Experiences with bringing wine aboard in the Mediterranean?

[terrydtx]

I know the Celebrity's "official" policy is that you can only bring 2 bottles of wine aboard at embarkation, but what has been your experiences with bringing wine aboard at other ports on past cruises in the Mediterranean? With so many great wine ports in France and Italy on our upcoming Century cruise it is almost criminal not being able to bring local wine aboard for consumption in the privacy of our cabin and veranda.:eek:

[Trixsea]

I had no problem in Med 2005 or Northern Europe 2006. This was to bring home, so I was prepared to turn it over, but there was no need.

[terrydtx]

I had no problem in Med 2005 or Northern Europe 2006. This was to bring home, so I was prepared to turn it over, but there was no need.

 

Terry, Thank you, I have heard and read this before about Celebrity that they are inconsistent about checking for wine bottles and confiscating them at some ports. I am asking this question to see if Celebrity has gotten any stricter about enforcement of their policy in the last year.

 

My parents were on a RCCL Med cruise last year and every wine bottle was confiscated upon boarding. What was real funny was they were told by crew members doing the confiscating that bringing any kind of liquor aboard ships was a violation of Maritime law which is an out and out lie.:eek: :eek:

[hajekfam]

We had no problems bringing wine or alcohol aboard on our Nov/Dec Med and transatlantic. However, the bottle of alcohol that we bought at the duty free shop on on board on the first leg, was held until the night before debarkation of the second leg - they had a list of back to back guests and checked against that - even on that busy last day before debarkation.

[Ma Bell]

The answer is that you just never know. You just have to try it and see.

[Leejnd4]

Caveat - my response is second hand, not from my own experience...

 

With that said, I have friends who did the Med on Celebrity last year, and brought wine onboard at almost every port, without a single problem. In addition, I've read numerous posts on this (and another) message board that Celebrity generally does not enforce the no-wine-at-ports rule. I plan on bringing several bottles on at embarkation, and more at most ports we'll be visiting, on my upcoming Med cruise.

 

Bringing wine onboard is extremely important to me, and I carefully researched this issue before I booked my cruise. It is ONLY because I feel confident that it won't be a problem that I booked this cruise. Until my cruise (which isn't until 2009), I will be monitoring this issue closely on this and other boards, and if I learn that there is a change in this, and they DO begin enforcing, I will change my booking to another line that doesn't treat its pax like recalcitrant children.

[Ma Bell]

Having been on many Celebrity cruises I can tell you that it just depends on the Captain and crew. I've seen it go both ways.

[Leejnd4]

Having been on many Celebrity cruises I can tell you that it just depends on the Captain and crew. I've seen it go both ways.

 

I know - and I realize I'm taking a leap of faith by assuming that things will go well on my own cruise. I'm basically banking on the preponderance of evidence, which seems to indicate that it's rarely enforced in the Med. I can only hope that remains true for the next 16 months! I also have another wrinkle - my cruise is on Equinox, which isn't even BUILT yet so we have no evidence at all on how rigid that ship will be. Again...total leap of faith. But hey, I'm a risk-taker! (I jumped out of an airplane TWICE - how's that for a leap of faith! ;) )

[terrydtx]

Caveat - my response is second hand, not from my own experience...

 

With that said, I have friends who did the Med on Celebrity last year, and brought wine onboard at almost every port, without a single problem. In addition, I've read numerous posts on this (and another) message board that Celebrity generally does not enforce the no-wine-at-ports rule. I plan on bringing several bottles on at embarkation, and more at most ports we'll be visiting, on my upcoming Med cruise.

 

Bringing wine onboard is extremely important to me, and I carefully researched this issue before I booked my cruise. It is ONLY because I feel confident that it won't be a problem that I booked this cruise. Until my cruise (which isn't until 2009), I will be monitoring this issue closely on this and other boards, and if I learn that there is a change in this, and they DO begin enforcing, I will change my booking to another line that doesn't treat its pax like recalcitrant children.

