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

[aussielozzie18]

9 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

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.

I just drank them in my cabin - actually on my balcony.  Yes, I’ve seen the corkage charge has increased substantially.  I’ve got bottle of Moët that I am looking forward to drinking on my balcony on my upcoming Majestic Cruise. Might bring a bottle of Rose too. Can understand your frustration with the new corkage on longer cruises though.

[Zetta83]

On 10/13/2023 at 8:21 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

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.

Not giving ideas and not a drinker but, what stopping anyone from filling the wine in a keep cup whilst in the cabin and drinking in buffet? Doubt anyone who sniff your cup.

[Jean C]

9 hours ago, Zetta83 said:

Not giving ideas and not a drinker but, what stopping anyone from filling the wine in a keep cup whilst in the cabin and drinking in buffet? Doubt anyone who sniff your cup.

Hahaha, you're giving people naughty ideas 💡 🤣

[arxcards]

9 hours ago, Zetta83 said:

Not giving ideas and not a drinker but, what stopping anyone from filling the wine in a keep cup whilst in the cabin and drinking in buffet? Doubt anyone who sniff your cup.

Who would suspect a thing? 

[Aus Traveller]

12 hours ago, Zetta83 said:

Not giving ideas and not a drinker but, what stopping anyone from filling the wine in a keep cup whilst in the cabin and drinking in buffet? Doubt anyone who sniff your cup.

A lot of people take a full wine glass from their cabin to the dining room, but the permitted one bottle of wine doesn't last long. 😁

[OzKiwiJJ]

12 hours ago, Zetta83 said:

Not giving ideas and not a drinker but, what stopping anyone from filling the wine in a keep cup whilst in the cabin and drinking in buffet? Doubt anyone who sniff your cup.

Nothing. You can even put it in a regular wine glass and take it with you. Just don't take the bottle!

[Zetta83]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

A lot of people take a full wine glass from their cabin to the dining room, but the permitted one bottle of wine doesn't last long. 😁

I believe it is 1 bottle per adult per voyage. So all you need is to travel with someone or more who does not drink or drink much and bring it for you 😁.

 

My wife and myself are not drinkers, so the one bottle + any event freebies we attend will be enough. 

[NSWP]

I have seen quite a few cruisers walk out of their cabin with a wine glass full and proceed to MDR/Buffet.  Waiters are not real impressed, no commission for them. I have also seen the head waiters at the door speak to cruisers re same. Just take the same type of glass in as sold in bars or provided in your cabin, not these ones below...

[NSWP]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

A lot of people take a full wine glass from their cabin to the dining room, but the permitted one bottle of wine doesn't last long. 😁

Bring back ye olde cruising days when we brought on a couple of these beauties....

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

9 hours ago, NSWP said:

Bring back ye olde cruising days when we brought on a couple of these beauties....

 

If you have the Plus package you'll get those anyway - the Cab Merlot at least. They haven't worked out that Australians like Pinot Grigio - they think we all drink Semillion/SavBlanc or over-oaked Chardonnay! 🤬

[2022cruisey]

Hoping all of you experts may be able to help, please.

If you take non alcoholic wine on board, do they charge corkage?  Mum is recovering from liver cancer and can’t drink alcohol but still likes a glass of wine with her meal.   On the Grand earlier this year they didn’t have any zero alcohol options for her.

[Aus Traveller]

11 minutes ago, 2022cruisey said:

Hoping all of you experts may be able to help, please.

If you take non alcoholic wine on board, do they charge corkage?  Mum is recovering from liver cancer and can’t drink alcohol but still likes a glass of wine with her meal.   On the Grand earlier this year they didn’t have any zero alcohol options for her.

They won't have zero alcohol options on board. If she takes non-alcoholic wine with her it will be queried. She will have to be prepared to point out where it says on the label that it is non-alcoholic.

[arxcards]

The issue is that non-alcoholic wine is still labelled as wine, and the corkage charges apply to bottles of wine.

 

If the right people are judging this, you would hope common-sense applies. Might be worth asking their call centre .... on 2nd thoughts, scrap that idea. If it isn't written in a document, they won't know.

[LittleFish1976]

5 hours ago, 2022cruisey said:

Hoping all of you experts may be able to help, please.

If you take non alcoholic wine on board, do they charge corkage?  Mum is recovering from liver cancer and can’t drink alcohol but still likes a glass of wine with her meal.   On the Grand earlier this year they didn’t have any zero alcohol options for her.

 

It's not really wine though.

 

If they query you, get bossy and have them look up the definition of wine:

 

'an alcoholic drink made from fermented grape juice.'

 

 

[lyndarra]

7 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

 

It's not really wine though.

 

If they query you, get bossy and have them look up the definition of wine:

 

'an alcoholic drink made from fermented grape juice.'

