corkage?

[caesar68]

What exactly is the corkage fee? If I bring my wine that I "legally" brought on to the ship---ready to drink--cork out, required glass in hand--into the dining room, they are still charging me.....for what?

[joutlaw]

What exactly is the corkage fee? If I bring my wine that I "legally" brought on to the ship---ready to drink--cork out, required glass in hand--into the dining room, they are still charging me.....for what?

 

FWIW, I just got back from a week on the Triumph and brought two bottles of wine on board. Each bottle last two nights and I wasn't charged a fee for either one. It may be up to your waiter I suppose.

[lillian marie]

The corkage fee is a fee CCL charges you to drink your wine in their dining room. The idea is it's the cost to open (remove the cork from the bottle-corkage) and pour the wine at the dinner by their waiters. My tablemates on one cruise were charged the corkage fee at dinner and the previous poster said they were not. It may be up to the waiter or their waiter simply forgot to charge them. The idea is that if you bring wine they won't sell you a bottle so the corkage fee gives them at least some profit. We drink a glass of wine in the room before we go to dinner.

[big_duck]

Corkage is a standard hospitality industry charge for the privilege of bringing your own wine to their establishment. The term has nothing to do with the cork in the bottle.

 

The linked article pretty much explains it all.

 

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/corkage-for-dummies

[magoo221]

If you bring your own wine there is a 50 50 chance of being charged corkage, $10 in the MDR and $14 in the supper club. If you buy the wine on board, or thru Bon Voyage, they will not charge you, just let them know you bought it from carnival. I bring my own wine because I enjoy good wine and wine on the ship will be mixed like a milkshake for months and months, also you can't buy anything vintage.

[FoolishMe]

My last cruise we brought 3 bottles of wine with us. We bought 2 bottles in the dining room as well. We were charged $10 corkage for the first bottle, but nothing after that... Very unpredictable - but well worth it.

[fig414]

We've eaten in The Supper Club 3 times and have been charged the 14 bucks each time. I think it's a great thing Carnival lets us do this. I'm not sure what other lines do, but we hope they never change this policy.

[5waldos]

We were charged in the supper club but not int the MDR, although our waiter told us at the beginning of the week that he would. Bt the option of having good wine that has been treated reasonably well is worth it.

[caesar68]

thanks all....

[Cotton]

..........The idea is it's the cost to open (remove the cork from the bottle-corkage) and pour the wine at the dinner by their waiters. .

 

Not at all. It doesn't matter if your bottle is opened by you or not. They are allowing you to bring your bottle into the dining room...same as many restaurants do on land. Most require a corkage 'fee'.

This is one of the things that Carnival is not very strict about. Always seems to be at the discretion of your waiter. I've been charged only once in all the times I've taken a bottle of wine to the dining room.

It's nice that they will keep the remainder of your bottle and have it at your table the next evening....white in a wine bucket; red on the table.

Cheers!:)

[rangerdog]

Has anyone taken the boxed wine on the cruise? Pros/cons? I know Carnival allows 750ml per person.

[GAonmymind]

Just to add to the abundance information here.....

 

Bring abroad your own two bottles of wine, cork remover and wine glasses and enjoy it free from your cabin all seven days without ever being charged any extra money or corkage fees.

 

Of course, the pleasure of drinking at your table and meal is where the extra cost arises.

 

Each their own taste and style.

[rangerdog]

Just to add to the abundance information here.....

 

Bring abroad your own two bottles of wine, cork remover and wine glasses and enjoy it free from your cabin all seven days without ever being charged any extra money or corkage fees.

 

Of course, the pleasure of drinking at your table and meal is where the extra cost arises.

 

Each their own taste and style.

 

That's exactly what we did on our last cruise. We brought our own wine, own cork but we asked the room steward for wine glasses and he brought us some. We just enjoyed our wine in our room or in the atrium, listening to music before dinner.

[caesar68]

Has anyone taken the boxed wine on the cruise? Pros/cons? I know Carnival allows 750ml per person.

 

Haven't done it but to me ...

the pros---easy to pack if you need to take a flight

the cons....difficult to chill and would NEVER take it anywhere outside of your room in the its box.

[tandemcruzr]

Bandit wines are not exactly a box, but not glass. They are easy to chill, easy to pack and quite good. Just right for sitting on your balcony or getting ready for dinner. Wouldn't take it to the DR.

 

http://www1.threethieves.com/

[5waldos]

Bandit wines are not exactly a box, but not glass. They are easy to chill, easy to pack and quite good. Just right for sitting on your balcony or getting ready for dinner. Wouldn't take it to the DR.

 

http://www1.threethieves.com/

 

What are bandit wines?

 

Oh also- your room steward will provide you with a cork screw if there isn't one already in the room. And glasses. As long as you don't bring it to the table there is not even a potential fee.

[onthehighseas606]

What exactly is the corkage fee? If I bring my wine that I "legally" brought on to the ship---ready to drink--cork out, required glass in hand--into the dining room, they are still charging me.....for what?

 

For the privilege of bringing it to the dining room instead if directly purchasing from Carnival. We took a bottle of wine for our anniversary to the Steakhouse and was charged $14.00 to uncork it (no anniversary gifts from Carnival). :rolleyes: First time we have taken a bottle for the waiter to uncork and the last time. Now, if we want wine, we uncork it in our room, pour a glass and off to the dining room.

[onthehighseas606]

Of course, the pleasure of drinking at your table and meal is where the extra cost arises.

 

If you take a glass of wine to the MDR, you are not charged any fee. They have no idea whether you brought your own bottle or bought it from the bar.

[M.K.Weeks]

We drank ours on our balcony and had no charges.

[mickwallion]

I challenged just about everything when planning our wedding last year, corkage was quoted as £15 per bottle and i negotiated it down to £5 per bottle - i was happy to pay this as i totally understood that every bottle we provided was a bottle not sold over the bar, and also we had exclusive use of our venue so there was no other trade on that day. Nevertheless i still negotiated hard and saved a considerable amount.

[happy cruzer]

Carnival has a very nice wine policy that accomodates wine fans. We love to bring our favorite wines onboard to have served at dinner. No problem with a corkage fee that is standard for all restaurants. In fact a ten dollar fee is low in our experience.

 

I always add a note to my cruise comment card about how much we appreciate the wine policy.

[Max Circus]

When we have brought wine (typically on the longer cruises), we have usually had a glass in the room, then took the remainder of the bottle to the dining room. Weren't charged corkage. I think that is because they don't know whether you bought the wine onboard.

 

One time we brought an unopened bottle to the speciality restaurant and we were charged the corkage - which wasn't an issue. But it was somewhat strange. We certainly aren't wine "snobs", but the bottle we had brought was not Riunite or Boones Farm. ;) It was a very nice bottle we had ordered while in Napa when we got engaged. To our surprise, this "wine expert" had never heard of the winery or the wine. And looked at the bottle as if we were about to drink poison. :D