Why wine but no beer or liquor?

Why does HAL have the double standard that you can bring wine on board, but not beer or hard liquor? It doesn't make sense to me, and not really fair. I'm not a bigger drinker (literally maybe a half dozen cocktails a year), but I would like to have a few drinks while enjoying my aft wrap-around verandah. Unfortunately, I am allergic to wine and less then half a glass will make me violently ill. It doesn't seem fair that I can't take a bottle of vodka or rum without smuggling it, while others are hauling cases of wine to their rooms :(

I think they could take the stance of zero alcohol because that's surely one of their biggest money makers.

I believe the 'justification' for wine/champagne vs. beer/liquor is because it's typical to use a bottle of wine/champagne to celebrate or toast a special occasion. Since many people celebrate special occasions while onboard a cruise (in fact it's the justification for the cruise in many cases), HAL probably figures they don't want to get in the way of someone having their favourite bottle on their anniversary.

Good news! You can purchase a bottle of whatever potent potable you like for in-cabin comsumption.

You can order it in advance, to have ready when you arrive, or purchase it from room service or any bar. If you purchase before (or have delivered before) sailing, there may be a state tax added to the cost.

Price is reasonable, and it's for a full litre bottle.

My GUESS, and thats all it is, is two reasons. First, HAL makes alot more money off of beer and liquor sales than wine. Second, if HAL allowed unlimited beer and liquor to be brought on-board, the number of disorderly passengers would increase significantly, which could be dangerous being on a moving ship in the middle of the ocean.

Anyone else have any thoughts/ideas?

DaveOKC

Not so. Wine is allowed because if you bring it to the dr corkage applies.

So they still make money.

For most cruise lines it is not the revenue department that has prohibited passengers bringing alcohol onboard - it is the legal department.

If the issue was lost revenue, they would stop you from bringing water, soda, and juices as well. The biggest moneymaker on a ship is not alcohol, but water and sodas. But sodas and water do not cause people to get drunk, misbehave, and cause lawsuites against cruise lines.

Historically, the biggest trouble-makers on a ship have been the people who bring a case of tequila to 2 people to drink on a 7-day cruise - or those who leave all their clothing at home so they can fill their suitcases with cases of beer. These people (as a group) are the ones who have loud late-night parties in their cabins, disturbing their neighbors, damaging the cabins, getting into fights, and falling down, breaking bones (or going overboard). Those bringing bottles of wine onboard have behaved themselves for the most part, so the cruise lines do not have a good reason to stop them.

Remember that the Mass Market cruise lines do not look so much at individuals as they do at large numbers of individuals. Although you and I might like to bring a bottle of Scotch or a 6-pack to have a few drinks on the balcony, we are not representative of the masses, many of whom have caused trouble when given the chance.

It's always unfortunate when a relatively small group misbehaving results in everyone else suffering for it.

There is good news. The upscale cruise lines do not appeal to the ilk that has caused the problems on the mass market ships, and very few upscale cruisers have the need to carry their own alcohol on vacation. If you book an upscale cruise, you will not have any problems carrying on your own drinks.

One of the reasons I cruise mainly on HAL is that there are no drunks on board. If there are drunks, they seem to be very well behaved. I have seen some drunks on another cruise line on a couple of 7-day cruises and it wasn't pretty. I find that the prices of drinks are reasoable on HAL compared to restaurants on land.

Thanks for your responses everyone :) I'm very glad to know we can pre-order a bottle to have in our room. I've seen a lot of people get pretty wasted on wine too, but I guess it's not generally the drink of choice for those with the spring break or frat house mentality lol

Thanks for your responses everyone :) I'm very glad to know we can pre-order a bottle to have in our room. I've seen a lot of people get pretty wasted on wine too, but I guess it's not generally the drink of choice for those with the spring break or frat house mentality lol

I don't know about that, back then our drink of choice was wine. Well if you want to actually call Mogan David or TJ Swan wine :p

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It's always unfortunate when a relatively small group misbehaving results in everyone else suffering for it.

