Taking alcohol on board

Can anyone tell me if you are allowed to take your own alcohol on board the QM2. We have a lovely bottle of Rose Champagne that I was thinking of packing with my hand luggage to open at sailaway on our little balcony! Are we allowed to do this or not????

Elaine

Can anyone tell me if you are allowed to take your own alcohol on board the QM2. We have a lovely bottle of Rose Champagne that I was thinking of packing with my hand luggage to open at sailaway on our little balcony! Are we allowed to do this or not????

 

Elaine

Easy answer - yes!:)

Andhow

Many thanks for the reply. I know some of the cruise lines confiscate the alcohol upon boarding. We generally cruise with P & O and have never had any problems taking the odd bottle or two on board with us. Just wanted to know if Cunard was the same.

BTW, we only live about 20 minutes from Hitchin!!

Elaine

Elaine-

We brought 6 bottles of wine on board with us for our crossing. We live close to NYC and drove to the ship (didn't have to deal with flying with it). It was simple enough for us to carry on the case of wine. However, we all agreed we wouldn't bother to do it again. There is a corkage fee for opening the wine in the dining room, and then we felt it necessary to tip at the end of the crossing.

And now I hesitate to tell you this, because it was such a nice surprise...

Regarding your idea to bring champagne on board for drinking during the sailaway... Cunard actually had provided a bottle of champagne in each state room! When we arrived to the state room, I was looking for a card, thinking someone had had the champagne sent to us. You'll have so many other things to carry and think about- I wouldn't bother to carry on a bottle of champagne. But then, who knows when they might change that nice treat...

bon voyage!

~Jill

J Lind

Thanks for the advice.

When were in a princess grill stateroom on the QE2 we had champagne and strawberries in our cabin. But I don't know why I thought this nice little surprises were exclusive to princess/queens grill cabins. We are in a B4 cabin. Do you think there will be a bottle of champagne in a B4 cabin??

Elaine

There will be a bottle on ice but it won't be champagne but sparkling wine. Leave yours at home and sup it when you get back - we all come down with a bump then and it will help with the shock.

David.

There will be a bottle on ice but it won't be champagne but sparkling wine. Leave yours at home and sup it when you get back - we all come down with a bump then and it will help with the shock.

 

David.

Being picky now David. Is it dry or sweet this sparkling wine??? So you suggest I leave the champagne at home then and have when I return. This year is very odd for us. We haven't had a holiday since we got back off of Aurora at Xmas and waiting over 9 months for a holiday and moving house back in Feb I can tell you that this holiday is much needed. But when we return from the QM2 it will only be 9 weeks until we get on board Oriana for just over 3 weeks at Xmas. After waiting so long for this trip coming up, we will hardly have time to settle back down again before setting sail again!!! Reckon I'll still get the Post Cruise Blues though!!

Elaine

I say bring the bottle! There will be many opportunities to enjoy your refreshments in your cabin and on your balcony, especially If you tend to eat dinner later. The wine I brought on board was basically for in-room consumption thus no corkage fee. I often enjoyed a glass while getting ready for the formal evenings. I took a voyage both eastbound and westbound with a stay in Europe. Eastbound, we were in the Queens Grill and received the sparkling wine courtesy of Cunard. The sparkling wine I received westbound in a balcony stateroom stated it was because of my status with the "Cunard Club" and the other bottle was from our TA. Wishing you a wonderful journey.

Elaine...I know your trip is getting close! We are on the Fall Colors with you...would like to meet up at some point on that cruise...would you like to as well? Best to share cabin numbers or ???? LuAnn

Interesting thread....We were on deck 6 (August 9th crossing) and there was a bottle of house bubbly (375ml) waiting for us in the cabin, sent by a Cunard employee who was a friend of a relative, also a bottle of Rosa in the fridge (750ml) sent by we don't know who. However a bottle of Dom sent by a friend for a Bon Voyage never made it to our cabin. And another bottle of bubbly sent by a relative never made it either. However we did survive by hitting the bubbly bar (room) every evening before dinner and it was devine.:) :)

The Golds

Elaine-

You had asked about whether Cunard might provide that free "welcome" champagne to all category cabins.. we had booked three cabins for our whole family. The kids were across the hallway from us in an inside cabin- of course we had to formally book a child with an adult when making the reservations. There was a bottle of 'bubbly' even in that inside cabin.

