Taking food off a cruise ship

[It_Is_Me]

Are there any checks to prevent passengers from taking food off a cruise ship?  My 80-year-old mother wants to get extra sandwiches from the buffet tomorrow and take them off the ship with us on Sunday morning.  She is wheelchair-bound and on oxygen, so really she will want me to carry the sandwiches off the ship. Please tell me that there will be dogs sniffing our bags and they will confiscate sandwiches.  If I tell her I won’t do it, she will argue with me, and she’ll probably bring the sandwiches anyway. But if I can convince her that customs has sandwich, sniffing dogs, then maybe she will drop the whole topic.  Please Lord, give me patience for the 3 day drive back to Michigan after we get off the cruise! (Mom can’t fly due to her lung disease).  

[wcflats]

You’re absolutely correct…there are drug sniffing dogs and all the ports are very strict about not bringing food off the ship.  There’s no excuse for disrespecting another countries rules about that as well as ship 🚢 rules.  80 year old mother has  some learning still.

[1965]

It is not allowed to take anything off but packaged snacks. I feel really sorry for your situation. Sounds very frustrating. 😔

[PacnGoNow]

24 minutes ago, It_Is_Me said:

Are there any checks to prevent passengers from taking food off a cruise ship?  My 80-year-old mother wants to get extra sandwiches from the buffet tomorrow and take them off the ship with us on Sunday morning.  She is wheelchair-bound and on oxygen, so really she will want me to carry the sandwiches off the ship. Please tell me that there will be dogs sniffing our bags and they will confiscate sandwiches.  If I tell her I won’t do it, she will argue with me, and she’ll probably bring the sandwiches anyway. But if I can convince her that customs has sandwich, sniffing dogs, then maybe she will drop the whole topic.  Please Lord, give me patience for the 3 day drive back to Michigan after we get off the cruise! (Mom can’t fly due to her lung disease).  

I assume you’re referring to a US port?  Ft Lauderdale does have dogs.  I’ve seen them a few times.  Even coming into the US customs yesterday by air, they had dogs and asked me 2 times if we had ANY food, of any kind, on us.

 

Luckily, we didn’t.  
 

Good luck on your ride home.

[niknot]

There actually are many ports that do not want food brought off the ship. I recall New Zealand's ports being that way. In fact, the room steward removed our fruit basket right before we arrived there.

 

Good luck with your mom. I can only imagine the fun you are having.

 

[ldubs]

17 minutes ago, 1965 said:

It is not allowed to take anything off but packaged snacks. 

 

While a safe approach, that may be overstating the actual restrictions.  For example, baked goods are allowed in many places.  Most restrictions are aimed at contamination issues with vegetables, fruit, and meat products.    

[sirclean]

Isnt the ship noting that you can not take food off?

I was on the Ruby last week, and we were warned at essentially every port not to take anything off the ship.

Perhaps a call to Guest Services will let THEM tell her that she risks jail or fines!  (I dont know if that is a possibility, but it may be enough to make her not risk it!

Promise her a good meal early in the morning and as soon as you get off the ship or to the airport. 

[ldubs]

23 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

I assume you’re referring to a US port?  Ft Lauderdale does have dogs.  I’ve seen them a few times.  Even coming into the US customs yesterday by air, they had dogs and asked me 2 times if we had ANY food, of any kind, on us.

 

Luckily, we didn’t.  
 

Good luck on your ride home.

 

We just came through Newark.  They asked if we had food.  We said, yes pastries.  They said, welcome home and waived us through.  Not all food types are banned.  

 

Our nephew had one of those hats made out of woven leaves in his baggage.  The dog caught scent of it.  It was confiscated.   

Yeah, it is very common to see dogs just about everywhere it seems.   

Edited April 1, 2023 by ldubs

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, It_Is_Me said:

Are there any checks to prevent passengers from taking food off a cruise ship?  My 80-year-old mother wants to get extra sandwiches from the buffet tomorrow and take them off the ship with us on Sunday morning.  She is wheelchair-bound and on oxygen, so really she will want me to carry the sandwiches off the ship. Please tell me that there will be dogs sniffing our bags and they will confiscate sandwiches.  If I tell her I won’t do it, she will argue with me, and she’ll probably bring the sandwiches anyway. But if I can convince her that customs has sandwich, sniffing dogs, then maybe she will drop the whole topic.  Please Lord, give me patience for the 3 day drive back to Michigan after we get off the cruise! (Mom can’t fly due to her lung disease).  

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/know-before-you-go/prohibited-and-restricted-items

[cattolica]

Just a suggestion.    Go to Guest Services (without her), explain your situation.   Maybe they will set you and her up with a person of authority on the ship to discuss why she can’t take food (sandwiches) off the ship.   It sounds like you are talking about disembarkation day.  
 

Safe travels home.  

[neverbeenhere]

80 is not old, hand her a $50 and tell her to go wild at Subway or jersey mikes. No need to take sandwiches off the ship. 

