Princess’ new (?) alcohol policy

[floridalover5623]

Have always found the "alcohol table" at FLL to be a casual affair. Not any policing with passengers pouring through security screening. If they "see" a bottle or two they say go to the Princess table. But how many just bypass the table and continue to check-in?

 

Our last cruise we each had a backpack - one with one bottle of wine and the other with three bottles. Security asked to check my wife's and told her to take her one bottle to the alcohol table. Of course they just said you're OK. However, the backpack with the three bottles passed through without question!

 

Just another adventure of cruising.

That's why it always makes sense to split your alcohol into different packages just in case the security people aren't to busy & watch you walk over to the check in table.

They'll see you checking your bottle & walk away. ;)

[CRUZBUDS]

Maybe I'm reading this wrong (I'm referring to the highlighted red portion) but it sounds like if I purchased a bottle of , say, Scotch in Honolulu it would be destroyed , NOT kept for me until the end of the cruise.

If that's the case it is a BIG change in policy!

The old policy is in purple.

 

We were on the previous cruise on the Golden and we also noticed the change in the policy --- of course like always it will be hit and miss in implementation.

 

It would seem aimed at duty free type ports,. If the alcohol is not "regional" it will be destroyed,. not held as is customary and posted in the Princess policy on-line. That is what was in the Patter -- maybe they are just floating the idea, or maybe it will be aimed at the Australian market. Beats me -- but the OP was correct and of course, this is a change.

[Colo Cruiser]

Every ship handles the policy different and every cruise the ships handle the policy different.

Crew changes, supervisors change. You just never know.

Simple answer don't try and bring on alcohol and be prepared to pay corkage on wine etc.

[antsp]

I think Sam Pedro runs things to the rules, Port Everglades not so much. Europe definitely don’t care.

[chamima]

Every ship handles the policy different and every cruise the ships handle the policy different.

Crew changes, supervisors change. You just never know.

Simple answer don't try and bring on alcohol and be prepared to pay corkage on wine etc.

 

 

In the past we've found really good prices on Scotch (especially older Scotch) in St. Maarten.

We buy a couple bottles to take home , NOT to drink on the ship.

I don't care if they take it away to give it to us at the end of the cruise but I DO care if it would be destroyed. I'm talking about bottles that are well over $100 each.

 

That was my concern with the new policy. Scotch is not a regional liquor to St. Maarten.

[Ombud]

I have a question Re: solo cruisers:

 

We pay dbl per cabin. Are we permitted to bring 2nd bottles? I've got 5 favorite minis picked up at World Market for a total of 935ml instead of 750ml. How rigid are they?

 

Boarding in SINGAPORE

[Colo Cruiser]

I have a question Re: solo cruisers:

 

We pay dbl per cabin. Are we permitted to bring 2nd bottles? I've got 5 favorite minis picked up at World Market for a total of 935ml instead of 750ml. How rigid are they?

 

Boarding in SINGAPORE

 

 

Does not matter what you pay, solo or not its per person.

1 person the same normal limit.

The allowance does not double.

[Hlitner]

On Regal last month I asked the security guys about it and they said

oh just one bottle is OK.,and they said just take it through onboard

they didn't even specify about the type of booze. I had a bottle of brandy.which I was quite happy for them to look after if they wanted to.

 

now that was those guys on that ship and that cruise, but I take it as guidance of the practical application of the rule.

 

YMMV

 

We were on the Regal about 10 days ago and bought a bottle of wine while we were driving around Nova Scotia. When we returned to the ship I passed our day bag, with the bottle of wine, through the security X-Ray with no problem. If they had asked us to pay a corkage fee we would have told them to hold the bottle and deliver it to our cabin the last evening. It does seem like there is some selective enforcement of the rules...by the security folks.

 

Hank

[Mademypoint]

If you get off and back on the ship really early they aren't set up to take it. I was prepared to give it over but after security nobody was around so I took it back to the cabin. I did not drink any of it while on the ship (already had the package) but since I got off the ship solely to go get Guava berry and it was hot out I opted to go early and get back on.

[Cruiser411]

I wonder if they priced the drinks at a more reasonable level and brought back the two happy hours BOGO for $1, allowed the bringing aboard a bottle of wine each at every port without corkage fee that the ship would still make money and there wouldn't be the issue with a policy. Just thinkin'.

