Princess and BYW (Bring Your own Wine) Onboard, Will They Still Allow It?

[need2cruisesoon]

I hope they do.

[CineGraphic]

Having not heard of a single instance of a person catching Covid via a sealed bottle of wine, I can't think of any reason why they would stop allowing us from bringing wine on board. Corkage fees are 100% profit, and they've been bleeding millions for over a year.

[suekel]

We usually board somewhat early and there has never been anyone at the table, therefore I've never had to pay corkage.  Maybe we're just lucky.  

 

[skynight]

Seems like it was a good marketing plan in the past and should be just as good in the future.  

[Grego]

No reason to change the policy that was in place before Covid.

[JF - retired RRT]

10 hours ago, suekel said:

We usually board somewhat early and there has never been anyone at the table, therefore I've never had to pay corkage.  Maybe we're just lucky.  

 

That would explain why I've rarely seen anyone at the wine table.

[Tak8]

I wouldn't expect that to change.  If Princess needs a tester, I would be willing to try a bottle per cabin to make sure their are no viruses in the lot.

[azbirdmom]

12 hours ago, suekel said:

We usually board somewhat early and there has never been anyone at the table, therefore I've never had to pay corkage.  Maybe we're just lucky.  

 

 

The same thing has happened to us.  We are always prepared to pay but are waved through because the table hasn't been set up yet.  We enjoy wine on our balcony so not having a stamp for the dining room isn't an issue.  And going forward who knows what the rules will be, but with Princess Plus our need to carry on wine will be diminished.

[nini]

We take our limit onboard (two bottles) and we got stuck at the alcohol

desk in San Pedro (LA). Apparently, they are not very well trained and wanted

to keep my bottle of Chardonnay because he thought that 13.50% alcohol was

prohibitive. I tried explaining that it was just a regular wine. Finally, someone

came over and said it was ok.

[CineGraphic]

1 hour ago, azbirdmom said:

going forward who knows what the rules will be, but with Princess Plus our need to carry on wine will be diminished.

 

We'll bring less, but it will be wines we consider to be better than what we can get on board.

I'm not going to drink so-so wine, just because it's part of the package.

[Steelers36]

14 hours ago, suekel said:

We usually board somewhat early and there has never been anyone at the table, therefore I've never had to pay corkage.  Maybe we're just lucky.  

 

 

4 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

That would explain why I've rarely seen anyone at the wine table.

 

1 hour ago, azbirdmom said:

 

The same thing has happened to us.  We are always prepared to pay but are waved through because the table hasn't been set up yet.  We enjoy wine on our balcony so not having a stamp for the dining room isn't an issue.  And going forward who knows what the rules will be, but with Princess Plus our need to carry on wine will be diminished.

 

In theory (i.e., according to policy), the waiters are supposed to notice the bottle coming to MDR to be opened is missing a sticker and then charge corkage.  This may or may not happen - or at least not happen for every new bottle.  😉

 

[XBGuy]

I am among those who hope that Princess continues the policy.

 

This is my tote.  Besides being convenient for dragging my wine onto the ship, we use it to drag off stuff that did not get packed into our luggage the previous evening.

 

 

 

We always have a sparkling wine on our balcony during sailaway

 

 

 

Quivet Syrah in Crown Grill

 

 

 

Apsara Chardonnay in the cabin

 

 

 

Myriad CS in Crown Grill

 

 

 

Yes,  I am a California wine bigot.

 

While I do enjoy bringing my own wine, we also purchase a fair amount of wine by the bottle in the various dining venues and in Vines.  There are some very good wines on the Princess list.

 

[Ombud]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

 

 

In theory (i.e., according to policy), the waiters are supposed to notice the bottle coming to MDR to be opened is missing a sticker and then charge corkage.  This may or may not happen - or at least not happen for every new bottle.  😉

 

In the past just grabbed a few of the larger wine glasses, poured it in my room, but drank it almost anywhere. There's been a few times my wine of choice wasn't available 

[koolforkatz]

No table set up on embarkation in Buenos Aires - we were fully prepared to pay!

 

 

[PurpleHays]

4 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

Yes,  I am a California wine bigot.

 

I don't know a lot about wine, but my daughter lives in Sonoma County, so I try to get most of mine from Sonoma vineyards. Supporting her local economy, even if she isn't in the business.

[CineGraphic]

I've been sticking with Spain & Italy, where I can get a nice bottle of 15 year old reserva for the same price as a 3 year old Cabernet from California.

 

 

[caribill]

19 hours ago, skynight said:

Seems like it was a good marketing plan in the past and should be just as good in the future.  

 

19 hours ago, Grego said:

No reason to change the policy that was in place before Covid.

 

I agree, but Princess has for a number of years been doing their best to eliminate that which differentiated them from the competition and has made a number of changes to be just like them.

 

Examples:

a) requiring shore excursions to be paid for in advance if reserved in advance

b) requiring a booking to be transferred to a TA within 60 days of booking with Princess instead of up to final payment time

c) extending the time for final payment to 90 days before the cruise from 75 days

d) "bigger is better" ship construction

e) move the better dinner entrees from the main dining room menus to specialty dining rooms

[skynight]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

 

I agree, but Princess has for a number of years been doing their best to eliminate that which differentiated them from the competition and has made a number of changes to be just like them.

 

Examples:

a) requiring shore excursions to be paid for in advance if reserved in advance

b) requiring a booking to be transferred to a TA within 60 days of booking with Princess instead of up to final payment time

c) extending the time for final payment to 90 days before the cruise from 75 days

d) "bigger is better" ship construction

e) move the better dinner entrees from the main dining room menus to specialty dining rooms

RCI has a similar wine policy, 2 x 750ml per cabin, no extras with paid corkage fees, vs. the Princess policy of 1 x 750ml per person plus any amount of extra bottles with corkage fees. I think at one time RCI eliminated any wine carry on and then quickly changed the policy to respond to an outcry from customers.

I believe the Princess policy is one that helps bookings and is customer friendly. While anything can change I don't think the wine policy will change in the near term.

[c-boy]

13 hours ago, PurpleHays said:

I don't know a lot about wine, but my daughter lives in Sonoma County, so I try to get most of mine from Sonoma vineyards. Supporting her local economy, even if she isn't in the business.

why thank you, we appreciate that ☺️

[XBGuy]

Well, conversation on this topic has dragged a bit.  So, I hope the monitors do not penalize me for going a tad off topic.

 

On our last AK cruise in September 2019 Mrs. XBGuy and I stopped at a Slagway restaurant and ordered a plate of oysters.  I really like Sauvignon Blanc with oysters, but I certainly would not snort at a sparkler.  We ordered this.

 

 

The first can of wine I've ever had.

 

FWIW, there a liquor store in Skagway where we have picked up some pretty nice wines (Sonoma Cutrer, Seghesio) at reasonable prices and carried them back on the ship.