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Changed policy- wine on board


sail@way

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I wrote NCL asking formal permission to bring wine on board and they EMAILED me today. This is their reply.

 

Good morning Brenda,

 

Just wanted to advise you I received your request to bring wine onboard. It

is Ok for you to bring any kind of

wine, even if we have it onboard. There is just a $10.00 charge per bottle

for you to bring the wine onboard.

 

You can either drink it in your stateroom or at dinner.

 

 

Thank you,

Jennifer Hoadley

Passenger Courtesy

Norwegian Star Coordinator

Ext. 7768

passengercourtesystar@ncl.com

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NCL changed their policy in November. The only thing new is any wine even if its on there wine list. Unless it is a high end wine you may still be better off buying it onboard.

 

Take for example Chateau Ste. Michelle Cab. Retail NJ $17 NCL price $29. You save $2 bucks after the $10 corkage.

 

Also lets hope the staff at the pier has the same view as Jennifer. Not the first time there was more then one answer to the same question.

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Itis Ok for you to bring any kind of

wine, even if we have it onboard. There is just a $10.00 charge per bottle

for you to bring the wine onboard.

 

You can either drink it in your stateroom or at dinner.

 

Wait a minute! If I read this right I can bring wine on board but I have to pay $10.00 per bottle even if I drink it only in my cabin? I don't consider this great news. When NCL wine policy is changed to no charge like the other major cruiselines then I will say it's great news.

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Wait a minute! If I read this right I can bring wine on board but I have to pay $10.00 per bottle even if I drink it only in my cabin? I don't consider this great news. When NCL wine policy is changed to no charge like the other major cruiselines then I will say it's great news.

What? Do you mean that other lines let you take wine onboard? As part of a "drive and sail" package, the Sheraton Los Angeles Harbor "gives" you a bottle of wine to take on your cruise. We were cruising RCI last month, and we thought they were just like NCL. So, we left it in the car, duh!

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Wait a minute! If I read this right I can bring wine on board but I have to pay $10.00 per bottle even if I drink it only in my cabin? I don't consider this great news. When NCL wine policy is changed to no charge like the other major cruiselines then I will say it's great news.

 

 

I have paid corkage on both Carnival and Princess....I do not believe that is out of the ordinairy.

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On HAL you can consume your own wine in your cabin with NO corkage fee. Zero. Nada. None. At least that's the way it was on our past two cruises with them (Thanksgiving 2003 and 2004). Now if you bring it to dinner, then YES, there is a corkage fee of $15 which includes the 15% tip. But if consuming in the privacy of your own cabin, then no fee. They will also happily provide glasses and corkscrew if you ask - even if you are not in a suite! :)

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You can call ahead and have liquor delivered to your room. I don't know if they carry your special flavor but you won't know til you ask!!

 

1-866-625-1159 tell 'em you want to order a bar set up.

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I also e-mailed customer service and got the following answer the next day:

 

 

Good morning Louise,

Yes, you can bring wine onboard and there is a charge of $10.00 per bottle.

Thanks,

Jennifer Hoadley

Passenger Courtesy

Norwegian Star Coordinator

Ext. 7768

passengercourtesystar@ncl.com

I don't know how they will handle the charge if is in the checked luggage. I think they should only charge the $10.00 if I bring it in the dining room. On Princess, I brought 3 bottles of wine in my checked luggagge and nobody said anything.

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When I read this thread I thought I should email NCL as well. Emailed yesterday afternoon, had a reply back this morning. We are sailing on the Sun in May. This is the reply I received...

 

Good morning,

 

Please note that you are now allowed to bring onboard wine. However, there is a corkage fee of $10.00 per bottle for a 750ml bottle of wine. This will be charged to your onboard account.

 

So needless to say I am bringing this email letter with us on the cruise. Just thought I would share.

 

I just used the email address

passengercourtesysun@ncl.com

 

Just inserted the name of the ship in the email address that a previous poster used for the "star". It works!

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I emailed using the above email link to the Crown person, and got a reply immediately! You may now bring wine aboard with you. However, they will be charging $10.00 for every bottle brought aboard -- regardless of where you intend to consume it, the dining room or your own cabin.

 

She did not answer my question as to "how are the checking for bottles of wine?", but I assume it's by xray machine they way they always have.

 

It's at least something to consider when packing for the cruise!

 

I would love to hear from cruisers as they return from their cruises as to how strict this new policy is being adhered to (especially on the Crown to Bermuda!), and if they really do charge you based on seeing wine in your suitcase or only when you present it to the dining room steward.

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I emailed using the above email link to the Crown person, and got a reply immediately! You may now bring wine aboard with you. However, they will be charging $10.00 for every bottle brought aboard -- regardless of where you intend to consume it, the dining room or your own cabin.

