Packing rum bottles purchased in Cuba

[Rovertech]

I will be visiting Cuba in a couple of weeks and plan to buy a few bottles of rum to give as gifts when I return. My question is do the bottles purchased in Cuba come in boxes or is it up to me to bring some bubble wrap so when I pack them in my luggage they will survive the flight home

 

 

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[cruiseguy1016]

We've always just wrapped the bottles with our clothing. Make sure the bottles are surrounded in the middle of the suitcase. We've never had a bottle broken.

[goodgriefer]

Likewise have brought home many of bottles of rum without breakage. Pack them in the middle of the suitcase.

[LMaxwell]

Bring some foam or bubble wrap; the bottles aren't packaged at all in Cuba.

[321allan]

They will prob fit in some gal size ziplock bags in the middle.

[cloud7cruise]

I routinely pack alcohol in my luggage when traveling. So far none of the bottles have been broken. Like others, I just wrap each bottle individually with my clothing.

 

It has been a few years since my last visit to Cuba. One of the bottle I brought back was a Havana Club 7, which came in its own box.

[robtulipe]

We also wrap our bottles individually with non valuable clothing (t-shirts, jeans, etc.) or our own beach towel then place one only in a large plastic bag and tie a knot or use a zip tie to seal the open end. A RCCL ship's plastic laundry bag is a good size for this. Then we place preferably one each in the middle of our suitcase surrounded by our other clothes. The wrapping cloth will absorb any leakage, which has never happened to us as we make sure the cap is on tight. It also will prevent glass shards from cutting holes in the plastic bag thus preventing damage to more valuable outside the plastic bag clothing if the bottle is broken, which also hasn't happened to us on our return from our many cruises and vacations.

Being Canadian we vacationed once for two weeks in Cuba in the early 1990s and this thread reminded me of buying litre bottles of Havana Club rum seconds for $1USD a bottle in the tourist store near our hotel in Varadero, Cuba. Seconds had crooked or wrinkled labels but the contents was first rate.

[kac0426]

When you buy rum in Cuba and get back on board the ship, do they take it from you? How do you then get it back? I've never purchased liquor while on a cruise but may make an exception for Cuban rum!

[Clarea]

When you buy rum in Cuba and get back on board the ship, do they take it from you? How do you then get it back? I've never purchased liquor while on a cruise but may make an exception for Cuban rum!

They either deliver it to your stateroom on the last night or last morning, or there is a special area you go to pick it up on the last night or last morning.

[Snit13]

They will prob fit in some gal size ziplock bags in the middle.

 

We have wrapped bottles in clothing and then placed in 2 gal. Ziplock bags (which I bring) and place in middle of suitcase. Never a problem. Once packed 5 bottles of red wine which we did not drink from wine package purchased on B2B cruises. All 5 arrived home unbroken. Yes, we did tell customs we were bringing our wine and they did not charge us.

[EatonDoolittle]

When you buy rum in Cuba and get back on board the ship, do they take it from you? How do you then get it back? I've never purchased liquor while on a cruise but may make an exception for Cuban rum!

 

On the 5 day Empress from Tampa last year, they did not collect rum when you got back on the ship. Many people had some, as you would expect.

 

Perhaps they realized it would be a lot of work to deliver it all on the last day, perhaps they realized most, if not all, of it was for souvenirs, or perhaps they realized that on the one sea day on this trip (back to Tampa) it was not worth worrying about people drinking their own booze on board.

 

I wrapped a few bottles as mentioned in clothes in the middle of my suitcase (I was driving home), and brought a few in my carry on so I could declare it at customs.

He just told me I was over the limit, but did not charge me any duty, or even seem to care.

 

YMMV at customs, or in another home port.

[kcparrothead]

He just told me I was over the limit, but did not charge me any duty, or even seem to care.

 

YMMV at customs, or in another home port.

 

We are cruising on the Empress out of Miami & was wondering how many bottles we could bring back without paying duty. Do you know, by chance?

[LMaxwell]

I think the same 2liters.

 

When I was on the Sky they did not collect the rum bottles from us at reboarding and we were holding them in our hands (shrug)

[Bkchero]

They either deliver it to your stateroom on the last night or last morning, or there is a special area you go to pick it up on the last night or last morning.

 

Our attendant delivered them about 6:00 the night before we disembarked. I happened to be in the room and he handed them to me and said "Please do not drink them." While I honored his request (I had the drink package) I would be surprised if everyone always does . . .

[EatonDoolittle]

We are cruising on the Empress out of Miami & was wondering how many bottles we could bring back without paying duty. Do you know, by chance?

 

Just checked my papers, officially, it is one litre - basically, one bottle. Some rums that you find are liters, some are 750s.

 

If I recall correctly, I had 5; packed 2, carried and declared 3.

No duty charged, just the mild scolding, as I mentioned.

 

Over on the Cuba board others have reported bringing back much more, with no duty charged.

[2Long2NxtCrz]

I've had a bottle break on me before and that was with as careful packing as I could provide (wrapped in plastic bags and then in the middle of the suitcase).

 

So I purchased these to make sure that I wouldn't end up with luggage smelling of wine or booze: https://www.amazon.com/WINEVINCI-Reusable-Wine-Bottle-Protector/dp/B076FXLW9L/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525805198&sr=8-1&keywords=winevinci&dpID=4114XwUtkbL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

 

I can attest that they work great! Brought quite a few bottles back from Europe and everything survived.