Corkage Fee?

[jerseygirl3]

We will be on Enchantment of the Seas next week. I know we can bring onboard a couple of bottles of wine. What is the current corkage fee?  I've heard it's rarely enforced. True?  If so, is it poured by a sommelier ir your waiter. Just want to know who to tip.  

[neverbeenhere]

$ 15

True

Waiter in our experience

[niksmom630]

I took my bottle to the trellis bar because I was intimidated by the corkscrew our cabin attendant  provided. Tipped $5 

[dodgestang]

I took 2 bottles on enchantment in July....they didn't charge me to open them at Chops or at the MDR.  The one at Chops was a 22 yr old bottle the waiter didn't know how to open a older soft cork on an old unfiltered wine, he destroyed the cork (most went into the bottle) and then because it was an unfilited bottle it had a lot of sediment in it from storage on side....long story short he refused to pour it for us saying it was bad.  I didn't feel like fighting with him.

 

[1ballerina]

We brought our two bottles of wine to the Main Dining Room for dinner the last two cruises all during the pandemic.  We were NOT charged a corkage fee either time 🙂 

[StrikeEagle]

I brought a 750ml bottle of Sake to the MDR on Allure last month,  the bottle is screw cap type.

No cork on bottle = no corkage fee.  There is nothing to cork    😉

 

Seriously,  no one care about it or ask anything about it.

Edited August 28, 2022 by StrikeEagle

[late2cruisin]

43 minutes ago, StrikeEagle said:

I brought a 750ml bottle of Sake to the MDR on Allure last month,  the bottle is screw cap type.

No cork on bottle = no corkage fee.  There is nothing to cork    😉

 

Seriously,  no one care about it or ask anything about it.

And as I'm sure you well know, corkage fees have nothing to do with whether they have to remove a cork or not. It is a fee for bringing your own bottle to the dining room instead of buying an overpriced bottle from their wine list.😁

Also, I didn't think sake was permitted to bring on board, since it's higher in alcohol content (like sherry, for example, which is not allowed.)

t

[StrikeEagle]

11 minutes ago, late2cruisin said:

And as I'm sure you well know, corkage fees have nothing to do with whether they have to remove a cork or not. It is a fee for bringing your own bottle to the dining room instead of buying an overpriced bottle from their wine list.😁

Also, I didn't think sake was permitted to bring on board, since it's higher in alcohol content (like sherry, for example, which is not allowed.)

t

In all my past cruises, I always brought 2 bottles of Gekkeikan Sake without any issues.  It has about 15.6 alcohol ABV

https://www.totalwine.com/wine/sake-plum-wine/sake/gekkeikan-sake/p/8506750

Edited August 29, 2022 by StrikeEagle

[Wineaux007]

I always ask ahead of time about corkage, and always told no corkage.  

[late2cruisin]

7 minutes ago, StrikeEagle said:

In all my past cruises, I always brought 2 bottles of Gekkeikan Sake without any issues.  It has about 15.6 alcohol ABV

https://www.totalwine.com/wine/sake-plum-wine/sake/gekkeikan-sake/p/8506750

Good to know! I've considered bringing on sake but wasn't sure if they'd make a fuss about it...(Although some sake has a much higher ABV than that!) Also, doesn't some sake come in 1 liter bottles(which is supposedly not allowed)?

[Unicorniceskate]

Thoughts on this: we have two (connecting) staterooms - one for us, one for our two underage children. Since we have 2 staterooms, can we bring 4 bottles of wine on board? Our girls are registered to their own room. 

[Ourusualbeach]

5 hours ago, Unicorniceskate said:

Thoughts on this: we have two (connecting) staterooms - one for us, one for our two underage children. Since we have 2 staterooms, can we bring 4 bottles of wine on board? Our girls are registered to their own room. 

Technically there has to be an adult in each stateroom.  Whether they check at all or check it in detail is another story

[bobmacliberty]

7 hours ago, Unicorniceskate said:

Thoughts on this: we have two (connecting) staterooms - one for us, one for our two underage children. Since we have 2 staterooms, can we bring 4 bottles of wine on board? Our girls are registered to their own room. 

 

We've done exactly this, but as Ken said with one adult listed in each room.  We brought 4 bottles onboard in a carryon bag.  No one even looked.  If they had, we were ready with paperwork showing 2 staterooms.  This was San Juan.

