Can you take chocolate from Graycliff tour off boat?

[Canadian Girl]

Nassau is our last full day and there is no way we could eat a cup of chocolate creations each. We wère told we had to leave our gingerbread houses on the boat during our Merrytime cruise but wondering if this is really accurate as we often buy candy and other edible souvenirs on board to take home. Not sure I want to pay the cost in USD for the excursion ( we are Canadian) if we can't take it off the boat.

 

[over50visits]

Problem is the fresh fruit ban on debarkation. You can make candies with strawberries, for instance, and they are not allowed off the boat in the US. We did the Graycliff chocolate class once, and just took the pure chocolate pieces off the boat with us, and I confirmed with customs...I told them we had just the chocolate, the agent said that was ok, but no fresh fruits. YMMV of course!

 

[MPS516]

We also took our pure chocolate home with us.

 

[bumbershoot]

Customs has never cared about chocolate with us.

You would want to eat the fruit one anyway as the acids of it start melting the chocolate anyway and it gets messy.

 

[Starwind]

Nassau is our last full day and there is no way we could eat a cup of chocolate creations each. We wère told we had to leave our gingerbread houses on the boat during our Merrytime cruise but wondering if this is really accurate as we often buy candy and other edible souvenirs on board to take home. Not sure I want to pay the cost in USD for the excursion ( we are Canadian) if we can't take it off the boat.

You can't take the gingerbread house off becauase it is an "open" food item -- it is not in a commercially prepared package that has never been opened.

SW

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

We took ours

 

[Flossbolna]

Yes, you can:

http://www.dontpackapest.com/Can-I-...-Not-On-the-List/Generally-Allowed-Food-Items

Chocolate is a generally allowed food items. So are bakery products. I once did a very thorough research and I found out that I was allowed to bring home made cookies with me to the US (was bringing some special German Christmas cookies to friends in the US). There were some strange regulations about how I was allowed to import them as a private person if I baked them myself or bought them myself, but a shop would not be able to send them directly to the US. If you are in doubt, you can always declare it on your customs form and inform the customs agent of what you are wanting to bring into the country.

 

[Flossbolna]

Finally found the rules about that you have to have it made yourself or bought yourself:

"The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (Bioterrorism Act or BTA), Public Law 107-188, established the requirement that food items, imported (or offered for import) for commercial use, including hand-carried quantities, be properly reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration prior to arrival of those items in the United States. The FDA prior notification timeframes (by transport mode) are two hours by land, four hours by rail or air, eight hours by vessel and prior to the "time of mailing" for international mail.

Food that was made by an individual in his/her personal residence, or food purchased by an individual from a vendor that is sent by that individual as a personal gift (for non-business reasons) to someone in the United States is not subject to Bioterrorism Act requirements. However, food that is sent to an individual in the United States by a business is subject to special requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. For instance, if you go to a food shop in England and buy a gift basket, then take it to the post office or a courier service to send to a friend, the shipment is not subject to BTA requirements. But if you go to that same shop and ask them to send the gift basket for you, the shipment is subject to BTA requirements, and the vendor will have to file Prior Notice. Many travelers are finding that vendors will not ship food directly to U.S. residents because the reporting requirements can be time-consuming to complete.

In general, failure to provide complete, timely and accurate prior notice for Bioterrorism Act regulated items, can result in refusal of admission of the merchandise, movement of the goods to an FDA registered facility (at importer expense) and/or civil monetary penalty liabilities for any party that was involved in the import transaction."

Source: https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/know-before-you-go/prohibited-and-restricted-items and then choose the section "Prior Notice of Food Importation"

I think this explains the reason why the gingerbread house is not allowed as it was neither made by the cruise guest at his/her personal residence, nor was it purchased from a vendor by the individual.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Finally found the rules about that you have to have it made yourself or bought yourself:

"The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (Bioterrorism Act or BTA), Public Law 107-188, established the requirement that food items, imported (or offered for import) for commercial use, including hand-carried quantities, be properly reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration prior to arrival of those items in the United States. The FDA prior notification timeframes (by transport mode) are two hours by land, four hours by rail or air, eight hours by vessel and prior to the "time of mailing" for international mail.

Food that was made by an individual in his/her personal residence, or food purchased by an individual from a vendor that is sent by that individual as a personal gift (for non-business reasons) to someone in the United States is not subject to Bioterrorism Act requirements. However, food that is sent to an individual in the United States by a business is subject to special requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. For instance, if you go to a food shop in England and buy a gift basket, then take it to the post office or a courier service to send to a friend, the shipment is not subject to BTA requirements. But if you go to that same shop and ask them to send the gift basket for you, the shipment is subject to BTA requirements, and the vendor will have to file Prior Notice. Many travelers are finding that vendors will not ship food directly to U.S. residents because the reporting requirements can be time-consuming to complete.

In general, failure to provide complete, timely and accurate prior notice for Bioterrorism Act regulated items, can result in refusal of admission of the merchandise, movement of the goods to an FDA registered facility (at importer expense) and/or civil monetary penalty liabilities for any party that was involved in the import transaction."

Source: https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/know-before-you-go/prohibited-and-restricted-items and then choose the section "Prior Notice of Food Importation"

I think this explains the reason why the gingerbread house is not allowed as it was neither made by the cruise guest at his/her personal residence, nor was it purchased from a vendor by the individual.

Wow, excellent research. Well done.

 

[Starwind]

Also, when entering the US, always declare ALL food you have with you, even if you know you are allowed to bring it in. Not only are you required to, but there are potentially hefty fines for failing to declare something.

At Port Canaveral, our experience with declaring foods is that the Customs officer has an agriculture specialist come over and talk with us; that person confirms what we have and then we are free to go; it adds all of a couple minutes to clearing Customs. Note this is with foods that are allowed to be imported, and we did our research in advance to make sure we knew what was ok to bring back into the US [we are only bringing things we brought with onto the ship in the first place].

SW

 

[bumbershoot]

You can't take the gingerbread house off becauase it is an "open" food item -- it is not in a commercially prepared package that has never been opened.

SW

Of course, that restriction would cover the chocolates made by guests at the Greycliff excursion. But the chocolates aren't covered by it.