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box lunch for excursions?


guitarcrazy
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Hello!

Super excited to be on the Star this upcoming summer for the Adriatic cruise!

I was reading review on the Delos Island excursion and many comments here and on TripAdvisor suggesting one brings a bag lunch.  Does anyone know if we can take a box lunch out with us to shore from the ship?  And if so, does Norwegian charge us for it?

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In most ports, you are not allowed to remove any food from the ship. The ship does not provide lunch boxes. If your excursion does not provide food, then you are on your own to purchase it on shore. 

Edited by BirdTravels
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But you can take pre-packaged snacks (granola bars, bags of chips, PB crackers, nuts, candy, cookies, etc.) as long as they are still factory sealed.  The premise is that they have been cooked/processed to kill any seeds or insects.

 

Absolutely nothing fresh or opened, due to the risk of carrying either 'foreign' seeds or insects ashore.  Especially fruits and meats, but includes other baked/cooked on the ship.

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Be aware that the ship's written policy state that "No Food" may be removed from the ship in most ports (to comply with local laws and customs regulations). Folks here on Cruise Critic tend to create all kinds of exceptions to what they think is o.k. to bring ashore. "No Food" is pretty clear and not open to interpretation. 

Edited by BirdTravels
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39 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

In most ports, you are not allowed to remove any food from the ship. The ship does not provide lunch boxes. If your excursion does not provide food, then you are on your own to purchase it on shore. 

 

6 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Be aware that the ship's written policy state that "No Food" may be removed from the ship in most ports (to comply with local laws and customs regulations). Folks here on Cruise Critic tend to create all kinds of exceptions to what they think is o.k. to bring ashore. "No Food" is pretty clear and not open to interpretation. 

 

So true!  Don't  plan on taking food off the ship with you at your ports of call!  :classic_wink:

 

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Check on board. Delos is a unique place as you know. I would not fool with a box lunch though there is no reason not to, and it is usually allowed in most European ports. You will likely be dropped at Delos and the ship will proceed to Mykonos. You will get ot Mykonos by a ferry as art of your excursion. There is a small restaurant on the island. Make sure to take bottled water with there. There is NO shade on the island and it gets really hot.

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It is not uncommon to be sitting on an NCL sponsored tour coach to see people nibbling on what has quite clearly taken from the ship.   All it needs is for someone to report it to the authorities at the port for all future ships to have everyone's carry off bags to be searched.  No-one needs that so please do NOT take food of any sort off the ship.

 

That is especially true in both Australia and New Zealand.  In fact NZ is changing the law to allow major fines at ANY NZ port to be imposed on any cruise ship passenger who is carrying food.    I believe an instant $400.  And they are training more food dogs for just the purpose of catching people.

 

The announcement on all cruise ships has to be

Announcement to passengers

Cruise ships must broadcast this announcement:

New Zealand biosecurity regulations prohibit the removal of ships stores from the vessel.

Items that cannot be taken off the vessel include:

  • fresh fruit and vegetables
  • meat of any kind
  • prepared meals (including sandwiches)
  • dairy products
  • any other food items
  • flowers, seeds, or plants.

Only commercially-bottled drinking water is permitted to leave the vessel without permission of the MPI quarantine inspector.

Passengers and crew may be asked to present their hand luggage, including backpacks for inspection to the MPI inspectors stationed at the gangway.

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10 hours ago, guitarcrazy said:

Hello!

Super excited to be on the Star this upcoming summer for the Adriatic cruise!

I was reading review on the Delos Island excursion and many comments here and on TripAdvisor suggesting one brings a bag lunch.  Does anyone know if we can take a box lunch out with us to shore from the ship?  And if so, does Norwegian charge us for it?

Most ports do not allow you to bring foods in from anywhere, so simply the answer is NO> This has nothing to do with NCL let me add. You can bring pre wrapped snacks like crackers or bars but that isnt the same thing. Not all ports pay much attention, but check before you leave the ship. 

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14 hours ago, casofilia said:

It is not uncommon to be sitting on an NCL sponsored tour coach to see people nibbling on what has quite clearly taken from the ship.   All it needs is for someone to report it to the authorities at the port for all future ships to have everyone's carry off bags to be searched.  No-one needs that so please do NOT take food of any sort off the ship.

 

That is especially true in both Australia and New Zealand.  In fact NZ is changing the law to allow major fines at ANY NZ port to be imposed on any cruise ship passenger who is carrying food.    I believe an instant $400.  And they are training more food dogs for just the purpose of catching people.

 

The announcement on all cruise ships has to be

Announcement to passengers

Cruise ships must broadcast this announcement:

New Zealand biosecurity regulations prohibit the removal of ships stores from the vessel.

Items that cannot be taken off the vessel include:

  • fresh fruit and vegetables
  • meat of any kind
  • prepared meals (including sandwiches)
  • dairy products
  • any other food items
  • flowers, seeds, or plants.

Only commercially-bottled drinking water is permitted to leave the vessel without permission of the MPI quarantine inspector.

Passengers and crew may be asked to present their hand luggage, including backpacks for inspection to the MPI inspectors stationed at the gangway.

What does NZ law have to do with Delos?

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6 hours ago, newmexicoNita said:

Most ports do not allow you to bring foods in from anywhere, so simply the answer is NO> This has nothing to do with NCL let me add. You can bring pre wrapped snacks like crackers or bars but that isnt the same thing. Not all ports pay much attention, but check before you leave the ship. 

 

Have you been to Delos? Do you know where it is? The entire island is an historical site. Very few trees, no inhabitants..No carss, no busses or coaches. You walk the entire island. The only thing there that is motorized are a few 4 x 4's for the staff.