[Unicorniceskate]

7 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Technically there has to be an adult in each stateroom.  Whether they check at all or check it in detail is another story

When RC did our booking, since it’s adjoining they put our girls in one and us in the other. I’m going to hope they don’t check in detail 😉

[Ourusualbeach]

8 minutes ago, Unicorniceskate said:

When RC did our booking, since it’s adjoining they put our girls in one and us in the other. I’m going to hope they don’t check in detail 😉

You could call and change it so there is an adult in each room.  Really advantageous that way of you only want to buy one drink package and not have to buy a refreshment package for the second guest

[Unicorniceskate]

5 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

We've done exactly this, but as Ken said with one adult listed in each room.  We brought 4 bottles onboard in a carryon bag.  No one even looked.  If they had, we were ready with paperwork showing 2 staterooms.  This was San Juan.

So that was my next question…where do you put the bottled wine so you don’t get stuck in luggage jail? Sounds like in a carryon is an option. Do you disclose it somewhere? We’ve gotten stuck in luggage jail by accident before 🤪 

[AspiringCindy]

I just got off the Oasis yesterday. They didn't charge a corkage fee at Giovannis and Chops Grill.

[Broons77]

20 minutes ago, Unicorniceskate said:

So that was my next question…where do you put the bottled wine so you don’t get stuck in luggage jail? Sounds like in a carryon is an option. Do you disclose it somewhere? We’ve gotten stuck in luggage jail by accident before 🤪 

 

Carry on is fine, they haven't said boo to us ever bringing on wine on RC.

[h2opolo]

We just got of Navigator this morning. Brought two bottles onboard in hand-luggage (per cruise line rule). They examined the bottles at a table right after we went through security (looked at bottles, checked corks, etc.). We brought the  bottles to MDR expecting to pay corkage (which is totally fine and what we planned on) but were not charged either night. This was LA/Long Beach sailing. Since this is our first RC cruise (we have paid corkage on another line), don't know if this is typical or not. In any case, we always expect to pay corkage and if we don't it's a nice surprise. 😊

[brillohead]

18 hours ago, h2opolo said:

We just got of Navigator this morning. Brought two bottles onboard in hand-luggage (per cruise line rule). They examined the bottles at a table right after we went through security (looked at bottles, checked corks, etc.). We brought the  bottles to MDR expecting to pay corkage (which is totally fine and what we planned on) but were not charged either night. This was LA/Long Beach sailing. Since this is our first RC cruise (we have paid corkage on another line), don't know if this is typical or not. In any case, we always expect to pay corkage and if we don't it's a nice surprise. 😊

I've been cruising on RC for almost a decade and I've never heard of anyone being charged corkage in all that time.  It's always been listed on their website, but never actually charged.

 

[George C]

We haven’t been charged corkage in many years , I thought it was 18 . 

[TBone2K]

On 8/29/2022 at 12:58 AM, Unicorniceskate said:

Thoughts on this: we have two (connecting) staterooms - one for us, one for our two underage children. Since we have 2 staterooms, can we bring 4 bottles of wine on board? Our girls are registered to their own room. 

The rules are two bottles per room. However, my experience is they don't look at who is together. So at most they look for two per person.

[Ret MP]

As you can see, the experiences are all over the place.  But, this is the official answer:

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/charge-corkage-fee

 

Does Royal Caribbean charge a corkage fee?

A

 

 

Yes. Guests who consume their personal wine and champagne in public areas, will incur a $15 corkage fee per bottle. Guests wishing to bring personal wine and champagne onboard may do so only on boarding day, limited to two (2) 750 ml bottles per stateroom. No beer or hard liquor may be brought onboard for consumption.

Additional bottles of wine beyond two (2) bottles that are brought onboard or any alcoholic beverages purchased in ports of call or from onboard shops during the cruise vacation will be stored onboard and delivered to guest staterooms on the last day of the sailing.

[Ourusualbeach]

3 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

As you can see, the experiences are all over the place. 

Every single person here said they were not charged a corkage fee, not one said they had been charged

 

I would take that as what is likely to happen over a posted policy any day.

[Ret MP]

15 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Every single person here said they were not charged a corkage fee, not one said they had been charged

 

I would take that as what is likely to happen over a posted policy any day.

And you are welcome to do so!