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You can buy on the ship but it is duty free and can't have it until the end of the cruise. Won't help you much for drinking it on the ship. Bring your own with you if you want to save $$$. Just make sure you wrap it good (like in bubble wrap) if you put it in your main luggage. You can also put it in a carry-on and hand-carry onto the ship (what we do). Baggage handlers stack luggage like bricks in steel bins to load on the ship. I have heard stories from others about broken bottles in luggage and the people having to spend their first day on the cruise washing all their clothes. My wife takes wine aboard for the dining room. Sometimes they charge a corkage fee, sometimes don't. Really has depended on the head waiter. Discovered on the last cruise the corkage fee is the same no matter what size of bottle so take big ones!!!!! The price for hard alcohol in Mexico and the Caribbean is less than most areas in the U.S. Might want to take enough to get you by for the first couple of days and then purchase while on shore if you are going one of those areas and don't want to carry in your luggage.Don't feel bad about the $400 bar bill, I had two friends (both women) come back from a seven day Alaska trip on HAL and their bar bill was $1,300!!!! I still wonder if they actually saw anything beyond the bathroom!!!!!
You can buy on the ship but it is duty free and can't have it until the end of the cruise. Won't help you much for drinking it on the ship. Bring your own with you if you want to save $$$. Just make sure you wrap it good (like in bubble wrap) if you put it in your main luggage. You can also put it in a carry-on and hand-carry onto the ship (what we do). Baggage handlers stack luggage like bricks in steel bins to load on the ship. I have heard stories from others about broken bottles in luggage and the people having to spend their first day on the cruise washing all their clothes. My wife takes wine aboard for the dining room. Sometimes they charge a corkage fee, sometimes don't. Really has depended on the head waiter. Discovered on the last cruise the corkage fee is the same no matter what size of bottle so take big ones!!!!! The price for hard alcohol in Mexico and the Caribbean is less than most areas in the U.S. Might want to take enough to get you by for the first couple of days and then purchase while on shore if you are going one of those areas and don't want to carry in your luggage.
Don't feel bad about the $400 bar bill, I had two friends (both women) come back from a seven day Alaska trip on HAL and their bar bill was $1,300!!!! I still wonder if they actually saw anything beyond the bathroom!!!!!