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53 minutes ago, zqvol said:

 

Have you been to Delos? Do you know where it is? The entire island is an historical site. Very few trees, no inhabitants..No carss, no busses or coaches. You walk the entire island. The only thing there that is motorized are a few 4 x 4's for the staff.

Hello: !!!!!!! that is why I mentioned checking with ship first.. I can also assure you, the ship is not going to make sack lunches for people unless it is part of a NCL tour. It is never a good idea for anyone on CC to answer a question without a disclaimer as things change from day to day. 

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What does NZ law have to do with Delos?

 

Absolutely nothing BUT it never hurts to point out that certain places are very serious in their intent to stop people taking foodstuff ashore.   Just like whenever there is any comment about visas I will often point out the need for hard copies of the USA ESTA.

 

Some things need repeated repetition and even then there are people who take no notice.

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19 hours ago, Sue Do-Over said:

But you can take pre-packaged snacks (granola bars, bags of chips, PB crackers, nuts, candy, cookies, etc.) as long as they are still factory sealed.  The premise is that they have been cooked/processed to kill any seeds or insects.

 

Absolutely nothing fresh or opened, due to the risk of carrying either 'foreign' seeds or insects ashore.  Especially fruits and meats, but includes other baked/cooked on the ship.

Don't try that in Chile.  Even commercially bagged nuts will garner you a $200 fine.

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I often have pre-packaged protein bars in my purse (quest bars).  A lot of times I don’t want to eat in a restaurant, or there is a really long interval between meals and I need some protein.  Is something like that which is hermetically sealed and wrapped really an issue?

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ONLY pre-package food items allowed ashore.  There is food onshore, if you want....people actually LIVE and EAT there, you know!

 

I don't know of any port that allows veggies, plants, meats or cheeses (unless pre-package, in factory packaging) to be brought ashore.  Hefty fines or imprisonment if they find you are smuggling contraband.

 

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Hmmm.....traveler spends thousands of dollars to get to cruise ship in Mediterranean, gets to authentic, exotic Greek Island and wants a box lunch....

 

I don't want a boxed lunch from the ship-I would want the local cuisine! Hope this link helps: https://www.tripadvisor.com/RestaurantsNear-g202339-d4297568-Archaeological_Site_of_Delos-Delos_Cyclades_South_Aegean.html

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1 hour ago, AnonomissX said:

Hmmm.....traveler spends thousands of dollars to get to cruise ship in Mediterranean, gets to authentic, exotic Greek Island and wants a box lunch....

 

I don't want a boxed lunch from the ship-I would want the local cuisine! Hope this link helps: https://www.tripadvisor.com/RestaurantsNear-g202339-d4297568-Archaeological_Site_of_Delos-Delos_Cyclades_South_Aegean.html

 

Yeah all of those are on Mykonos which isn’t the same island as Delos. There is a small snack bar on the island of Delos and that is it for food and water (water from the faucets isn’t potable) and when we went to Delos it was very, very busy. We brought water with us on Delos but were very hot and hungry by the time we got back on the ferry. 

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On 1/3/2019 at 8:14 PM, guitarcrazy said:

Hello!

Super excited to be on the Star this upcoming summer for the Adriatic cruise!

I was reading review on the Delos Island excursion and many comments here and on TripAdvisor suggesting one brings a bag lunch.  Does anyone know if we can take a box lunch out with us to shore from the ship?  And if so, does Norwegian charge us for it?

 

Are you planning on taking the ship’s excursion? I did not think it was worth the money at all and wish we had booked a private or smaller group excurion. The groups on the ships tour were so large and that it was difficult to see things. Our tour guide lost part of our group multiple times while people were filing though narrow areas. And we were just on the regular ferry to Delos, so it wasn’t like their tour made it so we had more time on the island. 

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Hi Lepidoptera,

I was planning on signing up for the Costco afflicted shore excursion. It may not be any better.   Our ship ports at Mykonos only from 9 to 3.  I thought of doing it myself but was concerned that the ferry left Delos at 1:30 then not until 3:00.  The ship leaves at 3:00 and I was afraid if somehow I missed the 1:30 I would be in big doo-doo.

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Hey guitarcrazy,

 

I would assume that the costco trip takes the ferry also. When we went the ferries were full of tour groups, with people from cruise ships and non-cruising tourists also. The NCL tour we went on had us on the tour for an hour/hour and a half then took us to the visitor center/museum and basically cut everyone lose and said there is ferry coming at this time or you can get in the one coming after that which the tour guide would take. None of the tour guides we saw gave tours of the museum. One thing that was nice was all the tour groups were using head sets so at least the guides weren’t shouting. 

 

I would definetly say don’t do it completely on your own because the ruins were very spread out and it would be easy to miss things you want to see. 

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16 hours ago, zqvol said:

 

Have you been to Delos? Do you know where it is? The entire island is an historical site. Very few trees, no inhabitants..No carss, no busses or coaches. You walk the entire island. The only thing there that is motorized are a few 4 x 4's for the staff.

 

I have been to Delos and there is a small restaurant to purchase food and water there. Certainly not a ‘local cruisine’ experience but enough to tide you over till you get back to Mykonos.

 

As far as a tour vs DIY. We went DIY and it was super easy to grab the ferry over. I don’t think there’s an advantage to a private tour over the ferry; either way if you miss the ferry you miss the ferry. Only advantage to a cruise line excursion is that if the ferry gets delayed (did not happen to us, but the seas were rough so could see it happen) the cruise line will try to wait.

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