Princess have increased the corkage fee for wine to AU $30 per bottle.

[Over from NZ]

10 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The Plus fare is an extra $65pp per day, which includes internet as well as drinks (and a few other things) so is actually good value even if you just drink mocktails, juices, soft drinks and coffees. The Plus drinks package on it's own might be dearer - edit: I just checked and it's AU $110 per day, that's just crazy! It's confusing having them called similar names.

 

Internet is worth about $20pp per day, or $10pp per day if you're Platinum or Elite, so the Plus fare is the way to go if you want internet and drinks.

Cheers. $65 - AUD? So $55 when the internet taken into account.. but still couldn't justify that for a few coffees and soft-drinks. You would just about have to be one of the obese, sugar addicted soda drinkers to get your moneys worth I would think haha.  

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Over from NZ said:

Cheers. $65 - AUD? So $55 when the internet taken into account.. but still couldn't justify that for a few coffees and soft-drinks. You would just about have to be one of the obese, sugar addicted soda drinkers to get your moneys worth I would think haha.  

Yes, AUD, and yes, now it's $65 it's not really viable for those who don't drink alcohol, especially Platinum/Elites where less of the value is taken by the internet.

[cruiser3775]

13 hours ago, Over from NZ said:

Ironically; just got off the Enchanted Princess 21-nights Med cruise. We just walked onboard at a number of ports with wine, beer and spirits - unchallenged. Drank them in our room. Bugger them. 

Didn't they make you put you bag through a scanner when re-boarding?

[Over from NZ]

1 hour ago, cruiser3775 said:

Didn't they make you put you bag through a scanner when re-boarding?

Yes. However, sometimes it was Princess staff.. sometimes port staff. Barcelona for example - had a 6-pack of beer and a bottle of vodka in the backpack which went through the scanner at the port.. and then because had gone through their scanner there was no ships scanner. Nothing said. Santorini - bottle of liquor went through in the backpack.. nothing said (that one would have been scanned on the ship rather than in the port). Athens - couple of bottles of wine. Can't recall what other ports we bought grog at. All rather casual at the scanning to be honest. 

[Jean C]

21 hours ago, Over from NZ said:

Yes. However, sometimes it was Princess staff.. sometimes port staff. Barcelona for example - had a 6-pack of beer and a bottle of vodka in the backpack which went through the scanner at the port.. and then because had gone through their scanner there was no ships scanner. Nothing said. Santorini - bottle of liquor went through in the backpack.. nothing said (that one would have been scanned on the ship rather than in the port). Athens - couple of bottles of wine. Can't recall what other ports we bought grog at. All rather casual at the scanning to be honest. 

That's been our experience too, however it was on a lengthy cruise where others said staff were more relaxed. At Barbados grog was so cheap that after our day out and reboarding ship, we disembarked again to buy some rum, to declare and bring back to NZ. Put bag through ship's scanner  staff were distracted, talking to each other and we walked straight through, unchallenged.  

[arxcards]

7 hours ago, Jean C said:

That's been our experience too, however it was on a lengthy cruise where others said staff were more relaxed. At Barbados grog was so cheap that after our day out and reboarding ship, we disembarked again to buy some rum, to declare and bring back to NZ. Put bag through ship's scanner  staff were distracted, talking to each other and we walked straight through, unchallenged.  

Amazing how cheap that rum is when you take away the taxes. No wonder Aussies had the rebellion.

[Jean C]

32 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Amazing how cheap that rum is when you take away the taxes. No wonder Aussies had the rebellion.

Yes, sadly we had no use for it other than to bring it back to NZ. Maybe I shouldn't mention it here, but we have our ways and manage to sneak enough alcohol on board for a rum and ginger beer (Caribbean mule) most afternoons 🍹

[subaru94]

Maybe if Princess had some decent wine that they didn't charge an arm and leg then people would not need to bring wine onboard, even if you buy the package the choice of wine is terrible.  I wonder who picks the wine for the ships??

