL's appeal to me. But then again, I've never found the drink prices to be excessive. It's all about perspective, I think. Should be interesting to see how this shakes out.

[redlef]

The policy change was regarding wine and if it needed to be carried on. Our e-docs printed before 1/30 had no indication they it needed to be carried on. . . . . . .

 

Sorry you lost your stuff - it kind of takes the fun out of it when you can't smuggle your own. Guess I'll have to duct tape my rum runners to my legs on the next trip. ;)

 

I can't argue with you because I don't have your eDocs, but I thought I'd read along time ago that it needed to be carried on, not put in luggage. I knew on my first Carnival cruise 7 years ago (before I discovered Cruise Critics )

 

As far as putting the wine in checked luggage, the reason they're probably not allowing that is that they assume you're carrying it on as well, which means you could have twice as much as allowed. If it was a case of "carry on 1 bottle or check 1 bottle," many of us would do both figuring they'd never catch us.

[zqvol]

fyi, even though DCL is ridiculously expensive (unless u book really early & have a past guest discount) they still allow u to bring aboard all the booze u want. I have a lovely fold-up cooler with wheels (small enough to pack in checked luggage or carryon) Guess i won't bring it this trip on CCL;)

 

Wonder if mouthwash bottles will still past muster?

 

I do not consider DCL as a typical mass market cruise line. In fact with its pricing structure, it is not a mass market line.

[lawskool10]

As long as they continue to allow wine, I won't worry that much about it. The 3 other folks in my group don't drink wine, so I can add a bottle to each of their carryons if I want.

 

I will also be a first time smuggler. I'm using rum runners. If they take them, they take them.

In the 5 cruises I've been on, I think I've had about 6 drinks total. If they find my rum runners, I'll do without.

[duhe98]

I just don't buy any of this..... I don't think its possible to scan/x-ray all the check bags. Say you have 2000 people and each person has 2 bags. That's 4000 bags. You know that long line to get your carry on checked? The scanner would have to huge to scan my big suitcase and they would need a lot of them. I don't think they are doing it on the ship. Every free foot of deck space is to important.

I don't think they are doing it at the port. Every time I cruise I drop my bags with the porter and he throws it in a big metal bin. Then a fork lift picks the big metal bin up and moves it to the ship. So the metal bin makes it useless to x-ray on the dock....I think..... Unless they have someone to unload the bin and the reload the bin but the port workers don't work for Carnival so they don't care anyway.

 

Its all just confusing and just my opinion.

[LemurCat]

I just don't buy any of this..... I don't think its possible to scan/x-ray all the check bags. Say you have 2000 people and each person has 2 bags. That's 4000 bags. You know that long line to get your carry on checked? The scanner would have to huge to scan my big suitcase and they would need a lot of them. I don't think they are doing it on the ship. Every free foot of deck space is to important.

I don't think they are doing it at the port. Every time I cruise I drop my bags with the porter and he throws it in a big metal bin. Then a fork lift picks the big metal bin up and moves it to the ship. So the metal bin makes it useless to x-ray on the dock....I think..... Unless they have someone to unload the bin and the reload the bin but the port workers don't work for Carnival so they don't care anyway.

 

Its all just confusing and just my opinion.

 

I've seen plastic bins at quite a few ports. And they're using massive x-ray machines. It's entirely possible. Other lines do it all the time.

[Cardinala]

Are they confiscating beer cans?

[pnjkeith]

 

This will be the end of Flip Flops in the dining room. Will Carnival take all flip flops out of bags too? :D

[grandmato4]

I just don't buy any of this..... I don't think its possible to scan/x-ray all the check bags. Say you have 2000 people and each person has 2 bags. That's 4000 bags. You know that long line to get your carry on checked? The scanner would have to huge to scan my big suitcase and they would need a lot of them. I don't think they are doing it on the ship. Every free foot of deck space is to important.

I don't think they are doing it at the port. Every time I cruise I drop my bags with the porter and he throws it in a big metal bin. Then a fork lift picks the big metal bin up and moves it to the ship. So the metal bin makes it useless to x-ray on the dock....I think..... Unless they have someone to unload the bin and the reload the bin but the port workers don't work for Carnival so they don't care anyway.

 

Its all just confusing and just my opinion.

 

Other cruiselines sailing from the same ports as Carnival have been enforcing their alcohol policy in this fashion for a while. Carnival has simply not chosen to until now. I'm not convinced either that every single piece of luggage has been scanned with all other lines or will be with Carnival but a significant amount of random searching, especially in the beginning will be enough to significantly reduce the amount of banned alcohol previously brought on by passengers as it has on other lines. Either by found and taken by the cruiseline or by convincing passengers there is a great likelihood of that happening that will reduce the number of passengers that will attempt to smuggle it on board.

