What was YOUR experience bringing wine onboard in the Mediterranean?

[Leejnd4]

I am currently booked on a Med cruise on Equinox for next year. One of the reasons I went with Celebrity for this cruise is because I have read numerous reports, both here and elsewhere, that Celebrity tends to be very lax in enforcing their “booze rules” in the Med. This happens to be a very important factor in my cruise decision, due to the fact that I'm a wine lover, and one of the greatest joys of European travel to me (especially around Italy!) is sampling the regional wines. In my previous Med cruises (on lines that don’t have these ridiculous booze rules), we usually purchase local wines while ashore, both before embarkation and in ports, and then bring them back to our cabin to enjoy on our balcony.

 

Today I saw a couple of reports in this forum that Celebrity has been confiscating wine from people in the Med. If this is true, I may want to change to another cruise line that doesn’t have a policy of seizing the legal personal belongings of their passengers. I was previously booked on a similar Seabourn itinerary, but switched over to Celebrity when I saw their Ancient Empires itinerary that I liked even better. But if they are going to prevent me from enjoying one of the best things about the Med (to me), then I may just switch back.

 

To help me make this decision, I’ve created this poll. Please let me know what YOUR experience has been in the Mediterranean, preferably in the past year, on your Celebrity cruise. If you did see enforcement and confiscation going on, and were able to get around it, please let me know how you did it.

 

I would like to respectfully request that those of you who vote in this poll, do so based solely on your actual experiences, or what you saw happening, not what you THINK should happen. Whether you agree with my opinion about Celebrity’s booze rules or not, I am just a fellow cruiser who wants to enjoy my cruise – and I would be pretty upset if all my wine purchases were confiscated. I really do want to make the right choice FOR ME, and if Celebrity is not the right choice, I’d like to know now, before it’s too late to change. On the other hand, I’d hate to walk away from this cruise, which I got at an amazing price for my cabin (which has since gone up almost $1000!) because of bad information submitted in bad faith. I do realize that this is an utterly unscientific poll, but provided everyone votes based on actual experiences, it should at least give me some information to help me with my decision.

 

One last thing: I’d like to also respectfully request that this thread not turn into a debate on booze-smuggling. Those of us who do it are not going to change our opinion, or stop bringing wines onboard, based on posts from those who are against it. So if you are against booze smuggling, and don’t have any actual experiences to report, there’s probably not much of interest for you in this thread. Thanks in advance. :)

[If only]

We actually did the Med last year at this time & we also love wine. We boarded in Venice so we took 2 bottles on board. No problem. We did do this a few times as we also went to Tuscany. We just had to bring wine back right! Anyway we usually just brought back a bottle or 2 depending on where we were cruising to next, to drink on our balcony. We did the 14 night Med cruise. we did not hide the fact that we had a bottle & they all went through the scanner but we did not flaunt it either. We did not have a problem but if you are thinking of 3 or 4 bottles each day you may find them confiscating it I'm not sure. In Europe Celebrity did not seem to mind you bringing wine on board, now if it was hard liquor that maybe different, we did buy Lemoncello to take home so we did not mind if they took that but they did not.

 

We have seen them confiscate it on many Caribbean cruises. Good luck Shirley

[Leejnd4]

We actually did the Med last year at this time & we also love wine. We boarded in Venice so we took 2 bottles on board. No problem. We did do this a few times as we also went to Tuscany. We just had to bring wine back right! Anyway we usually just brought back a bottle or 2 depending on where we were cruising to next, to drink on our balcony. We did the 14 night Med cruise. we did not hide the fact that we had a bottle & they all went through the scanner but we did not flaunt it either. We did not have a problem but if you are thinking of 3 or 4 bottles each day you may find them confiscating it I'm not sure.

 

We have seen them confiscate it on many Caribbean cruises. Good luck Shirley

 

Thanks Shirley! Be sure to vote.

 

Like you, I'm anticipating bringing on only 1 or 2 bottles in each port - depends on how many sea days we have after that port. ;) I also plan on not flaunting it...assuming they're not scanning and seizing, like the recent reports I read.

[If only]

The poll really does not apply. It lumps everything together and I really think Celebrity security looks at it as a bottle of wine or a 40 oz of hard liquor big difference. We have been on 27 Cruises with Celebrity and have brought wine or a small liquer if it has been made where we were and never had a problem.

