Bringing Wine and Paying Corkage

[alupres]

We're leaving on 22 day transat and Med cruise and want to bring aboard a case of very good wine. What is the process, to do this from checking it in, paying the corkage and getting it intact to our cabin. What can we do to make it as "trouble-free" as possible. All advice and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[Hawaiidan]

5 minutes ago, alupres said:

We're leaving on 22 day transat and Med cruise and want to bring aboard a case of very good wine. What is the process, to do this from checking it in, paying the corkage and getting it intact to our cabin. What can we do to make it as "trouble-free" as possible. All advice and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Just declare it  Paying  corkage is cheap  for good wines that cost 50-300 a bottle.

[alupres]

We fully intend to pay corkage. I'm looking for suggestions from folks who have done similar to make the process as easy as possible.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

We fully intend to pay corkage. I'm looking for suggestions from folks who have done similar to make the process as easy as possible.

After you pass thru security - stop by the table that will be set up for this purpose. They will charge you the $18 per bottle and put a sticker on each bottle afterwards. Sometimes they don’t charge but say to pay in the dining room. Ymmv.

Too make it easy. Have the case outside your luggage. You must carry it on - wine cannot be checked.


www.theinsidecabin.com

[Overhead Fred]

I believe you must carry it on.

 

Many wine shops will sell four or six bottle "totes". Essentially reusable cloth grocery sacks with fabric dividers and carrying handles. We got some from Publix in Fort Lauderdale a few cruises ago and they worked nicely. 

[canadarocks]

Just finished an 11 day Zuiderdam cruise. We have a wonderful "wine suitcase" that holds 12 bottles. Went to Total Wine in Fort Lauderdale, loaded it up, and brought it onboard as a carry-on (a wheel-on actually 🙂 ) After it went through the scanner, they sent me over to the Alcohol table and I paid $18 corkage for 10 of our 12 bottles. Unlike Princess (which had me remove our bottles so they could place the sticker on each bottle), HAL just gave me the 10 stickers to apply as I wished after we boarded and a receipt showing the $180 I had paid. Easy breezy.... at least out of FLL. 

 

 

[alupres]

Thanks for the advice. We have a slew of the cloth PUBLIX bags and hitting Amazon for the "wine suitcase". 

[canadarocks]

7 minutes ago, alupres said:

Thanks for the advice. We have a slew of the cloth PUBLIX bags and hitting Amazon for the "wine suitcase". 

 

https://www.wayfair.com/outdoor/pdp/preferred-nation-bottle-limo-rolling-cooler-ghb1335.html 

[fatcat04]

12 minutes ago, alupres said:

Thanks for the advice. We have a slew of the cloth PUBLIX bags and hitting Amazon for the "wine suitcase". 

Ft Lauderdale Total Wine had wine luggage at the store this last time. Looked sturdy. I think maybe there were a couple different sizes. In the past when we brought on 2 cases we just used a small collapsible hand truck and bungees to secure the boxes. If I can find a pic, I'll post it. It made for some giggles in line and a couple of "where's the party and when should I arrive?" comments but it was easy to get on the ship.

 

This last cruise we brought on 9 bottles, paid corkage on 5 as we had 4 adults. It was easy like The Inside Cabin said. We had them hand us the corkage stickers so we could choose which bottles we wished to consume outside the cabin later and simply apply the sticker before we left the cabin.

Edited February 26, 2019 by fatcat04

[VMax1700]

Wine should be carried on.  The luggage labels you print out shows this information.

[StLouisCruisers]

We were prepared to pay corkage when we boarded our ship in Tampa a few weeks ago.  Apparently if the wine person has not arrived in the terminal yet, you can continue through to boarding without paying corkage fees.  We arrived early (around 10 am).  Once we boarded we took a bottle of wine to dinner with us for me to drink for the next couple nights but once again we weren't charged.  I would pay if asked but was never asked.  The wine was one sold on board, yet it was sooo much cheaper on land so I brought it with me.  Maybe if it is a brand carried on the ship that makes a difference.  I know they've told me that on Princess before.  

 

Anyway, enjoy your wine and the $18 corkage isn't so bad.  

 

By the way, the Estancia Meritage, which is on wine package #3 is well worth its price, according to my husband who drinks reds.  Especially if you have a 50% discount with your Mariner status!

[RocketMan275]

Be aware that the people working the boarding are not always familiar with extra wine. I've been told:

- I couldn't bring ANY wine on board.

- I could only bring two bottles.  I would have to leave the rest.

- That since the wine people weren't there, I could take two bottles but leave the rest and it would be delivered later.  They finally told me to leave my name cabin number and number of bottles and would be billed later.

