Jump to content

Recent RCCL Cruisers, Corkage Fee?


Recommended Posts

We were on VOS 3/04 and yes they charged $20.00 per bottle cork fee. We payed each and every night ( total $120.00). We tried to bargain with our head waiter that we would rather tip him the $20.00 per bottle if he did not put it on our bill but he would not agree. :(

 

Of course you could alway drink it in your cabin and save the $20.00 :).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were on the Brilliance in Feb and it was $12. Wouldn't surprise me if it went to $20. Good way to keep you buying their wine. Oh well, all champagne will be consumed in the room before dinner now! lolol

 

Mark & Janet

Link to comment
Share on other sites

$20 a bottle is kind of rediculous! I guess they are really pushing their wine packages these days. It's just a shame that they don't have a good selection of wines on their packages to choose from. Don't you just love paying around $30 a bottle for wine that can be bought at a grocery store for less than $13??? The nickle and diming by RCI continues! What's next, pay toilets?:eek:

Stretch

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really don't mind a mark-up, but 200-250% is pretty high. I pesonally don't drink (Stretch, don't have a stroke!), but my wife likes a particular wine by Niebum-Coppolla which we buy by the case. It is one of their reserve labels and she very much enjoys it better than most other wines. Will also be traveling with adult children this cruise, so consumption will be higher. If the new rate is $20, than that is what will be. I may grumble a bit, but, a cruise is still a cruise!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

$20.00 does seem awfully high. On a Carnival Cruise last year after paying the corkage fee a couple of nights, I started to just pour myself a glass in the room and carry it with the open bottle to the dining room. Our waiter didn't seem to mind (I'd already tipped him $20 on the first night hoping to avoid the fee) and he'd just bring a bucket to keep it chilled. Has anyone tried that and gotten away with it on RCCL?

 

I'm with minmor, I'd much rather give the money to the waiter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hope to goodness RCI hasn't gone so far as to raise the corkage fee to $20! Their wine prices, considering what they have on the menu, are already ridiculous.

 

We were on the Serenade six weeks ago and the corkage was still $12, but then again, it wouldn't surprise me at all that they raised it.

 

RCI just keeps jumping out there "shooting themselves in the foot". It won't be long before even we loyal RCI cruisers (25 cruises+) get fed up and look elsewhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Capecod, For a special wine like you are talking about, I guess I'd have to bite the bullet and pay the fee also. Perhaps you'll get lucky and get a good waiter that will overlook the corkage fee. I've heard of this being done in the past. Best of luck! It still bites that they do stuff like this to their customers.

Stretch

Link to comment
Share on other sites

................... Has anyone tried that and gotten away with it on RCCL?

 

I'm with minmor, I'd much rather give the money to the waiter.

 

On our last night, we had a bottle and carried it to the dining room along with a wine key. I opened it myself and -- wouldn't you know it---- it was the first night there were no wine glasses on the table!! lol so, we got up and took some off an empty table and poured it ourselves. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When you say, "Won't be long...," how long are you actually talking? From what I've read, there are lot of things people have said this about in the past, but it hassn't seemed to make much difference in terms of bookings. Industry analysis feel that the changes RCL's been making over the last two years have been generally good for the business, vastly better than in 2000 and 2001. I suppose we'll find out definitively on Wednesday, when RCL announces their second-quarter earnings. They've been showing excellent revenue growth, while CCL has been showing revenue shrinkage!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RCCL continues to take us for a ride. Seems like every year it's something else. I enjoy wine with dinner, and was willing to pay $12 bucks for corkage, but $20 is extreme.

 

Cruising is still the best bargain out there, and I've found much better luck with the other cruise lines (Princess and Carnival) with the waiters not passing along the corkage fees.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Will they confiscate a corkscrew- either in carry on or checked luggage? I hope not. We are going on VOS out of Bayonne and driving. We plan on bringing two bottles of Champagne and 2 bottles of very nice Dry Creek reserve Cabernet. Last year on Serenade, we bought on a bottle of Dom and two Dry Creek Reserve last cruise - but no corkscrew. Didn't need for Dom, but needed for wine. We purchased a small one in Halifax, at the pier (took some looking) and brought it on board. Don't know if I'll be as lucky this time. Is it considered a weapon? (seriously).

