What are the latest corkage fees?

[IMNiles]

For those comparing experiences, there seems to have been a dramatic shift in enforcement sometime around the end of August. As Critterchick mentioned earlier, I had a number of bottles of wine from Gifts&Gear delivered to my stateroom. I was never questioned when I arrived at dinner with a full glass of wine, but the first time I appeared with a bottle, I was told of the fee. I complained to the waiter, the headwaiter, and guest relations, not so much about the fee itself, but about the fact that I was not warned when it was ordered, nor when it was delivered. The wine wasn't expensive enough to justify a $12 fee, anyway. Had I known I probably would have chosen different wine, or opted not to order all the wine delivered to my room. Eventually I got them to waive the fee once for the "misunderstanding" and I took to just arriving at dinner with a full glass. On the last night, I brought an opened bottle and was not questioned, perhaps because they didn't want to fight about it.

 

In my discussions with the headwaiter, he admitted that it had been the policy for a while, but that they had just begun strictly enforcing it. He also said that the home office was checking up on them and they'd get in trouble if they didn't enforce the rule.

[sessa]

The W&D package is only available on the first day you board and only until dinner begins. They say there are limited number of packages available (but I would imagine they have never turned someone away!) You basically are 'pre-purchasing' your wine to use in the dining room. You can buy 5, 7, 10 or 12 bottles of wine at Gold, Platinum or Diamond level. The Gold level only has a choice of about 10 wines, the Platimum has maybe 15 wines and the Diamond maybe 20.

 

Each night you get the list of wines from your package and you pick one (or 2 or 3) to have. If you don't finish it, they will bring it back the next night (and so on until you finish it). You can share the package or assign a wine to someone else. So if you and another couple decide to do a 10 wine package, you can split it 5 wines each or they do 4 and you do 6 or whatever you like. We actually sent a bottle from our package to some friends at another table. We just asked the waiter to let them pick from our list.

 

They have said they are going to eventually put it online for advance purchase, but that has not yet been done. For a pricing example, we bought 7 wines at the highest (Diamond) level and it was $189 + 15% gratuity. The Platinum was about $179 for the same package. Can't remember what the Gold was. The package we got avg out to $27 a bottle. We ended up getting 5 or 6 of our wines that were all $30-$35 off the list. So we did save money.

 

If you are picky/particular about your wines, I would not recommend this package. The wine selection if only ok compared to their full wine list. If you would like wine with dinner but are on a budget - this is a good way to stay within that budget and still enjoy some decent wine. The next time I am planning on buying a smaller package and going off the main wine list once or twice. That way I mostly stay within a budget, but have a couple of free days to pick a favorite or more appropriate wine.

 

 

Thankyou Amy for explaining it so well.

Thankyou Amy for explaining it so well.

[feelthephunk]

so can you bring any unfinished wine back to your cabin with you after dinner?

[Pumbaamd]

Phunk,

Yes you can!

[jealdaka]

Thanks for all of the information. Not what I really wanted to hear but at least I have a better idea of what to expect.

 

I too had no problem with a fee for wine that was brought on board in the past but do have a big one with paying to enjoy wine that my agent or a friend has sent to our room just because we decide to have it in the dining room.