Princess Wine Policy

[linanles]

Just booked our first cruise with Princess. The Alcohol Policy in the FAQ on the Australian Princess Website says you can take 1 bottle of wine per passenger. Any in excess of this will be charged $15 corkage. Does this apply in Australia or just the US?

[Russell21]

It applies in Australia. The one you are allowed to take on board must be consumed in your cabin.

[linanles]

It applies in Australia. The one you are allowed to take on board must be consumed in your cabin.

 

Thanks Russell. That won't be hard.

[linanles]

What about spirits for consumption in your cabin. The Australian Princess website is so confusing. If you look at drinks options it shows prices for half bottles of spirits but when you go to Cruise Personalizer the only drinks for purchase by the bottle are a few over priced wines no spirits. The Robert Oatley Cab Sav and the Brown Bros Shiraz would be cheaper if you bought them in Dan Murphy's and paid the extra $15 corkage.

[Wastegirl]

You can't order the spirits on line at the moment and up until recently the other things on the Personaliser to order on line were not available either, they are a recent addition. Previously you had to call their 1800 number to order over the phone and you still have to do this to order spirits. I am waiting until closer to my cruise to see if spirits get added to the on line ordering system.

 

I haven't been on Princess before but if Princess is like HAL and Celebrity their wines will be overpriced and of mediocre to downright dreadful quality. Therefore my husband will take on the 1 we are allowed each for in room consumption and then we will take on an extra 7 or 8 wines that we like and pay the $15 corkage each, then we can drink them anywhere on the ship. We worked out that we can get a very good quality wine for $20-$30 a bottle, pay $15 corkage and be way ahead of the prices on board (except for the cheap and nasty stuff).

 

HAL has a similar system (except their corkage was $18) and this worked really well for us on our 3 cruises with them. From what I understand with Princess you declare you wine as you are boarding and they stamp the ones that attract the corkage and charge you room. Easy Peasy.

Edited June 30, 2015 by Wastegirl

[linanles]

When we went on HAL a couple of years ago there was no limit or corkage on wine. We left Sydney and stopped next in Melbourne. Went to First Choice in Port Melbourne and loaded up with wine and had no problem bringing it back onboard.

JW Red Label was $34/1L bottle either prepaid or from room service back then. How things have changed.

[Wastegirl]

There was a bit of contriversy with their wine policy a couple of years ago. Our first cruise was like yours, you just paid the corkage if you took your wine to one of their venues. Then nearing our 2nd cruise they scrapped it altogether, only 2 bottles allowed. There was such a hue and cry, huge backlash from their regular cruisers that they backtracked and went to a system similar to Princess (though everyone suspects that's what they wanted in the first place).

 

However a year ago when I sailed on them their in room spirit prices were still excellent for a litre bottle, much cheaper than what you could buy yourself and smuggle on board :D. Princess' lil' 375 ml bottles at around $20-25 each don't cut the mustard in my book. Doesn't bode well for their duty free once on board.

[OzKiwiJJ]

I haven't been on Princess before but if Princess is like HAL and Celebrity their wines will be overpriced and of mediocre to downright dreadful quality.

 

No, they weren't. When we cruised on Sun at Christmas there was an excellent selection of good wines by the bottle, and a reasonable selection by the glass. Prices were cheaper than at most Australian restaurants for similar quality wines. There were a few wines under $30, a good number under $40, an equally good number under $50, and some very interesting selections from $50 upwards.

 

On Christmas Day we treated ourselves to a delicious premier cru Chablis at $66. I've never seen a premier cru Chablis in an Australian restaurant at that price, usually they are far more expensive. In comparison we noticed that the price of the premier cru Chablis on Royal Caribbean was US $77, close to AU $100.

 

We enjoyed good quality wines from all over the world at very reasonable prices and were unexpectedly impressed by the range and quality. Hopefully it will still be the same on our upcoming Dawn cruise.

 

On the other hand we were shocked by the prices of wines on Royal Caribbean. The bottom of the range wines by the glass, were the same prices but in US dollars as Princess' premium wines in AU dollars, $6-9, and RCI premium wines were US $10-14 per glass. We had drinks packages so stuck to wines by the glass. There wasn't a good range and I found very few premium wines that I liked. Luckily there was one reasonable NZ Pinot Noir that I enjoyed, and a decent Italian Pinot Grigio. I'm not expecting any better on Celebrity next Christmas.