Bringing wine on lately?

[bickee]

Hi all! I know in the past Princess has been fairly lax about how much wine you bring on, even though I believe it states 1-2 bottles per person. Wondering if anyone's had any trouble lately bringing more, specifically on the Crown? Thanks!!!

[ggprincess2004]

We just received another hard copy of the passage contract with our 12/1 sailing packet. Again, no limit is shown for wine/champagne. Hard liquor will be held until disembark.

[sherman931]

Don't know about the Crown, but just sailed on CB two weeks ago. Packed two bottles of wine (1 in each suitcase) in my checked bags. Packed 9 bottles of wine in my roll aboard. Went right thru the luggage scanner without anyone so much as blinking. Not sure what the security people look for (hope they are looking for something:eek: ) but apparently bottles do not attract their attention on the x-ray.

[Cruisin4eva]

Sherman931-

Just curious... did they charge you corkage fees on all those?

[Hoyaheel]

We brought tons of wine on the Pacific Princess in Alaska at the beginning of the month. No problems. (a couple bottles carry-on, more in the checked bags) The wine we brought on was for consumption in our cabin, so no corkage fee. We always travel with our own corkscrew, too:D We bought wine with dinner a few nights as well.

[sherman931]

Sherman931-

Just curious... did they charge you corkage fees on all those?

 

This was my best "corkage cruise" yet. On previous cruises it was sporadic. On this cruise I was charged for one bottle the first night at dinner. That was the only time, even though we had wine every night at dinner. There were four of us and we had anytime dining, but we liked the staff at our table the first night. I asked if we could reserve that table every night and we got 8 PM reservations, but they said they couldn't guarantee we would get that table, but every night we did. Needless to say, the waitstaff got extra tips.:D

 

Bob

[bickee]

Great! I actually bought a box created to ship 6 bottles. Yes ridiculous, I know. I love wine before and with dinner!!! So let's hope the box doesn't disappear!!!

[Cruisin4eva]

Bickee-Hey, I hear ya on liking wine before and with dinner!! .... and after!:)

 

Sherman931- I find to be a hit and miss also with corkage fees... sometimes I get charged and other times not. We do the same as far as the tip goes.

[geenafeena]

got off the crown on the 9/15. we packed 3 bottles of wine wrapped in bubble wrap in a small suitcase with wheels and carried it on. the guy opened up the suitcase (i couldn't even lift it, we also had a case of soda, etc.) said "what is in here, wine". I said yes and off we went. I also packed a bottle of rum in bubble wrap in my checked-in suitcase with no problem.

 

we didn't get charged a corkage fee in the dining room.

[bickee]

I've never been charged a corkage fee but I've always been lucky. I think it all just depends.

[sharpie13]

In April, DW and I carried on 6 bottles of wine and one bottle of champagne, with no problems and no questions.

 

We also purchased several bottles off the wine list. We were chagred the $15 corkage for our own wines served in the dining room, but considering the same wine was on the wine list for $190, paying the corkage is a deal! We carried home one of the same bottles we carried on, again no problems.

[WNcruiser]

We sailed on the Crown on 9/15 and brought several bottles for two cabins. They did check our bags to make sure it wasn't liquor, but they could care less about the amount of wine we had.

 

We noticed several bottles of liquor that had been taken next to the X-ray machines. There were no Princess personnel there, only private pier security.

[bickee]

Thank you!!! Puts my mind more at ease. :)

[VOLEYMOM]

Just off the Caribbean Princess and when we checked in we noticed a sign that said, please only 1 bottle of wine or champagne. There were 9 of us traveling so we already had made a trip to Total Wine and bought about 20 bottles of wine and champagne. We had them package them in 2 boxes made for wine shipping and put room tags on them and shipped them with our luggage. No problem. We did have to pay corkage fee probably on over half of them. We had traditional dining and our waiter told us that they were getting very firm about making you pay to open it. Still saved us money and we had the wine that we like.

[BluIDblonde]

We got onto the Crown (In mid August) with 2 bottles of wine in the carry on bag. The bag was opened by security. They asked what was in there, we said "wine" and they said "go ahead." In the other carry on, there was vodka, no one opened the bag and we went right onto the boat.

[cruisegirl06]

Awesome, this is just what I wanted to hear. My mom and I are sailing on the Golden in December and we love our wine. Other lines seem so against bringing wine aboard, but I'm glad Princess allows it, that leaves more money for frozen drinks and adventures ashore:).

[flobee]

In April, DW and I carried on 6 bottles of wine and one bottle of champagne, with no problems and no questions.

 

We also purchased several bottles off the wine list. We were chagred the $15 corkage for our own wines served in the dining room, but considering the same wine was on the wine list for $190, paying the corkage is a deal! We carried home one of the same bottles we carried on, again no problems.

 

Now I'm confused. I thought if you brought wine that was on the Princess wine list, you were not charged corkage fee as they wouldn't know if it was a gift sent to your room.

[nowornever]

We were visiting a winery (L'ecole in WA State) & found bubble wrap wine skins which have an adhesive bottom so they can be reused several times & then you can use packing tape when the sticky stuff goes away. They were $2.00 & a real find. Our group cleaned them out. You could probably find them in a packing supply place. Before finding these, we packed bottles in bubble wrap & then inserted in the plastic bags that the morning newspaper comes in & packed between stuff in the suitcase. Knock on wood, we've never had a problem. Cheers

[spingal]

I leave on Thursday for Hawaii on the Diamond Princess. This is a very special family cruise and I have many very expensive bottles of Chardonnay that I have boxed up and plan to wheel thru security in San Pedro. Everytime we have cruised, this is what I have done and I have never had a problem. We also like to have wine in our stateroom and these are wines that are not available on board.

