Caribbean Princess - Beer no longer allowed?

[TwinCruiserMom]

I have been following these boards for months now and from many sources, it appeared that Port Everglades was allowing people to carry on beer.

 

However, I read that since the end of May, you are no longer allowed to do this and the beer is being confiscated.

 

To anyone who has cruised on the Caribbean Princess in the past month - did you see the security guards confiscating beer or were people carrying on their packs? Is security also taking wine over the one bottle per adult limit?

 

Would you be able to pack the beer in a cardboard box or padded duffle and check it with your other luggage?

 

Also, is it still possible to carry on or check either pop or water?

 

In the past some CC members have listed the items they carried on (a case of wine, case of beer, case of water, case of pop, etc, etc) and it seemed to be common knowledge that these items were acceptable as long as you stayed away from bottles of liquor. I would really like to know the guidelines that security is using now to board the CB.

 

Thanks so much!

[jlp20]

I have been following these boards for months now and from many sources, it appeared that Port Everglades was allowing people to carry on beer........However, I read that since the end of May, you are no longer allowed to do this and the beer is being confiscated.......Also, is it still possible to carry on or check either pop or water?

 

The for quite some time, the following has been the Princess policy:

 

Carrier kindly requests that You do not bring alcoholic beverages of any kind (except wine and champagne) on board for consumption. Alcoholic beverages that are purchased duty free, from the ship’s gift shop, or at ports of call will be collected by Carrier personnel for safekeeping and delivered to Your stateroom on the last day of the voyage. A member of Carrier’s security staff will be at the gangway to assist with the storage of Your alcoholic beverage purchases. A corkage fee of $15.00 per bottle will be applied to wine and champagne consumed in the ship’s restaurant.

 

There is no policy against water or soda.

[Toto2Kansas]

Princess rules seem to be so hit and miss, what passengers bring on one week, won't be allowed the next. It is mind boggling.

 

The rules posted in the previous post have been in play for quite sometime, but you still read how some slap a luggage tag on a case of beer or wine and get it onboard.

 

Although Princess has been very lax in their rules, they tend to go the other way overnite when 'some' bend those rules way over the edge and the amount keeps increasing that passengers try to carry onboard. It used to be where some might try to get a 6-pack of beer onboard, then they became bolder and decided a case or two would work better, then came the rolling coolers full of wine and beer that some thought would work well.

 

Just remember the rules Princess states on their website, then it is up to you if you try to bring things onboard that are outlawed in writing by the cruise line.

[drpack]

We always carry a soft sided cooler with diet cokes. The cans are stacked several high in the cooler with no ice. They have never asked or opened the cooler to see what was in there. I guess you might be able to carry beer on the bottom with sodas on top. Even if they checked, they probably wouldn't look that close.

[janetz]

The for quite some time, the following has been the Princess policy:

 

Carrier kindly requests that You do not bring alcoholic beverages of any kind (except wine and champagne) on board for consumption. Alcoholic beverages that are purchased duty free, from the ship’s gift shop, or at ports of call will be collected by Carrier personnel for safekeeping and delivered to Your stateroom on the last day of the voyage. A member of Carrier’s security staff will be at the gangway to assist with the storage of Your alcoholic beverage purchases. A corkage fee of $15.00 per bottle will be applied to wine and champagne consumed in the ship’s restaurant.

 

There is no policy against water or soda.

 

 

 

This has been the policy, however, they do allow amounts "within reason" to be brought onboard when you FIRST board. Unless someone recently can honestly say , they took away my beer, you are good to go. Anyone can tell you and you can read what the policy is, but Princess rarely enforces it. They will take bottles such as vodka, gin, etc. :)

[mrdood]

Pack it nicely in checked luggage, it will be there for you...

[cruisemom42]

I wouldn't recommend carrying it on. I was only allowed to carry on 1 bottle of wine on our 5/27 CB cruise, and a person in front of me had a 12-pack of beer taken (held) as well. This was confirmed by another CC poster as well for that cruise. Maybe it was just a bad day.....

[janetz]

I wouldn't recommend carrying it on. I was only allowed to carry on 1 bottle of wine on our 5/27 CB cruise, and a person in front of me had a 12-pack of beer taken (held) as well. This was confirmed by another CC poster as well for that cruise. Maybe it was just a bad day.....

