Can I embark with these ?

[dmac]

This is our first HAL cruise.  Been on many other lines, but we are usually going directly from the airport to the ship.  On this trip, we have time to shop before embarkation.

Will HAL let me embark with a 12 pack of soda, and maybe a 12 pack of bottled water?  I understand these items are not free on HAL.  Please advise.

[POA1]

Yes. In carry on. 

[woodworker&knitter]

The drinking water on HAL is excellent to drink. 

[Krazy Kruizers]

You can even bring on more than 12 packs of those items --as long as you can carry it or keep it in your carry on.

 

There is no limit.

[sevenseasnomad]

We never packed soda cans in a carry-on.  When we checked our luggage, we would also check the  canned sodas.  DH would wrap the carton with clear packing tape, several times around, which strengthened the package as well as allowing us to slap a luggage tag on.  We never had a porter say he couldn't take the drinks, and the carton always showed up in our cabin with the rest of our luggage.  I didn't even know we were supposed to carry it on.  Of course, we haven't brought any soft drinks onto the ships since 2013, so there's probably a chance that I couldn't get away with it now, judging by other comments here.

 

If you decide to take the sodas onboard, may I suggest that you buy one of those collapsible coolers small enough to fit through the security x-ray.  This may be a better option than having the cans rattle around in a suitcase.

Edited February 20, 2019 by sevenseasnomad

[DaveOKC]

Trust me - you do no want your sodas to explode in your suitcase!  It makes a huge mess - I have seen it first hand.

[VMax1700]

You can bring water/soda on at ports of calls also, so maybe you won't need to carry 12 packs!

[Vic The Parrot]

21 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

Trust me - you do no want your sodas to explode in your suitcase!  It makes a huge mess - I have seen it first hand.

"That's a nice fragrance you're wearing, what is it?"

 

 

"7-Up"

 

 

[Arrowinc]

Following advice received on this forum, we have generally packed a floppy duffel or similar collapsible case in our airline checked luggage,  stopped at a grocery to pick up soft drinks to stick in the bag, and then carried them on.  On one early occasion, we checked the bag at the dock, and it did not turn out very well because the bag was obviously mashed in with others.

[kazu]

On 2/20/2019 at 5:27 PM, sevenseasnomad said:

We never packed soda cans in a carry-on.  When we checked our luggage, we would also check the  canned sodas.  DH would wrap the carton with clear packing tape, several times around, which strengthened the package as well as allowing us to slap a luggage tag on.  We never had a porter say he couldn't take the drinks, and the carton always showed up in our cabin with the rest of our luggage.  I didn't even know we were supposed to carry it on.  Of course, we haven't brought any soft drinks onto the ships since 2013, so there's probably a chance that I couldn't get away with it now, judging by other comments here.

 

If you decide to take the sodas onboard, may I suggest that you buy one of those collapsible coolers small enough to fit through the security x-ray.  This may be a better option than having the cans rattle around in a suitcase.

 

I like your second option better.  HAL specifically asks that you carry on.  If you don’t, Soda and water will go the way of the old wine policy.

 

Part of the reason the wine policy went was the “checking it on” and making stewards lug it.  (From the HD on a ship).

 

Plus, I’d rather your soda didn’t explode and affect my luggage 😉

 

 

2 hours ago, Arrowinc said:

Following advice received on this forum, we have generally packed a floppy duffel or similar collapsible case in our airline checked luggage,  stopped at a grocery to pick up soft drinks to stick in the bag, and then carried them on.  On one early occasion, we checked the bag at the dock, and it did not turn out very well because the bag was obviously mashed in with others.

 

Excellent idea 😄. Thank you.

[Hflors]

I have a suitcase (on the smaller size) that I use to pack my ginger-ale.  It will hold 4 8 packs.  each are wrapped in bubble wrap and then taped.  I put a room tag on it and hand it off to the porter.  I have been doing it for years.  It arrives at my room ready for use.  

