Brought wine onboard Star

We brought on 9 bottles of our favorite wine on our 5.25 Star Princess Alaska cruise. Paid the $15 on 7 of them. Bottles stamped. The first night at dinner the waiter came to one of the men at our table and told him that we were supposed to pay the corkage fee if we bring wine to dinner, but he wouldn't charge us this time. I showed him the bottles, all stamped. He went to a supervisor(?) and that person seemed surprised that we had already paid the $15. I wanted to chalk it up to being so early in the season, but this was the 3rd Alaska cruise this season. Second night at dinner, waiter comes up to one of the men and tells him that we need to pay the corkage fee. I was not happy! I called him over and spewed out Princess' policy and he left us alone. Thankfully, after that night there were no more instances. I was the organizer for our group of 8 and we all had followed the rules. I was a little embarassed and fairly upset that they were questioned about the wine. Hopefully, it's all figured out by now. I can't help but think that they haven't been enforcing the carryon policy since the waiters were clearly puzzled.

The communication between Princess Corporate and the ship staff seems have been very sketchy on the entire issue of paying corkage fees at embarkation, so I am not surprised.

We plan to take a whole case with us on our August cruise and pay the $15.00 per bottle. At least that way we will have wine that we know we like and it will cost less than what we have been paying for wine purchased on the ship.

The communication between Princess Corporate and the ship staff seems have been very sketchy on the entire issue of paying corkage fees at embarkation, so I am not surprised.

 

We plan to take a whole case with us on our August cruise and pay the $15.00 per bottle. At least that way we will have wine that we know we like and it will cost less than what we have been paying for wine purchased on the ship.

That's our plan as well. Thanks to the original poster since we will be in the Star next month.

Question though-did you take the wine with your carry on bags?

I'm sure they have some things still to work out. I too plan on taking a case on the Star in September. Don't mind paying the corkage fee. My concern all along was that the left hand wouldn't know what the right hand had already charged..........:)

I'm sure they have some things still to work out. I too plan on taking a case on the Star in September. Don't mind paying the corkage fee. My concern all along was that the left hand wouldn't know what the right hand had already charged..........:)

I agree that they are still working out bugs, so it is doubly important that the passengers know and require the staff to follow the rules. Otherwise, the process of education of the ship staff will take even longer.

We are on the Sapphire right now and on boarding we paid the $ 15.00 as well. No problem bringing it to the dining room, waiter knew what we were talking about.

Theo

That's our plan as well. Thanks to the original poster since we will be in the Star next month.

 

Question though-did you take the wine with your carry on bags?

We did on the Sapphire, 6 extra bottles.

Theo

We are on the Sapphire right now and on boarding we paid the $ 15.00 as well. No problem bringing it to the dining room, waiter knew what we were talking about.

 

Theo

Thanks. Always nice to know what to expect. Did they charge your account, or did you have to make payment upon boarding?

We carried all the bottles in with us (in a box). The 2 "free" bottles were not stamped. This all happened during the checkin process. It was charged to our onboard account. Showed up on our bill toward the end of the cruise. HELPFUL TIP: Be sure to take one of the STAMPED bottles to the table with you. We almost goofed one night!

A question please...Can you take a larger bottle(larger than 750ml0 and just pay the 15.00 per bottle upon boarding?

We carried all the bottles in with us (in a box). The 2 "free" bottles were not stamped. This all happened during the checkin process. It was charged to our onboard account. Showed up on our bill toward the end of the cruise. HELPFUL TIP: Be sure to take one of the STAMPED bottles to the table with you. We almost goofed one night!

:confused:Why did they just stamp the 2 "free" bottles if you paid the corkage fee on the others? You should be allowed to bring any and all bottles to the MDR if you paid the corkage fee.

:confused:Why did they just stamp the 2 "free" bottles if you paid the corkage fee on the others? You should be allowed to bring any and all bottles to the MDR if you paid the corkage fee.

Looks like you might have read this wrong. She said that the free bottles were NOT stamped. Here's the way it is supposed to work, (and it sounds like this is exactly what happened):

Per the statement on the luggage tag, passengers are allowed:

• One 750ml bottle of wine or champagne (sic) per adult per voyage, which will not be subject to a corkage fee if consumed in the stateroom.
  
• Additional wine or champagne [sic] bottles are welcome, but will incur a $15 corkage fee per bottle irrespective of where they are intended to be consumed.
  

So it works like this. You designate one bottle per person to bring on for free. These bottles do not get stamped. If you drink them in your cabin, you pay nothing. The remaining bottles get stamped and you are charged the corkage fee. You can drink them anywhere on the ship (where drinking is allowed) and you will pay no additional fee. But if you bring your unstamped bottles to a public venue like the MDR or Explorer's Lounge, then you should be assessed a $15 corkage fee at that time since those bottles have not been assessed any prior fee.

