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Bringing Wine


rinshin

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Hello everyone - this is my 2nd HAL cruise. The last one with HAL is almost a lifetime ago and don't remember much about bringing your own wine. In my recent cruises with Princess and Celebrity, I brought some of my own wine to enjoy and paid corkage fee. I believe the last one with Princess was something like $10 corkage fee.

 

Can you bring your own wine with HAL and pay corkage fee?

 

Thank you for any information on this subject.

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I wish I'd noted the name of CC'er who pointed out this BevMo! site which sells shipping cartons -

http://www.bevmo.com/productinfo.asp?sku=00000009257&No=10&N=168+42+4294961151+4294957285&Nr=Store%3A99%2C+Store%3A99&Nr=Store%3A99&area=more

 

With current airline weight allowances, probably more practical for people like me who drive to the port, and are just concerned about getting intact bottle from check in to cabin.

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On and off subject here but... for the life of me, i cannot remember if there are wine openers in the cabins or not. I did not recall seeing any on the westerdam (we were in an SA suite).

Are there any in the cabins?

I want to bring some wine as well and i don't really want to worry about going through security with a corkscrew in my bag.

They (security in the terminal)pull me out of line in jan for my sunglasses case because it looked "suspecious" :rolleyes:

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WINE OPENERS --The only openers that we have found in the "S" suites are pretty flimsy & only a good wine steward can use successfully. I usually put our very large and sturdy opener in my shipped baggage -- not carry-on. The room steward is always very happy to open any bottles for you but it is nice to do at a time that is best for your "company's arrival, etc.". They will definitely fill your large wine ice bucket when needed but I also empty our refrigerator into a cabinet and start the wine cooling in the ref. the morning of any gathering we have.

 

Since we drive to Fl. ports I bring our favorite soft drinks also and they are put in the emptied ref. We DO NOT take the soft drinks on deck -- only use them in the cabin.

 

Remember the HAL policy of no hard liquor carried on board -- only wine & champagne.

 

FL. DRIVERS CARRYING ON BOARD --Re. the discussion of getting wine, etc. to the cabin -- we usually take our carry-ons and miscellaneous at the original check-in time and then my husband goes across to the car in the garage and brings the snacks, wine and soft drinks after we are settled in.

 

Have fun!! Cruising Illini

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Will they let you take wine you've brought on board to the room before the room is ready, so you don't have to cart it around? Leaving tomorrow - if anyone can give a quick reply, it would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks so much.

 

No, you can't take anything to the cabin before it's ready - but they always provide a place to check items until then - just ask when you board.

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I wish I'd noted the name of CC'er who pointed out this BevMo! site which sells shipping cartons -

http://www.bevmo.com/productinfo.asp?sku=00000009257&No=10&N=168+42+4294961151+4294957285&Nr=Store%3A99%2C+Store%3A99&Nr=Store%3A99&area=more

 

With current airline weight allowances, probably more practical for people like me who drive to the port, and are just concerned about getting intact bottle from check in to cabin.

 

Here are some more websites with wine shippers:

http://www.boxvendor.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=44

 

http://www.boxvendor.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=42

 

http://www.mrboxonline.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=wine&osCsid=20002e824c4729c90515855f5617e5d4

 

http://store.uhaul.com/master_product_detail.aspx?id=169

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  • 2 weeks later...
On and off subject here but... for the life of me, i cannot remember if there are wine openers in the cabins or not. I did not recall seeing any on the westerdam (we were in an SA suite).

Are there any in the cabins?

I want to bring some wine as well and i don't really want to worry about going through security with a corkscrew in my bag.

They (security in the terminal)pull me out of line in jan for my sunglasses case because it looked "suspecious" :rolleyes:

 

Recently on the Statendam we had to ring room service everytime we wanted to open a bottle of wine! The steward came, opened same and departed again with the corkscrew (on Princess they loaned us one for the duration of the voyage). That was a massive pain in the butt. We bought plastic corkscrew in Maui, when opened the packet contained two. However you would be much better packing decent one in checked luggage.

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After a couple of quick trips to local grocery stores on various travels, we now keep spare corkscrews in the 3 bags we travel with most often (checked luggage, in case the carry-on rules get changed at the last minute as they often do...) On our Maasdam cruise, we also packed a corkscrew in the wine case when we packed it....

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BYOC! Bring your own corkscrew!

 

Also, we just sailed the Westerdam and I am happy to report that our wine steward didn't charge us the corkage fee for any of the bottles we brought on board. I made it clear to him up front that I'd rather give him the money than HAL. So, for 6 bottles of wine, it would have been $90 in corkage fees. I gave the wine steward $60 in a tip. It was a win-win for both of us. Not all wine stewards will do this, but it can't hurt to ask.

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BYOC! Bring your own corkscrew!

