At many of our ports, including our original boarding port in Barcelona, Spain, there were shops after the security check point. At most of these ports you could purchase as much wine, spirits, soft drinks, water and food at these shops as you wanted and could bring it onto the ship. The cost of products in these shops is much lower than what it would cost you to purchase the same items on the ship. Though ship policy severely limits what items and what quantities you can bring onboard, there are no further checkpoints once you have gone through security. So whatever you buy at these port stores can be brought on board. We did run across one port store where what alcohol you purchased would be delivered to you when you disembarked at the final port destination, but that was the exception rather than the rule.

When we were on the Panama Canal Cruise, most of the nations that we stopped at did not provide their own secuirty checkpoint. Instead they left it up to the cruise ship to do their own security screening. When the cruise ship company does their own security screening, they will confiscate bottles of alcohol and hold them until you reach your final destination. European countries seem to operate the security screening. The government operated screening is looking for weapons and bombs, not for spirits or food that the ship does not want brought on board.