 

 

You just never know..We figure if they do take a 12 pack of beer from us, how much are we losing? :p

[jlp20]

I am going to ask a simple question, WHO took the beer?

 

For some of our cruises, I can't remember. But on most of our cruises, a private security guard company is doing the screening.

 

Are the guards pointing out the beer and Princess can't pretend it's not there or is it when Princess does the screening?

[Sandytoes]

I once packed my DH's favorite beer, wrapped between other packables. Luggage arrived in my stateroom, fully intact, nothing confiscated.

[MV21]

I wouldn't recommend carrying it on. I was only allowed to carry on 1 bottle of wine on our 5/27 CB cruise, and a person in front of me had a 12-pack of beer taken (held) as well. This was confirmed by another CC poster as well for that cruise. Maybe it was just a bad day.....

 

To confiscate wine is contrary to their own policy!

[renaroo]

To confiscate wine is contrary to their own policy!

 

I read the policy too and it doesn't say anything about it being limited to ONE bottle of wine or champagne. Since reading about a one-bottle limit on the boards, I called Princess (in June of 2007) to see what they would say. They said 1 bottle of wine or champagne per passenger was permitted. This does seem to contradict their written policy.

[OuiOnboard]

Over the past year or so,I have been carrying on board the Princess ship two/three bottles of good tasting local beer whether at initial embarkation or reboarding at the ports. It has never been a problem and I doubt it will be a problem in the future in such small amounts.

But if they try to take my stuff, I'll consider quaffing the lot right there at the gangway. :D

[TwinCruiserMom]

Thanks so much for the replies! I really think, to be on the safe side, I will find a duffle or box to put the beer in and just check the bag.

 

I hope some more recent travelers will post with information on how their embarktion went and if the security guys are nabbing the beer and wine.

[cruisemom42]

To confiscate wine is contrary to their own policy!

 

I believe their new policy is 1 bottle of wine/champagne per person. Yes, I read about the limit (I believe it was in the pre-cruise literature) before I left but thought I'd try anyway. Princess DID return the bottle around noon the day before disembarkation so it was enjoyed nonetheless.....

 

I wouldn't count on the Princess website always having the most up-to-date info. When I checked recently, they still had posted info saying you need to have a notarized permission letter for travel if only one parent is cruising with a minor child. This is no longer the case and was changed by Princess well over a year ago.

 

Regarding the screening itself, I have no idea if it was Princess or a private company? How could you tell? They simply noticed the wine bottles on x-ray and walked me over to the Princess table where the wine was tagged and I was given a receipt and told it would be delivered to me on the evening prior to the end of the cruise.

[MV21]

I read the policy too and it doesn't say anything about it being limited to ONE bottle of wine or champagne. Since reading about a one-bottle limit on the boards, I called Princess (in June of 2007) to see what they would say. They said 1 bottle of wine or champagne per passenger was permitted. This does seem to contradict their written policy.

 

I aim to take a few bottles of wine on my upcoming Emerald cruise. I will have my passenger contract handy and be ready for a 'thorough and active discussion' should anyone chose not to comply with THEIR policy!!!!

[TwinCruiserMom]

How careful are the dock workers with the luggage? Ha ha - right?!!

 

I was just wondering if I had cans of beverages in a duffle bag, would they just toss it and have it burst all over?

 

I have a very sturdy duffle bag that will hold about 50 cans with no problem but it would weigh about 40 pounds. I know the weight limit for some airline luggage is 70 pounds so I would imagine 40 pounds would be ok. By the way, only half of the cans would be beer - the other half would be pop :) .

 

Do they search through the checked bags or just xray them?

 

We have also decided to go with the "box o' wine" instead of the bottles as they would pack easily.

[chasetf]

Over the past year or so,I have been carrying on board the Princess ship two/three bottles of good tasting local beer whether at initial embarkation or reboarding at the ports. It has never been a problem and I doubt it will be a problem in the future in such small amounts.

