alcohol question

[cruise1199]

Can you purchase alcohol on the ship to have in your room???? I know on RCCL you can't . Has anyone recently brought it in the luggage and had a problem. I usually cruise on RCCL and it has never been a problem until my last cruise. They were taking everyones away!!! Leaving on the Glory on 1/2/11

[firefly333]

Smuggling is always iffy. Iv had RCL cruises where they got everyone's too. Happens on Carnival too when they crack down.

 

Carnival allows each adult to carry on one bottle of wine, thats it.

[k2excursion]

People I know that have purchased alcohol on the ship were not able to take it back to their room. It was held, then delivered to their room on the last night. However, if you buy an individual, prepared drink, you can certainly carry that back to your room (even though that's not what you're asking; just clarifying).

[firefly333]

I think room service sells bottles of booze for the same price as bon voyager. You can call bon voyage ahead of time and order for your cabin. Prices are higher than at home, but you can drink it in your cabin.

[FireMonkey]

I don't know about the room service thing (never tried) but Firefly is correct on the bon voyage delivery. The gift shops will indeed box up your booze that you buy on board and deliver it the last night at sea. I usually wait until the last day to buy anything anyways and every time I've bought alcohol in the shops - usually mid/late afternoon - they just tell me to take it because they don't have time to box it up. Works for me!

[gsobrit]

We are just back from our trip. Bon voyage was the best way to go. Prices are out of this world, i bought a jack and coke the first day before my bottles were delivered and it was $6.95 plus tip! i did pack some gin in my checked luggage for my dad and it made it through. my carry on had two bottle of wine and 36 sodas, nothing was ever said after scan.

[blindrid]

I think room service sells bottles of booze for the same price as bon voyager. You can call bon voyage ahead of time and order for your cabin. Prices are higher than at home, but you can drink it in your cabin.

 

We did this for the first time a few weeks ago and it sure beat the hassle of smuggling. Booze is about twice what you would pay at your local liquor store but still obviously cheaper than by the drink.

 

We just made drinks and took them to the pool and/or dinner. We also took wine on board and it helped keep our S&S bill under a $1,000 for the first time ever.

[vbsnyder]

This is correct as of May 2010. My sisters all purchased bottles of liquor which were in thier rooms when we boarded. I will try to find the toll free number they called. I know prices were double the cost of a normal bottle of alcohol on shore. Overall however, comparing the cost of indiviual drinks, the savings were tremendous.

[lorilew]

call bon voyage to order bottles of liquor for your room at 800-522-7648. u cannot order this online. we also sneak some on and bring wine in our carry on too. helps to keep the sign and sail bill down...if you like to party all week.

 

have a great cruise!:D

[Upandadam]

As others have stated Bon Voyage is the way to go. Keep in mind that the bottles are liters and not fifths, so they're one third larger than what you'd buy in the States. You can also order bottles through room service once on board if they have enough.

[Mrs.C05]

This is what I plan on doing, buying from Bon Voyage. Beats the hassle of smuggling!

[blindrid]

As others have stated Bon Voyage is the way to go. Keep in mind that the bottles are liters and not fifths, so they're one third larger than what you'd buy in the States. You can also order bottles through room service once on board if they have enough.

 

There is no such thing as "Fifth's" anymore - they went by the wayside the same time you could no longer buy a "half gallon". You either buy 750 ml, 1 liter or 1.75 liter bottles...... A liter bottle here of one of the vodka's was about $22 and Bon Voyage sold it to me for $40 + tax.

[Thirsty Cruiser]

There is no such thing as "Fifth's" anymore - they went by the wayside the same time you could no longer buy a "half gallon". You either buy 750 ml, 1 liter or 1.75 liter bottles...... A liter bottle here of one of the vodka's was about $22 and Bon Voyage sold it to me for $40 + tax.

I agree that it is not technically a fifth anymore, since a fifth is about 757 ml, but the term still is valid in describing a 750ml bottle of liquor (at least to us old-school drankers).

 

ETA: not a bad markup, TBT, if you think about it. $18 more for the ability to make your own drinks. You'll make up for it in less than three drinks.

[blindrid]

I agree that it is not technically a fifth anymore, since a fifth is about 757 ml, but the term still is valid in describing a 750ml bottle of liquor (at least to us old-school drankers).