So what DebInTn was saying is, bring your stamped bottles to the public areas in order to avoid any further charges. But if you bring your unstamped bottle outside of your cabin, you will have to pay for it. That is because while you are allowed one bottle per passenger for free, the "free" part ends at your cabin door. Once you take the free, unstamped bottle outside of the cabin, it ceases to be free.

Has anyone heard of the corkage fees being applied at embarkation on any ships other than the Star and the Golden?

Has anyone heard of the corkage fees being applied at embarkation on any ships other than the Star and the Golden?

Sapphire. See post #6 above.

Thanks, JimmyVWine. So it looks like the new policy has been rolled out on t least all of the Alaska ships.

Thanks for clarifying, JVW.

jeanarch: The rules say 750ml. I imagine they will not let you bring on anything larger. They inspected each bottle closely - my guess is that they were making sure each bottle was wine and not scotch, rum, vodka, etc.

This makes we wonder if the waiters are being cut out of the action, i.e., they don't get any cut of the $15 collected by Princess on boarding. That would make them not very happy I am sure. While that is not the passengers problem, it may explain why there would be some confusion in the MDR on the policy.

We much prefer to take our own wine on board and are happy to pay the corking fee vs spending $40+ for a so so bottle on board.

This makes we wonder if the waiters are being cut out of the action, i.e., they don't get any cut of the $15 collected by Princess on boarding. That would make them not very happy I am sure. While that is not the passengers problem, it may explain why there would be some confusion in the MDR on the policy.

While I don't know how Princess has handled the corkage revenue stream in the past, corkage fees are usually viewed by restaurants as recoupment of lost alcohol sales and are retained by the establishment as such and are not treated as gratuities to split among the staff. If this is how Princess handles it, then the new policy would not impact the MDR staff at all. Conversely, if some of the corkage fees used to trickle down to the MDR staff, then the new policy should not change things. Instead of collecting many small fees at the time of dining, a single, large, lump sum would be collected during the boarding process. By the end of the cruise, the amount in the kitty would be the same, irrespective of how it was collected. And indeed, under the new policy, the overall collection will increase as people will not be able to bring on a case of wine and drink it in their cabin for free. (Assuming that the policy is enforced, 10 of those bottles would have been assessed a fee totaling $150.) So if the staff does in fact share in corkage fees, they should be quite happy with the new policy as they would be sharing in fees collected for bottles to be consumed in the cabin whereas before, no such fee was assessed.

Looks like you might have read this wrong. She said that the free bottles were NOT stamped. Here's the way it is supposed to work, (and it sounds like this is exactly what happened):

 

 

Per the statement on the luggage tag, passengers are allowed:

• One 750ml bottle of wine or champagne (sic) per adult per voyage, which will not be subject to a corkage fee if consumed in the stateroom.
  
• Additional wine or champagne [sic] bottles are welcome, but will incur a $15 corkage fee per bottle irrespective of where they are intended to be consumed.
  

So it works like this. You designate one bottle per person to bring on for free. These bottles do not get stamped. If you drink them in your cabin, you pay nothing. The remaining bottles get stamped and you are charged the corkage fee. You can drink them anywhere on the ship (where drinking is allowed) and you will pay no additional fee. But if you bring your unstamped bottles to a public venue like the MDR or Explorer's Lounge, then you should be assessed a $15 corkage fee at that time since those bottles have not been assessed any prior fee.

 

So what DebInTn was saying is, bring your stamped bottles to the public areas in order to avoid any further charges. But if you bring your unstamped bottle outside of your cabin, you will have to pay for it. That is because while you are allowed one bottle per passenger for free, the "free" part ends at your cabin door. Once you take the free, unstamped bottle outside of the cabin, it ceases to be free.

OOOOPS, Sorry my Dyslexia is getting worse with age:D

OOOOPS, Sorry my Dyslexia is getting worse with age:D

;)!ti tuoba yrrow t'noD

anyone know about how the Emerald is handling this?

Boarding soon, and would rather just check through suitcase. Don't want to carry-on. Any thoughts, ideas?

We don't drink Wine. Can I bring a 12 pack of our favorite beer onboard?

We don't drink Wine. Can I bring a 12 pack of our favorite beer onboard?

Your luggage tag will very clearly indicate that bringing beer on board is prohibited. I have no opinion as to whether you would succeed if you tried to circumvent that rule.

scanditaly: Everything I read says that you must bring it on board personally. There were a good number of people having to go to security to claim their bags. I think some of them had booze of some type in their checked bag. It was a pain lugging it around, but it saved us some money and ensured that we had wine that we liked.

It doesn't matter if you check it or take it with you. The only difference is that, if you check it, you will have to go down and claim it, which might be kind of interesting.

We plan to check a case in our "Wine Check" bag and take two bottle in our carry-on so we can enjoy a glass of wine with our friends at sail away.