[TAD2005]

All luggage given to porters are placed in the huge steel cages that fork lifts hoist into the ship.  If your bag with bubble-wrapped soda is somewhere hear the top of the pile,  then you will be OK.  If it is near the bottom of the pile, and there's no way to guarantee where it is in the stack, the cans can be squashed by the hundreds of pounds of luggage on top,  and even with the bubble wrap, a can or two could explode, and your soda will trickle down onto all of your fellow passengers luggage and clothes.   I would be really PO'd if my bag showed up in my cabin coated with an exploded sticky soda.   You may have, as you say,  "done it that way for years"  and lucked out that your "soda bag" was on the top of the pile.  The next time, it may be near the bottom, and your sodas will be soaked into my clothing.  You may lose a few 50 cent cans of soda, but I will on the hook for a lot of laundry and dry cleaning expenses because you don't feel like humping your sodas onboard in hand carried luggage like the rules state..  

[ithaca gal]

For whatever reason, HAL says you must carry it on.  I never thought about the stewards having to lug cartons/cases of soda/water, in addition to luggage.  Be a sport and carry it on.

[TAD2005]

After the steel cages stacked high with luggage are loaded into the cargo hatch of the ship, the bags are unloaded,  scanned for prohibited items, (knives, guns, drones, liquor) and grouped according to deck and position on the deck, forward, mid-ships, or aft.   The crew uses hand trucks to deliver the bags to your cabins.  They stack as many bags as possible onto those hand trucks, which are similar to the ones the porters use in the luggage claim hall after disembarkation.   The cabin stewards have no idea what is in the bags, so they just pile one bag on top of the others until the hand truck is full.  It the "soda bag" is near the bottom, that is another place where a can could be squashed. 

Carry it on !!!

[terrydtx]

5 minutes ago, TAD2005 said:

After the steel cages stacked high with luggage are loaded into the cargo hatch of the ship, the bags are unloaded,  scanned for prohibited items, (knives, guns, drones, liquor) and grouped according to deck and position on the deck, forward, mid-ships, or aft.

I didn't know drones are prohibited on cruise ships, not that I would bring one. LOL

[TAD2005]

There's a whole thread on CC where a person was asking about bringing a drone onboard.   Most cruise lines have now banned them completely.  HAL has Drones and other ROV's now listed on the ban list.    They were not banned in the past, mainly because it takes companies and their lawyers a long time to catch up with technology.   But some people who brought drones onboard were not satisfied with flying them on land in a port, they tried flying them while on the ship, while docked, shooting video of people around the pools.  That caused the cruise industry to totally ban them.  Also, some countries you visit do not allow drones, or require licensing to operate them.   After the idiots in the UK totally closed Gatwick airport for about 6 hours for flying drones in the arrival and departure flight paths, many think that more restrictions will be placed on drones, such as embedded ID codes in the radio downlink, registration, and other methods to identify a drone and its owner by aviation authorities.

[alupres]

Question. We are leaving on a transat on the Konigsdam and were planning on bringing a case of excellent wine with us and paying the corkage. What is the process to do this and any suggestions to make it as easy as possible.

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, alupres said:

Question. We are leaving on a transat on the Konigsdam and were planning on bringing a case of excellent wine with us and paying the corkage. What is the process to do this and any suggestions to make it as easy as possible.

 

You are required to take it on as a carry on. Not in your checked luggage.  This is stated on the luggage tag when you print it out.

Is it the April 7th TransAtlantic?  Have you been on the Roll Call?  If you need help with the wine........... (drinking it, not carrying it!)

[alupres]

42 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

 

You are required to take it on as a carry on. Not in your checked luggage.  This is stated on the luggage tag when you print it out.

Is it the April 7th TransAtlantic?  Have you been on the Roll Call?  If you need help with the wine........... (drinking it, not carrying it!)

Yes we're on the April 7th departure and are ongoing for the first Med and Adriatic leg. Your kind offer of assistance is greatly appreciated and you will be first on the wait list should we decide our supply exceeds current demand. Ladbrokes is currently offering 1000 to 1 on the likelihood of this event. We are on roll call.

