Is it allowed to bring alcohol on board for cabin use?

[hawk61]

After fifteen cruises on Princess we're used to bringing a bottle aboard for use in our cabin and this has never been a problem. Now we're booked on NCL Majesty and I'm reading that it may not be allowed. Is this possible? Does the cruise line think we're all in kindergarden? Could we possibly be the only people who enjoy a cocktail while preparing to go to dinner? Or a night cap in our jammies? How do people deal with this prohibition if it is really true?

 

[hotsaucebob]

The wife and I just finished a cruise on the Majesty, our third on NCL and 13th total cruise. On each one I always packed my alcohol in a 2 liter Sprite bottle (Vodka), then take another 2 liter or orange juice. I always put these individually in a small plastic garbage bag and seal it with a twistum. Put the alcohol in your carry on luggage with your other items. pass it through the x-ray machine and go on aboard.

I have never had a problem, or even anyone question it.

Good luck and have fun.

Bob

 

[shadowledge]

Only my sneaking them on, as Bob describes, can you bring your own alcohol. NCL is in business to sell booze.

 

[shadowledge]

Only my sneaking them on, as Bob describes, can you bring your own alcohol. NCL is in business to sell booze.

 

[hawk61]

I guess we'll have to learn to like clear rum since they don't make clear scotch and I can't think of any soda bottles dark enough to hide the color (I'll look next time I'm in the food store though!). Thanks for the tip hotsaucebob! I'm just disgusted that paying adults are treated in such a childish manner. Our bar bill has always been enough to make at least 5 other cruise lines happy. We already regret this booking and wonder what other outrageous rules are going to surprise us!

 

[dawcruiser]

I don't drink but every ship I have ever been didn't allow, or at least said they didn't allow, you to bring alcohol on board. Yes, they do sell their own alcohol. And i guess they have in their minds of controling the market. Think i]of it this way would you take your own eggs to a resturant?

Same principle.

Point of reference. 15 cruises on Costa, Carnival, Royal Carribbean, NCL, Preimer, Holland American and Commodore cruise lines.

Don

 

[Hikini]

Buy a bottle of prune juice and empty it, then put your rum in there!

You'll have a fun cruise - I love NCL!

Hikini

 

[hawk61]

Thank you Hikini! A wonderfully "creative" idea since my husband doesn't like vodka! >) I'm back to looking forward to the trip again.

And Don, you have a nice point about taking eggs to a restaurant except that I don't go to live 24/7 in restaurants. This will be our 25th cruise, 15 on Princess as I've said, and others on RCCL, Celebrity, Cunard, HAL, and Premier. Our first cruise with Norwegian was a long time ago, in 1981, and we were not told of any such rule nor was our bottle confiscated.

 

[dawcruiser]

hawk61,

Times change.

Just because you could once doesn't mean you can today. Just because you, I and others don't think it fair that doesn't give you, me or anyone else the right to break or change the rules. Yes, you don't live in the resturant but rules are rules. If you, I or anyone else don't think they are fair then we all shouild refuse to book with NCL and other lines. If enough didn't book I am sure NCL and others would change their rules.

Just this morning I signed a lease to move our business into a Shopping Center. There were some rules in my contract, (you also have a contract with NCL), that said I must and must not do certain things. Like I can't hand out flyers in the parking lot to advertise my business, I must join a Merhants Assocoation, I must be open for business at least 6 days per week between the hours 8 to 5, I must agree to be moved from my location with a 90 day notice to another part of the Shopping Center if the Landlord desires. I have problems with these and a few other rules in my lease. BUT, if I wanted to be in this Shoping Center I had to agree to and sign the lease.

Just my thoughts.

I also beleive you have the right to do whatever you deem as right. Please DON"T TAKE THIS PERSONAL. I am only discussing this because I think we have taken "Situation Ethics" way too far.

Just my thopuhgt.

Don

 

[hawk61]

Hi Don,

I agree with you about breaking rules and felt a twinge of guilt at having considered the prune juice bottle route but I have a problem with the "contract" thought. When you signed your lease to move into the shopping center I'll bet you had read it, and probably pretty carefully. I do not have a contract with Norwegian yet. So far I've paid a deposit on a cruise and, a week later, at their insistence, I've paid the balance. Thus far I have signed nothing beyond an agreement to pay CruCon for our tickets. Norwegian has yet to acknowledge our existence and this is fine with us as it is the way things usually go. I expect we'll receive a cruise packet a few weeks before sailing and not until then will we be able to read their terms and rules.

