Buying Alcohol in Ports.....why??

[treyct]

Every now and again I read a post or someone talking about how great it is to buy alcohol at various ports.....I've never understood it. Bacardi is Barcardi is Barcardi...sure you save a few bucks...but is it worth the hassle to cart it home especially if you have a flight. Now I have been guilty of it if its something you can't get somewhere...for instance Tahitian rum punch from the island of Moorea can only be bought there...that I understand...but I see people cart loads of barcardi, kahlua, Cpt Morgans...etc etc..stuff that is sold throughout the US....Am I missing something besides the $5 or so $$ that I would be saving?

[GoinCruisin]

Every now and again I read a post or someone talking about how great it is to buy alcohol at various ports.....I've never understood it. Bacardi is Barcardi is Barcardi...sure you save a few bucks...but is it worth the hassle to cart it home especially if you have a flight. Now I have been guilty of it if its something you can't get somewhere...for instance Tahitian rum punch from the island of Moorea can only be bought there...that I understand...but I see people cart loads of barcardi, kahlua, Cpt Morgans...etc etc..stuff that is sold throughout the US....Am I missing something besides the $5 or so $$ that I would be saving?

 

I would absolutely not do it for $5... but when I can save $20 plus, sure, why not... not a big hassle... they package several bottles in a box, and it's not a big deal. Plus, I can get things I can't get back home.

[mikesteg]

Ditto here. I don't bother for a few bucks (and I usually drive to port). I usually get a bottle of scotch or something more expensive as a gift, and that savings can be considerable. Of course, living in and and cruising out of Texas I can only bring back 1L of booze legally, so rarely bring more than 2 or 3. :D We can also bring something like 15-750ml bottles (3 gallons, actually) of wine but I've never bothered with that.

[treyct]

I would absolutely not do it for $5... but when I can save $20 plus, sure, why not... not a big hassle... they package several bottles in a box, and it's not a big deal. Plus, I can get things I can't get back home.

 

Oh if I could save $20.00 per bottle on something then yeah I would take it, but in all my travels I've yet to see that big of difference in price...guess thats what I'm getting at. And yep if its something you can't get at home of course its worth it. But like I've said, I've seen people with boxes of stuff thats readily available everywhere, and the savings just hasn't added up to much, maybe it makes there vacation which is cool. Just seems like a hastle when you have to deal with luggage and such

[GoinCruisin]

Oh if I could save $20.00 per bottle on something then yeah I would take it, but in all my travels I've yet to see that big of difference in price...guess thats what I'm getting at. And yep if its something you can't get at home of course its worth it. But like I've said, I've seen people with boxes of stuff thats readily available everywhere, and the savings just hasn't added up to much, maybe it makes there vacation which is cool. Just seems like a hastle when you have to deal with luggage and such

 

Buy it in Grand Cayman, best prices I have seen. Easily save $15 or more on liquor I would buy at home. Great prices on Bailey's, Crown, many tequilas, vodka, etc. Also, you can't get Havana Club in the US, I can get it in the Caribbean... YUM :D

[zqvol]

Always buy in St. Thomas typical savings of over $25 per liter based on at home prices. (that is what happens when the state regulates all sales and discounts are not allowed).

[pounder207]

The savings depend on what you buy. You're right--it doesn't pay to save a few bucks on a bottle to lug it back home especially if you're flying. But if you can drive to the embarkation/debarkation port and you're buying top line booze, you save a bundle. I go Christmas shopping in St Thomas--JW Blue is less than half the price you'd pay in NY--that's a saving of about $140 a bottle. Same thing with a good brandy. JW Green isn't even available in NY, at least I haven't seen it.

 

So if you have expensive tastes yourself or you have a number of people on holiday or otherwise gift lists, the duty free liquor in certain ports is a real "find."

 

And for what it's worth, Grand Cayman has the best price I've found on JW Blue in the last 2 years($87)--but legally you can only bring back one bottle a piece, unlike STT.

[silentbob007]

I never bother with the cheap stuff that seems to be pushed ... Absolut, flavored rums, etc ... but I've found myself buying scotch and island exclusives. Though, come to think of it, it has been a while since I've partook of any of my guavaberry liquor .... ;)

 

Liquor stores in my area just recently started stocknig JW Green, so I might be buying blue on my next Caribbean foray.

[babyher]

We are not big drinkers at home, so the savings on a bottle that will sit in the house and last us a good long while is hardly worth lugging it all the way home from the cruise.

 

However when we come accross something special you can only get in a certain port, that we will stock up on.

 

Last year on the Valor they were selling this Liqour (i can't think of the name of it for the life of me now) but it was a Baileys type Liqour (we do enjoy Baileys in our coffee)

 

But this particular brand (I had never even heard of let alone seen around here) was sooooooo much creamier and tastier.

 

That we bought a couple bottles of.

[basketballmom]

I usually only buy the stuff we can't get at home (like guavaberry liquer, makes great margaritas). Although there have been a few times where the savings was too good to pass up that we had to buy some bottles of our usual stuff too!

[98Charlie]

I have to agree that it's not worth saving a couple of bucks. And your not going to save $20 on a bottle of Bacardi that sells for $25 here.

