Taking food and drink into ports

[blondie511]

i will be taking my very first cruise soon! While I was reading Cruise advice on another forum people were debating whether you could take food and drinks OFF to ship when you are in port, like to go on your excursions. People said in Cozumel they searched your bags and they pitched all food because it was a rule. I wanted to bring at least water and some packs of crackers in my bag for our excursions..... is that not allowed? The other forum got pretty Heated and mean, so I thought I could ask here where everyone is so nice! Thanks!

 

[msjprincess]

Bottles of water and prepackaged food are fine.

 

[threeboysmom]

I just got back from my very first cruise (so depressed lol). I didn’t think I could bring food off the ship (thought I read it somewhere?), but not once did bags get scanned or searched anytime we were at port.

Getting back on ship is a different story - they DO scan bags, but not sure what they’re looking for.

 

[Mrsjvb]

factory sealed items ONLY.

 

[threeboysmom]

That may be a “rule”, but in my experience on Royal Caribbean just last week, they did not check bags once at any of the 4 ports we went to.

 

[Dug720]

That may be a “rule”, but in my experience on Royal Caribbean just last week, they did not check bags once at any of the 4 ports we went to.

They are not checked by the cruise line on your way off the ship. But they could be by local authorities. Cozumel in particular is VERY strict to the point of having dogs to indicate food.

The regulations for the food going off are local regulations - not ship.

 

[3monkeys4me]

This isn't just about what is allowed on Royal Caribbean, it is generally the law of the port. IME, they are looking for produce, dairy and meat items but it is generally a good idea to stick to only bringing factory sealed items on or off the ship. It is the same as if you were traveling by plane. No, they do not always check at the port, just as they do not always check at the airport but they can and sometimes they do check either by checking all bags, random checks or with dogs trained to sniff out the food.

 

[msjprincess]

They are not checked by the cruise line on your way off the ship. But they could be by local authorities. Cozumel in particular is VERY strict to the point of having dogs to indicate food.

The regulations for the food going off are local regulations - not ship.

Exactly. This has nothing to do with the cruise line. I do remember seeing dogs when we did an Eastern Caribbean itinerary a few years ago, I don't recall which port it was.

 

[bbel]

Getting back on ship is a different story - they DO scan bags, but not sure what they’re looking for.

Alcohol
Drugs
Weapons
Certain food products
Certain animal/plant products
Certain electrical equipment

Basically anything illegal, or anything that can damage the ship or people, or anything that's against the cruise lines rules.
Pretty similar to security checks in most places.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Depends on the laws in the port. Some ports will not allow unpackaged food, fruit, or meat products to be brought into the country.

 

[hdrolfe]

I've seen dogs in a few ports, most recently Cozumel but others before that. I had a sealed box of Froot Loops from the buffet with me and that seemed to be ok, but I wouldn't try taking fruit off in most places.

 

[akl432]

We just returned from a RCCL Western cruise on the Oasis, including Cozumel. Cozumel was the only port that had local authorities searching the bags upon debarkation. While it is true that they check for food in Cozumel, it is not true that only prepackaged/factory-sealed food is allowed. We were allowed to bring some items from Windjammer that were not prepackaged. The Mexican authorities searching all the bags told us that fresh meat, milk, and fruit are not allowed, but things like the fresh vegetable green bean salad (which we brought in a plastic bag from Windjammer) was fine and was allowed. Hope this helps someone who wants to bring specific items for dietary reasons.

 

[starvenger]

That's quite interesting, thank you! I wonder if that allowance extends to other legumes.

Anyway, I know I've brought bananas off the boat in San Juan. I don't know if that is technically verboten or not, as it's a US territory. But no one checked, and didn't really think about it, which is probably bad. I will need to be more discerning in the future.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Puerto Rico apparently doesn't check anyone coming onto the island but they do an agricultural check, complete with sniffing dogs, at the airport upon departure. Not sure what they do on ships. It appears you can bring it off, but you may not be able to bring it on.