It's possible that legally we're bound by their as yet unknown rules but I'm having trouble convincing myself that I'm morally bound by a rule which is waaaaay outside my realm of expectation, especially when that expectation is based on a fairly substantial background of experience.

In truth, I'm not going to "cheat" because I've always chickened out of that sort of thing. But my disappointment at this truly nasty rule is dimming the pleasure of anticipating this cruise. My husband and I are not big drinkers, indeed we don't drink at all at home. We only drink on cruises and not heavily then and we normally only cruise once a year. (This one is a special extra to celebrate our 40th anniversary and his retirement.) One of the pleasures of cruising for us is our "balcony cocktail" while preparing for dinner and/or (not usually but sometimes both) a Bailey's night cap. This isn't huge on the list of pleasures but taking it away really is a bummer.

 

[Cindy & Ed]

Hi Hawk - I think you will find that I have a very different opinion on this subject than Don. Although I do acknowledge that most cruiselines do have a policy of not bringing alcohol on board, I believe that it is very selective and self-indulgent on thier part. I mean, they will let you bring wine on board, but they "confiscate" it and charge you a $10 uncorking fee in the dining room. Sorry, but I could keep my wine in my bag and uncork it myself with my thrift store travel cork screw. So let's say I don't drink wine, but want to bring a pint of something else. Do they "confiscate" it and charge me a $10 unscrewing of the cap charge in the dining room? No they just say it is not allowed. And why is that? Because they make a huge profit on bar drinks. We all know this. And to me the real insult is that they sell bottles of liquor on the ship. They will happily let you buy it by the gallon, but you can't have it until you leave the ship. I would even consider not bringing my own on board, if I was allowed to purchase a bottle on board at a descent price and consume it at my leisure. Sounds like a win win situation to me. They make their money and we enjoy our cruise. Like you said, we are all grown ups here. And if they are worried about you getting hammered if you have an unlimited source of alcohol at your disposal, then they haven't been at the pool bar at happy hour. This policy is all about the $. And in my opinion, they get plenty of mine as it is. Our ship account is always around $1000 when you add everything up, so they aren't hurting.

So I would say, do what you are used to doing. Pack your bottle, although I have always put mine in my checked luggage as to not have to put it on the belt. I have never had a problem. And the worst they can do is take it away, and you don't have to feel bad if that happens. Just say, you have been on 25 cruises and it was never an issue. And add that you will remember that it is an issue with NCL upon booking future cruises. Oh and for an option for your dark liquors, I think canada dry ginger ale has a dark green bottle. Have a great trip and remember above all to enjoy yourselves!

 

[hawk61]

Hi Cindy & Ed!
Thanks so much for taking the time to enter your thoughts! You are absolutely right....we are going to thoroughly enjoy this, our second and last cruise with NCL in spite of the curve ball they are throwing. I wonder if they have any idea though how many potential cruisers are voting on this issue with their feet!

It seems to me that NCL should have figured out that anyone with enough smarts to collect sufficient disposable income for cruise tickets would also be smart enough to see through such a self-serving rule immediately upon reading it. I also suspect that most adults have enough childishness left in them to resent being treated like children. >)

On a personal level, we don't want a bottle "saved" for disembarkation since we don't drink at home and our liquor cabinet is hugely well stocked for guests already. Our abstinence at home is not due to problems with alcoholism but because most of our grandchildren live nearby and all of us live about 1/2 hour from any emergency help (hospital, police, fire etc.). We decided long ago to never be even one drink impaired because just about every problem that arises involves driving.

I agree with you about buying a "cabin bottle" on board and would cheerfully pay an iflated price for same. I'd also use room service to order if I thought there was even a remote chance the drinks would arrive before we left for dinner or before we were sound asleep.

Ah well, 'tis not a perfect world but it's the one we've got and aboard ship it's the best of the one we've got!

Cheers!
Hawk

 

[pcanning77]

I purchased one bottle in the port last year and put it in my carryon, I did not try to hide what it was and figured if discovered they would just keep until we returned. I breezed right through and plan to do the same thing next time. Keep in mind I only brought one bottle not an entire bar lol.....

Sd

 

[hawk61]

Hi pcanning77!
Thanks for your info! A wonderfully refreshing report! We'll try it for sure and since we'd already decided to skip having a "cabin bottle" it'll be a plus if it works and no big deal if it doesn't. >)
Hawk