Can you bring wine onboard

[mickev99]

Thinking about sailing the Coral Princess to Panama Canal this December. Can you bring wine on board? Is there a limit or fee?

 

Any other tips you have would be great. Would be my parents in their 70-80's, and my family, brothers and sisters and families. Kids would be 11, 11, 12, 13, and 17.

 

Haven't sailed Princess, just Norwegian and Royal Caribbean, and have been happy with them. Basically, I'm pretty happy traveling, and if someone else is cooking my meals and serving them to me, there's not a whole lot I can find bad in the situation!

 

Thanks!

[skynight]

Thinking about sailing the Coral Princess to Panama Canal this December. Can you bring wine on board? Is there a limit or fee?

 

Any other tips you have would be great. Would be my parents in their 70-80's, and my family, brothers and sisters and families. Kids would be 11, 11, 12, 13, and 17.

 

Haven't sailed Princess, just Norwegian and Royal Caribbean, and have been happy with them. Basically, I'm pretty happy traveling, and if someone else is cooking my meals and serving them to me, there's not a whole lot I can find bad in the situation!

 

Thanks!

"Passengers agree not to bring alcoholic beverages of any kind on board for consumption except one bottle of wine or champagne per person of drinking age (no larger than 750 ml) per voyage only in his/her carry-on luggage. A corkage fee of $15.00 U.S.D. per bottle (which is subject to change without notice) will be applied to wine and champagne brought aboard by You and consumed in the ship’s public areas. Any wine(s) or champagne(s) supplied by the Carrier to You as a gift are not subject to a corkage fee. At embarkation, all luggage will be scanned for suspected alcohol in excess of the one bottle policy as provided herein. Your luggage will undergo a secondary inspection by a security team operating under CCTV (closed circuit surveillance) or in the event Your luggage is locked, You will be notified and are required to attend the secondary inspection where any alcohol found in violation of the one bottle policy will be removed and discarded. "

[IECalCruiser]

sknight quoted from the Passage Contract. Although not stated in the Passage Contract, if you bring more than one bottle of wine per person of drinking age you will be charged a $15/bottle corkage fee for additional bottles whether they are consumed in you cabin or elsewhere. The additional bottles will have a sticker or stamp affixed to the bottle and you can consume that wine in the buffet or dining rooms without any additional fee.

Edited August 9, 2015 by IECalCruiser

[emmak8]

One bottle of wine per passenger upon embarkation. As said before, more than that will require a $15 corkage fee. Bringing more wine on board from individual ports also a no-no and requires the corkage fee.

[JimmyVWine]

One bottle of wine per passenger upon embarkation. As said before, more than that will require a $15 corkage fee.

 

I think it is easier to understand the policy if this is stated in reverse.

 

You can bring on as many bottles as you want. There is no limit. The first bottle per person is free of charge. All additional bottles are assessed a $15 corkage fee upon boarding. The "free" bottle is also assessed the corkage fee if brought to a public dining area.

 

I think the reason why it is more clear this way is because many other cruise lines allow one bottle and one bottle only. There simply is no option to bring on more bottles. When Princess' policy is stated as "One bottle per person", there is a tendency for people to stop there and not appreciate the critical difference that Princess offers.

[Astro Flyer]

I think it is easier to understand the policy if this is stated in reverse.

 

You can bring on as many bottles as you want. There is no limit. The first bottle per person is free of charge. All additional bottles are assessed a $15 corkage fee upon boarding. The "free" bottle is also assessed the corkage fee if brought to a public dining area.

 

I think the reason why it is more clear this way is because many other cruise lines allow one bottle and one bottle only. There simply is no option to bring on more bottles. When Princess' policy is stated as "One bottle per person", there is a tendency for people to stop there and not appreciate the critical difference that Princess offers.

That's a great easy to understand explanation & also the corkage fee on other cruise lines is as much as $25 unlike the Princess $15 fee.

Edited August 10, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[IECalCruiser]

I think it is easier to understand the policy if this is stated in reverse.

