Bringing Wine onto the Cruise ship

My husband and I are taking our first cruise. We are sailing on Holland American.

We know we are allowed one bottle of wine apiece. We will have our wine packed into our suitcases.

Tips on the best way to do this.

How will the cruise line know how much wine we brought? Will they check our luggage or do we declare what we have?

We are supposed to carry the wine aboard.

All luggage that is brought aboard is x-rayed, piece by piece by piece. :)

You can carry more wine if you wish and pay corkage fee which permits you to drink it anywhere on the ship. Wine can be brought aboard either at Embarkation (free one bottle per 21 yr old guest) or in port where in you will pay the corkage fee.

Welcome to CC/HAL.

Happy you found us. :)

My husband and I are taking our first cruise. We are sailing on Holland American.

We know we are allowed one bottle of wine apiece. We will have our wine packed into our suitcases.

Tips on the best way to do this.

How will the cruise line know how much wine we brought? Will they check our luggage or do we declare what we have?

Do not pack your wine in you checked baggage..Your wine should be only in your carry on bags & you must declare it.. Hal will have it checked & give you a sticker for it.. Anything over your permitted allotment, will be charged a corkage fee..

Do not pack your wine in you checked baggage..Your wine should be only in your carry on bags & you must declare it.. Hal will have it checked & give you a sticker for it.. Anything over your permitted allotment, will be charged a corkage fee..

agree the wine must be in your carry on. Not in your suitcase. but just to clarify...

Actually, the "free bottle" does not get a sticker.

the bottles over and above that are charged the corkage fee get the stickers so that you will not be charged corkage in public areas.

Hi folks,

Can somebody tell me what the corkage fee is?

Cheers .. Bev

agree the wine must be in your carry on. Not in your suitcase. but just to clarify...

 

Actually, the "free bottle" does not get a sticker.

 

the bottles over and above that are charged the corkage fee get the stickers so that you will not be charged corkage in public areas.

Thanks Jacqui.. Didn't realize that..We haven't brought wine on board in a long time..We normally just purchase HAL's packages..

Hi folks,

 

Can somebody tell me what the corkage fee is?

 

Cheers .. Bev

Bev the corkage fee is $18.00 per bottle..

$18 per bottle. Largest bottle permitted is 750 ml

Having made the same mistake you are contemplating on our first HAL cruise(i.e. packing wine in checked baggage), let me spell out how it works to bring wine on board:

1. Each person (over 21) may bring one bottle of wine or champagne on board.

2. The bottle must be on your person (in carry-on bag) when you check-in.

3. When you check in, there will be a table set up where you declare your wine. Any bottles over your 1 per person limit will be tagged and you will be assessed an $18 per bottle corkage fee.

4. If you forget and leave your bottles in your checked baggage, HAL will remove them from your bags and hold them for you until the night before you disembark. They will place a note in your bag advising you of this.

5. If you purchase additional bottles of wine in port, you may bring them on board and pay the $18 per bottle corkage fee or have the bottles held until debarkation.

6. If you don't bring any wine at embarkation, you don't get to buy wine in port to count toward your "free" wine. All wine purchased in port will be assessed corkage (or held) whether you brought wine aboard at embarkation or not.

Thanks Jacqui.. Didn't realize that..We haven't brought wine on board in a long time..We normally just purchase HAL's packages..

 

 

 

Bev the corkage fee is $18.00 per bottle..

Many thanks for that. It does make it well worthwhile for a nice bottle of wine, and New Zealand certainly produces some wonderful ones. Other than wines, I find the prices of drinks on board very reasonable, much better than a bar here.

Cheers .. Bev

Apparently there has been a amendment to these rules.

If you go on a HAL excursion to a winery you are allowed to bring back one bottle of wine each free.

We are going to NZ next year and will be testing this out. :)

Apparently there has been a amendment to these rules.

 

If you go on a HAL excursion to a winery you are allowed to bring back one bottle of wine each free.

 

We are going to NZ next year and will be testing this out. :)

Yes, that's quite correct, we did a couple of HAL wine excursions in NZ, whilst on Oosterdam, during Nov/Dec of last year.

All quite simple and very efficiently managed: On re-boarding the ship there is a separate desk, manned by crew who have ready prepared lists of passengers names and cabin numbers, relating to those who have been on HAL organized Wine excursions that day.

They like to see your excursion sticker (so don't peel it off too early) and your cruise pass to check off your name. Then they simply put a coloured disc on the bottle, then its yours to take with you and enjoy and savour at your leisure.

Enjoy!

Peter.

Yes, that's quite correct, we did a couple of HAL wine excursions in NZ, whilst on Oosterdam, during Nov/Dec of last year.

 

All quite simple and very efficiently managed: On re-boarding the ship there is a separate desk, manned by crew who have ready prepared lists of passengers names and cabin numbers, relating to those who have been on HAL organized Wine excursions that day.

 

They like to see your excursion sticker (so don't peel it off too early) and your cruise pass to check off your name. Then they simply put a coloured disc on the bottle, then its yours to take with you and enjoy and savour at your leisure.

Enjoy!

 

Peter.

Thanks for this explanation.