[Crusin6]

The water bottle was sealed, brand new, unopened.

I would have said I had a medical issue that required my drinking that water as needed...or..I would have opened it right there and drank it

[Crusin6]

As long as they continue to allow wine, I won't worry that much about it. The 3 other folks in my group don't drink wine, so I can add a bottle to each of their carryons if I want.

 

I will also be a first time smuggler. I'm using rum runners. If they take them, they take them.

In the 5 cruises I've been on, I think I've had about 6 drinks total. If they find my rum runners, I'll do without.

You drink about as much as I do on a cruise......I would continue to buy a drink here and there on a cruise..even at $10 a piece it is easier than bothering to lug the stuff along.

[John&John]

: Originally Posted by connera3

I am just off the Imagination in Miami and wanted to warn everyone to not attempt to smuggle anything or bring your wine in your checked bags. We had only 1 coke bottle filled with rum in our checked bags and it was confiscated. We had another checked bag with our 2 bottles of wine and they were also held until the end of the cruise. Apparently that policy was changed on 1/30 and although we were traveling that day and never received a notice of the change we were still supposed to know. We even provided out printed cruise documents to show that we were following the rules and they would not hear it. There were several people very upset about this but Carnival stood firm. Other than this snafu the cruise was awesome. Just wanted to wanted to get the word out asap before others waste money on booze that will be thrown out.

 

 

Sorry to hear of your "confiscation" issues of those adult beverages.

 

Regarding the 2 bottles of wine. Had you placed them in your carry on luggage rather than checked luggage, you would have been fine and they would not have been confiscated (per cruisline contract).

 

As for the "smuggled" liquor.....I won't comment or state my opinion on that one.

 

But you say "before others waste money on booze that will be thrown out", but yet right above that statement in your post you say "ONLY 1 coke bottle filled with rum that was "confiscated" and two bottles of wine that were "also held" until the and of the cruise".

 

Seems to me nothing was thrown out ! You took the risk with the rum and got caught just as others probably have in the past and before the new luggage policy outrage came about.

 

Depending on when connera3 accepted the ticket contract the contract may not have stipulated that the 1 bottle of wine needs to be in the carry on.

 

The contract I accepted on Jan 4th says no such thing!

 

Only the ticket contract that you have accepted is in effect.

[travelntreats]

: Originally Posted by connera3

I am just off the Imagination in Miami and wanted to warn everyone to not attempt to smuggle anything or bring your wine in your checked bags. We had only 1 coke bottle filled with rum in our checked bags and it was confiscated. We had another checked bag with our 2 bottles of wine and they were also held until the end of the cruise. Apparently that policy was changed on 1/30 and although we were traveling that day and never received a notice of the change we were still supposed to know. We even provided out printed cruise documents to show that we were following the rules and they would not hear it. There were several people very upset about this but Carnival stood firm. Other than this snafu the cruise was awesome. Just wanted to wanted to get the word out asap before others waste money on booze that will be thrown out.

 

 

 

 

Depending on when connera3 accepted the ticket contract the contract may not have stipulated that the 1 bottle of wine needs to be in the carry on.

 

The contract I accepted on Jan 4th says no such thing!

 

Only the ticket contract that you have accepted is in effect.

And you may be correct, but the point I was making was that in one sentence they state that their wine and liquor was confiscated and returned to them at end of cruise than in the end of their post they state it was thrown away..... Sounds kinda like they cant get their story straight while trying to justify what they did which was for the most part violation of the cruiselines contract. :confused:

[Jimsedge]

I am just off the Imagination in Miami and wanted to warn everyone to not attempt to smuggle anything or bring your wine in your checked bags. We had only 1 coke bottle filled with rum in our checked bags and it was confiscated. We had another checked bag with our 2 bottles of wine and they were also held until the end of the cruise. Apparently that policy was changed on 1/30 and although we were traveling that day and never received a notice of the change we were still supposed to know. We even provided out printed cruise documents to show that we were following the rules and they would not hear it. There were several people very upset about this but Carnival stood firm. Other than this snafu the cruise was awesome. Just wanted to wanted to get the word out asap before others waste money on booze that will be thrown out.

 

I guess I'm confused on the rum part of this while everyone else seems to be commenting on the water & Wine.

 

If you were following the rules, why was the rum in a coke bottle? Most rum bottles these days are plastic, so the breakage issue can't be the reason. maybe because you tried to pass off rum as coke, they didn't trust the contents of anything you were carrying & thus the water bottle issue.