 

Also, we just sailed the Westerdam and I am happy to report that our wine steward didn't charge us the corkage fee for any of the bottles we brought on board. I made it clear to him up front that I'd rather give him the money than HAL. So, for 6 bottles of wine, it would have been $90 in corkage fees. I gave the wine steward $60 in a tip. It was a win-win for both of us. Not all wine stewards will do this, but it can't hurt to ask.

 

I can't believe that you would brag about bribing the steward so that he would violate his employer's rules! You are aware that he could be fired for what he did, aren't you? All so you could save 30 bucks and act smug?

 

:(

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Wow, someone is angry. I wasn't bragging and I wasn't acting smug. Sorry you took it that way. My point is that I would rather put my corkage fee in the pockets of the hardworking HAL employees than the cruiseline. I didn't bribe the wine steward, but just told him that I'd rather give him the cash and apparently he agreed. Again, sorry I offended you, but this goes on a lot more than you may realize.

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Wow, someone is angry. I wasn't bragging and I wasn't acting smug. Sorry you took it that way. My point is that I would rather put my corkage fee in the pockets of the hardworking HAL employees than the cruiseline. I didn't bribe the wine steward, but just told him that I'd rather give him the cash and apparently he agreed. Again, sorry I offended you, but this goes on a lot more than you may realize.

 

It goes on at the city planning department, too. That doesn't make it right. You saved $30, he jeopardized his career - sound like a fair trade?

 

You know there was a corkage fee but chose not to pay it. Yet you could have done so and still tipped the steward - and chose not to do that either.

 

Which other rules did you chose to break? Have a candle/iron in your cabin? Skip out on lifeboat drill?

 

You're darn right I'm angry! I like the staff on HAL's ships, it's one of the big reasons we cruise with the line. Putting their jobs in jeopardy isn't something I condone and I'd hope others wouldn't either.

 

You don't get to "choose" where the corkage fee goes, you either pay it or forego your personal bottle in the dining room. Or do you also "choose" where your tax dollars get spent?

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You have a right to think her decesion was wrong....but it was the stewards own choice to go along with it. I am taking it he or she is a grown adult and if they decided to do as she asked they put themselves into the situation of "jeopardizing" their own job. They may be from a different country but they ARE able to make their own descions. I will be packing a corkscrew for our cruise in 7 days aboard the Zudiderdam!! CANT WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?!:rolleyes:

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I must admit to some confusion over whether corkscrews are provided in the cabins or not. This confusion is weighing heavily upon me. On our one and only HAL cruise so far, we were in an S suite, and I seem to recall that there was a corkscrew provided for us. Is my memory correct? Would there indeed have been a corkscrew provided by HAL on the premises of the SA, SB, SC, and PH suites? Somehow those bottles were opened, and I didn't do it! (Maybe my husband's really elaborate Swiss Army knife?)

 

Karin

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Wow, someone is angry.

 

Don't take it personal Lisa, seems he gets that way for a couple of days each month or so. Must be writer's block or something.;)

 

lol, more than two days in most months. Lisa just don't answer him anymore otherwise it will go on and on until YOU quit, his sense of humour is rather DIMMED, or else he just has a very long "Brown Arm"

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Wow, someone is angry.

 

Don't take it personal Lisa, seems he gets that way for a couple of days each month or so. Must be writer's block or something.;)

 

But it WAS personal. I really have no sympathy for those who insist on bending the rules for their own benefit to the potential detriment of everyone else.

 

And of course the steward goes along with it - otherwise the passenger can write him up as a bad steward on the comment card.

 

And, by the way, the steward does get his normal tip from the corkage charge.

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Last November on Carnival , Our whole group (7 couples) got to our cabins to find a bottle of wine (courtesy of the TA who we all booked with.

 

The bottle was wrapped up in pretty festive paper with a nice note and included a cork screw (albeit one of those cheapy two piece ones ) with the Carnival logo on it.

 

Granted not HAL , but the parent company.

 

Now if they have these company logo embossed cork screws hanging around to put in passengers bon voyage gifts , then perhaps they have a some that you can ask your steward to bring you as you would ask him for extra towels or glasses or anything else.

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Last November on Carnival , Our whole group (7 couples) got to our cabins to find a bottle of wine (courtesy of the TA who we all booked with.

 

The bottle was wrapped up in pretty festive paper with a nice note and included a cork screw (albeit one of those cheapy two piece ones ) with the Carnival logo on it.

 

Granted not HAL , but the parent company.

 

Now if they have these company logo embossed cork screws hanging around to put in passengers bon voyage gifts , then perhaps they have a some that you can ask your steward to bring you as you would ask him for extra towels or glasses or anything else.

 

On Statendam Sept/Oct like I said when we asked our room steward he said ring room service and the boy arrived, opened the wine (also a gift from TA), I asked if we might keep the corkscrew as we were on the ship for 5 weeks, but he couldn't leave, so everytime we needed a corkscrew we had to call roomservice. Downunder we now bottle our wines using screwcaps, got used to it very quickly, its great!

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