 

 

My understanding is that corkage has nothing to do with the alcohol, it's to do with the provision of wine glasses and serving by waiters etc.. A carry over from restaurant practise. Non alcoholic drinks such as soda and water for example have to be in cans nowadays?

Corkage on cruises is, IMO, is a penalty for not buying the ship wine.

Edited October 21, 2023 by lyndarra
typo

[LittleFish1976]

18 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

My understanding is that corkage has nothing to do with the alcohol, it's to do with the provision of wine glasses and serving by waiters etc.. A carry over from restaurant practise. Non alcoholic drinks such as soda and water for example have to be in cans nowadays?

Corkage on cruises is, IMO, is a penalty for not buying the ship wine.

 

I must have misunderstood then. I thought the corkage was for bottles of alcohol for which they have a limited amount of 'free of corkage' per person or per cabin but beyond that you are required to pay the corkage regardless of where you consume the stuff.

 

I dare say you could purchase non-alcoholic wine for your family member in cans if it were to make a difference. I have recently purchased non-alcoholic cocktail-type beverages in cans (they were disgusting - I can do a review if anyone is interested 😉) ; it seems non-alcoholic drinks are very popular with young people these days so the options are growing.

 

Given your family member has a legitimate medical reason for bringing on board what cannot be supplied by the ship, I think it would be extraordinary for them to refuse you permission or to charge you for the bringing on-board of such a thing.

 

Did a quick search for you;

https://sansdrinks.com.au/blogs/non-alcoholic-drinks/your-guide-to-non-alcoholic-wine-in-a-can

 

 

[arxcards]

30 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

 

I must have misunderstood then. I thought the corkage was for bottles of alcohol for which they have a limited amount of 'free of corkage' per person or per cabin but beyond that you are required to pay the corkage regardless of where you consume the stuff.

 

I dare say you could purchase non-alcoholic wine for your family member in cans if it were to make a difference. I have recently purchased non-alcoholic cocktail-type beverages in cans (they were disgusting - I can do a review if anyone is interested 😉) ; it seems non-alcoholic drinks are very popular with young people these days so the options are growing.

 

Given your family member has a legitimate medical reason for bringing on board what cannot be supplied by the ship, I think it would be extraordinary for them to refuse you permission or to charge you for the bringing on-board of such a thing.

 

Did a quick search for you;

https://sansdrinks.com.au/blogs/non-alcoholic-drinks/your-guide-to-non-alcoholic-wine-in-a-can

 

 

That does require common-sense to be applied to something that doesn't quite fit with the wording of their policies. The initial bottle is only charged corkage if taken to a dining venue, where the waiters would be expected to keep it and serve as required. So there are two policies to hurdle, which both have different ideas as to what corkage is. Thank heavens Princess doesn't charge to bring it on, then charge again to take it to dinner (oops, did I say that out loud).

 

Bringing on any more than your one bottle onto the ship, corkage is not about serving or glasses.

Bringing any bottle to the dining room, including your one bottle, corkage is all about service and glasses.

 

From the policy, which is listed under Bringing Alcohol Onboard

On the day of embarkation, guests are permitted to bring one 750ml (no larger) bottle of wine or champagne onboard per voyage, which will not be subject to a corkage fee if consumed in Your stateroom. Additional wine or champagne bottles are welcome, but will incur an AU$30 or US$20 corkage fee each, irrespective of where they are intended to be consumed. 

So it isn't alcohol and shouldn't apply, and you should be able to take as much as you like aboard to your cabin without corkage being payable if they can look past the wine label.

 

But, it says wine on the bottle, and corkage (server) charges would apply:

Corkage charges apply to wines and/or champagne brought onboard and consumed in the dining room or alternative restaurants, including additional bottles irrespective of where they are intended to be consumed, as outlined in the Bringing Alcohol Onboard section.

 

Unfortunately, there is a lot of effort to get the wine aboard intact, still not knowing if you will be charged corkage. The issue though isn't about being denied the opportunity of taking it aboard, as would be the case on P&O, but whether you would be charged corkage for doing so.

[MicCanberra]

On 7/13/2023 at 11:48 AM, 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. 

Some ports are much more lenient than others.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, lyndarra said:

My understanding is that corkage has nothing to do with the alcohol, it's to do with the provision of wine glasses and serving by waiters etc.. A carry over from restaurant practise. Non alcoholic drinks such as soda and water for example have to be in cans nowadays?

Corkage on cruises is, IMO, is a penalty for not buying the ship wine.

Yes, that is true, a fee to cover service glasses etc, but $30 per bottle is more than excessive! Princess needs to take a reality check on things like that. Just converting the US price to AUD doesn't take into account local charges for such things. There might be the odd three hat restaurant that might deign to allow someone to bring a special bottle of wine to that restaurant and charge them $30 corkage but Princess is a long way from a three hat restaurant. If they're going to charge me $30 corkage I expect to get the correct Riedal wine glasses for the wine I'm drinking and that doesn't happen on Princess. They do have decent wine glasses if you can get your hands on them but they aren't specific to the type of wine.