 

However, the high end stuff can be significantly less expensive. If your are really into the high roller brands, check out Remy Martin Louis XIII in Grand Cayman. Saw it earlier this year for only $999. On board the ship (Granduer of the Seas) it was $1200. And in the US $1400 and up. (NB - I don't drink anything that is $50 a sip:eek: )

 

We usually shop for local brands not available in the US. As SilentBob alluded to, Guavaberry rum from St Marteen is great and makes a unique gift. Unfortunately, we can no longer tell our friends when we have a cruise to St Marteen. They ALL want us to bring them back a bottle:D

 

Charlie

[Djptcp]

Getting Blue Sapphire Gin for $10-11 a bottle (liter) versus more than twice that in the US is definitely worth it to us. Even paying the $1-2 per bottle duty for overages is worth it. We drive to the ports now because we live in Florida so it's really easy, but even when we lived up north and had to fly to cruises, we still bought one or two cartons and brought on as carry on. We used to buy some things like Passoa we couldn't find in the US, but now we see them in US liquor stores and don't bother.

We've been on two Carnival cruises this year and actually found the ship's liquor store to have the best prices. We brought a flyer from our local Winn Dixie liquor store with us and compared prices and then bought what we needed from the ship's store.....also waited for sales. You have to know what the prices are at home to know if you are getting a good deal. We don't buy unless it's at least 50% or more less expensive.

Carnival - 1995, 1998, 2006, 2006

Holland America - 2004, 2006

NCL - 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003

Royal Caribbean - 2002

[GoinCruisin]

Getting Blue Sapphire Gin for $10-11 a bottle (liter) versus more than twice that in the US is definitely worth it to us. Even paying the $1-2 per bottle duty for overages is worth it. We drive to the ports now because we live in Florida so it's really easy, but even when we lived up north and had to fly to cruises, we still bought one or two cartons and brought on as carry on. We used to buy some things like Passoa we couldn't find in the US, but now we see them in US liquor stores and don't bother.

 

We've been on two Carnival cruises this year and actually found the ship's liquor store to have the best prices. We brought a flyer from our local Winn Dixie liquor store with us and compared prices and then bought what we needed from the ship's store.....also waited for sales. You have to know what the prices are at home to know if you are getting a good deal. We don't buy unless it's at least 50% or more less expensive.

 

Carnival - 1995, 1998, 2006, 2006

Holland America - 2004, 2006

NCL - 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003

Royal Caribbean - 2002

 

Ah, it must be nice to have liquor in grocery stores :( We couldn't get a "flyer" from the liquor store if we begged for it, LOL!!!!! Thankfully, I've been in there enough to know the prices!!!

[Tightlinerods]

Last summer the wife had some rum made in Belieze that she loves ..we cannot find it in the states so we should have purchased it down there and simply did not... will know better next time..

 

As far as buying common over the counter brands.. in Texas we can only return with 1 bottle per adult when cruising in and out of Texas... It's not worth the hassle because they do not carry my brand....

 

John

[Caliber1]

We found some pretty good deals on board and on Grand Cayman. When we were in Cozumel they had some tequila we had never heard of.

 

GC they don't sell liquor in the grocery stores down here in sunny Florida. Some chains have liquor stores attached. Up home in Wisconsin you can buy liquor at the local gas station.:D Yes, even on Sunday.

 

Jess

[HeidiHo]

My DH insists on buying liquor on our cruises. I'm not much of a drinker so maybe I just don't get it but it seems to be more of a hassle than anything. On our Pride cruise he took it home as carry on luggage and that went fine until we had to change planes in Dallas. The new plane was a tiny thing and they took all your carry-ons away from you and hand carried them to storage in the belly of the plane. Well, my DH nearly had a fit. He was so worried about that booze.:rolleyes: You have to know my husband tho. He's the type of person that can't turn down a good bargain, even if we don't need the item. We have 2 barstools in our garage that we have absolutely no use for but he couldn't pass them up because they were only ten bucks each.:confused: We don't even have a bar. On our Miracle cruise he only bought one bottle but still, that put us over our carry on luggage limit. Thankfully, the airlines didn't catch it and try to make us check something.

[Criscomia]

I saved $75.00 on Johnny Walker Blue on my last cruise........Now that's a savings!!!!!!!!!

[coolestwife]

... good bargain, even if we don't need the item. We have 2 barstools in our garage that we have absolutely no use for but he couldn't pass them up because they were only ten bucks each.:confused: We don't even have a bar...

 

You wouldn't happen to want to get rid of those barstools, would you? We do have a bar and our stools are falling apart!:) :cool:

[Hawaii697]

To me it's definitely worth it to "lug" all the bottles of Apple Pucker, Absolute, Barcardi Razz, Contreau (sp?) etc... Have you ever shopped at the K-Mart near the pier in St. Thomas? My husband and I had our basement finished last year and added a bar. We cruise August 2005 and fully stocked our bar with bargains from St. Thomas and the Puerto Rico duty free. We still have lots of flavoured rum left. Luckily we had several family members and friends help us bring our "booty" home. We don't buy many souveniers so it worked out just fine!