[terrydtx]

14 minutes ago, alupres said:

Yes we're on the April 7th departure and are ongoing for the first Med and Adriatic leg. Your kind offer of assistance is greatly appreciated and you will be first on the wait list should we decide our supply exceeds current demand

We took a case of wine on the Volendam back in the days where the only corkage fee was if you took one of the bottles to the MDR, drink it in your cabin and no corkage fee was due. This was a 10 day cruise and we ran out on day 6 thanks to all of my volunteers helping us. We tried to restock in Costa Rico and the wine selection at a store near the port was horrible. Had to break down and order bottles on board at the overly inflated prices. I remember a bottle of Sutter Home White Zinfandel (something I would never drink) was $29 in the MDR. That wine at that time retailed for less than $5 a bottle so $29 was a 600% markup by HAL.

 

HAL's wine policy for brining unlimited wine aboard back in 2001 was the main reason we booked on a HAL cruise, with their policy today I probably never would give HAL a try the first time. Since 2001 I have seen the wine quality go way up on HAL ships and pricing especially in their wine packages has gotten much more reasonable so if this was a result of the corkage fees, I would have to say it is a good thing.

[alupres]

17 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We took a case of wine on the Volendam back in the days where the only corkage fee was if you took one of the bottles to the MDR, drink it in your cabin and no corkage fee was due. This was a 10 day cruise and we ran out on day 6 thanks to all of my volunteers helping us. We tried to restock in Costa Rico and the wine selection at a store near the port was horrible. Had to break down and order bottles on board at the overly inflated prices. I remember a bottle of Sutter Home White Zinfandel (something I would never drink) was $29 in the MDR. That wine at that time retailed for less than $5 a bottle so $29 was a 600% markup by HAL.

 

HAL's wine policy for brining unlimited wine aboard back in 2001 was the main reason we booked on a HAL cruise, with their policy today I probably never would give HAL a try the first time. Since 2001 I have seen the wine quality go way up on HAL ships and pricing especially in their wine packages has gotten much more reasonable so if this was a result of the corkage fees, I would have to say it is a good thing.

Our working plan is to schlep on board 12 bottles of serious red for consumption at a very measured pace in MDR. We'll pay corkage for 10 of these. I've been collecting wine for a couple of years and wife is over-joyed that the inventory is going down: " Bring more and get rid of that stuff. It's collecting dust." For the room, we'll do a level 2 6 bottle package.  According to our HAL rep the trip b2b are considered to be 2 separate voyages so we'll pick up a 2 in Civitavecchia. 

[SWFLAOK]

When we boarded our HAL cruise last year in Fort Lauderdale, we had 6 bottles of wine with us: 4 very nice reds and 2 bottles of good champagne. We carried them in an insulated bag that had a 6 bottle tote within it, and cradled in bubble wrap. We pointed it out throughout our entry to the waiting area for embarkation, and no one was concerned about it. Once onboard, we put it in our closet. We had a bottle of champagne from HAL and a bottle of champagne and a bottle of red from our cruise TA in our cabin. A few nights later we brought one of our reds to the main dining room where we had an assigned table for 2. We were charged a corkage fee that night. We were not charged anything else for the other 5 bottles. We had 2 in our cabin that we opened ourselves, and the other 3  we brought to either the main dining room and the Pinnacle Grill. Your mileage may vary. We were in a Neptune Suite so I don't know if that made a difference since this was are only HAL cruise.

[VMax1700]

We did a b2b in Caribbean last spring.  On turnaround day I went to Total Wines in Fort Lauderdale to pick up fresh supplies! When we got back to the ship there was no one manning (personning?!) the beverage desk, so I walked on with 6 bottles of wine.  I was quite prepared to pay the corkage, but no one asked!  Drank it most nights in Lido and no one questioned the bottle sitting on the table. Maybe because I already had a wine package in force, maybe......?

[alupres]

9 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

We did a b2b in Caribbean last spring.  On turnaround day I went to Total Wines in Fort Lauderdale to pick up fresh supplies! When we got back to the ship there was no one manning (personning?!) the beverage desk, so I walked on with 6 bottles of wine.  I was quite prepared to pay the corkage, but no one asked!  Drank it most nights in Lido and no one questioned the bottle sitting on the table. Maybe because I already had a wine package in force, maybe......?

Thanks. Between our schlepping, wine package and b2b restock, I think we've got a plan. Comments from all here have been extremely helpful. Cheers