 

 

First off, Princess has priced their drinks much more reasonably than other lines. And don't you think they would have the data, that if it showed that they made more money with the BOGO, they'd still have it? If it was making more money than not having it, why would they get rid of it?

[Ombud]

If you get off and back on the ship really early they aren't set up to take it. I was prepared to give it over but after security nobody was around so I took it back to the cabin. I did not drink any of it while on the ship (already had the package) but since I got off the ship solely to go get Guava berry and it was hot out I opted to go early and get back on.

I have priority boarding so on early. I planned on going about for a few hours in Chile (Star). Makes me wonder :rolleyes:

 

Yeah, I'll be out of coffee cards by then and will trade mini bar for that (2 ventis each day here + cocoa so that's cost effective). But would like to take 5 minis & 1 bottle China wine onboard. Cheaper than by the glass. 16 day cruise, will still buy a few glasses

Edited September 30, 2018 by Ombud

[Griller]

First off, Princess has priced their drinks much more reasonably than other lines. And don't you think they would have the data, that if it showed that they made more money with the BOGO, they'd still have it? If it was making more money than not having it, why would they get rid of it?

 

Who knows why Princess make the decisions they do?

 

Like cutting Island Princess about?

 

Like having Magic Pipes which incurred a $45 million fine?

 

Could you please tell us which other lines charge more for drinks than Princess?

The other lines I go on either charge less or are all inclusive so I just do not know.

[jwattle]

Who knows why Princess make the decisions they do?

 

Like cutting Island Princess about?

 

Like having Magic Pipes which incurred a $45 million fine?

 

Could you please tell us which other lines charge more for drinks than Princess?

The other lines I go on either charge less or are all inclusive so I just do not know.

Celebrity charges far more...:eek:

[pablo222]

Who knows why Princess make the decisions they do?

 

Like cutting Island Princess about?

 

Like having Magic Pipes which incurred a $45 million fine?

 

I thought the island princess changes were to prepare for a change

in venice allowing big ships, which was subsequently dropped.

[Daniel A]

Last March, I brought 3 bottles of rum onboard Crown Princess at Amber Cove. Ship security requested that I check in those three bottles at the 'alcohol table.' I got them back the afternoon before the end of the cruise. Same thing on Caribbean Princess in Aruba when I bought two large bottles of Johnny Walker Scotch. Each time I offered to man the alcohol surrender table for them so they could go off and do something else but they declined my offer.

[islandwoman]

At LA embarkation, security was looking for any liquids in baggage. They went through my opened, partial 12 pack of Diet Coke cans one by one, possibly looking for beer hidden in there. They were making some passengers pour out their liquids. I had a large bottle of laundry detergent. They did not care about that. In both the Honolulu and Kauai ports of call, there was an alcohol surrender table. The one in Honolulu was around the corner from security. It didn't have any business. The one in Kauai was right next to security. That one had several bottles of wine on it. They were labeled, presumably with passenger names and cabin numbers. They were not "regional" wines. The problem with allowing the ship to hold wine for you until the end of the cruise is that it might be cooked by the time you get it back.

[memoak]

It is always a hit or miss situation - we have often brought wines on from ports in a bag - right through the detector and nothing. One time in Honolulu we had a wooden letter opener confiscated and returned on disembarkation - go figure

[Hlitner]

First off, Princess has priced their drinks much more reasonably than other lines. And don't you think they would have the data, that if it showed that they made more money with the BOGO, they'd still have it? If it was making more money than not having it, why would they get rid of it?

 

We have reason to believe that BOGO was eliminated (on most cruises) because Princess now promotes their drink package.

 

Hank

[gwhitti]

We bring all our wine & alcohol with us each cruise & in the past still used to buy a couple of drinks with the BOGO for $1, but no longer.

They've priced themselves out of range as far as we're concerned although many people still believe the drinks to be a bargain compared to drinks at any land based bar.

I guess we just don't get out that much. ;)

 

That is certainly not the case where we live in FL. Land based bars here have happy hour/bogo mostly every night. Drinking here is nowhere near as expensive as on a Princess ship. Locals loves the happy hours as a time to get together with friends. Too bad Princess did away with this fun hour.