There is good news. The upscale cruise lines do not appeal to the ilk that has caused the problems on the mass market ships, and very few upscale cruisers have the need to carry their own alcohol on vacation. If you book an upscale cruise, you will not have any problems carrying on your own drinks.

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I found it strange that Disney ( off all lines ) let's you bring alcohol on board . You just have to carry it on with you!

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It's always unfortunate when a relatively small group misbehaving results in everyone else suffering for it.

 

There is good news. The upscale cruise lines do not appeal to the ilk that has caused the problems on the mass market ships, and very few upscale cruisers have the need to carry their own alcohol on vacation. If you book an upscale cruise, you will not have any problems carrying on your own drinks.

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I found it strange that Disney ( off all lines ) let's you bring alcohol on board . You just have to carry it on with you!

Well, according to the 'Disney Cruise Line Alcohol Policy', ONE bottle of (unopened) wine OR champagne, as well as SIX cans OR bottles of beer, PER PERSON, may be brought onboard (with you)! ;) Seems fairly restrictive to me! :eek:

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I found it strange that Disney ( off all lines ) let's you bring alcohol on board . You just have to carry it on with you!

 

Well, according to the 'Disney Cruise Line Alcohol Policy', ONE bottle of (unopened) wine OR champagne, as well as SIX cans OR bottles of beer, PER PERSON, may be brought onboard (with you)! ;) Seems fairly restrictive to me! :eek:

In the United States a fair amount of fine restaurants allow diners to bring a bottle of wine to a meal and then charge a corkage fee. I have never seen one allow a diner to bring beer or liquor. So I think the practice is a common one to allow wine.

Interesting reasons for allowing wine on board. I did ask a hotel manager on HAL during a session with CC members why wine was allowed. His response was that there are so many different varieties and vintages of wine that the ship could not supply the needs of the discerning passenger.

As far as not allowing spirits and beer, I subscribe to the corporate greed motive. I don't think that allowing customers to bring on their own spirits and beer would suddenly turn HAL into the all night party line. The fact remains that HAL and most cruise lines make much more money on alcohol than any stateside bar on land. This is because HAL pays no taxes on their spirits; yet they still sell their cocktails at the same 6 or 7 dollar prices bars get near my home. This also applies to the "reasonably" proced bottles you can get delivered to your cabin. They pay $7.50 for a liter of duty free Myers run and happily sell it to you for $29. Perhaps some think that making this kind of money is by accident and that there are other motives. Those are probably the same people who feel their salaries are incidental and not necessary to their jobs.

As far as not allowing spirits and beer, I subscribe to the corporate greed motive.

Some call it capatalism... making a profit.... :rolleyes:

The fact remains that HAL and most cruise lines make much more money on alcohol than any stateside bar on land. This is because HAL pays no taxes on their spirits; yet they still sell their cocktails at the same 6 or 7 dollar prices bars get near my home. This also applies to the "reasonably" proced bottles you can get delivered to your cabin. They pay $7.50 for a liter of duty free Myers run and happily sell it to you for $29. Perhaps some think that making this kind of money is by accident and that there are other motives. Those are probably the same people who feel their salaries are incidental and not necessary to their jobs.

And where did you get all these facts?

Interesting reasons for allowing wine on board. I did ask a hotel manager on HAL during a session with CC members why wine was allowed. His response was that there are so many different varieties and vintages of wine that the ship could not supply the needs of the discerning passenger.

 

As far as not allowing spirits and beer, I subscribe to the corporate greed motive. I don't think that allowing customers to bring on their own spirits and beer would suddenly turn HAL into the all night party line. The fact remains that HAL and most cruise lines make much more money on alcohol than any stateside bar on land. This is because HAL pays no taxes on their spirits; yet they still sell their cocktails at the same 6 or 7 dollar prices bars get near my home. This also applies to the "reasonably" proced bottles you can get delivered to your cabin. They pay $7.50 for a liter of duty free Myers run and happily sell it to you for $29. Perhaps some think that making this kind of money is by accident and that there are other motives. Those are probably the same people who feel their salaries are incidental and not necessary to their jobs.

Liquor sales and other on board spending allow so many cruisers to pay such very low fares. The cruise lines have to make the money here or make it there but they are 'for profit' businesses. They sell many of the low category cabins quite reasonably in order to fill the ship and they then have to try and get everyone to open their tight wallets while on the ship.