 

She did not answer my question as to "how are the checking for bottles of wine?", but I assume it's by xray machine they way they always have.

 

It's at least something to consider when packing for the cruise!

 

I would love to hear from cruisers as they return from their cruises as to how strict this new policy is being adhered to (especially on the Crown to Bermuda!), and if they really do charge you based on seeing wine in your suitcase or only when you present it to the dining room steward.

 

This new policy as stated above as been in effct since Novemeber. They don't xray for booze, they xray for securuty and as a side benefit are able to see booze. Checked or carry on all luggage is screened. Do they get 100%? No. Are you expected to pay $10 per bottle yes. Reasonable compromise from the old no wine.

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:o We have never had a problem bringing a couple bottles of wine on board, without paying anything. Just wrap it real good in bubble wrap and stick it between some articles of clothing. Put a bottle in 2 different checked luggage pieces and your in with no problems.

We have done this for the last 2 cruises and plan on doing it again next month. Just be sure to not bring it in your carry on luggage.;)

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I am curious.....have any of the posters on this thread actually experienced this first hand? When you went through the scanning process with a bottle of wine in your carryon were you stopped, holding up the whole line so an NCL employee can mark down your cabin #, swipe your card or whatever?

 

This makes no sense :confused: It sounds as if it would bog down the whole embarkation process. There should be no charge for bringing wine on board and a corkage fee is fine if you bring it to the dining room. Whats next????

They will be charging a fee if you bring your own water on board. :(

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Someone in our group had a bottle in his checked luggage and nothing was said or done about it. When we returned to the ship after visiting ports, we had a bottle in our bag that went through the x-ray and nothing was said to us about it at all.

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For those of you wanting to bring wine aboard for in cabin consumption I recommend some of the new higher end 3 liter box or cask wines such as Black Box. These are not the same jug quality like the larger 5 liter boxes. The small 3 liter box can easily fit in your checked luggage and is easy to pack. No big worry about a bottle breaking either. The compact size fits well in the cabin refrigerator too.

 

Here's a link to an article that appeared in the Seattle paper this week describing these premium wines.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/food/210264_wine02.html

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I am curious.....have any of the posters on this thread actually experienced this first hand? When you went through the scanning process with a bottle of wine in your carryon were you stopped, holding up the whole line so an NCL employee can mark down your cabin #, swipe your card or whatever?

 

This makes no sense :confused: It sounds as if it would bog down the whole embarkation process. There should be no charge for bringing wine on board and a corkage fee is fine if you bring it to the dining room. Whats next????

They will be charging a fee if you bring your own water on board. :(

 

There was a post from a cruiser on the Spirit. Not to worry you will not hold up everyone else. Only yourself. Now they had 3 or 4 bottles and had to go to a seperate area and complete the corkage transaction. Did not slow anyone else up :cool:

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  • 2 weeks later...
:D

 

Enough with the policy talk. Any real life stories? What really happens?

 

Mike

 

What really happens is they scan your luggage and if they see anything unusual they hold your luggage in a special room. You get a notice on your cabin door to come to the room. They ask you if you have any alcohol in luggage and then they make you open it up. If there is wine you pay the fee...if there is other types of alcohol then they confiscate it and you get it back at the end of your cruise. I know this because the people in the cabin next to us went through the the whole thing I just said. They tried to smuggle in some whiskey and it was found. However, they were lucky that's all they found because while we were cruising I was getting high off the drifting second hand weed tokeing that was going on over there. ;) It was kind of funny cause they brought along some incense which I believe they used to cover up the smell but failed to use it till later in the cruise. The entire hall smelled like an Indian Temple...LOL! :D They were a really nice couple who became our balcony chatting buddies, so although we are not smokers, pot or otherwise, we didn't let it bother us. Guess we were too high on second hand smoke to give a hoot! :eek:

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I emailed using the above email link to the Crown person, and got a reply immediately! You may now bring wine aboard with you. However, they will be charging $10.00 for every bottle brought aboard -- regardless of where you intend to consume it, the dining room or your own cabin.

 

She did not answer my question as to "how are the checking for bottles of wine?", but I assume it's by xray machine they way they always have.

 

It's at least something to consider when packing for the cruise!

 

I would love to hear from cruisers as they return from their cruises as to how strict this new policy is being adhered to (especially on the Crown to Bermuda!), and if they really do charge you based on seeing wine in your suitcase or only when you present it to the dining room steward.

 

 

they will check it by xray machine; as far as how strict: let's put it this way, 3 couples, all with wine from a 1.5 liter box to a couple of bottles each, no corkage fee was charged. We didn't try to hide it, the gal at the xray machine took it out of our carry on and put it back. I don't know why, but we certainly didn't argue. NMnita

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