Process for bringing extra wine on board

[lorri111]

I've never bought onboard more than the allowed bottle but due to length of cruise am contemplating bringing a few more. What is the process, do they stamp or mark the bottles you pay corkage on so you can take them to dining room and not have it confused with the one "freebie" which I understand incurs corkage in public areas but not in stateroom.

[Aus Traveller]

Before you board the ship, you will be stopped at the 'alcohol desk'. You should identify which bottles you want to have as your 'free' ones. The others will have a sticker attached. A voucher will be written out for the $15 corkage per bottle. This goes onto your on-board account. You can take the bottles with the stickers to the dining room and they will be happy to serve the wine to you.

[lorri111]

2 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Before you board the ship, you will be stopped at the 'alcohol desk'. You should identify which bottles you want to have as your 'free' ones. The others will have a sticker attached. A voucher will be written out for the $15 corkage per bottle. This goes onto your on-board account. You can take the bottles with the stickers to the dining room and they will be happy to serve the wine to you.

Nice succinct answer, thanks

[farmermark]

That sounds easy.  Now my wife can make everyone snicker when we show up with the wine she likes. The sweet Barefoot Moscato.  

[CineGraphic]

Sometimes they have stickers, sometimes they don't.

Once they gave me luggage tags for each bottle, so I kept my receipt showing that I paid the corkage fees in my wallet.

[MissP22]

5 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

Before you board the ship, you will be stopped at the 'alcohol desk'. You should identify which bottles you want to have as your 'free' ones. The others will have a sticker attached. A voucher will be written out for the $15 corkage per bottle. This goes onto your on-board account. You can take the bottles with the stickers to the dining room and they will be happy to serve the wine to you.

More like directed but no one actually checks to see if you do stop.

[geoherb]

It  depends. Sometimes we've been told to go to the table to declare our bottles and they were stamped or stickered. Other times we were able to bring our wine on board when they did not have the table set up yet. We ended up being charged the corkage fee by our waiter for the bottles we took to the dining room.

[Steelers36]

Don't recall the one time we have boarded a ship in Sydney, but we are always early arrivers in Fort Lauderdale and rarely is the wine table set up, so I just take it on with no issue and then they just charge bottles you bring to the DR.  You might get lucky after a few days and your waiter might not charge every new bottle.  But don't count on it.  On our last cruise, I went back downstairs a while after we checked in and still no one at the table. 

 

You can also bring additional wine on board at port stops and no one minds that.  They don't even charge for a bottle each (usually they don't even notice), but again anything new brought to the DR is subject to the corkage fee.  I think Princess charges a fair amount and do not begrudge it for the opportunity to bring on wines of choice and save some money.

 

Edited January 16, 2020 by steelers36

[Woodinville]

1 hour ago, steelers36 said:

Don't recall the one time we have boarded a ship in Sydney, but we are always early arrivers in Fort Lauderdale and rarely is the wine table set up, so I just take it on with no issue and then they just charge bottles you bring to the DR.  You might get lucky after a few days and your waiter might not charge every new bottle.  But don't count on it.  On our last cruise, I went back downstairs a while after we checked in and still no one at the table. 

 

You can also bring additional wine on board at port stops and no one minds that.  They don't even charge for a bottle each (usually they don't even notice), but again anything new brought to the DR is subject to the corkage fee.  I think Princess charges a fair amount and do not begrudge it for the opportunity to bring on wines of choice and save some money.

 

@steelers36experience has been ours as well ... the one time the table wasn't set up after the security check, we saw $15 corkage when we took a bottle out of the cabin to the MDR or a venue. We normally bring a few of our favs, especially in FLL as the Wine box store is so convenient, and we can pre-order and have it sitting waiting for pickup. 

[MSPCUBS]

So, if the wine table is not set up, you can bring extra bottles and if they stay in your cabin, you don't pay the corkage fee?

[voljeep]

6 minutes ago, MSPCUBS said:

So, if the wine table is not set up, you can bring extra bottles and if they stay in your cabin, you don't pay the corkage fee?

seems that way, huh ...

[MissP22]

3 minutes ago, MSPCUBS said:

So, if the wine table is not set up, you can bring extra bottles and if they stay in your cabin, you don't pay the corkage fee?

We have never stopped at the corkage table or paid a corkage fee - ever.

Just walk on by & they'll never say a word even if they are set up.

 

Get a glass at the IC (or even better is a large water glass from the DR) you can then bring a glass with you to the DR the next evening. 

If you bring the whole bottle they may charge you a corkage fee or they might not. 

[TheRabbit]

12 hours ago, lorri111 said:

I've never bought onboard more than the allowed bottle but due to length of cruise am contemplating bringing a few more. What is the process, do they stamp or mark the bottles you pay corkage on so you can take them to dining room and not have it confused with the one "freebie" which I understand incurs corkage in public areas but not in stateroom.

