Bringing wine?

[mayacamas]

Can we bring wine? How much? How do you recommend we bring it on?

Thanks

Maya

[geoherb]

Celebrity allows you to bring wine. We brought 8 bottles on our cruise and ended up purchasing 4. I packed it in our carry-on luggage. We don't mind paying the $15 per bottle corkage charge to drink something nice. We also enjoy having an occasional glass of wine in our cabin--and you don't pay any corkage charge for those bottles.

[canderson]

Originally Posted by mayacamas

Can we bring wine? How much? How do you recommend we bring it on?

Thanks

Maya

You asked this question previously on another thread on 3 January. Here's the link to that thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=116495

and the answer I provided to you at that time:

As for taking wine aboard -- no problem. We took 8 bottles along for our recent 11 nt. trip on the Summit for 4. Didn't last long! As reported, there's a $15 corkage charge.

Rather than having you ambling into the restaurant with bottles under your arms, the "correct" procedure is to write your cabin and table number on the bottles, and hand them over to your cabin steward for delivery to the dining room. The wine steward will assure that it is held at an appropriate temperature until dinner. Since this typically means an extra run for your assistant steward, be a sport and check the dinner menu early and give them your bottles as early as you are able. I liked to try to assure they had them by 5:00 so as not to interrupt them while they were working over the cabins of those at early seating.

Note about wine on Celebrity M-Class ships. Do NOT be bashful about asking to see and order from the specialty restaurant wine list when seated in the main dining room. It's a more complete list with some interesting selections that you won't be seeing on the regular dining room wine list. It's nice if you can let the wine steward know the day ahead, though, if you know the entree schedule. Saves them a run down to the other cellar area.

Another nice feature -- if you don't finish a bottle (yours or theirs) at dinner, and it's got the wherewithall to spend an overnight, your wine steward will be happy to store it for you until dinner the next evening. I've even had a few somewhat raw cabernets that actually benefitted from the experience.

My recollection is that Celebrity is charging about 1.5X retail, so they aren't sticking it to you. That said, feel free to bring along anything special to you. As an example, we like (and still have) '97 Silver Oak (Alexander), and a variety of 1990 German TBA and BA (dessert wines). Can't find anything quite like either of those on the lists.

[camella]

I don't know where you live, but if you are in any state that has wineries, you should be able to get a "shipping carton" for wine from them for really cheap. It's a styrofoam carton, designed specifically for wine bottles. We packed ours in these and it went with our checked luggage. You may also want to ask at a mailboxes, etc or some place like that, UPS or something to see if they have something similar. We belong to a few wine clubs in California and when they send our wines, they are shipped in these types of cartons, so we just save one for the cruises. Like the other poster said, we too have brought wine on board, sometimes we enjoy it in our cabin, and sometimes not. But I will tell you I remember our last Celebrity cruise last year and they had a great selection and reasonable prices. I was very impressed by that. However, there are a few special wines that we like to bring aboard and we have never had a problem. Have fun!!

[jpcruiseguy]

That's what I did for my cruise on Infinity over the holidays. I packed 12 bottles in one of the shipping boxes, then had it packed in styro "popcorn" to take on the plane. Unloaded it from the popcorn upon arrival in SD, then just sent the case thru w/ my luggage to the cabin. No problem at all.

[Qualicum 1st timers]

I am a rookie but I thought I read somewhere that you were not permitted to bring alcohol on board. Is that not true? What are you allowed to bring on? Can one purchase something in duty free and tuck it in your suitcase?

[FLJudi]

We've taken several European cruises and usually bought wine in the ports of call, mostly to drink in our room before dinner. We found some good bargains and interestin choices that we normally do not see in the US. And - we didn't have to schlep bottles across the Atlantic. We still plan to do this again this summer - Barcelona to Venice. Looking forward to local Spanish, French and Italian wines. However, with the dollar/Euro ratio, the former bargains may not be such bargains today.

FLJudi

[Qualicum 1st timers]

Westcoast Cruisers - Pam, Barry... Are you there?

[tbelian]

Originally Posted by canderson

You asked this question previously on another thread on 3 January. Here's the link to that thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=116495

So the obvious question might be: Why are you asking the same question again?

[eandee]

Does anyone just returning from the Mercury this year know if they do a wine tasting party?
Is their Wine menu as big as the "M" Ships.

It sounds like to me after all these postings that Celebrity tries to kind of look the other way against their own policy about bringing wine onboard at some ports. I remember reading about "San Francisco " port being enforced now.
The corkage fee is supposed to be only for wine ordered through them via the internet or the last day from shops onboard, but how would they know in the dining room, what was what.
Hard to enforce whether is was "allowed" wine or smuggled.
Either way, We can't wait!

[canderson]

Celebrity doesn't care how it gets to the ship, they just want their $15. From the Celebrity web site (and plenty of personal experience)...




Is there a corkage fee in the main restaurant?
Subject: Food and Beverage

Wines not bought from the onboard wine list will constitute a corkage fee. The corkage fee for the main and casual dining, as well as the specialty restaurant is $15 per bottle.

[bbmdschmidt]

Any wine ordered from X online is NOT charged a corkage fee. Only wines brought onboard.

[aginsf]

I found an interesting way around the corkage fee.

My friends & I started with a glass of wine or bubbly before dinner at pre-dinner cocktail time, then simply brought open bottles & glasses with us to the dining room. Therefore, no wine bottle needed be open by waitstaff & therefore no corkage fee!

BTW, the wine list from the premium restaurant is wonderful.

[critterchick]

I went to the FAQ on Celebrity's website and it says:

No alcoholic beverages may be purchased ashore for consumption onboard.

But it also says:

Wines not bought from the onboard wine list will constitute a corkage fee. The corkage fee for the main and casual dining, as well as the specialty restaurant is $15 per bottle.

So, are they thinking that you're stomping on grapes in your bathtub or is wine not considered an "alcoholic beverage?"

[newmexicoNita]

Originally Posted by aginsf

I found an interesting way around the corkage fee.

My friends & I started with a glass of wine or bubbly before dinner at pre-dinner cocktail time, then simply brought open bottles & glasses with us to the dining room. Therefore, no wine bottle needed be open by waitstaff & therefore no corkage fee!

BTW, the wine list from the premium restaurant is wonderful.

I think this is a little tacky or are you just be funny? NMNita

[canderson]

Originally Posted by aginsf

I found an interesting way around the corkage fee.

My friends & I started with a glass of wine or bubbly before dinner at pre-dinner cocktail time, then simply brought open bottles & glasses with us to the dining room. Therefore, no wine bottle needed be open by waitstaff & therefore no corkage fee!

BTW, the wine list from the premium restaurant is wonderful.

Hauling a bottle into the restaurant (either), especially an open one, is just plain poor form, and has zip to do with corkage fees.

That said, it's violation of Celebrity policy specifically spelled out on their web page and elsewhere.

Ditto on the specialty restaurant wine list, though.

[fireguy091]

Canderson is correct. If you take a bottle to the dining room you should pay if they charge you. I have taken bottles before and wasn't charged. I don't question them I just do what they want.
PS Taking an open bottle with you is like ,well you can call it what you like,lol maybe try a Carnival cruise