Is $15 corkage fee always/actually charged?

[cf_chuck]

A bottle of wine is typically five glasses at a bar/restaurant.

 

With two people splitting a bottle, one would find it more polite to top off the second glass to end up with an even amount.

 

How many glasses of wine do you get out of a bottle? Apparently far more than four?

 

Most of the restauants I'm familiar with use a 4oz pour which would yield 6 glasses per 750 ML bottle with a bit left. I prefer a bit more so typically use a 6 oz pour which gives 4 glasses with a little left to top off the second glass. (750 ML = 25.4 oz).

[outsidelookingin]

Any wine you bring onboard is not supposed to be taken anywhere on the ship by the glass. It is for in-cabin consumption or taken to the dining room buy the bottle w/ the $15 corkage fee. That is understandable. They will save it for you for another night. The $15 is only charged one time. Or just buy a glass in the dining room which is what I do.

 

Any wine that you bring on board....

Does this mean that you can't bring a bottle, open & pour it in your room, & take a walk to enjoy?

 

Edit - Sorry, I should have read first.

What if you have a wine card... can you have 1 drink in DR or PG & take another glass 'to go' for a walk to watch the sunset or canoodle on the deck chairs? I am debating on the 3or5 bottle package vs the 20 glass wine punch card.... for the MIL & FIL, who aren't big drinkers.

[outsidelookingin]

Most of the restauants I'm familiar with use a 4oz pour which would yield 6 glasses per 750 ML bottle with a bit left. I prefer a bit more so typically use a 6 oz pour which gives 4 glasses with a little left to top off the second glass. (750 ML = 25.4 oz).

 

Indeed... then you can have 'just two glasses' :D

 

DH & I do that same math!

[cf_chuck]

Any wine that you bring on board....

Does this mean that you can't bring a bottle, open & pour it in your room, & take a walk to enjoy?

 

Edit - Sorry, I should have read first.

What if you have a wine card... can you have 1 drink in DR or PG & take another glass 'to go' for a walk to watch the sunset or canoodle on the deck chairs? I am debating on the 3or5 bottle package vs the 20 glass wine punch card.... for the MIL & FIL, who aren't big drinkers.

 

I think the whole idea is to discourage people that bring wine aboard that don't pay a corkage fee from taking up space in areas where servers have a chance to make some money. If you purchase wine aboard, then the service charge is pooled so you aren't disadvantaging servers.

[Sue's Mom]

Sometimes I'm tempted to bring a box and see what they say or do!:D

 

Oooh, you little devil. ;)

[Sue's Mom]

I asked our wine steward how many glasses he would pour out of a 75cl bottle of red wine - he said that it would be five glasses.

[Sue's Mom]

Oh, I forgot to say that we were actually charged the $15 per bottle.

[Randyk47]

On the Volendam we shared a table with a Florida couple who brought several bottles of wine on the ship since they drove to the port. They indeed were charged corkage, at least at first, but the way it worked out we started buying wine ourselves and then started sharing purchased and carried on bottles between the two couples. I think the wine stewart caught on and after the third night, of a ten day cruise, he stopped charging the other couple corkage.

[FoxyTerrier]

We just got off the Oosterdam and brought wine every night to the Vista Dining room and once to the Pinnacle Grill.

 

We were not charge a corkage fee for any of it. Because of this we have our bar steward (who was great) all of the corkage fees plus a tip on top of that.

 

I would much rather the steward get the money instead of the ship.

 

If you are charged a corkage fee do you normally tip on top of that or is the corkage fee replace the tip.

 

I also gave him high marks on the end of cruise survery but did not tell them we were not charged a corkage fee.

[crule]

We just got off the Noordam and our experience with corkage is as follows:

 

Our wine steward gave us a "wink wink nudge nudge" that if you help him out, he'll help you out with regards to corkage. So, we brought bottles each night. He kept tabs on what was being brought.

 

I had always told him that I was going to "hook him up" - yet on bill day, sure enough, there was the $90 in corkage. So, the last night, I brought him an envelope with some cash (a nice sum) and gave it to him with a wink-wink-nudge-nudge - and next day.... still the corkage.

