Wine Rules

[janeandneil]

Did I read correctly that it is permissable to bring your favorite wines onboard to consume in the dining room, and that your room attendant will take it/them up to the dining room for you? This will be our 1st Celebrity Cruise, so are not familiar with their rules. On past cruises with other lines I believe this was prohibited, or maybe we just assumed it was not permitted. We are not big wine drinkers, but occasionally, we enjoy a glass with dinner. I'm sure you can purchase a bottle in the dining room and have it recorked, as we have done in the past, but generally we find that prices are extremely high.

[xtopher_66]

My experience has been that it is allowed. We brought 6-8 bottlles onboard our carryons on Infinity last May and had no problem. When we wanted a bottle with dinner, we simply gave it to our room steward who wrote our names and table no. on the bottle and made sure it was in the dining room that evening. There is a $15 corkage fee for this service.

 

There has been much discussion about this subject here and I think most of the evidence does support that bringing wine on board is allowed. I do remember one person reporting they weren't allowed to bring wine in board several months ago, but this appears to be the exception to the rule.

 

Chris

[mjgreens]

The official Celebrity rule is 2 bottles of wine per person are allowed on board. That said we brought 2 bottles total but were never searched.

[tuggers]

mj, I have never seen that rule anywhere. Can you give me a link to it please.

 

I think a lot of us take wine, not to save money, but because the ship's wine list doesn't have wines that we want to enjoy on a cruise. I have a kind of wine I like with the lobster. X has a type of this wine from the same winery but there is a reserve that has quite a different taste that they do not carry. So, I bring that. Same with the Shiraz. X has two and neither is a favorite of mine. So I bring a couple of bottles of that. Some things I buy because they have what I like.

 

I have not found the prices to be any more than what you would pay in a good restaurant.

 

Bottom line, if you are taking one or two bottles is save money, I think I would forgo the wine just to not be bothered. Besides which, once e you buy the wine, schlep it onboard, have it sitting around the cabin, tip the CS for taking it to the dining room, pay the $15 corkage, I'm not sure you've saved anything.:)

[Susan-M]

We don't bring wine from home (too many other things to carry) but if we come across a wine in port that looks interesting, we'll buy it and pay the corkage fee on board. Normally we just order a bottle from the menu and find something that we enjoy ... the sommeliers are good with recommendations.

We are used to paying double or more the actual cost of wine when dining in restaurants.... so the prices on Celebrity's menu aren't too shocking to us:)

[mjgreens]

Tuggers,

With all the debate on wine/liquor I called Celebrity and had my customer service person read me the offical rules. She "claimed" to be reading that 2 bottles of wine/champ were allowed per person. Sorry I do not have a link.

 

The bill for the corkage fee is $10 to Celebrity and $5 to your somm.

[Karynanne]

On our last cruise (Jan-06), we brought onboard 12 bottles in our rollaway. There wasn't any issue at all! We've always brought wine with us, and never have we heard that it's limited to 2 btls. per person...

 

Karyn

[tuggers]

This info came from a csr which means if you called back three times you would get three different answers. Unless it's in writing in the cruise contract I wouldn't put much stock in it!:)

[CStorm]

Karynanne,

I'm so happy to hear that! We plan on taking a case of wine with us too. We are wine snobs and have a great cellar. With this being a cruise of a lifetime, I'm not leaving my best wine at home.

[camella]

ABsolutely!!! That's what we do.. We even offer the sommilier (sp?) a taste. Usually they don't even charge us when we do that. Sometimes they do but not every night. It's a great way to enjoy your cellar and the service too!

[CStorm]

My DH is extremely generous with our wine so we always offer samples to the sommlier and the waiter. He is also a chef so the executive chef of whatever restaurant we are at gets a full glass :) !

[dileep]

Karynanne,

I'm so happy to hear that! We plan on taking a case of wine with us too. We are wine snobs and have a great cellar. With this being a cruise of a lifetime, I'm not leaving my best wine at home.

 

We checked in a styrofoam box with 8 bottles as our checked in luggage and drank the wine on the ship; some in our stateroom and some at dinner. Of course we filled it back up with wine from Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile and brought it back home!

 

I have seen others check in full case boxes on previous cruises.

 

We always give the sommelier a taste. This time we were not charged a corkage fee, except in the specialty restaurant. Our dining room sommelier got a very nice tip!

[Lsimon]

we too have had no issue in past years, although we took no wine on our last cruise as we've found we like a lot of the wines on Celebrity's list.

 

However, there was a thread here a couple months ago from a couple of people who were not able to take wine on board. It was pointed out that the rule prohibits bringing any alcoholic beverages on board. You can find the rule on Celebrity's sight as well as in one of their brochures.