 

Shirley

[Leejnd4]

The poll really does not apply. It lumps everything together and I really think Celebrity security looks at it as a bottle of wine or a 40 oz of hard liquor big difference. We have been on 27 Cruises with Celebrity and have brought wine or a small liquer if it has been made where we were and never had a problem.

 

Shirley

 

I understand your point - however, note that my poll question specifically says "wine", and that's really all I'm personally concerned about. I'm not that much of a liquor drinker - although I do enjoy a good, aged single-malt Scotch! :) But I can happily forgo that (or buy what the ship offers). What I CAN'T forgo is the opportunity to sample the local wines in all these wonderful places we'll be traveling.

[Cruise Junky]

We took Wine, Beer and knowing my husband hard liquor on board in Barcelona. Next stop, Villefranche, we took 4 or 5 bottles of wine on board. Naples, Lemoncello; Mykonos, more vodka and some Grand Marnier and maybe some Ouzo (we bought ouzo in one greek stop, can't really remember which:) )

 

We hosted the sailaway for our roll call on our FV balcony, everyone brought wine and other assorted "drinks" no one had a problem bringing it on board.

[Susan-M]

On the other hand, I’d hate to walk away from this cruise, which I got at an amazing price for my cabin (which has since gone up almost $1000!) because of bad information submitted in bad faith. I do realize that this is an utterly unscientific poll, but provided everyone votes based on actual experiences, it should at least give me some information to help me with my decision.

 

Hi LeeAnne,

When I read your comments about posting in bad faith, I wondered who would bother doing this ... esp. on a public poll? Boy, am I naive... I looked at the results of your poll and noticed a couple of names that I didn't recognize, and on checking a poster's history, saw that in July he wrote, "I am taking my first Celebrity cruise in January." A fraud ... and so early on in the poll.:(

Although, on second thought, maybe the respondents don't realize that you only want info on Celebrity cruises??

[Leejnd4]

Hi LeeAnne,

When I read your comments about posting in bad faith, I wondered who would bother doing this ... esp. on a public poll? Boy, am I naive... I looked at the results of your poll and noticed a couple of names that I didn't recognize, and on checking a poster's history, saw that in July he wrote, "I am taking my first Celebrity cruise in January." A fraud ... and so early on in the poll.:(

Although, on second thought, maybe the respondents don't realize that you only want info on Celebrity cruises??

 

LOL! Susan, I'm more worried about the people we all know on this board who are passionately opposed to booze smuggling, and might just vote "rigid enforcement" in hopes that I'll cancel my Celebrity cruise - so there will be one less booze smuggler on their favorite line. :p But I did have the forethought to make this a public poll, and most of us know who those folks are, so I can cancel them out of the numbers easily enough.

 

I suppose I should say here, just to make it VERY clear - I'm ONLY interested in experiences on Celebrity! If I do decide to switch, it would probably be back to Seabourn, or possibly Regent or Windstar, if I can find an itinerary that works for us. But I'm REALLY hoping that doesn't happen, because I'm just as excited as everyone else about trying out Solstice Class, and especially AquaClass. But let's see how the numbers shake out.

 

Cruise Junky, thanks for the input - so far this is pretty encouraging! Keep the votes coming, folks. :)

[bububr]

Two bottles, a red and a white onboard at each port. No problems with the wine although they seemed to be confiscating hard liquor. We did get Raki and Grappa past security, but they were meant as gifts anyway so if it was taken that would have been okay.

 

Our room looked like a winery.....

 

We had to be creative to get most of the bottles home packed in the luggage, and we simply drank what we couldn't pack.

 

Dave:eek:

[Leejnd4]

Susan, thanks for bringing that "fraud" vote to my attention. I'm happy to see that, so far, that's the only vote for total rigid enforcement. I'll factor that one out of my decision, since this person hasn't even been on a Celebrity cruise yet.

 

Dave, thanks for the input, and that's GREAT news! We probably will want to bring some bottles of things like Grappa and limoncello (although to be honest, I make a pretty mean limoncello from the lemons in my backyard tree ;)). But like you, they'll be gifts, or for home consumption, so as long as they give them BACK to me at the end :eek:, they can take them.

 

IKWYM about packing the bottles of wine home - that's one thing that scares me if I end up on a cruise with rigid enforcement. I'm staying for a week pre-cruise on Sardinia, and plan on bringing at least several bottles from there onboard, mostly to consume over the course of my 13-day cruise. But I'm flying home the day after disembarkation so if Celebrity confiscates most of my wine, I have this nightmare of finding myself at Fiumicino sucking down bottle after bottle of Italian reds because I can't pack them all home! :eek: :p

[Cruise Junky]

Cruise Junky, thanks for the input - so far this is pretty encouraging! Keep the votes coming, folks. :)

 

I probably should have added that I bought a lot of that to take home with the expectation that they would hold it until the last night so I wouldn't be accused of abusing "the system" but they couldn't have cared less.

