B2B Nov Cruise/Alcohol Carry On Question

[Quellman]

Okay here is my experience for those wondering.....my husband and I purchased 8 bottles of wine and when we were going through security at the port, my husband explained that there was 2 of us and we were sailing on B2B cruises and they allowed us to take all of the bottles of wine on board with us on the first cruise. So they did not check 4 of the bottles as I had thought they would. The security guard did get on his radio to inquire with a supervisor first. Very convenient process.

Can't believe I missed this update. Thanks for sharing. So to clarify:
On the day you boarded the ship of your first leg of the back to back cruise, you approached security, said you have 8 bottles of wine and you were sailing back to back. They confirmed this fact, and then allowed you to pass with the 8 bottles of wine.

If so, very nice and welcomed!

 

[belac]

Huh i missed this one too. We have our B2B in April, if it is as ascardino described I will then show up with 8 bottles and they will permit us on, that would be great and easy. Anyone else have experience with this procedure?

 

[ascardino]

Yes they allowed us to board with 8 bottles for both cruises on day 1 and we stored them in our cabin. Same for another family we were traveling with.

I will add that we found that with hiked corkage fee, unless we had a more expensive bottle of wine, it was not worth carrying the extra bottles. So if we bought at $15 dollar bottle and added the corkage fee that put us at $40 which saved nothing or near nothing. If you like pricier wine upwards of $30 a bottle then you did save.

 

[Futurist]

My DW and I are doing B2B cruises in concierge in February, so I already asked shoreside concierge this question. Here's their reply:

"With respect to the new alcohol policy, if you brought four bottles each to embarkation day, two would be taken, and returned to you on the final morning of your first cruise before disembarking. Each ship and sailing takes care of the process a little differently, so you would find out the exact time and place onboard the ship. As you will have these bottles in hand upon leaving the ship, when you reboard, these would now be allowed as the two bottles for this sailing. You are also correct that you can purchase more wine while in ports of call in the same limits to be brought onboard to enjoy in your stateroom."

Apparently, each ship, and probably each set of crew members onboard may have different procedures. I think this is going to be muddled for some time until things settle down. I will ask for further clarification.

All the best,
Richard

 

[phinz]

There was at least one report of somebody being told that they could not pick up their alcohol after the first leg, instead being told they had to wait for the end of their second leg. They then reported that Disney did not have their alcohol at the end of the second leg, claiming there had been an incident and it had been broken (read: Was most likely destroyed because it wasn't picked up after the first leg, though this isn't what Disney said). It's in an earlier thread here, and I'm not going to search for it, but it's out there. This was early in the implementation of the policy and the way things are handled may have been changed by now.

 

[Starwind]

Is the standard procedure for the alcohol being delivered at the end of a b2b on lines that consider a b2b a single cruise? Like do they issue 1 key at the beginning of the first cruise for the entire duration and not ask b2b guests to leave on the turnaround day? I've heard of that being done on some lines. It's not how Disney does b2b, though. How b2bs are handled (as a single cruise or 2 cruises) could be an indicator. Ultimately, though, there's no way to know for sure until someone has done it under the new rules.

We did a B2B on the Dream in December 2015.

The letter we received the day before the end of the first cruise did not have anything to say about alcohol or duty-free purchases.

The B2B is treated as two cruises:
- you are kicked off the first cruise, in our case the letter said we need to depart by 9:00 am;
- you clear US Customs
- you then go upstairs in the terminal
- you may have to wait a bit in the terminal
- and then you check in for the second cruise; you are issued a new KTW card for the second cruise
- you cannot carry-over items on your shipboard account from one cruise to the next; they are distinct and separate "accounts"
- when we booked our cruises the CM verbally said they were "linking" our two cruises as consecutive cru

SW

 

[n2mm]

We are doing a B2B in February and wondering this same thing. We thought maybe instead of all the uncertainty we would just get off in Nassau and buy what we need. I did wonder how they handle the purchase onboard if you purchase alcohol on your first leg.