Liquor Purchases on Back to Back Cruises

[jmike]

I am seeking a solution to a problem I have. I am departing in December on the Empress for a 5 day cruise to Cuba. When I return, I depart on the same day on the Harmony. I am a rum collector and plan on buying 3 bottles of rum only available in Cuba costing about $150 each. I need to take this purchase aboard the Harmony since I have found no other place to keep it for 7 days. I can't ship it home by Fedex or USP because I don't have a license to ship alcohol. There are no luggage storage facilities on the pier.

 

I contacted Customer Relations at RCCL for a solution and they got back to me a week later saying they did not have a solution for me. If I attempt to bring the rum onboard in my suitcase, it will be confiscated and destroyed. I was told that if I attempt to bring it on in my carryon it was up to pier security to decide if it they will confiscate and destroy it. They said that they had no way to contact pier security on my behalf to allow my purchase onboard.

 

One of my main reason for traveling to Cuba is to buy rare rum to add to my collection. I hate to have to skip my Harmony cruise and go home early since I am booked in an Owners Suite and will lose a lot of money.

 

I have taken back to back cruises on Princess before and they always have taken my purchases and held them for me until the end of the cruise. I guess the difference here is I was always on the same ship back to back.

 

I would really appreciate any help or ideas.

 

Mike

[Punchy]

Expensive but would work, Rent a car after the 1st cruise and park it for a week to store it.

[Retired LEO]

They will hold it until the end of the cruise. They will not destroy it.

[Langley Cruisers]

This should not be a problem as long as you declare it at the pier for your second cruise. They will hold it for you; it will not be destroyed. Do not put it in your luggage as that constitutes smuggling, but in your carry on and full disclosure should work for you. Others have done this and reported it here and that's how I heard about it.

 

Alternatively, you might want to check out local post office boxes or storage facilities in town on turnaround day for short-term rental.

.

[Ashland]

Agree with those above that RCI will hold for you at checkin for HOTS and return it to you at disembark.

In addition you might want to check the storage locker situation at FLL if this might work as well.

[Merion_Mom]

Before you hand over the bottles to staff on the Harmony, take photos of your bottles.

 

Small insurance policy. ;) :)

[Langley Cruisers]

Before you hand over the bottles to staff on the Harmony, take photos of your bottles.

 

Small insurance policy. ;) :)

 

Agreed, maybe with the receipts in the picture also.

[vrock]

We had a similar issue in december we purchased a bottle of liquor while on allure first week. Disembarked allure and got on Freedom same day we put liquor in our bag and checked it. Had to go to naughty room they were very nice when I explained our situation and held our bottle and returned it to us on the last night. Have a great cruise. :)

[SRF]

You can always ship the bottles home via FedEx or UPS.

 

That they are not empty is something you don't mention.

 

It is done all the time, look at eBay sales of "just the bottle" of rare spirits, that just happen to be not empty.

[Langley Cruisers]

You can always ship the bottles home via FedEx or UPS.

 

No, OP mentioned this in this initial post:

 

I can't ship it home by Fedex or USP because I don't have a license to ship alcohol.

.

[lake effect]

Agree with those above that RCI will hold for you at checkin for HOTS and return it to you at disembark.

 

In addition you might want to check the storage locker situation at FLL if this might work as well.

 

 

 

Security at embarkation is usually a private firm as opposed to the security at most ports of call is rci staff.Private security usually confiscate and do not return at debark . Even if they say they will hold it , I would not trust them .If your staying in FLL after HOTS ,you could take it to your hotel and they could hold it .Interesting problem ,no easy solution

 

 

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[meripour]

You can always ship the bottles home via FedEx or UPS.

 

That they are not empty is something you don't mention.

 

It is done all the time, look at eBay sales of "just the bottle" of rare spirits, that just happen to be not empty.

 

 

It is my opinion as one who does international trade compliance for 25 years plus this is a multi-fold potential problem for you.

