Best and cheapest place to buy my alcohol

[Rizzorp]

I posted this in the other port's fourm too, but no one has given me any advice! I am going to Grand Cayman and Calica on the Inspiration on 3-31-07….which is the best and cheapest place to buy my alcohol!!!

[MamaParrotHead]

NOTHING is inexpensive in GC.

[drew sailbum]

I posted this in the other port's fourm too, but no one has given me any advice! I am going to Grand Cayman and Calica on the Inspiration on 3-31-07….which is the best and cheapest place to buy my alcohol!!!

 

Well, assuming you mean duty free purchase, I doubt there is that much difference.

[samtig]

We like Tortuga rum from the Tortuga Store. There are 2 along the waterfront. They will send it back to the ship for you if you purchase early in the day. Other than that, we buy booze in Cozumel or on the ship. Have a great trip!

[BigWill]

We like Tortuga rum from the Tortuga Store. There are 2 along the waterfront. They will send it back to the ship for you if you purchase early in the day. Other than that, we buy booze in Cozumel or on the ship. Have a great trip!

 

Being from Alabama where the liquor stores are state owned, liquor is very expensive. When we on our trip we went to Cozumel(I didnt lose anything there and i dont plan on going back) Grand caymens and then to Ocho Rios. I asked the cruise lady(the shopping expert from the boat) on the boat out of the 3 stops and the boat which was my best bet for the best prices. She said that the Tortuga Rum Company would have the best prices and she was Correct. Cozumel was a little higher but not a great selection,didnt look in Ocho Rios cause I loaded up in the Caymens.I dont buy myself vaction goodies like t shirts and trinkets ,I look for cheap liquor to stock up the bar.Now all the books and web sites make it sound like you can only bring back like 2 liters per person,thats correct and you wont pay any duty.what they dont tell you is you can bring back more then your 2 liter limit per person but be prepared to pay a duty once back in the US.that duty tax is based on the alcohol % in the bottle,that % is 1% to 4% tax do the math it dont add up to much.A bottle of crown in Alabama will set you back around $30 bucks,how about like $16 bucks for the same size bottle at the Tortuga rum company.I was going to buy like 4 bottles and the lady said buy 5 and I can get a 10% discount so by doing this I got my 6th bottle for almost free.Here is what I bought....Crown,Grey goose,Peach Schnapps,Hpnotic,Jose Cuervo and Gentleman Jack jack daniels all these were litre bottles total like $96 bucks, back home I would have spent like $200-$250 easy .Then they boxed it all up tagged it and sent it over to the boat,You dont see your liquor until its time to get off the boat back in the US,the morning we got back to the US our room lady pecked on the door at like 6:30 and stuck it inside the room,all boxed up to take back on the plane. Now it was time to stop at the customs desk to say what I had and pay my duty tax for going over the 2 litre limit and guess what ,I didnt have to pay a dime extra,he looked at what I had in my hands and said have a nice trip home.WoW was all I could say,my only issue was carrying 6 bottles of stuff back in one large box on the taxi and the Plane home was the only issue.DO NOT PACK IN YOUR SUIT CASE,I learned that the hard way on a different trip.glass and shoes in a suit case dont mix well.Now ask about where the Toruga rum company stores are and they will point you to them,we received a shopping map on the boat and it high lighted where they were,like the guy in the above post stated it was right off the boat.If I remember right get off the boat walk to the main street you come to and look to the left down the road a very short walk and its a tiny tiny store and there you go.dont for get to ask about a discount on more bottles.the prices on the boat are not bad,still the caymens is where to buy.Sorry for the long post but ,you asked and I gave my input.:)

[Rizzorp]

Thanks for all of the advice!!!! In the past I just picked a random port and shop. This time I thought I would do a little research.

[MamaParrotHead]

my only issue was carrying 6 bottles of stuff back in one large box on the taxi and the Plane home was the only issue.DO NOT PACK IN YOUR SUIT CASE,I learned that the hard way on a different trip.glass and shoes in a suit case dont mix well.

 

About the new airline regulations. You can't carry on any liquid in amounts over 3 oz. per container. If you plan on carrying anything home, it must be in a checked bag.

[Rizzorp]

Air travel will not be a problem for us this time! We live in Tampa, so all we have to do is get it from the ship to our car!!!! We normally buy big while we are on our cruise just so we have a variety of different drinks we can make. Our "stash" usually lasts us until the next time we cruise since neither my DW or I are heavy drinkers! Thanks for all of the tips!

[BigWill]

About the new airline regulations. You can't carry on any liquid in amounts over 3 oz. per container. If you plan on carrying anything home, it must be in a checked bag.

 

Our cruise was May 06,at that time it was OK,now its changed,my example was when we went, again May 06.Good point on the policy change. Those regulations are only as good as the officer checking your bags,My oldest daughter and her boyfriend flying home from Texas ,going out of a major airline hub both had backpacks with a 12 pack of BigRed soda in each bag, both bags went thur Xray and both bags never cked by anyone both got on the plane.Thats 12 oz cans X 12= alot more then 3 oz per container , go figure,nice way to inforce that new regulation.

[ronkay]

Last trip I found the best prices to be in the duty-free shop on the ship.