 

I really hope you have success in the Med. I know for sure I would not cruise a line that took away my wine.

[pris993]

We are booked on the Equinox in 2009. We have cruised Celebrity before in the Mediterranean. Never had a problem before. We always buy some wine in ports. We use to bring some to the diningroom and pay the corking fee. Like you, we enjoy sampling local wines. Thanks for posting the thread, am interested in what's happening currently on Celebrity. We have cruised Princess, Holland America and Celebrity primarily over the past 10 years. Never had a problem in the past, hope we don't in the future.

[alfredo22]

My vote was for enforcement at the ports but not embarkation. The big caveat is that I did not actually ever try to bring wine aboard myself (after embarkation). I did see a few bottles set aside by security though. There well could have been cases brought on board without my knowledge!;)

[Ardy53]

Pehaps I should explain further my vote of rigid enforcement at ports. Early on in our cruise there was a major altercation at our first port stop between security and a passenger who was insisting on bringing his purchases on board (I think this was more than just wine and more than 2 bottles)

 

I have a feeling that this set a tone for our particular cruise that may not have been the case for other cruises.

 

It was very simple. If you put bottles in your bag through the scanner, you were asked to proceed to the checked bottles table, where they would bag all bottles for collection later. To avoid this, you either had to pretend that you didn't hear them, crate a small diversion by asking them a silly question, switch your bag with your partner or else have an argument about your right to bring on two bottles.

 

We brought 2 bottles aboard at each port, but those who did not resort to subterfuge had their bottles confiscated.

 

As I mentioned earlier, this strict enforcement may have been as a result of the episode at the start of the cruise, where some or other senior officer actually was called down to intervene.

 

Good luck with your plans.

 

Roy

[April Jewel]

We boarded at Barcelona and could have taken copious quantities of wine onboard as the Duty Free shop is after security but in all the med. ports any alcohol being detected on the scanner was confiscated and bagged for collection at disembarkation

 

Maybe the Summit security are more on the ball than some of the other ships

 

Tammy

[bellagirl]

We were in the Med. last fall on Galaxy and had bought something(not wine)in Rhodes. Immediately upon entering the ship, they grabbed it. Friends of ours standing right next to us walked by with THEIR goodies safely tucked away. I don't know what we did wrong,but I was rather upset as we had planned to have drinks on our balcony that night.

We're sailing on the Equinox in 2010,so I have to devise a plan before then. We hit Provence and Tuscany areas, so I really want to have a taste of their wines to bring back on the ship.

We paid for it and I think we should be able to drink it in the privacy of our own cabins.

just my opinion, Shelly:)

[Leejnd4]

We paid for it and I think we should be able to drink it in the privacy of our own cabins.

just my opinion, Shelly:)

 

Shelly, of course I fully agree with you! I find these restrictive booze rules to be incredibly self-serving, unfair, money-grubbing, unethical business practice, and an unreasonable imposition on their customers. Some people have compared them to restaurants or movie theatres not allowing outside food/beverages to be brought in, but IMO that's an entirely illogical comparison, as we are not asking to consume outside beverages in any establishment that also sells them. All we want to do is consume something that belongs to us in the privacy of our ROOMS, in which we have paid to LIVE for the duration of the cruise. To me, the only logical comparison would be a hotel - and has anyone ever had a hotel tell you that you can't bring your own wine into your room, and must buy any that you want to drink from THEM? Rediculous.

 

Anyway...so far the numbers indicate that the majority of folks WERE able to get their wine onboard - but I am a little bit concerned over what seems to be an increase in enforcement. I really don't like the idea of having to use actual subterfuge - who wants to have to play those silly games when on vacation...especially when we're not trying to do anything remotely "wrong"? It's really annoying. But if that's what I have to do, then that's what I'll do.