No secret about that....... it's been well explained many times.

HAL should do like Carnival and only allow one bottle of wine per person. They are discriminating against those of us who prefer beer! The price is outrageous for a bottle of beer on board.

HAL should do like Carnival and only allow one bottle of wine per person. They are discriminating against those of us who prefer beer!

And limiting what others can bring aboard, while you still can't bring beer aboard, helps you how?????

HAL should do like Carnival and only allow one bottle of wine per person. They are discriminating against those of us who prefer beer! The price is outrageous for a bottle of beer on board.

And limiting what others can bring aboard, while you still can't bring beer aboard, helps you how?????

I won't be subsidizing their cruises with my alcohol purchases! :D

And, it will reduce the potential of wild partying by the wine drinkers.

I agree with Ruth, I don't see what this would get you. Carnival has so many short cruises (3-4 days) with about 10 days being a long one for them. Ten days on HAL is short for a lot of us. Apples and oranges.

Not apples and oranges. I just did a 13-day B2B on Carnival. I would never do a three to four day cruise. Why bother?

I would never do a three to four day cruise. Why bother?

Not apples and oranges. I just did a 13-day B2B on Carnival. I would never do a three to four day cruise. Why bother?

Interesting reasons for allowing wine on board. I did ask a hotel manager on HAL during a session with CC members why wine was allowed. His response was that there are so many different varieties and vintages of wine that the ship could not supply the needs of the discerning passenger.

 

As far as not allowing spirits and beer, I subscribe to the corporate greed motive. I don't think that allowing customers to bring on their own spirits and beer would suddenly turn HAL into the all night party line. The fact remains that HAL and most cruise lines make much more money on alcohol than any stateside bar on land. This is because HAL pays no taxes on their spirits; yet they still sell their cocktails at the same 6 or 7 dollar prices bars get near my home. This also applies to the "reasonably" proced bottles you can get delivered to your cabin. They pay $7.50 for a liter of duty free Myers run and happily sell it to you for $29. Perhaps some think that making this kind of money is by accident and that there are other motives. Those are probably the same people who feel their salaries are incidental and not necessary to their jobs.

I must agree with your corporate greed motive so far as cruise lines go - at least generally speaking.

But if corporate greed was fueling this idea, why would any cruise line allow passengers to bring on unlimited quantities of the beverage items that make by far the greatest profit for the company; sodas and water? It just doesn't make sense.

Allowing passengers to bring on alcohol doesn't really turn any cruise line into an all night party. But it does dramatically increase the number of lawsuits brought by drunks and their victims.

Remember my earlier post. It is NOT the Corporate Revenue Department making these rules in order to increase revenues. The Corporate Legal Department is driving this in order to decrease legal costs.

You may also be surprised to learn that much of the alcohol purchased by a cruise line is NOT Duty or Tax Free. The goofy alcohol laws in the USA make it very difficult and often very expensive to purchase and store duty free alcohol in US Government Bonded Warehouses. It is often much easier, faster, and less expensive for a cruise line loading alcohol in the USA to purchase it from the same wholesaler that land-based bars use. Buying it that way forces the cruise line to pay the same taxes the local bars pay. On top of that, the cruise line still has to pay additional fees to get it into the duty free zone for loading.

This old grandma story about cruise lines buying alcohol for next to nothing is just that - a grandma story. It was true many years ago, but the US Government saw an opportunity to get more taxes out of cruise lines - and took it.

When I managed beverage operations in land-based hotels in the USA, we were doing well if our cost of sales was under 14%.

A cruise line considers itself successful with beverage sales when costs are under 21%. Since we charge prices similar to land-based prices, our costs are 50% higher than our competitors on land.

Yes, that was a b2b. You don't have to do that on HAL to get a longer cruise. Carnival has nothing remotely close to HAL's Grand Voyages. Apples and oranges. Still.

What does a longer cruise have to do with allowing multiple bottles of wine (or cases) being brought on and not allowing beer drinkers to bring their own, also? It's discrimination.