Wine on Board

[Mekamax]

Cruznut1111 - thank you - makes me want to try a few coffees and smoothies!! :) I like the chilled coffee and even with alcohol it is probably the same price as a normal Starbucks... :D Debbie

[garycarla]

Does anyone know if they will confiscate "box" wine if is already open? We will probably buy some in Oahu for the hotel and then have some leftover for our balcony on the ship - we are not heavy drinkers:rolleyes:

 

Box wine and not heavy drinkers. Some might consider those conflicting statements.

 

LOL

 

<grin>

[dolliesny]

So bottom line then shall we pack boxed wine in carry ons or checked luggage? Thanks

[cathi007]

Yeah I was wondering the same thing, can I bring an open bottle of wine on and bring to my cabin and of corse pay the corkage fee, or does it have to be sealed?? Thanks, Cathi

[garycarla]

Yeah I was wondering the same thing, can I bring an open bottle of wine on and bring to my cabin and of corse pay the corkage fee, or does it have to be sealed?? Thanks, Cathi

 

It should not be a problem, but there have been reports of even soda's being confiscated, though rare. Best solution - drink it all at the hotel, or wherever you are coming from. Assume it is not a plane.

 

So bottom line then shall we pack boxed wine in carry ons or checked luggage? Thanks

 

Based on the tons of postings here, there is a slightly better chance for carry on, as those that have reported to the "Hall of Shame" to pay fees, etc have reported seeing lots of boxes lined up.

[bobbie0253]

I just booked my first NCL cruise. :o

 

I asked the rep on the phone if you can bring wine on the ship and he said yes and that there was a $15 corkage fee.

 

He said to put it in my checked luggage. Is that accurate? Has anyone carried in on recently?

 

Thanks,

Bobbie <----- who feels like a fish out of water booking NCL :D

[garycarla]

Hi Bobbie

You might want to scroll down through the postings as this is a often discussed topic. Also, a search will give you way more than you will want to read by using the term WINE.

[sauvichick]

I can't believe how strict NCL has become. It wasn't a problem in the past. I brought wines and champagne on HAL in December, didn't hide it (in carry-on) and no problem. We still bought wine on board.

[KeystoneCruiser]

The problem with putting it in your checked luggage is that the bag with the wine will be pulled out and not delivered to your room. You will get a notice asking you to come down to one of the offices where you will then have to pay the corkage fee before they will give you your luggage.

 

If the wine is in your carry on luggage, you can inform the person scanning the luggage that you have it and they will allow you to pay the fee right there and have your luggage. It is less hassle than having to waste cruise time going down to pick up your luggage.

[2inTul]

I can't believe how strict NCL has become. It wasn't a problem in the past. I brought wines and champagne on HAL in December, didn't hide it (in carry-on) and no problem. We still bought wine on board.

 

What is the problem? If you want to bring wine onboard then pay the corkage fee. This is nothing new.

[uneamie]

What is the problem? If you want to bring wine onboard then pay the corkage fee. This is nothing new.

 

Apparantly it is "new" to Bicster who is use to Hal allowing you to take it. Sometimes people like to vent. :rolleyes:

[Ekaj]

We took a couple of bottles on board the Star recently. The funny thing is, I informed a couple of people about our bottles and asked about paying the corkage fee, and they kept telling me I could pay it later. Well, there was never anywhere that I could pay, so we ended up not having to pay the corkage! I have no idea why that happened; my guess is that with so many ships leaving port that day, and b/c it was so late in the day, they didn't care. So no, we didn't smuggle it, and it was in our carry-on. We fully expected to pay the fee, they just never took our money! ???

 

Anyway, NCL does actually have a fairly nice wine list, with prices that were less than some of the restaurants on land for the same bottles. Some are more expensive, yes, but others were quite reasonable, I thought.