This is a bit more severe than this poster is understanding that 'perhaps' you won't get caught, but if you do, you will be involved with several agencies of the federal government and potentially in violation of the US Import/Export Regulations. There is a disclaimer on the courier paperwork and if you ship via courier from outside the USA you will have to clear Customs and must have proper paperwork for it to enter the country. I do not think you will be able to ship directly from Cuba as there is not a relationship for such between our countries and if it's liquor, they will know what is going to be required upon entry to the USA or it will be held or destroyed.

You are correct, it is illegal to move liquor within the USA or import without a liquor license and that will involve the ATF. If you get it into the USA, You may be able to find a liquor store that has a cooperative with a liquor store in your State or can ship directly to your home, but the liquor coming from Cuba will be the issue for them as well. Total Wine in Florida did some shipping for us on one trip. If you get the proper import docs, they may move it forward for you for a fee, but your state may require it to be dealer to dealer. The. You get into the individual States liquor board who rarely have routine rules.

While the US lifted the ability to travel to Cuba under the People to People 'license exception', it did not lift/remove all prohibitions with this country that require a formal license application to the appropriate US Government agency. All other sanctions remain in place and can be found at the US Dept of State website, but may involve other agencies. This includes trade and most monetary transactions and are in violation of US law. They are not fooling around with this.

You might find yourself inadvertently entering into a violation with US Department of State sanctions, aka 'trading with the enemy' because you are importing and have made a cash transaction within Cuba. You may be able to apply for a license prior to your trip or there may now be a 'license exception' you can avail yourself of but you need to do your due-diligence prior to your trip.

It would be a shame to do all this work with the cruise line, only for US Customs to seize at entry. Because they will know you made a trip to Cuba, they will be diligent. If you lie on your declaration, you have created a Federal offense. It's part of the violation of 'knowingly or should have known' cavieat. If you find out of an exception that will allow this, have that proof with you to discuss factually with Customs. You will be in the same pickle of you hand off to an international courier. You cannot just plead 'ignorance' and not declare the shipment. It's illegal to ship liquor within the USA across State lines, aka the Al Capone rule - aka rum running.

As long as you keep it on the boat, the flag of the vessel is considered under the regs as the countries flag it is flying, but once it goes over the ships rail, it's a whole other ballgame. For it to be moved between vessels it will involve a manifest for them to move it via declaration and a manifest which is required to be given to US Customs 48 hours prior to entry of the vessel. Sticky mess I don't see them wanting to be involved in. If you can get your ducks in a row to take it off the first ship with an exception, then you need to arrange for this to be held somewhere for you so you do not have to go through this again. If you take it off elsewhere than the final destination of the USA, be sure to verify what that Port and Government requirements are and relationship with the USA is, but don't think this trick already hasn't been tried.

 

I will do some checking if you like. I am not saying there is not a way to do this, just don't go with the crowd of jumping off the bridge because someone said everyone else is doing it. In particular with the current US Government administration who does not have a rosy view of the lifting of sanctions anyway. The quickest way to get ahead in the government is to make a seizure.

Always declare. I have seen what can happen.

Are you looking to buy cases or several bottles???

 

Take the trip regardless, before it is prohibited again for US travel. It's coming I suspect.

 

Excuse the errors.

[Doug S]

Being in an owner's suite perhaps the concierge/genie could help. Not sure how all that works on Harmony.

[meripour]

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/international-visitors/kbyg/customs-duty-info

Go to this site for the exemption information and allowance of what you may bring in from Cuba. Take note of the per person. Some Customs will judge the limit per family in the declaration.

Now all you need to locate is storage that is safe.

[xpcdoojk]

They will hold it until the end of the cruise. They will not destroy it.

 

Depends. On our cruise a couple of years ago, we did a side by side cruise, a week in February on the Oasis, and then a 5 day on the Liberty. The Liberty cruise was a spring Break cruise, unbeknownst to me, it sailed on 2/28... The security people checking into Liberty, took my prized vanilla banana rum from St. Maarten, (not expensive, but we love it), and because it was done like a home brew, and it was spring break, they took it and my liter of Gran Marnier as we boarded. The local product was absolutely destroyed, or at least not returned to me.