But if they try to take my stuff, I'll consider quaffing the lot right there at the gangway. :D

.......and then you will be denied boarding because you are too drunk. :(

 

Who won that battle. :confused: :confused:

[firefly333]

Carnival has updated their policy to specifically say 1 bottle of wine passenger. Since Carnival owns Princess, I would expect their policy to be put in writing at some point to update this policy.

[firefly333]

I read the policy too and it doesn't say anything about it being limited to ONE bottle of wine or champagne. Since reading about a one-bottle limit on the boards, I called Princess (in June of 2007) to see what they would say. They said 1 bottle of wine or champagne per passenger was permitted. This does seem to contradict their written policy.

 

Just playing devil's advocate, it also doesnt say you can bring unlimited quantities of wine, so that could be open to Princess's interpretation? It just says you can bring wine on board. I'm not sure that it does contradict their written policy if they clafiy to you that this means one bottle per passenger. As I said, since there can be 2 - 4 in a cabin, if you have at most 4 with you, I doubt there would be a problem.

 

Carnival's policy was only updated this year to reflect the 1 bottle per passenger. I dont see that this is a contradiction? You seem to feel it is because if it says wine you read it as unlimited amounts or as much as you feel you want to bring on board.

 

As I said I dont care....just playing devil's advocate and offering another interpretation of the same document you are quoting.

[janetz]

Just playing devil's advocate, it also doesnt say you can bring unlimited quantities of wine, so that could be open to Princess's interpretation? It just says you can bring wine on board. I'm not sure that it does contradict their written policy if they clafiy to you that this means one bottle per passenger. As I said, since there can be 2 - 4 in a cabin, if you have at most 4 with you, I doubt there would be a problem.

 

Carnival's policy was only updated this year to reflect the 1 bottle per passenger. I dont see that this is a contradiction? You seem to feel it is because if it says wine you read it as unlimited amounts or as much as you feel you want to bring on board.

 

As I said I dont care....just playing devil's advocate and offering another interpretation of the same document you are quoting.

 

 

 

1 bottle? I brought 3 in our carryon. :o 2 went with us to the table.

[MV21]

Just playing devil's advocate, it also doesnt say you can bring unlimited quantities of wine, so that could be open to Princess's interpretation? It just says you can bring wine on board. I'm not sure that it does contradict their written policy if they clafiy to you that this means one bottle per passenger. As I said, since there can be 2 - 4 in a cabin, if you have at most 4 with you, I doubt there would be a problem.

 

Carnival's policy was only updated this year to reflect the 1 bottle per passenger. I dont see that this is a contradiction? You seem to feel it is because if it says wine you read it as unlimited amounts or as much as you feel you want to bring on board.

 

As I said I dont care....just playing devil's advocate and offering another interpretation of the same document you are quoting.

 

I appreciate you are playing devil's advocate here and I would say that if Princess impose further conditions to their current passage contract then that would be termed to be 'Unreasonable'. If they had changed the policy and then informed prospective cruisers then that would be reasonable - but they have not and therefore any passenger who acts within the terms of their current contract and suffers a 'loss' of some kind would have a valid complaint against Princess.

 

As I say, I will have THEIR passage contract handy to 'discuss' the point.

 

BTW - I won't be taking the output of a vineyard onto the ship only about 6 bottles between me and my DW.

[renaroo]

 

Carnival's policy was only updated this year to reflect the 1 bottle per passenger. I dont see that this is a contradiction? You seem to feel it is because if it says wine you read it as unlimited amounts or as much as you feel you want to bring on board.

 

As I said I dont care....just playing devil's advocate and offering another interpretation of the same document you are quoting.

 

Good point.

 

I'm not too concerned about the policy, although I was mildly interested. I don't drink much, but I was planning to take 2 bottles of wine and 1 bottle of champagne onboard. After all, it IS vacation! It's definitely not worth it to me to try to sneak anything onboard or argue with the Princess staff, though. I'm going to stick to the policy and limit it to 2 bottles. Thanks for the discussion.

 

Renee

[Fuzzzy]

Why do folks feel that they need to carry beer onboard? I honestly do not understand.

[Colo Cruiser]

Why do folks feel that they need to carry beer onboard? I honestly do not understand.

 

 

Cause its there. :D :eek: :D