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Taking Wine Onboard


waid10

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Has anyone packed and taken their own bottles onboard?

 

1. Is it permitted?

2. How did you do it? Bubble wrap? In your checked bag?

3. How did it work for you?

4. What is the corking fee if you take it for dinner?

 

I was thinking of taking a few bottles but didn't know if it would be worth the hassle or cost (depending on the amount of the corking fee).

 

Any info from someone who has done it before would be very helpful.

 

Thanks.

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Greetings, fellow wine drinkers. It's fine to bring wine on board a Princess ship. We usually bubble-wrap bottles in checked bags and haven't had any problems. We'll be in FLL the day before sailing and will likely purchase wine then instead of packing it (probably 6 bottles).

 

We ask our stateroom steward to keep us supplied with clean wine glasses for the duration of the cruise, and we usually take a glass with us to dinner. We usually end up purchasing a bottle or two or three on board, as well. Cheers!

Chris

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i carried 6 bottles of wine on the C. P. I bought the wine on my way to the ship and carried them on in a supermarket bag. no problem.
Thanks Boco. I am trying to decide if I should pack wine (from my collection at home) or buy it the morning of embarkation.
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We're sailing 1/22/05 on the Diamond, it will be our first time on Princess. We always pack about 12 bottles using sheets of styrofoam. We give the bag to the porter and never had a problem with not receiving our wine. Princess allows you to carry wine on board for special occasions which I may carry 4 bottles on board. If I have any problems, you'll be the first to hear about it. :rolleyes: Also, we carry a glass of wine to dinner, and at the end of the cruise if we have wine left, we share it with others at our table.

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We were on the Grand in the Fall of 2002. I took 6 bottles from our wine cellar, put them in a 6 bottle shipping pack (a cardboard box with a styrofoam insert) that I had saved, then placed that in an inexpensive canvas parachute bag that I bought on-line. The was enough room, inside the parachute bag, to stuff some extra items on each side, for additional cushioning (which probably wasn't necessary). I then checked the bag at the airport.

 

When we got on board, I took out the wine shipping box, and we used the parachute bag to hold and bring back dirty clothes. Worked like a charm. No damage to the bottles and no problems with Princess. Additionally, there was absolutely no fuss or problem in the dining rooms.

 

If you are a wine geek (like me) you will probably want to bring some of your own bottles. It's not a matter of saving money, since the prices that Princess charges are very reasonable (in my opinion). The problem is that their list is limited.

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On Carnival, we were charged $6.50 plus 15% gratuity for a glass of house wine. They do not fill the wine glass to the top. We can get 2 glasses plus a little left out of a bottle. I bring mostly wine that costs about $6.00 a bottle on sale (I live in California). So I figure a glass of wine costs me about $3.00 versus $7.45 a glass on the ship. If you and your spouse have 2 glasses each, that's almost $30.00. It's cheaper to bring your own.

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We were on the Diamond Princess November 6-13 and rolled a case of champagne and few nice bottles of wine on board on a rolling collapsable metal cart in plain view. We also brought our own cases of bottled water and some of our favorite sodas to put in the fridge in our cabin. The only dirty looks we got were from fellow passengers that didn't know they could do this. Some were tempted to run out and pick some wine and/or champagne up near the harbor

;-) before we set sail. At the end of the cruise we had some champagne left over that we rolled right off the ship.

 

If you look at the back of your ticket it says that you may not bring alcohol on board with the exception of wine and champagne. The quantity is not limited.

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Several months ago there was a post that listed a company called "Just Because of You" that would deliver a case of wine to the ship. I used to have their phone number and lost it. I tried to search for it but to no avail. Does anyone have this number? Thanks!

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Several months ago there was a post that listed a company called "Just Because of You" that would deliver a case of wine to the ship. I used to have their phone number and lost it. I tried to search for it but to no avail. Does anyone have this number? Thanks!

Do a Google search using the words "Bon Voyage Gifts," maybe you'll find it there.

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I search and found this. Haven't tried it. If you do, please post how it went.

 

http://www.cruisenewsdaily.com/jby.html

'The next time you need to send a gift, call Shelly or her staff at Just Because of You.