 

December is concerning because again, security on booze is higher.

 

Just saying...

 

JC

[xpcdoojk]

It is my opinion as one who does international trade compliance for 25 years plus this is a multi-fold potential problem for you.

This is a bit more severe than this poster is understanding that 'perhaps' you won't get caught, but if you do, you will be involved with several agencies of the federal government and potentially in violation of the US Import/Export Regulations. There is a disclaimer on the courier paperwork and if you ship via courier from outside the USA you will have to clear Customs and must have proper paperwork for it to enter the country. I do not think you will be able to ship directly from Cuba as there is not a relationship for such between our countries and if it's liquor, they will know what is going to be required upon entry to the USA or it will be held or destroyed.

You are correct, it is illegal to move liquor within the USA or import without a liquor license and that will involve the ATF. If you get it into the USA, You may be able to find a liquor store that has a cooperative with a liquor store in your State or can ship directly to your home, but the liquor coming from Cuba will be the issue for them as well. Total Wine in Florida did some shipping for us on one trip. If you get the proper import docs, they may move it forward for you for a fee, but your state may require it to be dealer to dealer. The. You get into the individual States liquor board who rarely have routine rules.

While the US lifted the ability to travel to Cuba under the People to People 'license exception', it did not lift/remove all prohibitions with this country that require a formal license application to the appropriate US Government agency. All other sanctions remain in place and can be found at the US Dept of State website, but may involve other agencies. This includes trade and most monetary transactions and are in violation of US law. They are not fooling around with this.

You might find yourself inadvertently entering into a violation with US Department of State sanctions, aka 'trading with the enemy' because you are importing and have made a cash transaction within Cuba. You may be able to apply for a license prior to your trip or there may now be a 'license exception' you can avail yourself of but you need to do your due-diligence prior to your trip.

It would be a shame to do all this work with the cruise line, only for US Customs to seize at entry. Because they will know you made a trip to Cuba, they will be diligent. If you lie on your declaration, you have created a Federal offense. It's part of the violation of 'knowingly or should have known' cavieat. If you find out of an exception that will allow this, have that proof with you to discuss factually with Customs. You will be in the same pickle of you hand off to an international courier. You cannot just plead 'ignorance' and not declare the shipment. It's illegal to ship liquor within the USA across State lines, aka the Al Capone rule - aka rum running.

As long as you keep it on the boat, the flag of the vessel is considered under the regs as the countries flag it is flying, but once it goes over the ships rail, it's a whole other ballgame. For it to be moved between vessels it will involve a manifest for them to move it via declaration and a manifest which is required to be given to US Customs 48 hours prior to entry of the vessel. Sticky mess I don't see them wanting to be involved in. If you can get your ducks in a row to take it off the first ship with an exception, then you need to arrange for this to be held somewhere for you so you do not have to go through this again. If you take it off elsewhere than the final destination of the USA, be sure to verify what that Port and Government requirements are and relationship with the USA is, but don't think this trick already hasn't been tried.

 

I will do some checking if you like. I am not saying there is not a way to do this, just don't go with the crowd of jumping off the bridge because someone said everyone else is doing it. In particular with the current US Government administration who does not have a rosy view of the lifting of sanctions anyway. The quickest way to get ahead in the government is to make a seizure.

Always declare. I have seen what can happen.

Are you looking to buy cases or several bottles???

 

Take the trip regardless, before it is prohibited again for US travel. It's coming I suspect.

 

Excuse the errors.

 

Great informative post, thanks so very much!

 

JC

[jmike]

Thanks for the very useful information. Since I am departing from FLL right after the cruise, I have decided that I will take my rum to Bags to Go storage company at FLL. They offer extended storage at $7 per day. I will drop off a suitcase containing the rum and some dirty clothes before heading to the Harmony.

 

Thanks, Mike

[Langley Cruisers]

....I have decided that I will take my rum to Bags to Go storage company at FLL. They offer extended storage at $7 per day. I will drop off a suitcase containing the rum and some dirty clothes before heading to the Harmony.

 

Excellent! Enjoy your cruises. :)