 

They were, however, very limited with "by the glass" wines, which was disappointing to my husband and I. He almost always gets seafood, while I don't like it and prefer steak or lamb dishes. It was almost impossible to share a bottle. (In hindsight, we could have gotten our own bottles to drink on subsequent nights, but with only 2 days, it didn't make much sense.) Anyway, while there are a few wines that go with both seafood or red meat, we prefer to get wines that will really highlight the food. However, we actually had one waiter, in Cagney's, argue with us over getting a bottle vs. individual glasses. He was quite unprofessional! He wanted us to get a Pinot Noir, but I'm not a huge Pinot Noir person in the first place. Besides, I was in the mood for a bordeaux style red that night, and DH was getting the lobster and wanted a glass of white! We eventually got the wine we wanted; I say eventually b/c it took until after we had received our second course before he finally brought our wines out. :( (I had a wine that I had ordered for the first course, and another glass meant for the second course.) Oh well - the steak was fabulous, though!

 

I will also say that it seems hit or miss as far as the servers knowing about the wines. NCL apparently has only one wine sommelier on board the entire ship - not even close to enough for all those restaurants! However, our server at the Bistro made very good recommendations for wine, and seemed to know quite a bit about them. My pet peeve with wines is when you ask a server about it, and they say something like, "Oh you should get this one - it's very good." We'd like to know how it's "very good", because what's good to one person may not be to another! (Ex: I hate "sweet" champagnes, while some people love them!) Speaking of which, I did order a glass of champagne at one of the bars, thinking it would be wonderful, and it was a bit too sweet. I was willing to live with it - I had ordered it, after all! - but the bartender was very kind, and switched it for me to a wine that was much better. Was quite nice of him!

 

Anyway, my thought is, if you have a bottle that you love, or one that you always drink at special occasions (as we do!), then do the corkage fee. Otherwise, it just seems like too much of a pain - along with way too much weight in the luggage! ;)

[Niushka]

Today, 10:09 AM

steviem1

Cool Cruiser Join Date: Sep 2002

Location: Farmington Hills, Mi,

Posts: 136

 

Alcohol on-board NCL

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Hi,

 

We were on the Dream in the Baltics in May and we bought wine in London to take on board the ship for the cruise. The crew went through most of all the luggage as it arrived and tagged all the bags with booze. We received a notice that our luggage had been detained and to go and claim it. They confiscated our wine and kept it until the end of the cruise. We have been on many cruises, but not this line, and have always been able to bring our own spirits on board without being accosted by the liquor/wine police. Don't know if this policy is NCL ship wide, but we were surprised. I will say that we had packed 2 bottles of wine in 2 different suitcases and one did get by the liquor police. I'd like to hear from other people who have tried to take wine on board an NCL ship and see what their experiences were. Don't know if this was just one ship or the entire fleet policy. Wouldn't hesitate to try and get a bottle aboard on the next cruise. Worst case scenerio---you can drink it at the airport on your way home.

 

Stevie

 

 

Is this an NCL non booze policy because it is ultimately owned by a Muslin country (Dubai I think)

[beachchick]

Is this an NCL non booze policy because it is ultimately owned by a Muslin country (Dubai I think)

 

No it is not. It's because they want you to buy drinks onboard (more money for them) and because there have been highly publicized incidents that have resulted from pax bringing their own liquor onboard, getting wasted, and then getting hurt or falling overboard. I'm sure the cruise lines' lawyers want them to CYA in advance, and this is one way to do it. Most lines do not (or no longer) allow pax to bring hard liquor onboard. Most do allow wine for a corkage fee, but even that is becoming an issue.

 

beachchick

[YankeeClipper581]

Does anyone know if there is a higher corkage fee for magnum bottles, jug wine or box wine, or if the fee is a constant $15 per container regardless of the volume of wine. I will be on the Dream in january and was debating whether nor not to bother with bringing my own wine and seems more cost effective to bring larger sizes if charged the same corkage fees.

[electricron]

Is this an NCL non booze policy because it is ultimately owned by a Muslin country (Dubai I think)

 

Arabs don't own NCL. NCL is a major part of Star Cruises, which is a part of the Genting Group, a Malaysian Corportation. Dubai has no connections with NCL.

 

Religion has nothing to do with the BYOB policies at NCL/Star Cruises. They sell all forms of alcohol aboard all their ships.

[steve293]

Is there a limit to how many bottles of wine you can bring onboard for a ten day cruise?

[electricron]

Is there a limit to how many bottles of wine you can bring onboard for a ten day cruise?

I haven't heard of any limit. You just pay $15 per bottle as a corkage fee.