As to whether you carry alcohol on with you, I guess it just depends on how much you are willing to carry. When we did a Med cruise on another line, we did enjoy picking up a bottle of local wine in a port and drinking in our room, but that was simple. Packing for my whole family and getting us onto the ship was a challenge and maybe some day when I only have my own self to worry about I'll have more room in my brain for alcohol!

Just one favor- when you are sipping your champagne during your sailaway (whether it's the bottle from Cunard or the one you carried on) have one toast to your cruise critic kindred spirits on shore!

Jill

Of course I will!! :)

Elaine

Elaine...I know your trip is getting close! We are on the Fall Colors with you...would like to meet up at some point on that cruise...would you like to as well? Best to share cabin numbers or ???? LuAnn

LuAnn

Would you kindly e mail me at elaine61@fsmail.net

Elaine

Elaine...will do! LuAnn

Hi Elaine,

Just to let you know I read in the small print "Terms and conditions" which accompanied my tickets, and it clearly stated that only alcohol purchased from Cunard is allowed to be consumed on ship.

This is not to say it was strictly adhered to but just for your information.

Phil

What l did on my QE2 cruise last oct to the med, had my champagne bottles wrapped up individually and posted them special delivery to Southampton, and low and behold the boxes were in the cabin waiting!!! my stewardess was most interested as to the contents!!, l did leave her a 1/2 bottle as a thankyou

As a person who travels with enough clothes for a world cruise, the last thing l needed was to be weighed down with clinking moet bottles!

I shall be doing the same next year.

On the subject of corkage, regarding the sparkling stuff the the world club members get, a few of us decided to use our bottles with lunch in the restaurent, asked the very efficent wine waiter if this would be ok and sure enough he ensured it was chilled and corkage wasnt charged!!

With some lines (NCL) employing booze goons during boarding, it would be good to know what some others have experienced. We like to have some wine in our cabin and do not mind buying wine at dinner. Unofficially, are they allowing folks to bring wine aboard still.

I travel with a small wine cellar. I pack one or two bottles of Champagne from home in each of my hard Samsonite type cases, and augment this by purchases in the port of embarkation. These are then boxed up and checked in as baggage which ends up outside the cabin.

I bought some nice Australian wine in Galveston on special offer for $5 and with $15 corkage in the dining room (that was on Celebrity, Cunard charge $13, I believe) we had a bargain.

We then stock up with a few bottles in the various ports of call. I bought a Chassagne Montrachet in Antibes, France, for about $60, and that night after we set sail, we had it with dinner. The Sommelier was suitably impressed; "a wise choice Sir", but unfortunately that bottle was corked and literally money down the drain.

That's the one drawback to this master plan. If the wine turns out to be corked, you have a long way to go to take the bottle back.

Despite this nickel and diming our bar bill is still about $1000 a week!

I am confused about the comment about

"That's the one drawback to this master plan. If the wine turns out to be corked, you have a long way to go to take the bottle back"

What does that mean? Take back where?

Has anyone brought other kinds of liquor on board besides wine? Gin, for example?

I am confused about the comment about

"That's the one drawback to this master plan. If the wine turns out to be corked, you have a long way to go to take the bottle back"

 

What does that mean? Take back where?

Read the post, it was bought in Chassagne Montrachet in Antibes.

David.

Ah.... I did notice where you bought it, but I was reading the "corked" part wrong... thinking you meant it had a cork, and maybe you did not have a corkscrew, etc.

But now I know you meant, using wine terminolgy that the wine was corked, or BAD.

Now I see said the drunk!

I'm surprised people make the effort to take so much drink on board, when it is really fairly cheap (all things considered) on board. With the Queens Grill rooms on QE2 you get a complimentary bottle of Perrier Jouet (NV) which is very pleasant, and then as a world club member you get a bottle of fizzy pop which isn't. It'a bit of a routine for us - drinking champagne on the balcony waiting for the whistle when we sail!

We opened one of the world club fizzy pops during the fireworks at the start of the tandem crossing, and almost all of it went down the sink. Dreadful stuff - since then we've always left it behind.

I've always been worried about a bottle being broken and everything stinking of booze!

dup post

We did take a bottle of 1996 Cristal for sailaway in June. It was in my hand luggage, and not hidden at all.

We then had the Perrier Jouet (NV) later in the trip!