Great Liquor Debate

[johnnycruise]

In the current Cruise Critic article, Members Speak Out: The Great Liquor Debate (http://cruisecritic.com/features/articles.cfm?ID=355), it mentions Seabourn charges a $10 corkage fee for wine brought on board. I've never heard of a corkage fee on SB. Is this something (very) new?

 

johnny

[LaPaloma]

In the current Cruise Critic article, Members Speak Out: The Great Liquor Debate (http://cruisecritic.com/features/articles.cfm?ID=355), it mentions Seabourn charges a $10 corkage fee for wine brought on board. I've never heard of a corkage fee on SB. Is this something (very) new?

 

johnny

Never heard of such a thing--we were on board Legend last week--nothing was said about such a charge! Doubt very much that such charge exists!

[CASHIPman]

Oh, technically it does exist...and I believe it's actually USD13.00 (or at least that's what I recall an email from Seabourn stating) however, we've never been levied the corkage and we've brought a ton of wine on Seabourn.

[blackbird71]

Once in awhile when I peek into some other forums they always have a thread going on "how to sneak booze onboard". :rolleyes: I found there is a company that has a whole line of plastic flasks targeting the cruise travelers. ( Rum Runner Flasks ) I find the buy the unlimited soda cards so that you can get a "free" soda and run to your cabin to pour something into it and run back to the pool just too much work. :D

 

BB is addicted to Diet Coke so for my Celebrity cruise I plan to order on the first day, 24 cans of Diet Coke (lol at 2-3 dollars a can) for my cabin and be done with it.

[Seabourn-nail]

On Seabourn ships it would be like "carrying water to the sea" to bring your own wine or other drinks. In my opinion one would always find an "acceptable" wine (mostly much better than that). So why would anyone bother to bring their own bottles? You can do that again when you're at home, or go ashore and drink the local wines there. But then again, do as you please!

[Iamboatman]

I've never experienced or heard of a corkage charge being sought on Seabourn.

 

However last summer on Regent I was asked to pay a corkage charge for a bottle of wine that was simply transferred from our table to a lounge. I didn't pay it and when I mentioned it to the Hotel Manager he just shook his head in disbelief.

 

The issue on most mass-market lines is bringing aboard wine from duty free ports.

 

Celebrity is very good about bringing your own onboard. I have taken my a case of my own wine and had it placed in my suite without any issue. (It was a longer cruise!) In fact my butler graciously replenished a couple of bottles gratis towards the end of the cruise. I assume that if I brought a bottle to the dining room there would have been a charge.

 

Royal Caribbean is similar, however last month a client insisted on calling RCCL and was told there was an absolute prohibition. He eventually listened to me, packed the wine and liquor, and just walked on board without issue.

 

One of the nice things about Seabourn is that you don't have to deal with poor quality wines or 200% mark ups or corkage charges!:)

[hoya68]

On our recent two week honeymoon cruise on the Legend we brought two bottles of very special wine, which we were certain would not be available on board. There was nor corkage charge, and the wine service was exceptional. Of course, we shared a glass of each with the sommelier. We also bought the wine package, which was an excellent value. It also gave us an opportunity to share some great wine with friends we made on board. The house wine on the ship is certainly quite good, but if one wants something special to have on some evenings to complement the excellent Seabourn cuisine, bringing a few bottles and/or buying one of the wine packages is the way to go.

[johnnycruise]

It almost seems like Seabourn should credit us passengers a nominal fee for bringing our own wine rather than drinking what we've already paid for.:rolleyes:

 

The corkage fee might be somewhere in the "rules," but if it's never enforced then the author of the "booze on the cruise" article either shouldn't have mentioned it or should have qualified it.

[CASHIPman]

It almost seems like Seabourn should credit us passengers a nominal fee for bringing our own wine rather than drinking what we've already paid for.:rolleyes:

 

The corkage fee might be somewhere in the "rules," but if it's never enforced then the author of the "booze on the cruise" article either shouldn't have mentioned it or should have qualified it.

 

Exactly. We were surprised when we emailed Seabourn and the response was that there was a corkage fee. We chalked it up to the "rule book" stating one thing and "reality" quite another.

 

I figure that the landlubbers (i.e. head office) assume that those of us who bring our own wines would be more likely to purchase the premium wines vs. having the complimentary wines, and the corkage fee is the "rule book's" way of recouping some of that perceived loss of revenue. The "reality" is that the shipboard folks don't want to be part of any conversations about "nickel-and-diming" passengers.

[PennyAgain]

My husband doesn't believe that Seabourn really includes liquor and wine in the price of your cruise. He wants to know if they cut you off at some point (and I don't mean if someone is falling down drunk).

 

I'm trying to convince him that our money would spend further with Seaborn.

[CASHIPman]

Seabourn doesn't generally attract the "falling down drunk" crowd. I imagine they'd cut such a person off if for no other reason than for the drunkard's and other passengers' safety.

[MuseCruiser]

My husband doesn't believe that Seabourn really includes liquor and wine in the price of your cruise. He wants to know if they cut you off at some point (and I don't mean if someone is falling down drunk).

 

I'm trying to convince him that our money would spend further with Seaborn.

 

They would never cut off a passenger unless there was some sense of threat to safety or passenger complaints. I've never seen it happen and I've been on lots of Seabourn and Silversea cruises.

 

As to the question above why would someone bring his or her own wine on a cruise? It is nice to bring older vintages, sometimes in magnum, from one's own cellar to enjoy.

[CruisinMatt]

He wants to know if they cut you off at some point (and I don't mean if someone is falling down drunk).

 

Absolutely not!

[blackbird71]

M He wants to know if they cut you off at some point (and I don't mean if someone is falling down drunk).

 

there are some very rare exceptions... A lot of forum members were crying at the picture of the poor Sky Bar with it's shelves bare, :eek:during the time the Spirit was docked in Saudi Arabia. :D