 

 

 

You can bring on as many bottles as you want. There is no limit. The first bottle per person is free of charge. All additional bottles are assessed a $15 corkage fee upon boarding. The "free" bottle is also assessed the corkage fee if brought to a public dining area.

 

 

 

I think the reason why it is more clear this way is because many other cruise lines allow one bottle and one bottle only. There simply is no option to bring on more bottles. When Princess' policy is stated as "One bottle per person", there is a tendency for people to stop there and not appreciate the critical difference that Princess offers.

A much better explanation than mine. Thanks!

[ccruisequeen]

Kind of off topic, but How much water can be brought onboard? I got the sodas and more card, thinking it would include water. Now I see juice and hot chocolate are included, but water isn't.

 

I still cruise for Warm Chocolate Melting Cake (with 2 sugar-free vanilla ice-creams)

Edited August 10, 2015 by ccruisequeen

[mickev99]

Thanks so much for the answer. Royal Caribbean lets you bring 2 bottles per room at no charge, and we always get two rooms because we have 3 kids, so we could bring 4 bottles.

 

Would also like to know about the water. We were able to bring water onboard RC as well (the policy states not to, but I've brought a case on in a suitcase with no problem both times we've cruised with them). It's easier to have bottles in the room because we are a family that drinks tons of water.

[wowzz]

Thanks so much for the answer. Royal Caribbean lets you bring 2 bottles per room at no charge, and we always get two rooms because we have 3 kids, so we could bring 4 bottles.

 

Would also like to know about the water. We were able to bring water onboard RC as well (the policy states not to, but I've brought a case on in a suitcase with no problem both times we've cruised with them). It's easier to have bottles in the room because we are a family that drinks tons of water.

 

Why not drink the water from the tap?

[scott4020]

You can bring on water and soda if you want.

[skynight]

Kind of off topic, but How much water can be brought onboard? I got the sodas and more card, thinking it would include water. Now I see juice and hot chocolate are included, but water isn't.

 

No limits on soda, water, juices.

[Cruise Junky]

Has anyone had an issue bringing on wine from a port in the Med? we're doing a couple of wine tasting tours next year. Thanks. I thought their policy used to state that you can't bring it on from a port, only embarkation.

[JimmyVWine]

Has anyone had an issue bringing on wine from a port in the Med? we're doing a couple of wine tasting tours next year. Thanks. I thought their policy used to state that you can't bring it on from a port, only embarkation.

I can't speak to the Med, but in April while in St. Maarten, we bought a bottle of Rosé and decided to try to take one for the team and see if we could get it on board (solely as a benefit to all of our Cruise Critic friends, you see ;)). The bottle was in the brown paper bag it came in from the wine shop, and we did nothing to try to conceal it. If it made it, fine. If not, it was $14 spent in the name of science. We had no problem whatsoever. The crew members at the gangway didn't seem the least bit concerned. Of course, past performance is no guarantee of future returns, and all that....

[Colo Cruiser]

Kind of off topic, but How much water can be brought onboard? I got the sodas and more card, thinking it would include water. Now I see juice and hot chocolate are included, but water isn't.

 

As much as you want.

[Cruise Raider]

I think it is easier to understand the policy if this is stated in reverse.

 

You can bring on as many bottles as you want. There is no limit. The first bottle per person is free of charge. All additional bottles are assessed a $15 corkage fee upon boarding. The "free" bottle is also assessed the corkage fee if brought to a public dining area.

 

I think the reason why it is more clear this way is because many other cruise lines allow one bottle and one bottle only. There simply is no option to bring on more bottles. When Princess' policy is stated as "One bottle per person", there is a tendency for people to stop there and not appreciate the critical difference that Princess offers.

 

You should have been the one to write the policy. No ambiguity in the above. thanks! :)

[Astro Flyer]

Has anyone had an issue bringing on wine from a port in the Med? we're doing a couple of wine tasting tours next year. Thanks. I thought their policy used to state that you can't bring it on from a port, only embarkation.