[floridalover5623]

That is certainly not the case where we live in FL. Land based bars here have happy hour/bogo mostly every night. Drinking here is nowhere near as expensive as on a Princess ship. Locals loves the happy hours as a time to get together with friends. Too bad Princess did away with this fun hour.

It's not really the case where we live either. The local bars would go out of business if they did away with "happy hour" ;)

[Grego]

I've said for years that Princess is tripping over the $ bills to pick up the pennies. They are losing lots of revenue by forcing passengers to smuggle aboard beverages that they would have paid for on the ship if there was a better policy.

 

Princess screwed up the Suiteholder/Elite lounge by upping the prices of happy hour cocktails then removed the favorites from the special pricing list.

 

They did away with the BOGO for a dollar during the two happy hour periods.

 

They did away with the opportunity to purchase free bottles of alcohol in their store and take them back to the cabin during the voyage.

 

Pricing the regular hour drinks above average prices.

 

Finally, they promote a program that everyone is sure to love and that is the ultimate, unlimited drink package at a price that you'll love......yeah, sure. For about $60 a day you can drink almost as much as you want within the limits of the program and variety of brand as long as everyone in the cabin is buying the program. There have been spreadsheets on this site that you can use to calculate if you can make this work for you, but if your itinerary is heavy with port days and few sea days you will be hard pressed to make this work to your advantage. Conversely, Viking provides a real package for about $20 a day per person with no real limits except for some varieties of wine and they still make money.

 

Don't get me wrong. We love Princess and are one of their biggest supporters having been on about 40 voyages with them, but this whole topic is just one representative of how the bean counters are trying to run and change a business that wasn't broken. We have communicated our concerns and solutions on many occasions and hope they will react in a favorable way sometime before we can't sail anymore.

[Griller]

I've said for years that Princess is tripping over the $ bills to pick up the pennies. They are losing lots of revenue by forcing passengers to smuggle aboard beverages that they would have paid for on the ship if there was a better policy.

 

 

Totally agree, I despair of some of their ideas, speaking both as a stockholder and a passenger they seem to be just plain dumb.

 

And even when they find out what they have started to implement is a bad idea they don't do anything about it.

 

Corporate culture I suppose? Just plain ole inertia?

Don't want to admit it was a mistake?

 

I know its a waste of time telling them, they think they know EVERYTHING about how to run their business, but successful businesses are usually demand driven and customer lead these days or they don't do so well.

 

With some companies as a last resort a stockholder can turn up at the AGM and voice their complaints - however as there is no AGM for Princess as its owned by Carnival that isn't viable.

Princess have no immediate accountability, operating as they do in the shade of the parent company.

No doubt Carnival would eventually hold them accountable for low profits but who knows what the situation actually is?

[floridalover5623]

 

Princess screwed up the Suiteholder/Elite lounge by upping the prices of happy hour cocktails then removed the favorites from the special pricing list.

 

 

 

That one so called benefit I could never understand. ??

The hours that that they were opened were never convenient for a lot of people who ate early.

Due to both my wife & myself, we do eat earlier than most others & by the time we're finished eating the main show is about to begin. This pretty much limits us from going even if they still had the drink specials.

In all our years of sailing we might have been there 2 or 3 times when the show was one we've seen too many times prior.

[chamima]

I don't usually defend the cruise lines but I wonder if any of you ever sail Celebrity?

I find Princess a LOT more responsive to customer complaints than Celebrity.

Remember the failed charge for Alfredo's?

Also, a short-lived charge for something else - I think it was room service.

The only thing Celebrity ever listened to passengers on were the chocolates on the pillow at night.

[Griller]

I don't usually defend the cruise lines but I wonder if any of you ever sail Celebrity?

I find Princess a LOT more responsive to customer complaints than Celebrity.

Remember the failed charge for Alfredo's?

Also, a short-lived charge for something else - I think it was room service.

The only thing Celebrity ever listened to passengers on were the chocolates on the pillow at night.

 

Maybe that's why I sailed Celebrity once and Princess 73 times?

I never tried complaining to Celebrity but the leader of a cruise group I was in did so and it wasn't productive.

 

Cunard are particularly dismissive of complaints, I am still waiting for resolution of one from 8 years ago. (Not going to happen is it?)