Can you bring a Swiss army knife on ship if it's in checked bag?

[kmc33]

I like to carry a Swiss Army knife with me. I now make sure it is packed in my checked bag for flights. However, can anyone tell me if Disney allows you to bring them onboard the ship, even if it's packed in your checked bag?

Thanks!

 

[zacsmom]

Silly question, but what would you need a knife for on board a cruise?

 

[kmc33]

Well, it's really not a silly question. In fact, I thought of that as I was writing the post, that it may sound silly. I even thought the safe thing would be to just leave it at home, since I probably would not need it on the ship. However, we are going to be at WDW for 4 days before we sail. And even then, I wonder if I would really need it for anything. It's just one of those things that it does come in handy from time to time and I like to have it with me on trips. That said, it still might just be best to leave it behind. It's not like I am going on a camping trip!

 

[Talking Hands]

Well mine has a small pair of scissors that I use when I crochet to cut the yarn. Easier to carry than a bunch of different pieces.

 

[actuarian]

The restriction in the literature is not very clear on this; it depends on whether they consider your knife to be either "dangerous" or a "weapon". Nevertheless, I have seen postings on other cruise review sites indicating that Swiss Army knives are confiscated by other cruise lines (Carnival, in particular). Since Disney security is at least as strict as Carnival's (and probably stricter), I would be very surprised if they allowed your knife. They do not care whether such things are checked or carried on since they would be equally accessible either way once aboard the ship.

 

[Werner Weiss]

The big difference between checked luggage on an airplane and checked luggage on a DCL ship is that you don't have access to the checked luggage during a flight.

According to DCL's Baggage, Valuables, and Other Possessions policy, "Dangerous or illegal articles such as weapons, explosives, oxygen, combustible substances or non-prescription controlled substances may not be brought to the Walt Disney World Resort or taken aboard the ship. Any such items shall be surrendered to the Master of the vessel at embarkation, and may be disposed of at the sole discretion of the Master."

That raises the question of whether DCL considers a Swiss Army Knife to be a weapon, or simply a personal tool like a corkscrew (which I had no trouble bringling aboard in my carry-on baggage along with two bottles of wine).

 

[MarkRG]

Knifes of any sort are confiscated, doesn't matter how big or anything. They will hold your bag in security shipboard until you call to claim it at which point they'll let you open it and they will inspect it and confiscate the offending item until your return to the port. I speak from experience of a family member having one of their bags held for such an item. And that was pre 9/11.

 

[pal2pluto]

When we cruised in October, we had a leatherman in a checked bag. It made it through airport okay (I'm assuming because it was checked and therefore not accessable to me during the flight). But when we received the bag in our room, it was missing. I thought that maybe I forgot to pack it after all. But the next day, we received a note saying that they had found "contraband" and kept it at the port. After calling the desk, they told me it was a leatherman, and that we could retrieve after we returned from the cruise at port canaveral.

My advice is to not take a swiss army knife......

 

[Buckaroo's Dad]

Hi zacsmom.

what would you need a knife for on board a cruise?

To keep solitare honest?

 

[kmc33]

Thanks for feedback. In retrospect, I realize now it doesn't matter if it's in a checked bag or not, (duh!) since you still would have access onboard. I think the safe thing will be to leave it at home.

 

[abitjaded]

This thread is very interesting. We cruised in October, 2002. When we checked in at DIA, my husband realized he had his Swiss Army knife in the carry-on, but the lines were so long we just kissed it good-bye (he had been carrying it for 25 years!). We got to our cabin and tried to open our champagne and goodies from a Perfect Gift, tried to open wine, cut ribbon, repair clothes and peel fruit and needed that darn thing at least five times in the first few days. As soon as we got to St Maarten he bought a new one at Little Switzerland. There was no problem getting it back on the ship! It was still in the box, but nonetheless. Hmmm... Used it a lot over the last days of the cruise. When we got to MCO he realized he had the stupid thing in his carry-on AGAIN, so he raced off and mailed it back home, barely made the flight, while the rest of us drug all the other junk through. Has anyone had anything confiscated at the ports-of-call? Or did we do something illegal that they missed? Scary.

Carla

 

[Euphscott]

All four sailings I have been on Disney (both pre and post 9/11) I have had a swiss army knife along with me. In all cases it was in my toiletries bag and never once was it bothered.

What is it's usefulness? You go shopping, you want to cut pieces off, opening wrapped packages, removing stray threads and so on.

Sure I suppose it could be used as a weapon, but stealing a steak knife from any of the restaurants would be just as simple to do any dastardly deeds.