Taking Water off the Ship

[Missabby]

I tried doing a search to find anything about this but my result was an error message saying the CC database "bombed out".

 

I believe I have read that we can't take food off the ship in NZ ports; but can we fill our own water bottles from our cabin and take them off when we are out and about in port?

[mipps]

I have never had a problem bringing water through the airport customs but they will lock you up and throw away the key if you are caught with food

 

:)

[SheilaNC]

Mipps is so right about food. Funny story (at least it's funny now :)). Several years ago I arrived in Auckland at 5:30 AM without much sleep. Three planes arrived close together so baggage claim area was quite crowded (lots of people I knew who were there for the same meeting). While we waited for our luggage to arrive, one of the security guards with a dog was circling through the area. When he walked near me, the dog sat down next to my bag. He immediately asked if I had any food. I said 'no' (the truth), so he excused himself and walked around again. Second time by, the dog, you got it, sat down again. This time, quite seriously, he asked again if I had food. Again I said 'no'. He asked if he could look through my bag. Of course, I said 'yes'. Nothing there. He was puzzled - finally I remembered that I had brought an apple onboard with me and discarded it when the flight attendant reminded us that we couldn't take food into NZ. So I told the security guard and asked if it was possible that the dog smelled the long gone apple. He smiled, relieved t find the answer and wished me a good stay!! Whew...for a moment I thought I'd get to see the inside of the Airport detention center :) And, of course, all of my friends and business acquaintances have never let me forget...

[aussiedisneyfan]

That same thing happened to a friend of mine when she arrived in NZ by plane.

[mipps]

jease they do have water in the regs

 

Non-commercially bottled drinking water. Only commercially bottled drinking water is permitted to leave the vessel without the permission of the MAFBNZ Clearance Officer.

 

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/personal-travel-belongings-and-mail/arriving-by-sea/on-your-arrival-by-sea

 

I got hassled for not declaring duty free chocolate

 

:)

[Missabby]

jease they do have water in the regs

 

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/personal-travel-belongings-and-mail/arriving-by-sea/on-your-arrival-by-sea

 

:)

So NZ and the cruise line screws you over by making you buy the ship's over-priced bottled water to take off the ship???? Oh, joy.....

[SheilaNC]

Nope, not really. This is a country that is so isolated that anything brought in can cause many problems. So...you can stop at any grocery store, drug store, etc and buy bottled water at much less money without a problem. It's a case of 'when in Rome....' or in this case NZ :)

[mochuck]

So NZ and the cruise line screws you over by making you buy the ship's over-priced bottled water to take off the ship???? Oh, joy.....

 

Its not a case of screwing you its a quarantine thing as Sheila pointed out. Anyway I'm sure you can buy cheaper bottled water in New Zealand than on the ship.

[cands]

In any case the tap water in NZ is amongst the cleanest in the world. Take an empty container ashore and fill from a tap. Voila!

[mipps]

All it took was for one idiot and a fishing rod to wreak our South Island rivers

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/pest-and-disease-response/pests-and-diseases-watchlist/didymosphenia-geminata

 

If it was a choice between ship water and NZ tap water ..... the NZ water would win hands down.

 

Bottled water is anywhere from 2 to 3 NZ dollars

 

I don't care about the water as long as you leave the snakes on the ship :p

 

:)

[aussiedisneyfan]

I am pretty sure that the Australian quarantine cards now say any food must be declared, rather than specifying types.

[mochuck]

As far as I can remember you have always had to declare any food even if it was OK. We used to bring back chocolates and honey from NZ all the time and declare it. We always used to get through quarantine much faster.

[Kathie44]

Sometimes I take one bottle of water out of the cabin fridge and when it's empty refill it from the cold water provided by the room steward. No one can tell if it's a new bottle or not.. I just reuse it on every excursion. Of course, not in NZ--yet. That'll be on Mercury's Jan. 20 sailing.

[boards]

We never had a problem getting on or off the Statendam when cruised NZ in 2007. Yes someone there to check what you took off, but big you were told what was allowable and you did it. If you didn't they took it away or you didn't get off the ship. We never saw anyone cause a problem or have one.