I've only cruised on little boats -- Chicago to N'awlins, coast of Maine, Erie Canal, so I don't know about the big boats. The ones I travel on require you to BYOB to avoid problems with the laws of different states/Canada/Caribbean. Never having cruised in the Caribbean, I can't speak for that. We tipped at the end of the cruise and the crew split the total take up evenly. They didn't check the bags for "contraband." But as I say, that was on a boat that took no more that 100 passengers total -- and you made your own fun, usually standing or sitting (in our case) on the bow and watching the scenery go by.