 

Moral of the story is that be prepared to pay the corkage - and perhaps if you're going to get a handshake deal with your wine steward, don't be like us and pay him anyway if he goes bad on the deal.

 

In any case, we still came out on top. We drank a Rosemount Shiraz most evenings. That's $40 on the ship. I bought them at TotalWine for $7 a bottle. So, even with the $15 corkage, you still come out almost 50% better.

 

I also brought a $100 bottle of Silver Oak with me. So with that now being a $115/bottle, it would have been more like $250 at ship's prices, assuming that they even had a Silver Oak.

 

Next time I'm on the Noordam, I'll be looking for my wine steward and ask him what's up ... I still would have tipped him - just not near as much as I did since I assumed he was going to "hook us up."

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

We just got off the Noordam and our experience with corkage is as follows:

 

Our wine steward gave us a "wink wink nudge nudge" that if you help him out, he'll help you out with regards to corkage. So, we brought bottles each night. He kept tabs on what was being brought.

 

I had always told him that I was going to "hook him up" - yet on bill day, sure enough, there was the $90 in corkage. So, the last night, I brought him an envelope with some cash (a nice sum) and gave it to him with a wink-wink-nudge-nudge - and next day.... still the corkage.

 

Moral of the story is that be prepared to pay the corkage - and perhaps if you're going to get a handshake deal with your wine steward, don't be like us and pay him anyway if he goes bad on the deal.

 

In any case, we still came out on top. We drank a Rosemount Shiraz most evenings. That's $40 on the ship. I bought them at TotalWine for $7 a bottle. So, even with the $15 corkage, you still come out almost 50% better.

 

I also brought a $100 bottle of Silver Oak with me. So with that now being a $115/bottle, it would have been more like $250 at ship's prices, assuming that they even had a Silver Oak.

 

Next time I'm on the Noordam, I'll be looking for my wine steward and ask him what's up ... I still would have tipped him - just not near as much as I did since I assumed he was going to "hook us up."

 

As I may have mentioned before, we have in the past spoke to our wine steward at the beginning of our cruise and reached an agreement regarding the corkage fee. On this past cruise (the same one as Foxy Terrier was on), my DH spoke to the wine steward on our first night and there did seem to be an agreement between them, but at the end of the first meal a bill was presented for the corkage fee. After that we expected and received a corkage fee each night. Possibly had we tried again the following evening things might have been different. We even offered our steward a taste of one of the fine wines that were at our table, that has in the past worked as far as corkage, but not this time. I think maybe management is keeping a closer eye on the coming and going of the $15.00 corkage fee. We too would have rather given the $315 to our wine steward (we were a party of 3 couples and brought 3 bottles to the table each night to share). Another issue may have been we were assigned open seating and ate in the PG two nights.

As others have said it still worth it as we enjoyed fine wines for a fraction of cost that we would have paid had we purchased wine from the HAL list.

[FoxyTerrier]

Another issue may have been we were assigned open seating and ate in the PG two nights.

As others have said it still worth it as we enjoyed fine wines for a fraction of cost that we would have paid had we purchased wine from the HAL list.

 

I wonder if the Open Seating might be the difference. We had the fixed dining at 8pm.

 

Our steward did mention the corkage fee on the first night but said to the effect that we could work something out. That night we were not presented with a bill, nor the next 5 nights. The last night we ate in the PG and again no corkage fee and I was sure we would get one that night.

[RJBC]

I've followed this discussion with great interest and conclude that it varies with the ship and the steward. We always have traditional dining and get to know the staff well as soon as we can. On one ship, the head wine steward, who was always available and visible and personable, enjoyed our wine (tasting only) and told our steward not to charge the $15. He was very knowledgeable and enjoyed discussing various wines and vintages with us. Since this was a long cruise, we tipped all concerned very well. Usually we will bring two bottles at a time and have the steward look after them for us. Sometimes we are charged for one and sometimes for two. At times, we will buy the wine card and order from it. As others have stated, we expect to be charged and enjoy our own good wine. Usually, others at the table bring their own wine or order it as well. Generally, we find ourselves sharing back and forth and having a fine time. On a South American cruise we picked up wine for $5 in port that was listed at $30 on the ship. HAL is to be congratulated for their policy of allowing us to bring our own wine aboard.