Booze - Local vs. Bring with vs. Duty Free

Some in my group are wondering, due to the price of alcohol on the island, whether or not to pack a quart to take with, stop at a duty free in U.S. prior to departing a buying a bottle to take with, vs. simply buying it all locally upon arrival.

We'll obviously be landing at airport, then hopefully renting a van for the week and then driving to Rum Point for our house rental. Shopping for groceries, booze and supplies along the way.

Is there any sense or savings in packing a bottle, going to a duty free before leaving vs. just simply buying it on island and be done with it?

I think all one can bring in is 1L anyway, and I'll be drinking mostly beer, so I know I'll be trying to steer van to brewery on way to Rum Point.

Yes, this is penny pinching at its best, but curious people want to know!

Thanks for any responses.

Wife and I ALWAYS try to bring a liter each from home or purchase at the duty free store in the departure/connecting airport. We are on island a lot, so it really saves a few bucks. You are correct in that the duty exemption is 1L per person for spirits, 4L of wine or a case of beer.

We purchase wine on the island, as the duty on it doesn't hurt you as bad as on liquor.

Beer is usually purchased at the brewery, since we head to Rum Point as well ($35 US a case). I happen to really enjoy CayLight in bottles, Cay Brew is solid as well. The Iron Shore Bok has tasted great (reminded me of Bass Ale) out of the tap at the brewery, but I never bought any.

Husband and I just spent a week in Grand Cayman SMB first week of March. Liquor is very expensive on the island. We each took the allowed one liter per person of liquor (2 total) packed in our checked baggage wrapped in bubble wrap with no problem. We were able to find 'plastic' liter bottles of a brand we liked so this helped but others have traveled with glass successfully also. It definitely helped the pocket book as just our beer/soda/asti bill came to $173 which was more than our food bill for the week!!! (And we are not real heavy drinkers!) Glad we took what we did and we will do it again next year. Also, our property managers took a beer/etc. order from us prior to leaving and had it all ready for us in our unit refrig when we arrived at no extra charge. No need to stop at Liquor store on the way after traveling all day--we had our weeks supply.
Just remember you still need to declare on the customs form the liquor you are bringing in even if it is just the allowed amounts which are not subject to duty.

FYI a bottle of Mount Gay Rum that costs about $13 US in my home state costs $25 CI down here. Bizarre. Lots of reasons. High tariff and the preponderance of all-inclusives trying to cut costs leads to an over-supply of low-ball Jamaican rums (Appleton, etc) that no one back home would touch with the proverbial 10' pole. A minor complaint on an island that is nearly perfect in every other way. Go figure.

Come on now, Appleton actually produces some fine world-class rums; never seen them referred to as "low-ball" before.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appleton_Estate
But to each their own.

Cayman has close to a 50% duty on spirits imported from anywhere (incl. Jamaica), which is why you encounter such high prices on island.

Forgot to mention, there are some Duty Free bargains at the airport liquor stores when LEAVING Grand Cayman. One of my favorite Rums, Mt. Gay Extra Old is $22 US (about 1/2 what I pay at home), but you need to know your prices. Another favorite, Ron Zacapa 23 YO is around $45 US, which is more than I pay for it at home.

Just remember if you have a connection in the US, you'll need to place your duty free "liquids" into your checked bags after clearing customs - since you'll need to go through the security check point again.
<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Do you think i can bring 2 liters for my wife and I and put 3 3liter boxes of box wine in my lugage and pay no duty? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

One couple on our Feb trip, bought a special sturdy box for wine, and brought 10 bottles with, which were checked at airport in MN and all made it there just fine. The limit was 5 1-L bottles for each of them. Another in our group brought 1 3-L box of wine. I brought 1 1-L of Myers Rum, which I replaced when leaving at the duty free store.

Oh, and no one paid duty on any of it, and it was all declared.

Here are the rules:

When traveling to the Cayman Islands from the United States, each person 18 years or over is allowed to bring in EITHER 1 liter of spirits (rum, vodka, etc) OR one case of beer OR 4 liters of wine, without having to pay duty. You must declare it on your Customs form upon entering the country, but you will not have to pay duty on it, if you do not exceed those limits. What's nice is that if you are traveling as a family, you only have to fill out one Customs form. On that form, you can just list the total alcohol that your family is bringing in, and as long as you don't exceed the limits for the total of the people in your family who are 18 and over, you'll be fine.

Also allowed: 200 cigarettes, 25 cigars, or 250 grams of tobacco.