Corkage fee

[spookwife]

To answer the earlier question regarding wine versus champagne being brought on the ship: they had impounded the bags with a note as to how many bottles the x-ray machine noted were in each suitcase. Upon my opening the bag and removing the bottles, he said no champagne at all, only wine was allowed, so the size bottle (it was a standard size champagne bottle) was irrelevant. I tried to convince him that champagne is only bubbly wine, but he was steadfast in his version of the rule.

 

how very odd... did you escalate this by going to Guest services to argue the point? He must have been a teetotaler to not comprehend that Champagne is a wine region in France....

 

or hell if it DOESN'T come from Champagne, it clearly states( or should at least) that is is sparkling wine and thus meets the definition....

[Gonzo70]

I fly with at least one corkscrew in my carry on all the time and have never been stopped by TSA.:)

 

TSA allows corkscrews in carry on baggage unless they have a blade for cutting foil that exceeds a certain length.

[jakenashleysmom]

Pay $25 to cork my $10 bottle of wine? No thanks!

 

Exactly....if the wine you prefer goes for $10, its best to not bring it to the dining room. Even if the wine you prefer goes for $85, sometimes its not worth it to bring it to dinner. I will be bringing wines that aren't necessarily for dinner, but before or after or for with snacks on the balcony! I think thats your best bet, imho.

[mets550]

Exactly....if the wine you prefer goes for $10, its best to not bring it to the dining room. Even if the wine you prefer goes for $85, sometimes its not worth it to bring it to dinner. I will be bringing wines that aren't necessarily for dinner, but before or after or for with snacks on the balcony! I think thats your best bet, imho.

 

We plan on bringing two bottles of wine for our upcoming Jewel cruise out of Tampa. We don't need any particularly fancy or special bottle of wine but just want to be able to have a glass or two on the balcony before dinner (this keeps me out of the casino while my fiance gets ready :D). I'll probably also take one glass as we are heading out of the cabin for the night (either to dinner, the show, the casino, etc.), so that I don't have to worry about ordering one right away when we get to where we're going. I will, of course, have to order one shortly thereafter.:cool:

[Merion_Mom]

Pay $25 to cork my $10 bottle of wine? No thanks!

 

Then don't take it to the dining room. Drink it in your cabin.

[narrow56]

Exactly....if the wine you prefer goes for $10, its best to not bring it to the dining room. Even if the wine you prefer goes for $85, sometimes its not worth it to bring it to dinner. I will be bringing wines that aren't necessarily for dinner, but before or after or for with snacks on the balcony! I think thats your best bet, imho.

 

On Carnival we brought 2 bottles of champagne to have in our room. We then bought a bottle in the specialty restaurant onboard. I obviously can't speak for everyone, but I think it's a waste of money to bring your own bottle to the dining room. By the time you add together the price of the bottle and the corkage fee, it'd be cheaper to just buy from their list!

[mets550]

On Carnival we brought 2 bottles of champagne to have in our room. We then bought a bottle in the specialty restaurant onboard. I obviously can't speak for everyone, but I think it's a waste of money to bring your own bottle to the dining room. By the time you add together the price of the bottle and the corkage fee, it'd be cheaper to just buy from their list!

 

I think some people want the option of having a bottle that is not available on the ship's wine list or a bottle the cost of which plus the corkage fee is still less than on the wine list (can't imagine there would be a substantial saving this way though). We, however, just enjoy having wine available in the cabin or to take in a glass when going out. Also, even a moderately-priced bottle of wine in a liquor store will be much less expensive (especially per glass) than on the ship. I see no down side to taking the bottles onboard, as long as you are going to drink them.

[Gonzo70]

By the time you add together the price of the bottle and the corkage fee, it'd be cheaper to just buy from their list!

 

Generally when people bring wine to an establishment that sells wine it is not to save money, but it is because they enjoy a particular wine that the establishment does not carry - or they have a special bottle of wine that they wish to consume that night. Most high end restaurant allow people to BYO for this reason -in some the corkage fee can be quite high (such as $90 at Per Se).

[jennmaybe]

We were on Freedom last week and took 2 bottles on with us. One was wine, the other was champagne. We had no problems going through security with them. We had them in our wine case and they never even opened it to look. I was even able to take a pack of bottled water. She shook it to make sure it didn't fizz, then handed it back and told us to have a great cruise.

 

Our wine case has a small corkscrew along with 2 stoppers, so we had everything we needed in our cabin for sail away except for the glasses. We didn't see our room steward for at least 3 hrs after we first went to our cabin and it was about 6pm before he brought the glasses to us. No biggie, we had them every day for the rest of the week though.

[seaver]

Any recent updates? Please only reply if you were charged or not in the dinning room.