 

We've brought wine onboard from most Med ports & never had any problems.

 

We've never attempted to conceal our wine & have not been charged a corkage fee when bringing it on from any port. Although most of our wine is consumed in a dining room where we pay the corkage fee. As I recall in Barcelona after going through the port's security there is a wine store in the cruise terminal and no further checking by Princess. I think that they realize their wine list is limited and when going to great wine producing regions they know that passengers want to enjoy that wine.

 

Since the policy was further defined, I have read posts from those on Facebook who've asked about bringing wine onboard from ports of call. They've posted that Princess said that's allowed & subject to the corkage fee or if wanting to bring home wine they will hold it until the end of the cruise without any fee being charged.

 

Like other procedures, how it is enforced can vary based on individual crew members. The only comment a crew member has made when bringing wine on from any port has been "nice bottle of wine".

Edited August 10, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[Astro Flyer]

You should have been the one to write the policy. No ambiguity in the above. thanks! :)

I've bookmarked his post to quote it on future discussions about the Princess wine policy.

[Mrs.Gosse]

We usually bring a 24 pack of water but we are going to start bringing a 12 and just refilling it. We always go through the 24 and end up refilling them anyway so now we will just carry less weight. The water from the tap is perfectly fine and there's no reason for people to be rude about asking you why you just don't drink the tap water. Some people just don't want to. I have no problem with it but I do always start with the bottled water.

[Mrs.Gosse]

Just an opinion about the wine policy. We usually bring one bottle of champagne for mimosas in our room and one bottle of wine to be drank in our room. We got really lucky last time and I think they were trying to clear out their celler before the Emerald started her transatlantic voyage and they were selling whole bottles of Cote du Rhone for $15. We ended up buying two of them and drinking them over four nights and just let the dining rooms hold on to them for us. That ended up being a better deal than paying the corkage fee. Even if I don't get bottles on sales on the coral in January I may consider doing this. I don't find the price per bottle terribly unreasonable compared to buying a bottle on adding the $15 corkage fee. Plus i didnt have to carry it around.

[skedaddle43]

Wowzz, many people are on salt restricted diets and the ship's water is VERY high in sodium.

Edited August 10, 2015 by skedaddle43

[Steelers36]

IDK who this would be requested of - other than Admins - or the criteria decided, but seriously, this topic results in new thread at least weekly with same Q&A. Seems to me that a Sticky up top on bringing beverages aboard would make a big difference and be a big help.

 

The Admins started a sticky last week on Voice of the Ocean and scrapped it two days later as no one seemed to use it. Perhaps a beverage one would be more successful.

[Steelers36]

Wowzz, many people are on salt restricted diets and the ship's water is VERY high in sodium.

 

Not saying you are wrong, but where did you read/here that? I have not tasted it as salty and it's purified water. I'm curious to know this and how much difference is there. Isn't the Coca Cola water Aquafine got added salt (I don't buy that one)?

[skedaddle43]

Ask anyone with water retention problems the difference between drinking ships water and good bottled water. Yes, the ships water is purified and doesn't taste salty, however there is no way all the sodium can be removed. Suffering with water retention, or if you have heart problems or Meiniere' disease, is no fun. I have the latter and with too much sodium, I'm walking like the ship is in 20 foot seas when it is dead calm. I'll drag along my bottled water, thank you!:D

[IECalCruiser]

Ask anyone with water retention problems the difference between drinking ships water and good bottled water. Yes, the ships water is purified and doesn't taste salty, however there is no way all the sodium can be removed. Suffering with water retention, or if you have heart problems or Meiniere' disease, is no fun. I have the latter and with too much sodium, I'm walking like the ship is in 20 foot seas when it is dead calm. I'll drag along my bottled water, thank you!:D

Whether produced by reverse osmosis or flash evaporation, all of the salt is removed. I believe on the ship they add back some minerals to improve the taste.