Edited February 27, 2019 by RocketMan275

[kazu]

11 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

Be aware that the people working the boarding are not always familiar with extra wine. I've been told:

- I couldn't bring ANY wine on board.

- I could only bring two bottles.  I would have to leave the rest.

- That since the wine people weren't there, I could take two bottles but leave the rest and it would be delivered later.  They finally told me to leave my name cabin number and number of bottles and would be billed later.

 

Good to mention this.  I’ve seen them also say I can’t bring wine on in a port as well.  We simply said we were indeed allowed if we paid corkage.  We waited until they checked and then they charged us corkage and we took the wine with us 😉 

[alupres]

7 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Good to mention this.  I’ve seen them also say I can’t bring wine on in a port as well.  We simply said we were indeed allowed if we paid corkage.  We waited until they checked and then they charged us corkage and we took the wine with us 😉 

Discussed this with our HAL rep in Seattle and she is sending me a copy of their policy which she suggested we keep handy. It's straightforward and might be useful.

[kazu]

7 minutes ago, alupres said:

Discussed this with our HAL rep in Seattle and she is sending me a copy of their policy which she suggested we keep handy. It's straightforward and might be useful.

 

Or, just bring the policy on the luggage tag.  It’s spelled out pretty clearly there 😉 

[RocketMan275]

The problem is these people don't work for the cruise lines but for the ports.  There is considerable turnover.  Consequently, they may not be familiar with the policies of individual cruise lines.

[wyobean]

As I read the policy we would be allowed more than one bottle of wine each if we let them keep it till the end of our cruise? We will be touring a winery before our cruise and May want to buy a few extra bottles to take home with us. 

[freestyling]

26 minutes ago, wyobean said:

We will be touring a winery before our cruise and May want to buy a few extra bottles to take home

Yes you can. We did this last year. Our wine was delivered to our stateroom the day before disembarkation.

Edited February 27, 2019 by freestyling

[ottahand7]

20 hours ago, StLouisCruisers said:

We were prepared to pay corkage when we boarded our ship in Tampa a few weeks ago.  Apparently if the wine person has not arrived in the terminal yet, you can continue through to boarding without paying corkage fees.  We arrived early (around 10 am).  Once we boarded we took a bottle of wine to dinner with us for me to drink for the next couple nights but once again we weren't charged.  I would pay if asked but was never asked.  The wine was one sold on board, yet it was sooo much cheaper on land so I brought it with me.  Maybe if it is a brand carried on the ship that makes a difference.  I know they've told me that on Princess before.

We had similar luck boarding in Tampa with 14 bottles.  The woman running the screening looked over and saw the table wasn't set up and waved us through.  We dined in the dining rooms 6 times and got charged each time for our unstickered wines.  Since we opted for in-room dining for the rest of the nights we lucked out not having to pay corkage.   If I can figure out a way to get the wine to the port we carry on the max.  It is so nice to enjoy a wine with a nice dinner without paying dearly for so so wine IMHO. 

[shorefolks]

Boarding in Singapore recently, we had three bottles for the two of us. There was no table set up yet, but the security agent (not a HAL employee) said we had to leave the third bottle for later delivery to our cabin. Although highly doubtful we would ever see it again, I had no choice. Two days into the cruise, we still did not have the wine. I inquired with Guest Services, and they apologized. The bottle was delivered later that day, and our account was charged for the corkage. This is the only port where I have encountered that procedure.

[terrydtx]

This what we use to carry wine and other beverages on board from Amazon. It hold a case of wine and collapses to carry it on a plane. In FLL we go to total wine and fill it up with pre ordered wine. It also works great to keep the wine in your cabin.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Travelwell-Polyester-Bottle-Cooler-Organizer/dp/B006XCMDUY/ref=pd_day0_hl_79_3/130-5079952-2104143?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B006XCMDUY&pd_rd_r=cdcd8cb1-3baa-11e9-accd-19068f92f127&pd_rd_w=hVU1m&pd_rd_wg=65wy0&pf_rd_p=ad07871c-e646-4161-82c7-5ed0d4c85b07&pf_rd_r=6DQ0XPBE0C7SZ08K84ZY&psc=1&refRID=6DQ0XPBE0C7SZ08K84ZY

 

[pmjnh]

Question~ If we bring 4 bottles on board , pay the corkage for 2, can we have the ship hold the corkage paid bottles  for use with dinner? We generally only have one glass with dinner and I would like to avoid carrying a bottle to and from our cabin. In other words, will they store our wine for dinner if we did not purchase it on the ship? 

Edited March 4, 2019 by pmjnh

[alupres]

Absolutely in MDR. Make sure you have it labeled with name and cabin #.

[pmjnh]

2 hours ago, alupres said:

Absolutely in MDR. Make sure you have it labeled with name and cabin #.

 

Thank you!