[Froufie]

I can't believe they would force you to 'carry on' your wine? What's up with that? I usually have an 'already' full carryon with all my stuff which I of course have to lug around til the cabins are ready....I would sure hate to add a bottle of wine (actually it wouldn't fit?).

 

Just back off the Valor and I brought wine, in my luggage, but not in a bottle, actually in a 'tetra pak' - very convenient for travel - much lighter and no breakage - wonder if those would be an issue in checked luggage?

[Cruise, J.D.]

And you may be correct, but the point I was making was that in one sentence they state that their wine and liquor was confiscated and returned to them at end of cruise than in the end of their post they state it was thrown away..... Sounds kinda like they cant get their story straight while trying to justify what they did which was for the most part violation of the cruiselines contract. :confused:

 

There is some ambiguity, but one explanation is that the rum was thrown out for being unsealed (per the new policy), but the wine was returned because it was in the original sealed bottle (per the new policy).

 

Edit: See also the OP's follow up that indicates only the rum was thrown out.

[aggieastrosfan]

Bon Voyage can offer that same convenience, and a drop in price would mean an increase in volume. They have to walk the line of pricing themselves out of the smuggler's comfort zone and making the service profitable. A jump in price isn't going to do that, it's only going to further anger the smugglers.

 

If they offered my preferred liquor (vanilla vodka), I would buy from Bon Voyage and be done with it.

 

While I'm upset at only being able to bring 2 bottles of my preferred wine, we've all been lucky in the past to be able to bring so much. Just have to find something onboard that I enjoy, I guess! :o

[Snorkel2Much]

The rum was thrown out as it should have been.

 

The policy change was regarding wine and if it needed to be carried on. Our e-docs printed before 1/30 had no indication they it needed to be carried on. This change was after we left and we were never notified of the change. The wine was returned on the last day. My issue is that they should have notified us that they wine needed to be carried on.

 

I only mention the rum because I know that I felt confident based on my past experiences and those of others on this board that only one small bottle of rum would be no problem and that is no longer the case.

 

I did not realize I would catch such a hard time for trying to help some folks avoid the same mistakes.

It was a good post with solid information. Ignore the bad apples.

[Snorkel2Much]

I'm more interested in seeing if this triggers a better promotion of the Bon Voyage Department's services, maybe even a decrease in the list price of their bottles.

It's a lot more likely we will see a corresponding price increase.

[jensing317]

and with the 1000's of people cruising in & out of miami we only have one report? :confused: Anyone else agree this stinks?

 

No, I think she's just probably the first one home and online to report back about the new policy. This only went into effect last weekend so most of the first cruisers subjected to this are still at sea or on their way home.

 

Just a thought....

[keishashadow]

I do not consider DCL as a typical mass market cruise line. In fact with its pricing structure, it is not a mass market line.

OT, it's def not typical cruise, more specialty market. Must say I was pleasantly surprised to see the current tier of pricing for sailings next summer on their new ship, in ballpark of what im paying for the Destiny this summer for a 5 day sailing (except it's an inside vs the balcony on Carnival:rolleyes:)

 

i have DINK buds that sail DCL specifically because they enjoy dragging lots of top shelf booze onboard w/o any hassle. They insist even with higher price structure, it all evens out for them; perhaps the true best kept secret?

[John&John]

I guess I'm confused on the rum part of this while everyone else seems to be commenting on the water & Wine.

 

If you were following the rules, why was the rum in a coke bottle? Most rum bottles these days are plastic, so the breakage issue can't be the reason. maybe because you tried to pass off rum as coke, they didn't trust the contents of anything you were carrying & thus the water bottle issue.

 

The water bottle thing happened at walk on security while the rum in the Coke bottle was in a checked bag.

 

I was just at my local liquor store and while there was some rum available in plastic, the one I bought came only in glass. The other reason may have been so that the rum looked like Coke on the xray.

[Snorkel2Much]

OT, it's def not typical cruise, more specialty market. Must say I was pleasantly surprised to see the current tier of pricing for sailings next summer on their new ship, in ballpark of what im paying for the Destiny this summer for a 5 day sailing (except it's an inside vs the balcony on Carnival:rolleyes:)

 

i have DINK buds that sail DCL specifically because they enjoy dragging lots of top shelf booze onboard w/o any hassle. They insist even with higher price structure, it all evens out for them; perhaps the true best kept secret?

Thanks for the heads up on that.

[jaybird from SC]

I believe the key word here is "smuggle". Rules are rules and whether they're broken by a cruise passenger or a criminal, it's still wrong.

[Kurbanfan]

I believe the key word here is "smuggle". Rules are rules and whether they're broken by a cruise passenger or a criminal, it's still wrong.

 

Let's not confuse laws with rules:D