[OzKiwiJJ]

14 hours ago, subaru94 said:

Maybe if Princess had some decent wine that they didn't charge an arm and leg then people would not need to bring wine onboard, even if you buy the package the choice of wine is terrible.  I wonder who picks the wine for the ships??

Someone who clearly doesn't understand Australian wine trends. The current wines by the glass, both Plus and Premier, seem to me to be tailored more to American tastes than current Australian tastes, especially the white wines. 

 

There are only two Plus white wines (I don't count rosè or moscato as still white wines) - the semillon/sauvignon is essentially the basic dry white and the chardonnay is heavily oaked. Where is the dry riesling? The pinot grigio? The unoaked or lightly oaked chardonnay? 

 

The Plus reds are a bit better. A nice merlot, although straight merlot isn't as popular here as in the US. A drinkable pinot noir and two cabernet blends. But again, a more American selection than modern Australian where straight shirazes, sangiovese and other Italian varietals, even tempranillo, have become more popular in recent years.

[Cruisers47]

3 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Someone who clearly doesn't understand Australian wine trends. The current wines by the glass, both Plus and Premier, seem to me to be tailored more to American tastes than current Australian tastes, especially the white wines. 

 

There are only two Plus white wines (I don't count rosè or moscato as still white wines) - the semillon/sauvignon is essentially the basic dry white and the chardonnay is heavily oaked. Where is the dry riesling? The pinot grigio? The unoaked or lightly oaked chardonnay? 

 

The Plus reds are a bit better. A nice merlot, although straight merlot isn't as popular here as in the US. A drinkable pinot noir and two cabernet blends. But again, a more American selection than modern Australian where straight shirazes, sangiovese and other Italian varietals, even tempranillo, have become more popular in recent years.

We have just come back from an Azamara cruise in Europe where wines are included.  We had the premium package.   What do we get a terrible very yellow Chilean Chardonnay which I think probably cost them $2 a bottle.  It was undrinkable.

 

on our Azamara Christmas cruise from Fremantle to Sydney they actually ran out of red wine!   They just do not understand Australia tastes.  They had to go to Dan Murphy and buy some.  Australians very happy,  even the cheapest was better than what they had originally.  But there were lots of complaints!

 

the Captain was seen leaving Dan Murphy’s with a load of wine for himself..what does that tell you!,!

[OzKiwiJJ]

Friends have just printed out their luggage tags for their upcoming Alaska cruise. It shows US$20 / AU$30 for corkage.

 

[Jean C]

So you can't say you didn't know 🙁

[OzKiwiJJ]

Is anyone planning to challenge this over the next few months? Since it's actually written in the Passage Contract that was sent with the original booking legally they would have to honour it as that contract becomes binding on both parties once the deposit is paid. 

 

Unfortunately we're not doing an Australian Princess cruise this season. Our next Princess cruise is out of Japan so we won't be trying to take wine onboard for that, and then we won't be on Princess again until the 2024 world cruise. 

[lyndarra]

On 7/18/2023 at 4:46 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

Friends have just printed out their luggage tags for their upcoming Alaska cruise. It shows US$20 / AU$30 for corkage.

 

Brings it in line corkage on HAL.

[OzKiwiJJ]

31 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

Brings it in line corkage on HAL.

Maybe but AU $30 is an over-the-top corkage fee. Only very top-end restaurants in Australia would charge that. It's based on US pricing converted to AUD whereas it should reflect local pricing like it used to. 

 

And HAL is also a Carnival Corp Line. 

[Relaxing Robbies]

On 9/26/2023 at 4:12 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

Is anyone planning to challenge this over the next few months? Since it's actually written in the Passage Contract that was sent with the original booking legally they would have to honour it as that contract becomes binding on both parties once the deposit is paid. 

 

Unfortunately we're not doing an Australian Princess cruise this season. Our next Princess cruise is out of Japan so we won't be trying to take wine onboard for that, and then we won't be on Princess again until the 2024 world cruise. 

We just applied for shareholder OBC for our b2b cruises commencing late November. The credits were applied today and we received new booking confirmations and copies of the passage contract for the two cruises. The passage contracts show the current date, and the original booking date. Clause 24 on page 9 of that document still states that the corkage fee is $15 per bottle. I have printed it out and will be testing it to see if they comply with their contract which states that it is a legally binding agreement. I will report back to you after the cruise.

