Bringing booze on board

[surfcart]

Can someone tell me Oceana's policy regarding bringing alcohol on board for consumption in your own cabin? This includes wine, beer or other spirits. HAL recently changed their policy. You can no longer bring your stuff on board or drink what you purchase in their own shipboard shop. You can buy it but They will keep it and give it to you at the end of the cruise. Same goes for anything you buy in port. What HAL has done is make smugglers out of their passengers. People are now packing their booze in checked baggage instead of carry-on.
correction: Wine is not included in the HAL policy. Just spirits & beer. Sorry about that!

[Rickey 88]

Oceania's policy is rather liberal - considering that we are hearing that some lines go so far as to confiscate anything you attempt to bring on board.

As long as it is for personal use in your stateroom, you are welcome to bring anything you wish. However, should you wish to bring your own wine purchases to dinner, then Oceania will charge you a "corkage" fee of $20.00 for pouring and storing.

Recently, we heard of several passengers, who, wishing to avoid the corkage fee, left the dining room with empty glasses - and after going to their rooms, returned with them filled with wine! (Takes all kinds!)

[aaannnthony]

This has been discussed numerous times on all the boards. Bottom line is that any such policy by the cruise lines is uninforceable....they are violating your "rights"! Alcohol is not an illegal substance.

If you have confiscated "spirits", meet with the chief purser, the consierge, the hotel manager, whomever, and explain that the confiscation is a violation of your rights......your confiscated spirits will be delivered to your room very quickly.

[ClaudiaF]

This has been discussed numerous times on all the boards. Bottom line is that any such policy by the cruise lines is uninforceable....they are violating your "rights"! Alcohol is not an illegal substance.

If you have confiscated "spirits", meet with the chief purser, the consierge, the hotel manager, whomever, and explain that the confiscation is a violation of your rights......your confiscated spirits will be delivered to your room very quickly.

They do not confiscate alcohol on Oceania.. so this would not be an issue for that line. ;-)

[jimgib]

Pleased to read above comments as just booked on insignia march 15 barbados to barcelona.
we both drink far more than is good for us, and while i am happy buying 2 bottles of wine a night and a few bar drinks , i would be most unhappy paying top notch for my gins in my cabin.
thanks to all
jimgib

[jimgib]

Further to my post above. Having now booked my cruise and looking at costs, I am trying to copare to my last silverseas cruise, which of course includes tips and drinks. for a veranda cabin I paid $603 per night. for the insignia barbados to barcelona I have paid $588 per night in an owners suite which I am sure is a better cabin, I think probably a PH is more comparable which would have cost me $374 per night that is some $229 per night cheaper than silverseas, so I would have to consume or give tips of over $229 per day to be worse off.
I am therefore thinking my on board bill is likely to be $229 x 17 around $3900.
I would very much appeciate coments on the above as I have never been on an ocenia cruise and not sure what to expect.
thanks to all
jimgib

[EdNottingham]

Per posts above, I was impressed that Oceania did seem far more "liberal" than other lines re: bringing alcohol onboard (regardless of our rights it is still stated in most ticket information that doing so is prohibited). During our cruise on Regatta over the holidays we bought wine, vodka, etc., and there was never a hassle. We would take a glass of wine to dinner, and while the person selling wine was not a happy camper, no problems and "no worries mate." Drinks are expensive onboard - $9.00 per martini, $7.00 most wines, but there are daily specials and happy hour specials for $3.95.

For 12 days, our onboard charges were around $1000 including tips, 3 tours, drinks, a underwater camera (throw away) for $5.00 (what a deal!), and other misc items that escape me. A couple beside us at breakfast the last day had five pages of charges many of which were internet related! They did not realize that using the issued email address would result in a charge for each email received, nor, apparently, were they mindful of ship to shore phone call charges. Yikes! As I noted in my review (Just back from the Regatta), internet fees are $0.95 per minute or .80 for the package of 100 minutes, and using webmail avoids those higher email fees.

Hope this helps.