 

I checked the Passenger contract and it does not say that we can only bring on 1 or 2 bottles per person. So I plan to have the contract ready to show anyone that may attempt to take our wine. My Dad paid for this very special trip and the wine is my way of thanking him for treating the family so well. So I will be very upset if anyone tries to take it.

 

Does anyone have recent experience at San Pedro?? Thanks!

[Crusin Karen]

Another question about wine...I drink wine spritzers. Chablis with lemon lime soda. I buy the 4L Carlo Rossi screw top "cheap stuff." "Good" wines make me feel sick! :confused: I usually pre mix wine spritzers and take on in lemon lime soda bottles. But if Princess allows wine, I won't have to do that. Would I "get away" with a 4L bottle?? Might be good water cooler talk for them lol.

[Cruise Amuse]

We've never had a problem bringing wine and champagne onboard Princess and we have a hardside suitcase just for wine (we bubble wrap the bottles). We were on the Crown in June and they were diligent about charging the $15 corkage fee on everything brought to the dining room that does NOT appear on their wine list. I thought it was strange that they don't charge a corkage fee if it's on their wine list until I read a previous entry that said they don't know whether it was a gift delivered to your stateroom (that makes sense now). We also like wine in our cabin before dinner so we always bring quite a few bottles and no one has questioned it. We usually have a case of water delivered to our cabin too (we just put a luggage tag on it); my husband likes Evian and I like not having to spend $2 a bottle onboard.

[HotJet]

We can tell you our recent experience bringing wine onboard. We sailed on CB out of FLL in Aug this year. Carrying 3 bottles of wine in a cardboard wine carrier. We were approached by a Princess employee and told we could only bring 1 bottle per person. :( She took one of our bottles, but a label on it and said it would be returned to us at the end of our cruise. This had never happened to us before. Our previous cruse on the Crown out of NY we brought 6 bottles in a cardboard wine case...no problems. When we told the employee about the lack of limit in the passenger contract she said the Cruise Answer book clearly states 1 bottle per person. We were not in the mood to argue as we stood there waiting to get aboard. They actually delivered the bottle in the morning of the last day at sea. We had it for dinner the last night. No idea if this represents a change in policy or just a very officious employee but this was our recent experience.

 

I leave on Thursday for Hawaii on the Diamond Princess. This is a very special family cruise and I have many very expensive bottles of Chardonnay that I have boxed up and plan to wheel thru security in San Pedro. Everytime we have cruised, this is what I have done and I have never had a problem. We also like to have wine in our stateroom and these are wines that are not available on board.

 

I checked the Passenger contract and it does not say that we can only bring on 1 or 2 bottles per person. So I plan to have the contract ready to show anyone that may attempt to take our wine. My Dad paid for this very special trip and the wine is my way of thanking him for treating the family so well. So I will be very upset if anyone tries to take it.

 

Does anyone have recent experience at San Pedro?? Thanks!

[senior lady]

We were on the Island this past May, and had no trouble taking wine onboard. We have a smaller rolling suitcase that we pack the wine in and just lift it on the security machine and off we go:D I also carried on a 18pk of beer, 18 pk of coke, in a brown paper bag and again no problem. I think if you keep the wine out of sight then it's not a problem.

 

We also arrived at the pier around 2:45 pm and the people were already starting to pack up stuff. There wasn't anyone there. We were on the ship in 10 min.

[Crusin Karen]

Getting a little "OT" here, but if Princess allows one bottle/pp and they see 6 bottles, I could "understand" them taking 4 bottles away. But if you were ONE bottle over the limit, I think it's pretty cheesy to take one away. A good roll eyes and smirk while putting the bottle back in the suitcase might be better PR IMO. :rolleyes: But I don't want to start a debate on this beautiful Sunday morning! So, does anyone have any advice about one BIG bottle??? Also, what the heck is the difference between wine and liquor? Why don't they just say every person can bring one bottle of "spirits" on board? The "main" reason I smuggle my spritzers is because as I said, "good wine" doesn't agree with me lol, and they charge me the SAME PRICE for a spritzer which is 1/2 filled with soda as for a full glass of wine. I could just bring on the soda and buy the wine and mix myself, but I don't like their wine, so I go in a circle! When we were on Spirit CTN a few weeks ago there was a woman at the bar in the casino. She ordered a glass of red wine. They gave it to her in this beautiful big balloon wine glass. It had about 2" of wine in it and charge with tip was $9.20. She screamed bloody hell. :mad: She had a few drinks under her belt already and was NOT happy with that charge and let them know it. I pulled her aside and said, lesson learned. Next time bring your own. :D

[spingal]

We can tell you our recent experience bringing wine onboard. We sailed on CB out of FLL in Aug this year. Carrying 3 bottles of wine in a cardboard wine carrier. We were approached by a Princess employee and told we could only bring 1 bottle per person. :( She took one of our bottles, but a label on it and said it would be returned to us at the end of our cruise. This had never happened to us before. Our previous cruse on the Crown out of NY we brought 6 bottles in a cardboard wine case...no problems. When we told the employee about the lack of limit in the passenger contract she said the Cruise Answer book clearly states 1 bottle per person. We were not in the mood to argue as we stood there waiting to get aboard. They actually delivered the bottle in the morning of the last day at sea. We had it for dinner the last night. No idea if this represents a change in policy or just a very officious employee but this was our recent experience.

 

Thank you for all of your help!! I did find the statement in the Cruise Answer Book. This is definitely something new. There are 5 adults going so we can carry on 5 bottles. The remainder we will bubble wrap and put in suitcases! One per suitcase!

 

Thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!! You really saved me! :D