Hope you enjoyed the New Zealand wine:D

Having made the same mistake you are contemplating on our first HAL cruise(i.e. packing wine in checked baggage), let me spell out how it works to bring wine on board:

 

1. Each person (over 21) may bring one bottle of wine or champagne on board.

2. The bottle must be on your person (in carry-on bag) when you check-in.

3. When you check in, there will be a table set up where you declare your wine. Any bottles over your 1 per person limit will be tagged and you will be assessed an $18 per bottle corkage fee.

4. If you forget and leave your bottles in your checked baggage, HAL will remove them from your bags and hold them for you until the night before you disembark. They will place a note in your bag advising you of this.

5. If you purchase additional bottles of wine in port, you may bring them on board and pay the $18 per bottle corkage fee or have the bottles held until debarkation.

6. If you don't bring any wine at embarkation, you don't get to buy wine in port to count toward your "free" wine. All wine purchased in port will be assessed corkage (or held) whether you brought wine aboard at embarkation or not.

Almost all correct.

#4 -- many people lock their suitcases thus HAL can not open the bags. Instead the luggage is sent to a room off the Front Desk. People who have wine (or even alcohol) in their suitcases report there and have to open their suitcases.

We happen to be at the front desk on a ship and the line for the "naughty" room was quite long.

Our initial departure time was changed to 10 pm. I wonder if we will be able to check in with no wine and then go out shopping and bring back wine. As this is our embarkation, can we bring 2 free bottles - 1 per person or do we have to have them with us when we first arrive, which will be difficult to do.

Our initial departure time was changed to 10 pm. I wonder if we will be able to check in with no wine and then go out shopping and bring back wine. As this is our embarkation, can we bring 2 free bottles - 1 per person or do we have to have them with us when we first arrive, which will be difficult to do.

I asked this of HAL in summer of 2014 and was told no, you had to have the wine at your initial check in. As with most things, if you ask you may get an entirely different answer than I did.

I asked this of HAL in summer of 2014 and was told no, you had to have the wine at your initial check in. As with most things, if you ask you may get an entirely different answer than I did.

I makes sense that you can only bring it on at initial check in as people could go in and out 10 times and they would have trouble controlling it.

I makes sense that you can only bring it on at initial check in as people could go in and out 10 times and they would have trouble controlling it.

So true, I learned the hard way. Our departure port was Stockholm, and it was an overnight. Because of problems our flight was late getting in Saturday night. Since it was a Sunday when we were to board, all the wine shops were closed that day. I hoped the ship would let us buy our wine on Monday, when we were still at the departure port (Stockholm) but no dice. :(

Yes, that's quite correct, we did a couple of HAL wine excursions in NZ, whilst on Oosterdam, during Nov/Dec of last year.

 

All quite simple and very efficiently managed: On re-boarding the ship there is a separate desk, manned by crew who have ready prepared lists of passengers names and cabin numbers, relating to those who have been on HAL organized Wine excursions that day.

 

They like to see your excursion sticker (so don't peel it off too early) and your cruise pass to check off your name. Then they simply put a coloured disc on the bottle, then its yours to take with you and enjoy and savour at your leisure.

Enjoy!

 

Peter.

That is a really thoughtful exception to the rule. It's fun to be able to take back more than a taste to enjoy later. And it also makes the tour vendor happy because the winery gets more sales.

I wish they'd be kinder to people who like local/micro beers.

I makes sense that you can only bring it on at initial check in as people could go in and out 10 times and they would have trouble controlling it.

You can go in and out as many times as you wish, and bring on as much wine as you want each time, as along as you are willing to pay the corkage fee. Seems totally fair to me.

You can go in and out as many times as you wish, and bring on as much wine as you want each time, as along as you are willing to pay the corkage fee. Seems totally fair to me.

Yes, of course you can. I was referring to the corkage free bottle/bottles. I didn't say a word about it being unfair. I wasn't one of the people up in arms about the change in policy a while back. My reply was in answer poster swin26 that was asking about the corkage free bottles.

Thanks for this explanation.

Hope you enjoyed the New Zealand wine:D

We did, we did!

I'd always had a particular fondness for Sauvignon Blanc's from the Marlborough region.

So visiting the Cloudy Bay winery and others was always going to be something of a very special pilgrimage.

Excellent day out, and in beautiful weather too!

We totally loved New Zealand, full stop!

Peter.

We did, we did!

 

I'd always had a particular fondness for Sauvignon Blanc's from the Marlborough region.

So visiting the Cloudy Bay winery and others was always going to be something of a very special pilgrimage.

 

Excellent day out, and in beautiful weather too!

 

We totally loved New Zealand, full stop!

 

Peter.

Sounds like my kind of a tour.

We did, we did!

 

I'd always had a particular fondness for Sauvignon Blanc's from the Marlborough region.

So visiting the Cloudy Bay winery and others was always going to be something of a very special pilgrimage.

 

Excellent day out, and in beautiful weather too!

 

We totally loved New Zealand, full stop!

 

Peter.

Sounds like my kind of a tour.

Mine too and I don't think bringing back one bottle would have been enough :p;)

What's another corkage fee or three? :p;)

Mine too and I don't think bringing back one bottle would have been enough :p;)

 

What's another corkage fee or three? :p;)

One bottle???

Just off the Nieuw Amsterdam in the Med and we brought wine on at practically every port. Half the time, no one was there to collect corkage.