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This is a reverse question to all that inquire about bringing food to the islands. Our problem will be bringing our alloted quantity of booze home on the plane with us. Since you aren't allowed liquid carry on's anymore what's the best way of having it arrive safely home with us. I was thinking of bringing bubble wrap and perhaps a small wheeled suitcase that hopefully the box will fit in as it will have to go as "checked" luggage. Anyone have an experience with this lately, good or bad?
No worries remi, the stores will pack the bottles nicely in boxes w/handles, and the airlines are prepared. You will need to check it, but they slap FRAGILE stickers all over it. You might want to bring a Sharpie marker though to make sure your name is on it.
When I came back over Christmas, my two bottles of rum made it home with me just fine.
wow Richmond, you only brought 2 bottles back? I plan on getting some of that K-Mart 2.99 or $3.99/bottle (something like that for Cruzan) and bring back our allotment. Also some Cruzan rum creme, which someone said is like 12.99 there, $17-18 here.
Each person can bring back 6 bottles, correct? as long as some of it is Cruzan?
I don't know if we'll have a chance to get to K-Mart. If there someplace to buy Cruzan Rum cheap on STJ or at the airport?
Even though the stores pack it pretty well (or like at K-Mart, they sometimes hand you the flat box and you pack it) the bubble wrap is a good idea. We use that to pack our stuff and then use it around the booze coming back. We use a large rolling duffle for snorkel stuff and coolers of frozen and fresh on the way in and then on the way back we can get two cartons of liquor in the large duffle. I admit to being somewhat OC but I also always print up a page of sticky return address labels before I go, along with a couple that say "FRAGILE" - we sometimes mail back stuff (we have been known to mail back dirty clothes in favor of packing more booze - lol). The Cruzan Rum Creme is the best and the 5 year old Cruzan Diamond Estate is pretty hard to find and expensive around here.
We also always bring, at least, our allotment of alcohol home. We have on occasion brought extra home and paid the small duty charge on it. It is correct that the airlines have been very good with handling the boxes of alcohol. We would recommend putting bubble wrap under, as well as, around the bottles for extra protection. Over the past 9 years, the only time we had a bottle of alcohol break was when we enclosed the usual packing box into a different box. The airlines are very familiar with the boxes used at all the stores for packing alcohol so, we think they are a bit more careful in the handling of those boxes. Different type of boxes are often tossed around a bit more. Each person is allowed 6 bottles as long as at least 1 bottle is something made in the islands. We've usually found K Mart to have the best prices but, Cruzan can be found almost anywhere on island for a decent price. We once found it priced cheaper at the grocery store. Have FUN!!!! (not hard to do on the islands)
You don't need bubble wrap if you have dirty undies. This is what we used in the six pack box we got at Plaza Extra. This was also suggested by the inspector at the airport before he opened the boxes for a look see. Our bottles make it back to CT without any loss.