 

No, there is no requirement for soft drinks and water to be in cans on Princess. This is a myth perpetuated by P&O cruisers.

[Zetta83]

12 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yes, that is true, a fee to cover service glasses etc, but $30 per bottle is more than excessive! Princess needs to take a reality check on things like that. Just converting the US price to AUD doesn't take into account local charges for such things. There might be the odd three hat restaurant that might deign to allow someone to bring a special bottle of wine to that restaurant and charge them $30 corkage but Princess is a long way from a three hat restaurant. If they're going to charge me $30 corkage I expect to get the correct Riedal wine glasses for the wine I'm drinking and that doesn't happen on Princess. They do have decent wine glasses if you can get your hands on them but they aren't specific to the type of wine.

 

No, there is no requirement for soft drinks and water to be in cans on Princess. This is a myth perpetuated by P&O cruisers.

True about the soft drinks part, as there is no mention of soft drinks in the passenger contract. At the very least for Australia. 

 

Can drinks however is easier to consume when compared to large bottles. Also, from cruise lines' POV harder to tamper, hence lesser possibility of questions.

[Relaxing Robbies]

On 10/13/2023 at 11:36 AM, 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.

I am reporting back on our experience as promised. 

 

We were among the earliest passengers to board and there was no alcohol table set up to collect corkage. We had 6 bottles of wine and they were ignored when we went through the security xray. We added to our collection, carrying one bottle each onboard at several ports.

 

When we took bottles of wine to the MDR we had varying experiences. A few nights no corkage was charged. After 2 charges of $30 appeared on our account I went to Guest Services with my copy of my passage contract in hand. They copied the relevant page, sent off an email and the charges were corrected to $15. The next $30 charge appeared, same process, but it never got corrected. I did not follow that up again because we were not charged a few times. Another night the waiters said they would have to charge corkage, and I agreed but pointed out to them that our charge should be $15, not $30. Maybe it was all too hard for them, because no charge appeared on our account.

 

Sorry that it is not the definitive answer that you were looking for, but I guess you will be fine if you have a copy of the Passage Contract. The lady at Guest Services did not argue with me at all.

[Aus Traveller]

11 hours ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

I am reporting back on our experience as promised. 

 

We were among the earliest passengers to board and there was no alcohol table set up to collect corkage. We had 6 bottles of wine and they were ignored when we went through the security xray. We added to our collection, carrying one bottle each onboard at several ports.

 

When we took bottles of wine to the MDR we had varying experiences. A few nights no corkage was charged. After 2 charges of $30 appeared on our account I went to Guest Services with my copy of my passage contract in hand. They copied the relevant page, sent off an email and the charges were corrected to $15. The next $30 charge appeared, same process, but it never got corrected. I did not follow that up again because we were not charged a few times. Another night the waiters said they would have to charge corkage, and I agreed but pointed out to them that our charge should be $15, not $30. Maybe it was all too hard for them, because no charge appeared on our account.

 

Sorry that it is not the definitive answer that you were looking for, but I guess you will be fine if you have a copy of the Passage Contract. The lady at Guest Services did not argue with me at all.

Which ship were you on?

[windsor26]

On 10/21/2023 at 6:28 PM, LittleFish1976 said:

 

I must have misunderstood then. I thought the corkage was for bottles of alcohol for which they have a limited amount of 'free of corkage' per person or per cabin but beyond that you are required to pay the corkage regardless of where you consume the stuff.

 

I dare say you could purchase non-alcoholic wine for your family member in cans if it were to make a difference. I have recently purchased non-alcoholic cocktail-type beverages in cans (they were disgusting - I can do a review if anyone is interested 😉) ; it seems non-alcoholic drinks are very popular with young people these days so the options are growing.

 

Given your family member has a legitimate medical reason for bringing on board what cannot be supplied by the ship, I think it would be extraordinary for them to refuse you permission or to charge you for the bringing on-board of such a thing.

 

Did a quick search for you;

https://sansdrinks.com.au/blogs/non-alcoholic-drinks/your-guide-to-non-alcoholic-wine-in-a-can

 

 

If you have time  write to Princess and advise that on medical advice she no longer drinks alcohol and can she bring the non alco on board   Did this with a  relation who was told to drink a can of Guiness for medical reasons and with the doctors letters (as it was alcohol) they allowed it

[Relaxing Robbies]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

Which ship were you on?

Grand Princess

[NSWP]

On 12/21/2023 at 9:07 AM, windsor26 said:

If you have time  write to Princess and advise that on medical advice she no longer drinks alcohol and can she bring the non alco on board   Did this with a  relation who was told to drink a can of Guiness for medical reasons and with the doctors letters (as it was alcohol) they allowed it

But you can buy canned Guinness on board. In UK you can buy non alcohol Guinness, not sure if it is available here yet.