[goanywhere77]

For those for whom money is no object $25 for someone to open a bottle of wine is nothing. For others, all the extra charges not covered in the ticket can add up to quite a bit. I think that minimising those extras within the rules is quite legitimate. I pay my taxes but do all I can to legitimately minimise them. That's smart, not stingy.

 

I'll be packing a corkscrew. :D

[Gonzo70]

For those for whom money is no object $25 for someone to open a bottle of wine is nothing. For others, all the extra charges not covered in the ticket can add up to quite a bit. I think that minimising those extras within the rules is quite legitimate. I pay my taxes but do all I can to legitimately minimise them. That's smart, not stingy.

 

I'll be packing a corkscrew. :D

 

The fee had NOTHING to do with someone opening your wine. Read the thread.

[seaver]

The fee had NOTHING to do with someone opening your wine. Read the thread.

 

And I did ask that you only reply if you were or were not charged. Read the thread.

[setsail]

Was not......Pour it and walk it;)

[Trekker954]

Read the thread.

 

You poor thing, you must be frustrated. Of the 34 posts, I believe only one person answered your question? You were quite clear.

[publicpersona]

[/b]

 

We always pack a smaller corkscrew that we use for traveling in our checked luggage. No need to put it in your carry on bag.

If there is a specific wine that you want to take, this tip might not be for you. But to avoid even thinking about where to find a corkscrew, I just select a wine from my cellar with a screw-top closure. There are plenty of good wines now that have moved to a screw-top closure, given that cork is the most ill-suited material you can think of for wine.

[reney313]

I fly with at least one corkscrew in my carry on all the time and have never been stopped by TSA.:)

 

I have a cork screw in each piece of my luggage that always stays there. Most of the time my luggage is checked, but I have carried my smaller one on a time or two.

 

On our last cruise we carried on 2 bottles of wine. I had left my corkscrew out the last night and forgot to pack it in my suit case. I placed it in my backpack the next morning. When going through security at the airport they did check my bag because of the corkscrew (which I completely forgot about, but honestly wouldn't have thought second anyway). I ended up having to let them confiscate it because it had that little "knife" on it to cut the wine wrapper. He said if it did not have that, then it would be OK.

 

Just thought I'd mention for those of you flying with corkscrews. Now I have reminded myself to replace it in that suit case...don't want to be stuck on a business trip in a hotel without it! LOL

 

Edit: Sorry, saw later that someone else mentioned the same regarding TSA rules. AND a BIG sorry to the OP. I have not been charged a corkage fee, but I also did not take a bottle into the dining room. Hopefully someone will respond that took a bottle physically into the dining room whether or not they were charged.

[StangGT909]

I got a bottle with the romance package on my cruise. (Delivered to room)

 

This was two years ago, before the change.

 

This was a "legal" bottle as it was bought from RC, and we took it to an upper deck to watch the view (poured a little), then to a table in one of the bars (poured another glass).

 

Point - if you drink it anywhere on board, (bar, restaurant, etc.) without a photographic memory of all bottles for sale on board the ship, how would they know the difference between a bottle purchases on the ship vs. a bottle you brought on board?

[seaver]

You poor thing, you must be frustrated. Of the 34 posts, I believe only one person answered your question? You were quite clear.

 

Thanks for understanding that,I love CC most of the time,but sometimes I just want the answer to my question!LOL oh well.

[Gonzo70]

And I did ask that you only reply if you were or were not charged. Read the thread.

 

I was not responding to your post - I was clearing up a common misconception some people have about what a corkage fee entails. :rolleyes:

[tnjnmt]

Can I ask . . . We will have a bottle of wine delivered to our room by Royal Caribbean. If we take this bottle to the dinning room will we be charged a $25 fee? Thanks for the info

[didicruiser]

Can I ask . . . We will have a bottle of wine delivered to our room by Royal Caribbean. If we take this bottle to the dinning room will we be charged a $25 fee? Thanks for the info

 

No. Any wine purchased through Royal will not be charged a corkage fee.

[caviargal]

Royal Caribbean currently allows you to bring aboard 2 bottles of wine, per person, on board with luggage at start of cruise.

 

The policy actually states two bottles per stateroom.

 

We are also fine with paying a corkage when bringing a nice bottle into one of the restaurants.

[seaver]

Now I can reply to my own question....We were not charged a corkage fee on our new years cruise on Explorer of the seas. We were two couples and had 4 bottles of good wine,I will say we tipped well the first night and had wine the next 4 nights without any issues at all.

[drarill]

Just back from the Adventure of the Seas, we cruised with many friends which meant many bottles of wine. We had MTD and were not charged a corkage fee for the bottles we brought onboard. We also bought a couple of extra bottles of champagne and wine. Had the same waiter all week long and although we had pre-paid gratuities, he received a generous extra tip at the end of the week :D:D