The number is 800-882-9707.

Please mention her friends at Travel Incorporated or this web page so they'll know how you found them.'

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Thanks for the link! I had used Just Because of You on our Western/Eastern Caribbean cruises in December and then lost the phone number. They were fantastic. We had a case of wine delivered for each cruise (b2b) and it was so convenient - no lugging wine on with all our other luggage. Their prices are very reasonable too.

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We brought on all of these with no problem.

 

Wine - We brought 4 bottles of our own wine with no issues. It was in or carry on and we put sweat socks over the bottles to eliminate clinking. It was just in our back pack. The dinning reminded us over and over about the $10 corkage, but that was fine with us, but we were only charged once for actually opening the bottle. Once we brought it down in advance and dropped it off and the other times we just brought it with us. We even brought a bottle of white and a bottle of red because we didn't know which we would need and then handed the waiter the bottle once we decided.

 

Beer - We purchased a 12 pack at the Publix the night before departing (Fl doesn't sell liquer on Sunday Morning). We bought cans since the weren't as heavy as bottles. We just put them in our carry on.

 

Soda - We purchased a 12 pack and just put it in out carry on. Then at lunch we just grabbed a cup with ice to use with the cans.

 

Water - We bought a 6 pack of bottled water and just carried that on in our arms. We refilled using the pitchers of water that were at the bar.

 

We never were stopped, searched, or questioned. Bring along a koozie to keep the cans cold, we forgot ours and regreted it. This didn't slow us down from drinking, it was just a cost saving measure. We only like 1 soda a day so the soda card wasn't worth it. We drink alot of water so the water was a must. We also like a beer and it was handy to have it in the cabin.

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We have also carried on wine on Princess without any problems. Be sure to bring a wine opener (i.e. cork screw) or it will be tough to get into the bottles. I have heard that you can ask your room steward for one but we have always brought our own so we could enjoy a glass of wine in our room or on the balcony. Pack it in your non-carry-on luggage if you are going to be flying as the TSA personnel consider corkscrews as dangerous weapons and will take them away from you.

 

Have a great next cruise.

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FYI- A corkscrew with just the screw but no knife is OK in carry-ons. If you are not familiar with these, this what I am talking about

http://www.wineopeners.com/cs_pocket.html

 

Ours (packed in carry-on) was inspected once and OKed and has gone though security checkpoints several times without comment or inspection. It cost $1.25 at our favorite wine store.

 

The list of what is permitted in carry-ons and checked luggage can be found at

http://www.tsa.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/Permitted_Prohibited_12_18_2003.pdf

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We're sailing next week on Dawn, and going to FLL the day before. I don't want to schlep wine from home, does anyone know of a decent wine shop/store on or near the Ft. Lauderdale Beach area? I know about the Walgreen's store, but would rather shop at a place with a nicer selection.

 

Thanks

 

Cruise Dawgs rule!

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Melody-

 

All I can tell you is that the link I posted is the one on the TSA web site. You can check for any updates at:

http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=183&content=09000519800720a4

 

We just went through security at LAX on Jan. 4, 2005, with the type of corkscrew I described in my previous post.

 

Adam-

 

Princess allows wine to be taken aboard for consumption in your cabin or in the dining room with a corkage fee (which may or may not be imposed). If your travel agent has a wine gift delivered to your cabin, you can take that to the dining room with no corkage fee (take the card that comes with the wine just in case there is any question).

 

Also, if you do not normally drink an entire bottle of wine with dinner, the remainder can be stored for another night or taken back to your room for consumption there.

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In Fort Lauderdale, there is a Publix on 17th St. that has an ok selection. There is also a liquor & wine store near the Winn Dixie on 17th. Don't remember the name of it. Do remember to bring a corkscrew; we asked our cabin steward for one and we were sent someone from room service that charged us $10 for opening the bottle in our cabin. Needless to say we bought a cork screw in our next port (and we were in a suite). My husband is also a pepsi drinker so we bought a case of that and a case of water at Publix, taped it together with packing tape and put a luggage tag on it & checked it with our bags. It was delivered to our cabin without us lugging it. We did tip the porter a little extra.

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