Edited April 1, 2023 by neverbeenhere

[Essiesmom]

Maybe you could try a peanut butter sandwich…. Stop at the first truck stop and get her a sandwich.  EM

[milolii]

From the US CBP website 

 

https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-3619?language=en_US

 

Once returning from Europe, we  had some Dutch cheese that shaped in roll.  One CBP officer thought it was meat.  We were there for an hour, until an officer who could read Dutch translated the labels on the packaging.

Edited April 1, 2023 by milolii

[Incognito1]

I took an apple with me in Belize.  Tried to feed it to the horse drawing our coach - he wouldn't eat it.  The driver laughed and gave it an orange.  I'd never seen a horse eat an orange, but he said the horse had probably never seen an apple.

 

But getting through customs, I probably wouldn't take it.  I'm sure peanut butter, especially, would trigger the dogs.  If it's a blood sugar issue, maybe she could eat just before you get off.

Edited April 1, 2023 by Incognito1

[CruizinSusan70]

To the OP, I sure hope you have the drink package on your current sailing.  If you don't, then please make friends with a kind soul that will hook you up with your drink of choice in multiple doses.

[nunyabidness]

While we're on the topic, some Caribbean and Central American ports definitely have sniffer dogs when you get off the ship.  On my last umpteenth stops in Cozumel they've been there, and passengers are required to lower any bags to the dogs' level so they can smell them.

 

On some lower tier cruise lines (e.g. Carnival) it's shocking to see the amount of food, especially whole fruit, piled in the trash cans or on the tables after it's been found by the sniffer dogs.

[555]

8 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

I assume you’re referring to a US port?  Ft Lauderdale does have dogs.  I’ve seen them a few times.  Even coming into the US customs yesterday by air, they had dogs and asked me 2 times if we had ANY food, of any kind, on us.

 

Luckily, we didn’t.  
 

Good luck on your ride home.

Only at the airport. I have never seen than at any of the cruise ports in either fort Lauderdale or Miami.

 

4 hours ago, Incognito1 said:

I took an apple with me in Belize.  Tried to feed it to the horse drawing our coach - he wouldn't eat it.  The driver laughed and gave it an orange.  I'd never seen a horse eat an orange, but he said the horse had probably never seen an apple.

 

But getting through customs, I probably wouldn't take it.  I'm sure peanut butter, especially, would trigger the dogs.  If it's a blood sugar issue, maybe she could eat just before you get off.

Next time try some wheat cereal. The wild donkeys will take it without question.

[It_Is_Me]

Thank you all for the helpful replies!   We are indeed disembarking in Ft Lauderdale on Sunday. I should be able to convince her to not pack sandwiches since it is expressly against the rules to take meat/cheese off the ship.  She is a Platinum cruiser, so might even remember the rules when reminded.  She has her own supply of packaged snacks and we will be getting into our own car at the port so we can stop anywhere we please.  And @cruizinsusan70, I DO have the drink package AND a separate cabin!  It’s been a lovely trip and mom goes to bed early. 🙂.  

[mevs904]

We are Platinum and remember many warnings on Princess and other cruise lines not to take unpackaged food off of the ship.  We also remember the amnesty bins at the gangplanks where passengers dumped the food that they were going to try to bring off.  I’ll never forget one disembarkation when a crew member said, “If you try to take a banana off the ship it will probably be the most expensive banana that you ever bought”.😆

[roadster08]

Another tip. Check your pockets too for old food packaging.

 

One time in New Zealand I bought a meat pie on an excursion and put the paper wrapper in my pocket because there were no trashcans on the street.

 

When we went through security to leave the ship before our next day excursion, the beagle stopped in front of me and the port security pulled me out of line.

 

They insisted I was trying to take food off the ship and then I remembered the wrapper in my pocket. I showed them the wrapper and one was very angry with me  thinking I was trying to test their system. Eventually I convinced the other port officer I only had the wrapper in my pocket because there were no trashcans on the street. Otherwise I would likely have been fined. 

[CruisinChris]

There are definitely dogs at port Everglades.  In Feb I watched an officer handling a sniffer dog on the pier for a while from my balcony.  You may not remove food or flowers from the ship in fll.  Safe driving.  That’s a long trip.

[MissP22]

37 minutes ago, CruisinChris said:

There are definitely dogs at port Everglades.  In Feb I watched an officer handling a sniffer dog on the pier for a while from my balcony.  You may not remove food or flowers from the ship in fll.  Safe driving.  That’s a long trip.

Those doge you were watching were there to inspect incoming pallets of food being delivered to the ship. 

[2 cruises a year]

I like to take packaged energy bars.  Granola, trail mix, anything that is in an unopened package should be Okay.

[555]

I just looked over my old patters from our last Caribbean cruise in Feb. and they didn't once mention anything about removing food from the ship. It does seem a little strange that they don't at least provide any warning to the passengers.