On the chance you are planning on bringing wine on by the case, here is a link to a doc I put together taking cases on board. 

 

LINK

[TheRabbit]

6 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

Sometimes they have stickers, sometimes they don't.

Once they gave me luggage tags for each bottle, so I kept my receipt showing that I paid the corkage fees in my wallet.

When we brought three cases on, they just handed us the stickers when they were delivered to the room so we could choose which one to take to the MDR.

 

(Before you say something, we aren't big drinkers, it was a 60 night cruise!)

[CineGraphic]

17 minutes ago, TheRabbit said:

When we brought three cases on,

 

How did you manage carrying 3 cases on board, did you hand it off to the porters,  did you have a dolly or hand-truck?

 

I know that we're supposed to hand-carry our wine on board, but I'm sure exceptions happen all the time.

[TheRabbit]

4 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

How did you manage carrying 3 cases on board, did you hand it off to the porters,  did you have a dolly or hand-truck?

 

I know that we're supposed to hand-carry our wine on board, but I'm sure exceptions happen all the time.

They were checked as luggage. The five boxes to the right of the Gatorade was all wine. We taped luggage tags to them and handed them off to the porter.

 

[greenie082756]

On our last cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale, I stopped by the wine table, told them I had 3 bottles and he directed me onto the ship 

without collecting corkage fee.

Of course, we took those bottle to dinner in the MDR and was charged the corkage fee. 

 

There was twice that we got off the ship, bought wine and brought it back on. Stated it was wine and they let us proceed.

I think it was because my husband was so forth coming that we were bringing bottles on with us they knew

we would be charged in the dining room. I told him later, hey if they don't ask then don't tell! Sheesh <grin>

[TheRabbit]

5 minutes ago, greenie082756 said:

On our last cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale, I stopped by the wine table, told them I had 3 bottles and he directed me onto the ship 

without collecting corkage fee.

Of course, we took those bottle to dinner in the MDR and was charged the corkage fee. 

 

There was twice that we got off the ship, bought wine and brought it back on. Stated it was wine and they let us proceed.

I think it was because my husband was so forth coming that we were bringing bottles on with us they knew

we would be charged in the dining room. I told him later, hey if they don't ask then don't tell! Sheesh <grin>

They typically will let you bring on two bottles in each port. If you take these to the MDR, corkage can be charged.

[getaway101]

1 hour ago, TheRabbit said:

When we brought three cases on, they just handed us the stickers when they were delivered to the room so we could choose which one to take to the MDR.

 

(Before you say something, we aren't big drinkers, it was a 60 night cruise!)

 

On my bucket list

 

[Aus Traveller]

7 hours ago, MissP22 said:

More like directed but no one actually checks to see if you do stop.

The procedure varies depending on the security staff. At the port where we usually board, sometimes the wine is taken off you at the security scanner and taken to the 'alcohol' table. On other occasions, one of the security staff has walked with me to the 'alcohol' table.

[Northumberland]

9 hours ago, farmermark said:

That sounds easy.  Now my wife can make everyone snicker when we show up with the wine she likes. The sweet Barefoot Moscato.  

HaHaHa.. I like her taste. We're bringing Beringer Zinfindel.  $3.97 per bottle at a big box store.

[Ombud]

I'm bringing 2 bottles wine & 4 bottles sparkling cider (2 minors) on a B2B, do we get stickers for the sparkling juice?

[Aus Traveller]

16 minutes ago, Ombud said:

I'm bringing 2 bottles wine & 4 bottles sparkling cider (2 minors) on a B2B, do we get stickers for the sparkling juice?

If the sparkling cider is non-alcoholic, you do not have to pay the $15 corkage. The label probably has the words "non alcoholic".

[Ombud]

Yes it does. Ship sells it for $18 & its $1.99 at the store. Plus we are being driven to the port by my dtr (their mom)

[history_bits]

4 hours ago, MissP22 said:

We have never stopped at the corkage table or paid a corkage fee - ever.

Just walk on by & they'll never say a word even if they are set up.

 

Get a glass at the IC (or even better is a large water glass from the DR) you can then bring a glass with you to the DR the next evening. 

If you bring the whole bottle they may charge you a corkage fee or they might not. 

 

Hold up... do I have this right? 

 

Step 1) Bring wine on board

Step 2) Get free bottle per person. If staff aren't uber keen, possibly get other bottles free as well. 

Step 3) Get a glass somewhere.

Step 4) Pour yourself a glass of wine in the cabin, then head out of the cabin to drink it wherever you please. 

 

Genius!🍷