duty free liquor leaving Aruba

[Chadd]

We always bring something home and always had to go through the same routine.

$800 Exemption
If you are arriving from anywhere other than a U.S. insular possession (U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, or Guam) you may bring back $800 worth of items duty free, as long as you bring them with you. This is called accompanied baggage.
For Caribbean Basin or Andean countries, your exemption is also $800. These countries include:

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Aruba
• Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Bolivia
• British Virgin Islands
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Dominica
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Grenada
• Guatemala
• Guyana
• Haiti
• Honduras
• Jamaica
• Montserrat
• Netherlands Antilles
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Peru
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Trinidad and Tobago

You may include two liters of alcoholic beverages with this $800 exemption, as long as one of the liters was produced in one of the countries listed above. Please see the Sending Purchases from Insular Possessions and Caribbean Basin Countries- Duty-Free Shops page for more information. ( Sending Purchases from Insular Possessions and Caribbean Basin Countries- Duty-Free Shops )
Depending on what items you’re bringing back from your trip, you could come home with more than $800 worth of gifts or purchases and still not be charged duty. For instance, say you received a $700 bracelet as a gift, and you bought a $40 hat and a $60 color print. Because these items total $800, you would not be charged duty, since you have not exceeded your duty-free exemption. If you had also bought a $500 painting on that trip, you could bring all $1,300 worth of merchandise home without having to pay duty, because fine art is duty-free.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/va...exemptions.xml

[Sunny Beaches]

thehughes, being from Seattle (now AZ.) with the WA. State Liquor Stores every thing is a deal at DF!!!

[thehuges]

to follow up ... it turned out that I couldn't do what I was hoping to do (get DF to box up my booze and check the box) because I had to check bags before customs and DF shopping.

I checked my bags, bought two bottles of DF booze, went through customs & security, picked up my bags again, picked up my DF booze, stuffed my bottles inside my checked bags, put them on the conveyor, went through a second secutiry checkpoint, and headed for the gate. I wasn't sure I had enough room in my suitcase, but in the end it worked.

I wonder if I could have got them to box up my booze in a way that would allow me to gate-check the box? I guess they would have to deliver it to me after the second security checkpoint ... or will security let you go through with clearly marked DF bottles?

I guess another alternative would be to bring your own empty box, check it, and then put your booze bottles in it after going through customs.

The whole setup seems less than optimal.

[Andrea J.]

or stuff a bunch of bubble wrap in your suitcase and then wrap DFbooze and put in checked bags?

[thehuges]

Originally Posted by Andrea J.

or stuff a bunch of bubble wrap in your suitcase and then wrap DFbooze and put in checked bags?

That's basically what I did, except the DF shop had bubble wrap, so no need to take your own. My problem was that I wished there were a way to pack the bottles into a box and then check that box, but I couldn't do it because I already checked my bags by the time I got to DF, and there was as far as I know no way to check another bag/box at that point. Again, maybe I could somehow have gate-checked it, but that would have required getting the bottles through the last security checkpoint somehow.

[Arubalisa]

Originally Posted by Andrea J.

or stuff a bunch of bubble wrap in your suitcase and then wrap DFbooze and put in checked bags?

Who needs bubble wrap when you have dirty clothes? We just take our bottles of Brights and wrap a piece of clothing or two around them and then spead them liberally through the middle of the suitcases. We do have hard sided luggage though.

[Andrea J.]

we have soft sided luggage hence, bubble wrap.

[arubadebbi]

Has the kiosh for duty free booze opened up when entering Aruba? when we first started to go to Aruba we loved picking up our booze there instead of bringing some. This would be such a great source of revenue for Aruba can't understand why they closed it down.

[Arubalisa]

Word is it is gone permanently.

[Arubagirl90]

I bring a bottle with me from NH, wrap it in bubble wrap and put it into an X- large ziplock bag. Pack it in between my clothes in the center of my suitcase. We then have the same set up for returning and buy a bottle at duty free to bring back something that we cannot get here. Ponche Cream so I can make Brown Ladies is a favorite of mine.

3 of us heading down in 18 days. We will each bring a bottle. Then buy the rest at Ling & Sons, mixers, wine, beer, more booze. We always have a bar set up in our room. Celebrate the end of each day with our own homemade cocktails, snacks, and sunset on the beach.

The countdown is on and I am so ready...
Jill