 

Now that I've read these reports, I'll plan on bringing some Rumrunner flasks with me. My sister recently purchased three large ones (32 oz) to smuggle tequila for margaritas onto a Carnival ship. She's going to loan them to me for my cruise. I'm hoping I won't have to use them, but if I see enforcement at the ports going on (or have my wine from Sardinia snatched at embarkation), I'll bring one or two empty ones with me on my port days. I'll decant whatever wine I plan on drinking that night right before I board, and then I should be able to get them past security with no problems, and no unpleasant scenes. This way, while my consumption of local wines might be a bit more limited than it would be otherwise, at least I know I'll get to enjoy some of them. Rumrunner flasks are fine to use on wine, provided you squeeze out all the air when you close them, and drink the wine within a day or two.

 

In the meantime, I would love to get more votes on this poll! :)

[skwir]

I carried a case and half on a bought in Tuscany. (We were on a trans-atlantic and I was bringing the wine home) They let me carry it right onboard. As I was bringing it home to the US. I wanted them to take it. I then had two boxes of wine taking up all that space in the cabin.

[Azulann]

Lee Ann, I was on the Century Sept 8-19. in the Western Med. All four of us brought 2 bottles of wine in our "carry ons" when we boarded the ship in Barcelona. We again brought four boxes(three bottles in a box) onto the ship from our wonderful day in Tuscany visiting a winery. They went through the scanner in plain sight of crew members. We also bought more white wine in Corsica and carried in onto the ship in plain view of everyone. Many of our fellow passengers did the same. It was not a problem. Enjoy your cruise and the wonderful wines:) of Europe!!

[Leejnd4]

Marc & Azulann, thanks for your input! I continue to feel optimistic about my chances for getting to enjoy the wonderful wines of Europe while on my cruise.

 

To do just bit of analysis on the numbers so far: out 28 people who’ve voted, the vast majority (71.5%) indicated that it is possible to get your wine into your cabin - in fact, 50% said that there was no enforcement at all!

 

Of the 8 voters who said there was rigid enforcement, 5 indicated it was only at the ports, not embarkation – which means I would be able to get all my wine that I buy pre-cruise into my cabin. Only 1 voter said that there was rigid enforcement at embarkation, but not the ports.

 

Strangely, there were two members who voted that there was rigid enforcement at both embarkation and the ports, but one of these members hasn’t even cruised on a Celebrity cruise yet, so clearly it wasn’t this person’s actual experience. And the other one is a brand new member who just joined on Friday, without a single post! Hard to take that seriously – I can’t help but suspect that’s one of those booze-smuggler-hatin’ folks just trying to skew my numbers. ;). I could be wrong about that, of course…but many of us know how this topic stirs the ire among certain members of this forum, so I wouldn’t put it past them.

[Tinwoman]

Well we had all our wine shipped back to the states so we didn't occur any problems.

It was nice when we got back to have a glass of wine from our vacation.:)

[Leejnd4]

Well we had all our wine shipped back to the states so we didn't occur any problems.

It was nice when we got back to have a glass of wine from our vacation.:)

Oh believe me, I intend to bring at least some bottles back home with me! :) But I just can't imagine not being allowed to enjoy them while I'm actually there as well.

 

But if this poll is any indication, it doesn't seem like that's going to be a problem.

[Tinwoman]

Oh believe me, I intend to bring at least some bottles back home with me! :) But I just can't imagine not being allowed to enjoy them while I'm actually there as well.

 

But if this poll is any indication, it doesn't seem like that's going to be a problem.

 

I can't see it being a problem, as a paying consumer, the cruise lines want to make you happyl:)

[Leejnd4]

I can't see it being a problem, as a paying consumer, the cruise lines want to make you happyl:)

 

Shirley, one would think so, right? Unfortunately, when it comes to these booze rules, that's not always the case. Many of the mass-market cruise lines have these restrictions, which are sometimes rigidly enforced (especially in the Caribbean). While Celebrity has reportedly had minimal enforcement in the Med, there were a few reports that enforcement had been increasing, which is what let to my posting this poll to begin with. Some of these reports indicated that there were even loud scenes resulting from passengers who were upset with security for being unbending in denying them the right to bring their private purchases to their cabins. That's exactly what I'm hoping to avoid.

 

Ostensibly, as paying customers the cruise lines should want to make us happy - but when it comes to another way to squeeze a nickel out of us, they will often put customer service (and fairness) aside in order to squeeze just that much harder.

[hcat]

Surprised to see this thread for Celebrity--usually it's about taking beer on board Royal Carib.

 

We bring our allotted two bottles of wine per cabin on board at the embarkation port & use the coupon for the special on two bottles of wine , For our next trip we ordered a bon voyage package to include scotch for DH.

 

Other than that we follow the rules....