Carrying Wine/Soda aboard

[divaofdisney]

Was wondering if it is possible to carry our own wine and soda aboard, and if so how do most of you carry it on? Do you bring it in your carryon? I understand that there is a fee to uncork, how much is it? And if we elected not to lug the soda how much is it for the soda card? I am totally a soda drinker and so is my 8 yr old- my other daughter 16 likes iced-tea and will have an occasional soda- just trying to plan what would be best. my husband never drinks soda. any opinions would be appreciated and thanks in advance?

[zachnlucy]

I believe the soda card is $6 per day for adults, $4 for children, and you must buy it for the entire cruise. Sodas are $1.50 each so if you plan on drinking more than 4 per day, it's a good deal. RCI's official policy states that you're not allowed to bring any soda, water, wine, beer, liquor onboard. We're bringing a couple of bottles of wine onboard, putting them in our checked luggage, and will pay the $12 corkage fee to have them with dinner. RCI does not offer the wine we like.

[Butch2099]

I have brought soda on board in a carry on with no problems. Other than lugging it. I was always leery of putting it in the suitcase in case it exploded it would get everything soaked. The soda cards are (to me) VERY expensive. $35 -$45 I think. I'm sure if you looked around this site you can find a more exact price. If you don't want to carry it the 1st day, you can get it in some ports and bring it back with you. In Key West and Grand Caymon it was fairly easy to find 12 pks and bring them back. I wish they would make the soda card more reasonable maybe they would sell more.

Not sure about the wine, my last RC cruise you could buy liquor in the gift shops and take it with you for an extra $10. If you took it on the ship with you in a carry on I don't see how they would tell the difference.

[dougp26364]

The official line is, no beverages carried onboard.

 

Reality is that people carry soda's and bottled water on all the time. Last November, our daughter and her So brought two cases of Dr. Pepper onboard at embarkation. By the time we got to St. Maartin, I was craving Pepsi (I don't care that much for Coke) so I bought a 6 pack and carried onboard in the sack from the store. We've never had a problem brining bottled water onboard either.

[SailingDoug]

I bought from Target what they call clinkers, they hold two bottles of wine, put the wine in them, enclosed the clinkers in a two gallon zip lock, and put in check baggage. No problem at all. I did two of these, so I could have with meals for the cruise.

[zachnlucy]

I bought from Target what they call clinkers, they hold two bottles of wine, put the wine in them, enclosed the clinkers in a two gallon zip lock, and put in check baggage. No problem at all. I did two of these, so I could have with meals for the cruise.

What is a clinker? Do you pour the wine in them? Or do they surround the bottles (like an insulator)? What was the cost? Do you think they're better than bubble wrap?

[maritimemare]

We always bring a supply of soda and water on board. Just carry it on in plastic grocery bags. We've never had any problems. Did RCI recently change its policy? If so, when did this change happen? We last cruised 6 months ago.

 

They used to just say no wine or liquor could be brought on board -- I never recall seeing or hearing of a prohibition on non-alconolic beverages being brought on board. If they've changed their policy, it's clearly motivated by money. There used to be some semblance of reasoning behind not letting people bring on cases of liquor and kegs of beer -- public drunkeness, etc.

 

But, there can be no reason, other than greed, for not letting someone bring on non-alcoholic beverages. Gees, you can bring a case of coke with you to a hotel if you like!

 

What's next? No clothes can be brought on board -- all must be purchased from the on-board shops!!!

[setcarp]

If you are carrying on, remember that this is for in-cabin use. It is very tacky to carry around outside drinks. That being said, we just carried on boxed wine, beer, water, and soda with no problem.

The soda card seems to be a good deal if you drink a lot of soda in a day.

[TexasDH]

Two words... bubble wrap!

 

(Our vodka fared very well in the luggage... with the soda/juice card, we were able to have our fix on the balcony whenever we wanted! But, we still had to go out for martinis and champagne! ;) )

[springtxbill]

You can carry on all of the non-alcoholic drinks you want to with no problem.

 

Remember that besides the $6/$4 price per day for each day of the cruise, a 15% gratuity is added. Also if purchased while still in port, a local sales tax is also charged. :(

[Cruising89143]

I carried a twelve pack of half liter bottles of water on the Navigator last December and had no problems what so ever. I think that if you keep it to a minimum amount then you should be ok.