Ed

[merryecho]

On both Windstar and Holland America we brought our own wine aboard. Both have a corkage fee ($15 I think). We also tipped the wine steward 5-10 dollars when he served us, as he wouldn't be getting a percentage of the bottle sale. In both cases, when we got our bill at the end of the trip, we found that the steward hadn't charged us the corkage fee. We later figured out, that if he had charged us, he would have brought a bill for us to sign each time. Has this ever happened to anyone on oceania?

[ClaudiaF]

On both Windstar and Holland America we brought our own wine aboard. Both have a corkage fee ($15 I think). We also tipped the wine steward 5-10 dollars when he served us, as he wouldn't be getting a percentage of the bottle sale. In both cases, when we got our bill at the end of the trip, we found that the steward hadn't charged us the corkage fee. We later figured out, that if he had charged us, he would have brought a bill for us to sign each time. Has this ever happened to anyone on oceania?
Yes. They charge I think now it's $20 .. cockage.. oh well..

When the Oceania line was not a line ( so I guess that would mean in it's baby days) a few years ago.. there were still quite a few people who were very loyal EX- Renaissance cruiseline fans (me included)..
Renaissance owned these ships prior to it's demise..and the new owners of the ship even though one had been a part of the original Ren cruiseline.. and left before it's demise, asked many questions of us, at a message board to find what we all thought needed to help make this company work in our eyes.
When they made up their list of rules for passengers one thing that made me nuts was that their rules stated no one could bring wines and spirits on board.. so I guess I complained the most.. we were going to Bordeaux and were being told we could not bring wine back from the wineries in France ( absurd). Well I complained..softly.. and the rules were amended.. thanks FDR..
it was silly anyways..and to not be able to bring on board whatever you want for your cabin, well why not
;-)

[Queen of DaNile]

Just returned from 15 nights in SA on Insignia and we literally brought beer, wine or alcohol on board at every port for consumption in our penthouse. Always plenty of ice thanks to our attendant and butler. If you really want to keep your libation costs down, get one of the drinks of the day for $4.00 or 2 for 1 when they have pool drinks for $4.00.

[merryecho]

One of our cruisemates drinks beer, and only beer. Anyone know what Oceania charges for a bottle? (He is also very 'thrifty')

[JoyceTeach]

We had no problem bringing six bottles of wine we had purchased in Buenos Aires at a wine tasting aboard the Jan 3 cruise of Insignia.. We didn't try to cover it up or hide it at all.. We later purchased some beer for US$1 per can on the pier at Montevideo (went into a shop to use the internet cafe for 15 mins/$1 charge!).. they also had pepsi and water for $1 each..which we also bought and brought aboard.. Got more wine in Port Montt.. again no problem bringing aboard at all.. Not sure about beer charges on board, wine was priced in dining rooms about as in an upscale US restaurant..$7 - $9/glass or so and bottles varied between $28 - $50 for us, but many many higher priced.. depends on what you select.. wine stewards were excellent at helping chose wines for dinner though.. and did NOT ever recommend the high end ones! Not an issue, don't worry at all about this!
Joyce

[spindrift]

We were so pleased to learn of the liquor policy on board. We brought our in-cabin liquor which we could have prior to going to dinner, which is the time we enjoy the most. The butler brought our canapes and we had our drinks. What a great way to enjoy a vacation.

We did, however, run out of our bourbon and scotch prior to a port and decided to go ahead and order from the ship. Each bottle was $60 each. Outrageous. We, therefore, picked up additional liquor in the next port. Our fault.

We had wine each evening at dinner plus the special drinks during the day prior to lunch or upon returning from a tour.

All in all, enjoy Oceania's policy. We changed from HAL and Princess because of the simple reason we could not bring on our own booze. Thank you Oceania--don't change.

We have been Crystal, Silver Seas, and Princess cruisers. We LOVE Oceania. It is what you want to make of it--but we are sold. We did the 1/3/05 BA to Santiago. Will post more about the entire trip soon. AND, hello Queen of DaNile. Glad you made it home safely. I'm still sleepy, but not too sleepy to book my next trip on Oceania.