 

I plan to do the same both at the embarkation port of Barcelona and other ports along the way. Bringing wine on-board is extremely important to me as well as my DW and I plan to enjoy the view from our balcony with a nice bottle of wine. The main reason we are taking the Century cruise over HAL from Rome was the itinerary or we would have been back on HAL. BTW HAL does not treat their pax like "recalcitrant children" as they have no limits on the amount of wine brought aboard at any port. On our HAL cruise last year I took a case on at embarkation and had to resupply at a couple of ports along the way. Hal also charges a very reasonable corking fee of $15 per bottle unlike X's ripoff of $25.

[ECCruise]

14 day Med. cruise, Celebrity Galaxy, October 2007

 

Many bottles (more than 50) confiscated at every port (they had to set up a long table at the back of the scanner to accomodate the bottles), so yes, they can and do definitely confiscate but like most things in life, nothing is 100%

[bububr]

John and I each brought two bottles on at embarkation in Civitavecchia this past cruise. Then at every port we brought on a local red and white, no problems at all we did see people bringing on liquor getting stopped and surrendering their stash, but not the wine drinkers. We did however bring on a bottle of Raki and Grappa....they didn't say anything. However they were checking water bottles at one port.

 

Dave:eek:

[Leejnd4]

John and I each brought two bottles on at embarkation in Civitavecchia this past cruise. Then at every port we brought on a local red and white, no problems at all we did see people bringing on liquor getting stopped and surrendering their stash, but not the wine drinkers. We did however bring on a bottle of Raki and Grappa....they didn't say anything. However they were checking water bottles at one port.

 

Dave:eek:

 

Checking the water bottles? What for? Were they sniffing them to see if they were filled with booze or some such thing?

 

I would find that to be rather offensive...and personally intrusive.

 

Anyway, glad to hear that you had no problems bringing wine onboard. :)

[chloe68]

I leave next Tuesday and am planning on buying over in Barcelona. Should I pack a wine opener or would that get confiscated?

[Leejnd4]

I leave next Tuesday and am planning on buying over in Barcelona. Should I pack a wine opener or would that get confiscated?

 

If it's in your checked luggage, it'll be fine. I've NEVER heard of a cruise line riffling through someone's luggage to remove a wine opener! (Now watch - someone will post that it happened to them...) :cool:

[3some]

Of course this was 2003 and maybe not very timely, but we brought a local 6 pack of beer and a couple of local bottles of wine from a grocery store at each port that we stopped at from London to Barcelona. They went through the xray machine and no one said a thing.

 

I'm hoping to do the same thing in NZ in Nov. We will buy bottles of wine at dinner and drinks elsewhere on the ship, but it's nice to have the local flavor to have on the balcony.

[bububr]

are provided in every room.

 

If you don't have one ask your room attendant. We have even asked nicely and recieved both red and white wine glasses in our room.

 

Dave:eek:

[terrydtx]

I leave next Tuesday and am planning on buying over in Barcelona. Should I pack a wine opener or would that get confiscated?

 

FYI, I read in a Post awhile back that there is a good wine store in the Barcelona Cruise Port. Also read that Celebrity has no way to keep track of whose has brought their "Official" 2 bottles aboard at embarkation. So I Plan to take our 2 on at check in and then get off the ship and get at least 2 more before we sail.:p WE have some French relatives who live in Provence cruising with us and and you know a Frenchman has to have his daily dose of good wine.:cool:

[Leejnd4]

Also read that Celebrity has no way to keep track of whose has brought their "Official" 2 bottles aboard at embarkation. So I Plan to take our 2 on at check in and then get off the ship and get at least 2 more before we sail.:p

My plan is to pack two bottles in my bag, my Mom's bag, and have each of us carry two bottles on. That will start us out with 8...which should keep us going for a while, at least till the first port! :D (Just kidding!)

 

We're doing a pre-cruise week in Sardinia, which is one place in Italy I've never been, and I've read that there are some awesome wines there. I'm looking forward to trying them, and bringing some onboard to enjoy in our cabin.