[Aus Traveller]

On 7/14/2023 at 4:24 PM, arxcards said:

Amazing how cheap that rum is when you take away the taxes. No wonder Aussies had the rebellion.

Ha!! Ha!! The rebellion wasn't over the price of alcohol.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

We just applied for shareholder OBC for our b2b cruises commencing late November. The credits were applied today and we received new booking confirmations and copies of the passage contract for the two cruises. The passage contracts show the current date, and the original booking date. Clause 24 on page 9 of that document still states that the corkage fee is $15 per bottle. I have printed it out and will be testing it to see if they comply with their contract which states that it is a legally binding agreement. I will report back to you after the cruise.

Thank you. I was hoping someone would do that. Yes, the Passage Contract becomes binding on both parties once the deposit is paid.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

Ha!! Ha!! The rebellion wasn't over the price of alcohol.

Glad you picked-up on that. Pretty sure the "rum" corp had their hands in the till, sort of an unofficial tax. Correct, the rebellion was about overthrowing Bligh - that guy just didn't know how to get on with people.

[Aus Traveller]

Just now, arxcards said:

Glad you picked-up on that. Pretty sure the "rum" corp had their hands in the till, sort of an unofficial tax. Correct, the rebellion was about overthrowing Bligh - that guy just didn't know how to get on with people.

A gang of racketeers in the military led by John Macarthur ran the colony primarily for their own financial benefit. They imported the spirits (called rum even some wasn't actually rum) and set the price. The colony was short of coin so rum became the currency. The UK government sent Bligh to sort things out but the military arrested him and kicked him out of the colony. The racketeers ran the colony for two years before Governor Lachlan Macquarie arrived with his own military back-up.

[SinbadThePorter]

2 hours ago, arxcards said:

the rebellion was about overthrowing Bligh - that guy just didn't know how to get on with people.

 

He couldn't get along with crooks and psychos like Fletcher Christian and John Macarthur. 😁

[arxcards]

7 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

He couldn't get along with crooks and psychos like Fletcher Christian and John Macarthur. 😁

Probably wouldn't get on with their descendants either.

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

A gang of racketeers in the military led by John Macarthur ran the colony primarily for their own financial benefit. They imported the spirits (called rum even some wasn't actually rum) and set the price. The colony was short of coin so rum became the currency. The UK government sent Bligh to sort things out but the military arrested him and kicked him out of the colony. The racketeers ran the colony for two years before Governor Lachlan Macquarie arrived with his own military back-up.

Key word is racketeers. Not only importing grog but controlling supply and pricing. Anyone trying to make sly grog in competition was shut down or arrested by the same redcoats that were aiding supply of the official drop. ICAC would have had a field day.

 

Lots of modern-day parallels when you think about it, except it is mostly private sector these days. Free enterprise at work.

[aussielozzie18]

I took 2 bottles of wine on my last Princess cruise.  I was cruising solo and paying double so I had no qualms about taking two.  No issues - they went through the x-ray.  I plan to do the same with my upcoming cruise on the Majestic.

[OzKiwiJJ]

35 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

I took 2 bottles of wine on my last Princess cruise.  I was cruising solo and paying double so I had no qualms about taking two.  No issues - they went through the x-ray.  I plan to do the same with my upcoming cruise on the Majestic.

But did you take them to the MDR or buffet? That's where the corkage kicks in. A couple of bottles per cabin if consumed in the cabin isn't the issue. Those of us who abhor the poor quality wines currently on Princess, and the exhorbitant prices of decent wines by the bottle, would like to take wines onboard to drink with our meals. On some of the longer cruises that could mean a couple of cases or more. $30 per bottle is an outrageous corkage fee. Unfortunately Princess is now converting the USD price to AUD using our currently bad exchange rate. In the past it was just $15 regardless of onboard currency, and although expensive it was compatable with upmarket restaurant corkage fees. Now it's ridiculously high.