TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Caribbean Cellars?

TMM recommends both Ticos and Caribbean Cellars for pre-ordering liquor, water & mixers. Leaning toward Caribbean Cellars because of their extensive selection (and they carry Titos vodka). Anyone have experience with Caribbean?

We've always used Caribbean Cellars and never had a problem with them.

Used Caribbean last time and using them again for my upcoming trip.
Download the price list from both and compare. Some prices vary by quite a bit. We had no problems with either, just go with pricing. Both will deliver to the boat.
Cheers
Dave

We have used Caribbean Cellars on our last several visits, very pleased! Delivered right to the boat. During the Carib Beer Embargo last summer they were not able to provide Carib, so we purchased that from Bobby's. The only difficulty was confirming they received my credit card authorization form, that took several attempts. They also carry other items which we now consider staples: bottled water case of 24 500ml size, Yaucono Coffee, Virgin Island Brewery Root Beer and Ting.

Great to hear - thanks for the feedback. We did compare prices between Ticos and Caribbean. Only real difference is red stripe is cheaper at Ticos, but Caribbean had a larger selection and I'd like to only have one order to keep track of. My only concern now is where we're going to store all of it on the boat. Are we crazy for starting with 42 gallons of drinking water? (1 gal per person per day for 7 days - will use it for coffee and those powdered drink packets too)

Yes.
Don't order that much water!
1 gallon per person per day is a good starting point, but if you're going to be on any of the larger islands, water will be available. We ordered all the water last time too and were tripping over it most of the trip AND had many gallons left over.
Order for 1/2 the trip, see how much you actually use, then buy more if need be. That's what we're doing this trip.

I agree on not tripping over all the water bottles, we had a hard time finding storage for it and it cluttered up the deck. We could have just bought what we needed at Soper's in the Riteway halfway through the trip and had less irritation at the clutter.

CC is fine, have used them several times & last June delivered to dockside just fine. Yes, they had problems with my credit card, but finally got it through at the dock. Get Smaller quantities of mixers at Ticos.


Way too much water!! Save a couple gal jugs and fill up during the trip.

We used CC and they were fine and prices were fair. They delivered on Saturday morning to the Moorings base for our late arrival. A few items were substituted but for the most part no problems. Just be aware they are not quick to respond to your emails unless you're a few days away from delivery. Don't freak they are on ilon time and you probably live in the States. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

After browsing Caribbean Cellars website I can't seem to find gallons of drinking water. Also, Coco Lopez Cream of coconut only seems to be available by the case. Same goes for some other things like OJ and Pineapple. Do they do smaller amounts somehow?

They seem to list them on the price list but not on the retail on-line ordering thingy....

We just completed our annul order for this Saturday . We compared CC and Tico and found items and quantities that are not listed online can be ordered by contacting them directly. For our order Tico came in about 15% cheaper but both were very comparable

I've used CC for the last four trips, including just a few weeks back. I have never had a problem with them, and their prices are fair, if not better than most. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />

We always use Caribbean Cellars. Before they moved they were within walking distance of our charter company. We aren't too extremely picky with what we drink and they always had great sale items in their office with wine, rum, and other selections. Never been disappointed with them.

Kirk, would shop a liquor store at home for water, probably would be cheaper at the food market

I usually use Bobby's in advance for water, beer, soda and some booze...basically the heavy stuff. I thought maybe I'd try out Caribbean Cellars or at least compare so I was noting/asking about stuff I usually get and didn't see. I'm not so much concerned about price as ease and getting all that stuff from one place.

Kirk - I saw the gallons and individual bottle prices on the "price list" tab of their website. Haven't done the on-line ordering yet.
pvgreg - what kind of substitutions did they make? I'm not too worried about brands of juice, but I'd rather not have any substitutions on brands of liquor.
I'm going to knock our water in half and take out one case of beer. When I get to putting together our itinerary, I'm sure I'll have questions on the best places to re-provision along the way.

Yeah, about that case price...same stuff is easily available at Ticos or Bobby's. Buy smaller quantities there instead.

You don't have to order the case, same price for individual bottles.

Interesting...I was always under the impression that CC only sold certain items by the case - i.e. Soda, juice, waters - I thought only booze and mixers (Bloody Mary mix, etc) could be broken out.

it's a little confusing...the online ordering mostly has cases (on some items there is a pull down to change quantity) but the printable price list seems to have cases and individual bottles/cans.

Do you need to be at your boat for Caribbean Cellars or Ticos to deliver? Or, are they able to stow your drinks ahead of you arriving? Originally we were going to use Sunsail for drinks, etc, but this thread has me leaning towards Caribbean Cellars or Ticos.
Just trying to figure out the logistics.
Thank you!

We are always there for deliveries just to make sure we've got everything and are okay with any possible substitutions- I do not believe CC puts things away if you're not there.

Depending on your charter company, but we have had deliveries left in the charter office before. You will need to ask them if that is okay. If that does not work out, you can ask them to deliver early in the morning.

We're chartering with TMM and I believe that CC can leave our order with the office at TMM. Does anyone have experience with them substituting things and if so what did they sub? I don't want my Antigua rum subbed with Bacardi or something like that.

I have not had CC sub out anything before -- they just won't bring it (and won't charge you for it of course) if they don't have it in stock -- so if it's something very specific that you're going to be REALLY disappointed not to receive with your order? I'd call them to make sure they have it in stock. In our case, it was a magnum of Veuve - not a huge deal, we just bought bought two 750's instead. Same bubbles, different bottles. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />

Thanks Bridget! We're going to pre-order our liquor and drinks but do our grocery provisioning at Riteway when we get in. Will look over the CC order before heading to Riteway.

UPDATE: Looking at the on-line ordering for Caribbean Cellars, it looks like you can't order things like Coco Lopez and the large cans of juice without ordering a case. I just got off the phone with them and confirmed that you CAN order these items by the individual bottle; only beer, water, and soft drinks must be ordered by the case. Also, I was told I could put my order together (with item number, description & price) and email it to them at [email]corders@caribbeancellars.com.[/email] Just FYI if it helps anyone else.
Julie

Thanks for sharing, Julie!