[terrydtx]

My plan is to pack two bottles in my bag, my Mom's bag, and have each of us carry two bottles on. That will start us out with 8...which should keep us going for a while, at least till the first port! :D (Just kidding!)

 

We're doing a pre-cruise week in Sardinia, which is one place in Italy I've never been, and I've read that there are some awesome wines there. I'm looking forward to trying them, and bringing some onboard to enjoy in our cabin.

 

If the bottles are in bags that you check at the dock instead of carrying on as you board they most likely will be confiscated. All checked bags are scanned before the stevedores load them on the ship and the scanners will spot bottles with liquids in them. Our last Celebrity cruise in 2006 we had 2 bottles of $40 wine that we thought was hidden in our checked bags confiscated before our luggage was delivered to our room. We were told that the 2 bottles would be returned to us the last night of the cruise. Well guess what, we never saw the bottles again and X told us they had no record of the confiscated wine. I am sure crew members enjoyed our wine.:eek:

[Yahtic]

I leave next Tuesday and am planning on buying over in Barcelona. Should I pack a wine opener or would that get confiscated?

 

Barcelona is an interesting embarkation with relation to wine/liquor, they have a wine shop in the terminal that is located after the security screening so anything goes, buy as much as you want.

[chloe68]

Barcelona is an interesting embarkation with relation to wine/liquor, they have a wine shop in the terminal that is located after the security screening so anything goes, buy as much as you want.

 

why would they do this though if they discourage it? Also, do I just put the liquor in my carry one?

[terrydtx]

Barcelona is an interesting embarkation with relation to wine/liquor, they have a wine shop in the terminal that is located after the security screening so anything goes, buy as much as you want.

 

Does this mean we can buy the wine in the store and not have our purchases screened as we enter the ship? If so, then the problem of taking wine aboard at least in Barcelona, is no problem at all.;)

[sallywingate]

We just got back from Med. cruise last Friday. Prior to the cruise we were in Siena and couldn't resist buying the wine there. Arriving at the port I had 2 bottles of wine in my carryon, 2 in husbands carry on, & 2 in one of the checked bags. We also had some liquor in the socalled rumrunners. Everything went through without a hitch. We also brought back wine at some of the ports - that also went through just fine. At the Amalfi we even brought in some house wine that our tour guide made in his garden. This bottle wasn't even marked and it went through. Have fun & enjoy. Another idea which really worked out well is that in the cabin they have those small wine glasses. Before the cruise I went out and bought two larger plastic wine glasses and 2 regular size glasses. You can get them at the supermarket/Walmart now because it is summer merchandise. We had a wonderful time!!!!

[Leejnd4]

why would they do this though if they discourage it? Also, do I just put the liquor in my carry one?

 

Keep in mind who is doing the "discouraging" - it's the cruise line, not the cruise terminal or any of the merchants located in the terminal. As not every cruise line has a problem with pax bringing beverages on board, there's no reason for a wine shop NOT to be located in the terminal. I'm sure they do a brisk business. :)

 

Sally - encouraging news is always good to read! Posts like yours help me to continue to feel confident that I won't have a problem on my upcoming cruise.

[mybagsarepacked]

It is puzzling to me why Celebrity - or any line for that matter - would have a blanket "Two Bottle" Rule. It seems to me that they would temper their "maximum allowed" based on the length of the cruise. So essentially, in reading their policy, we are allowed only 2 bottles of wine, per cabin, regardless of the length of the cruise...be it a 4 day cruise or a 24 day cruise.

 

That is assinine.

 

I wouldn't mind - and in fact, I would prefer - to buy all my wine on board, if they priced it appropriately and didn't gouge customers by marking it up 400-500%. Selling a $10 bottle of chardonnay for $50 dollars is immoral, in my opinion. I guess it is supply and demand, but we should AT LEAST get the option to bring our own. If nothing else but to be able to choose our favorites rather than have to choose something off their wine lists.

 

If anyone from Celebrity reads these posts, please take this comment into consideration.