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Wine question


Anniesgirl
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Does anyone know if any cruise lines relax their rules around bringing on your own wine for long cruises? It seems odd that I can bring on one bottle free of charge/corkage for a two day cruise and I can bring on one bottle free of charge on the 37 night cruise I’m planning for next year. Has anyone seen any discussion of this anywhere?

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CB, are you aware of any lines that allow more wine to be brought on board? I’ve done RC, X and Carnival. Going on Princess next. I thought all allowed the two bottles per stateroom. Maybe I need to research more cruise lines.

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Cruising Cockroach, so true. I’m trying to save the $15/bottle corkage fees. Bringing on a couple of bottles at $15 each to last a week is not too painful. Paying corkage for several cases to last five weeks can pinch a bit. High class worries to be sure but it never hurts to ask.

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The more upscale the cruise line, the less you will be nickle and dimed. I've only cruised with Silversea and once on Seabourn, but I'm more than welcome to lug as much wine or spirits onboard their ships as I can carry. In practice, I might purchase a few interesting bottles in port to bring home and bring back fond memories of past travels, but the complimentary selection onboard is more than adequate and specific brands can be provided with advance notice (such as the young man's SanPellegrino Aranciata Rossa). If you usually find yourself settling a substantial tab at the end of your cruise for "extras", it might be worth looking into some of the more upscale lines that are more inclusive. For me, the price delta is not great enough to make it worth feeling less like a guest and more like a "wallet".

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If you are taking long cruises (we are talking over a month) on any of the mass market lines the rules do not change regarding wine. HAL was one of the last to start charging corkage fees beyond 1 bottle a person...although they do not have any kind of limit on what you can bring aboard. We still see some HAL cruisers bringing cases of good wines on cruises but these folks are OK paying the corkage. For those that drink expensive wines the corkage is just a relative nuisance. Most of the ultra luxury lines have no issues with bringing wine aboard...but then again...when passengers are paying $1000+ per person/day why should the cruise line hassle them about wine.

 

Hank

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Pf778c, good point about the more upscale cruise lines. That is in our future (I hope -fingers crossed!) but probably just for one or two week cruises. The price point is such that I’m willing to put up with some of the nickel-and-diming for more cruises. Sometimes. But I still grumble about it.

Hank, I envy those cruisers who cart on the cases of great wine but my wine drinking probably isn’t in that category. It does give me something to think about, though. I wonder how hard it would be to send a case from Vancouver to Singapore to meet us at the ship. We are spending time in Japan before going to Singapore and I cannot see carting a case of wine around for a few weeks. Ther must be companies that will ship it for us. Probably prohibitively expensive compared to just buying a wine package but something to explore over the next few months while waiting.

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Anniesgirl,

 

Don't be afraid of investigating a more upscale line. My target is ~$300/day, usually on Silversea, and often have airfare and a substantial onboard credit included. My extra pennies are going towards an early retirement, not extravagant cruise fares!

 

As far as dragging a case of good wine along, it would be a waste. Most fine wine is fairly delicate and needs to rest after being jostled about before being drunk. If I was up to the hassle though, and there wasn't anything suitable offered on board, I could see bringing on a case of good, but fairly expensive wine; something young enough to roll with the punches but very drinkable. I figure that even with the corkage, I could come out ahead of most over-priced, crappy wines being offered retail.

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Shipping a case of wine to Singapore from North America probably does not make a lot of sense in terms or cost. And if you are sending really expensive and somewhat delicate wine you might consider that shipping is not always the way to keep you wine at a constant temperature. We would simply purchase a case of wine in Singapore :). While you might pay a bit more then at home, once you factor in how much you saved in shipping cost it might be a good buy. And yes, there are some decent wine shops in Singapore.

 

Hank

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