Smuggling Liquor onto Cruise Ships: The Definitive Guide

This is certainly a divergence in subject matter, but it's important and Hobie certainly approves, so I'll continue.

Melissa and I went on a week long cruise to Alaska with my family last week. We left from Seattle, WA on one of Holland America's monstrosities; The Amsterdam.

In an effort to simultaneously save money and drink heavily, we planned to bring our own alcohol on board the ship. That was until I read that Holland America confiscates all alcohol other than wine upon boarding the ship at each port. If your alcohol is confiscated, it will be returned on the last day.

Clearly this rule is in place for financial reasons. At $12 a shot the ship's watered down alcoholic beverages are a major drain on the pocket book and a major money maker for Holland America.

I researched this issue online and read several forum postings from travelers with similar concerns and ambitions to my own. Unfortunately there was no definitive answer to the problem. One person even suggested that Holland America had recently invested in state of the art technology that is able to detect liquids when passengers board.

So I did a little test.

In Seattle I put 2 glass beer bottles (with metal caps) in the back pockets of my jeans and walked right past Holland America's crack team of security specialists - through the metal detector and everything. I wasn't even being careful to conceal what was obviously protruding from my back pockets.

In Sitka, Alaska I got off the ship and went straight to a liquor store. Melissa, various family members and I stocked up on rum, gin and plenty of soda. We stuffed the large bottles in our pockets and re-boarded the ship, again waltzing right through Holland America's sophisticated alcohol-sniffing detectors.

So why am I posting this for you, the reader's of Hobie's blog to enjoy? The world needs to know this important information and after my extensive internet research previous to the cruise, I see that there is a lack of information currently.

Enjoy your cruises everyone and always drink responsibly.