We were on the Sea Princess which has a similar policy. However we were able to buy alcohol in the ports and take it back to the cabin without it being confiscated. The American couple we were with were amazed at this so obviously they have had to hand it in in the past.

I believe the policy applied if you bought it in the duty free shop onboard. They kept it until the last night.

Can't comment on the price of drinks as I haven't been on that ship.

Tips are automatically added to your onboard account, usually at a rate of $10 pppd. You can adjust this at the Purser's Desk and give in cash instead. However when we enquired about this we were told that the crew had to pool any tips they received personally up to $10 pppd, but they could keep any amount over this.

luci

Not sure about Royal Caribbean, but i know than Norweigian Cruise lines take you alcohol from you as you board the ship, they xray your bags, it is returned to you at the end of your cruise. I would call the cruise line or speak to your agent to make sure.

hi,
Re comments about NCL. Surely if you buy alcohol not from Duty Free eg. Buy your favourite tipple in the UK and pack it in your suitcase prior to boarding etc ? would this be allowed?
any ideas anyone?
Annj

Hi Anni,

We did this and they didn't take it off us but I think technically they can as it their policy that you do not take alcohol on board, try it, it saved us a lot of money and it's always nice to have a drink while getting ready for the evening.

Carole

You can take on 2 litre bottles of water no problem.
Water and vodka look the same

Many thanks for this handy tip

Because of the liquids restriction for flights, the best way to deal with this problem is to buy at leaving airport duty free shop . At that point it is hand luggage. Once you collect your cases transfer drinks into them and this will get onto any cruiseship as the baggage handlers will not care what is in your cases . Hand luggage always runs the risk of being searched at embarkation.

Do not under any circumstances put drinks in case during flight as the pressure in hold can cause sealed bottles to leak over clothing.

Do not under any circumstances put drinks in case during flight as the pressure in hold can cause sealed bottles to leak over clothing.

This was certainly something I didn't know as I always buy wine etc. from supermarkets abroad and pack it in my hold luggage. So far I've been lucky but perhaps I'd better stop in case my luck runs out.

Do not under any circumstances put drinks in case during flight as the pressure in hold can cause sealed bottles to leak over clothing

This is very unlikely, the holds are pressurized on modern aircraft so just as likely to leak in the cabin.

The hold may not be heated so may get cold enough to freeze which could cause leaks.

Back to the original question, we had no problem taking wine boxes on our Princess cruise in the summer or our celebrity cruise in May we will be testing NCL next week with wine boxes and Whisky thise are all from UK ports where I think the bagage checks are done by UK handling staff not the cruise lines.