Bringing wine on board

Does Holland America still allow you to bring a couple bottles of wine on board?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Yes -- two 750 ml bottles -- must be in your carry on bag.

Thanks!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

They allow two bottles per cabin on which there is no corkage fee. These must be drank in your cabin, or if drank elsewhere, become subject to an $18 corkage fee. In addition to the two "free" bottles, you may also bring as much as you physically can in your carry-on luggage with each bottle being charged the $18 corkage fee. You are then allowed to drink those bottles in any dining room, restaurant or bar on the ship.

... and the one bottle allowed per adult is only at initial embarkation. Any purchased en-route is subject to the $18 corkage even if you intend to drink it just in your cabin. An exception is made for wine bought on ship excursions to wineries, but I don't know what limits there are on that.

That is interesting. We bought the wine package that includes 5 bottles of wine plus a free one on embarkation, two pinnacle dinners and two wine tastings. We figure that comes out to about $35/bottle for a wine that we could probably get at a liquor store for $10. We are not flying, so maybe we will have to bring some of our wine from home

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Not 2 bottles per cabin: 1 bottle per person age 21 and over, is allowed at embarkation without corkage, for the cabin. Additional bottles can be carried on if corkage is paid. Corkaged bottles can be drunk in the cabin or bars, MDR, lido, restaurants.

When we last sailed on HAL, I had one bottle of wine in my carry on and DH had one bottle in his carry on. They didn't seem to notice his bottle of wine. They asked me to take my bottle of wine to a table set up close to the screening area. The employee wrote down what kind of wine I brought. I was allowed to keep the bottle. I thought they were trying to determine what wine passengers were bringing on board to help them offer wine for sale to better suite the customers tastes. Only an assumption on my part.

Yes -- two 750 ml bottles -- must be in your carry on bag.

They allow two bottles per cabin on which there is no corkage fee.

It is one bottle for each guest 21 years and older, not two per cabin.

as we only drink wine in dining room except when we bring champagne(the real stuff)in our cabin for a special occasion. Expect to pay the corkage fee but it's a pin to lug it in a carry on or even a roll on that we have to open so they can put the sticker on. I am tempted to buy a pack of different color stickers and tag the bottles myself.

as we only drink wine in dining room except when we bring champagne(the real stuff)in our cabin for a special occasion. Expect to pay the corkage fee but it's a pin to lug it in a carry on or even a roll on that we have to open so they can put the sticker on. I am tempted to buy a pack of different color stickers and tag the bottles myself.

They switched up the stickers late last year. They weren't the dots. They were rectangular rectangular with color and day of the week. The corkage is pretty reasonable in my opinion. It's far less than most restaurants charge.

hope they aren't using yellow stickers or pink ones.

Yes -- two 750 ml bottles -- must be in your carry on bag.

Clarification please:

If I bring on a bottle of wine in my carry-on, do I have to haul the carry-on with me until my room is ready?

We like to board early and put our carry-ons with our checked bags thus carrying only what is absolutely necessary until the rooms open.

Clarification please:

If I bring on a bottle of wine in my carry-on, do I have to haul the carry-on with me until my room is ready?

We like to board early and put our carry-ons with our checked bags thus carrying only what is absolutely necessary until the rooms open.

If your room is not ready on boarding then yes, you would have to carry your 1-750 ml bottle per passenger over the age of 21 with you. Hope that's clear.:) I use a wheeled carryon, and the bottles go in there, so no worries if we cannot drop off our stuff right away.

How strange. On my Westerdam Alaska cruise (8/15-22) I brought on 2 for the stateroom and 8 for corkage. No stickers were placed on any of my paid corkage bottles. I was given a pink invoice copy stating 8 bottles paid and told to bring that to the dining rooms with me to prove the corkage. I expected the wine stewards to somehow mark this pink invoice, but they never did. They really had no way of tracking if I was bringing more than the paid 8 to dining rooms. I thought it strange at the time and now that I reading about pink or yellow stickers, it is stranger still. The proper amount was charged to my account and all were consumed except one bottle that returned home with us. It seems that I was on some kind of honor system - maybe they figured they would catch anything in checked luggage.

Clarification please:

If I bring on a bottle of wine in my carry-on, do I have to haul the carry-on with me until my room is ready?

We like to board early and put our carry-ons with our checked bags thus carrying only what is absolutely necessary until the rooms open.

You keep your wine with you until the room is ready. It's all about balance. If you have a good wine tote and can balance it on your roll aboard bag, it's pretty easy to carry a case per person. 6 bottles should be child's play. Obviously that changes if you are mobility impaired, but for the able bodied wine aficionado, it's pretty doable.

We like to board early and put our carry-ons with our checked bags thus carrying only what is absolutely necessary until the rooms open.

It has been about 5 years since our HAL room was not ready when boarding began. I was reminded how nice that is when we took a short Disney cruise two years ago and had to hang around with our stuff for about 90 minutes. :)

I've actually had a couple cruises when the room wasn't ready on boarding. It was closer to 12:30. I would say for the most part they have been ready.

Thanks everyone. We do have the roller carry-on bags, so that will be easier to tote the bottles.

Has anyone just left the two wine bottles in their checked bags without difficulty? We will be going on a full day tour after dropping off luggage at the ship before checkin opens. Did not want to lug same around all day.

Has anyone just left the two wine bottles in their checked bags without difficulty? We will be going on a full day tour after dropping off luggage at the ship before checkin opens. Did not want to lug same around all day.

HAL's instructions are pretty specific - carry on only. There have been reports by people who forgot and left it in the luggage and there certainly were some difficulties. Why not buy the wine near the end of your tour? Then carry it on? Just a suggestion.

Has anyone just left the two wine bottles in their checked bags without difficulty? We will be going on a full day tour after dropping off luggage at the ship before checkin opens. Did not want to lug same around all day.

There were some people who left wine in their checked luggage on our last cruise. Their bags went to the naughty room. They weren't happy, but the rules are pretty clear.

There were some people who left wine in their checked luggage on our last cruise. Their bags went to the naughty room. They weren't happy, but the rules are pretty clear.

A little anecdote about the naughty room. I received a call aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam back in February to report to the naughty room to have one of our two bags examined. I headed down, running through my mind what might be in my bag causing all the fuss. I arrived at security to find a couple of dozen other passengers and an even higher number of bags. On mine a sheet indicated liquor, as did most of the others. A security crew member slowly worked her way through several bags, finding innumerable bottles before it was my turn. I opened the bag and told her to search to her heart's content, as she wasn't going to find anything. After a thorough check and double-check, she apologized to me for the inconvenience and let me go on my way.

I'm still wondering what the x-ray machine revealed that the operator thought might have been a bottle of some sort, but clearly they make mistakes too.

Has anyone just left the two wine bottles in their checked bags without difficulty? We will be going on a full day tour after dropping off luggage at the ship before checkin opens. Did not want to lug same around all day.

On our last cruise, another CC member had packed her bottles in her checked luggage. After scanning the luggage and finding the wine, they said they would keep it until the end of the cruise. It took her about 3 days of discussions with the front desk before they finally gave her the wine back.

So, you might have a problem or you might not. Only you can decide if you want to try it.

We want to buy some wine on our next cruise to take home, since we'll be arriving in Rotterdam, 20 minutes from home, no airline weight limit etc.

We won't be buying it on a HAL tour and won't be consuming it on board. Do we still have to pay a charge or do they keep it untill disembarking time ?