 

You do better than I as I had no clue how many ml's a Fifth was..... I am metric impaired :).

[Thirsty Cruiser]

You do better than I as I had no clue how many ml's a Fifth was..... I am metric impaired :).

I recently returned from a month in Europe, so I had no choice but to convert, lol! My German is still pretty bad, but I learned how to say "ein bier, bitte" very quickly ;)

[crzndeb]

The thing is to not compare what you can buy it for in your local store, but the cost of what x number of drinks would cost you if you bought at the bar with the 15% tip, as compared to purchasing a bottle from Bon Voyage and how many drinks you can get from that bottle and what you would save in the long run.

 

Also, since I live in Washington state where there are state owned stores, the prices are not that far off. We don't pay state taxes here, so they have to get money from somewhere and they get it from high tax on alcohol....

 

And you can make your drinks as strong as you like without paying for a double shot.

 

I stocked up in San Diego...a 1.75 liter of Skyy was $20 at Costco....that was just a few bucks more than a 750ml of Smirnoff here....nuff said. LOL!

[blindrid]

The thing is to not compare what you can buy it for in your local store, but the cost of what x number of drinks would cost you if you bought at the bar with the 15% tip, as compared to purchasing a bottle from Bon Voyage and how many drinks you can get from that bottle and what you would save in the long run.

 

Correct. I already had that figured out when I bought through BV. Obviously, even at the $40+ tax, getting 33 oz ended up running me $1.21 an ounce (allowing me .8 ounces to spill)...... a far cry from $8.

[Mrs.C05]

If I wait until the last minute, could they be sold out? Should I call it in now?

[blindrid]

If I wait until the last minute, could they be sold out? Should I call it in now?

 

I'd call now to place your order even though the booze you buy is brought to the ship and is not taken out of their inventory. You can always call and change it if need be. There is a deadline but I'm thinking it's a couple of days before departure - call and make sure though.

[Georgie562]

I too can confirm that you are allowed to purchase bottles from room service once you are on the ship. I did this on my cruise 2 weeks ago because the bottles I had bought from bon voyage prior to sailing finished on my 4th day of the cruise and with 5 days left with no booze I had too. :D

[luvmysox1]

We are just back from our trip. Bon voyage was the best way to go. Prices are out of this world, i bought a jack and coke the first day before my bottles were delivered and it was $6.95 plus tip! i did pack some gin in my checked luggage for my dad and it made it through. my carry on had two bottle of wine and 36 sodas, nothing was ever said after scan.

 

Yeah, my 1st DOD was 9.95 plus tip in Mobile on my s&S bill. I had to wait for BV delivery until the next day because AL law. My RR's go thru no problem though.

[Bflo Cruiser]

We were able to bring on an obnoxious amount of alcohol on our last cruise. All in six suitcases for six people in three cabins. We didn't even drink all of it and still purchased more onboard to bring home.

[Mrs.C05]

Bflo Cruiser,

 

You were able to bring all that on without getting caught??! Looks neatly set up so I thought it was from BV department! What did you mix with it?

 

I'm hoping they'll have OJ in the mornings so we can put them in our tumbler's were bringing to make drinks later. Debating on bringing bottled OJ though since they wanted $1.50 per can at BV, but it's free on the ship.

[Bflo Cruiser]

Some we drank straight, some shots, others we mixed in juice or pop (we got the soda card). I was able to get cranberry juice at dinner and OJ at breakfast, so I just got a refill and brought it back to the room.

 

We were shocked we were able to bring all that on also. We expected at least some of it would get confiscated, but none of it did. Crazy!

[bellariddle]

Bflo Cruiser,

 

You were able to bring all that on without getting caught??! Looks neatly set up so I thought it was from BV department! What did you mix with it?

 

I'm hoping they'll have OJ in the mornings so we can put them in our tumbler's were bringing to make drinks later. Debating on bringing bottled OJ though since they wanted $1.50 per can at BV, but it's free on the ship.

Lido deck buffet always has OJ. I am bringing on red bull to go with my vodka from Bon voyage :)

 

Technically the rules for Bon Voyage is that you have to order 1 week in advance or more. After that they may decline your order.

 

Btw, how picky are they at counting carry on non alcoholic beverages? I have two 12 packs but also wanted to bring 2 bottles of water on board. Has anyone actually had them count out the twelve per person?