We had champagne and strawberries delivered comp the 1st nite by RCCL for an error on prior cruise- we kept the flutes the entire cruise. Hid them in the vanity. Every night, we had drinks on the balcony before dinner and brought our flutes into the DR already filled. Plan to do the same. So-

Help me out there with the corkscrew issue, please.

We purchased wine the first day of our 1st cruise on Majesty as we boarded (had a display in the Centrum) boy were we overcharged- about 300 % markup. They were not cellared properly and vowed never to do again.

So- last two cruises we drove to port, so we brought on the wine.

Thanks :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BIcker,

I agree. Although I may grumble(and not too loudly at that!), this $8 increase in corkage or $3.95 JR fee or other so called "nickle and diming" charges will not result in me changing lines at this time. RCCL offers a great overall product that I enjoy at a price that is still very reasonable. I guess it's just all in perspective. Ten years ago, I couldn't afford to take my family on cruises. We still vacationed, but we camped or took other inexpesive vacations. Now that my earning potential has increased, I can explore other options. Once I discovered cruising (this will be our fifth in four years), the joy it brings to me and my family now makes it a priority. So, I will monitior RCCL's pricing structure and if the increases are reasonable, I will continue to cruise with them. If I find that the overall service and quality decreases (I personally don't feel that it has in the past four years), then I would simply have to pay more to get better service and quality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This same scenario happened at Walt Disney World. For many years it was considered to be an outrageously good value. Its over-the-top popularity resulted in a lot of very ridiculous scenarios, with guests "selling" their reservations to other guests, industry-boggling load levels, insanely long waiting lists for desireable activities, etc. This lack of balance between capacity and patronage was a sure-fire sign of a misbalance in supply and demand, a misbalance between the value provided and the price charged.

 

Disney did what it could to increase capacity by building more attractions and hotels. They also did what they could to capitalize on the demand, by charging higher prices. This would also help moderate patronage, bringing it back in line with capacity. You can imagine how people griped about the increases, but what was really remarkable was how those very same people continued to go back to WDW year after year after year without abatement. If it wasn't for 9/11 I think Disney may have actually achieved a balance, despite all pronouncements by armchair CEOs who claimed that although they were still willing to pay the higher rates and charges, no one else was - ha!

 

The main aspect of a cruise that caught my attention was the value -- it simply appears to provide a higher return (in terms of enjoyment) on the money spent than the alternatives. There is room IMHO for the prices to be even a bit higher, and still compare very well to the alternatives. Unless we plunge into another recession, I'd look forward to a bit more price movement in that direction, across the industry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was sure I'd have an answer to previous post. Can I bring a crokscrew on-board (to enjoy a bottle of wine in my cabin)? --or will it be confiscated ?

 

We cruised on the Briliiance in April and there was no problem taking a corkscrew on board with us. That being said it probably won't be too long before some bean-counter at RCI will realize that they are losing money by allowing people to bring them on board and they will be outlawed.

 

bob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We just got off the Navigator yesterday. My sister brought 8 bottles of wine in her suitcase and two corkscrews in her suitcase. Suitcases got checked at the pier with no problem. She also took a glass of wine to dinner every night - no corkage fee then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Corkscrews??? I have bringing them aboard for the past 8 years and have never had one confiscated. Even if you have a problem ..... ask your cabin attendant for one. They will gladly provide one for your use in your cabin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Varites0225

I was on the Voyager last year and the fee was $10.00 and I did use it. I don't know if it has gone up to $20.00. If you find out please let me know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks to all the posters for the corkscrew answer. BTW- our steward on the Serenade last year was new (Inaugural Voyage). We asked him for one because we forgot ours and he didn't have one! (We also had to ask for many other standard things -ie new bar of soap, pool towels, etc.). Pleasant guy and smiled a lot but didn't cut it. So we tipped only the minimum (we usually tip a lot for good service).

I just dawned on us today that we could have purchased one from the liquor shop on board- right? I guess if you can buy one on the ship, you can bring one on. We bought our 2nd bottle of Champagne yesterday - for $26- ($45 retail; $80 RCCL price; enjoying it on our aft balcony sailing away- priceless).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Will they confiscate a corkscrew- either in carry on or checked luggage?

 

Had one in my checked luggage on Brilliance in late June without a problem.

 

Broke it while on the cruise, and carried another on in Mykonos - right thru the x-ray machine - no problem. Unlike a plane, there are plenty of "weapons" (knoves etc) already on board. I doubt that you could hijack a cruise ship with a corkscrew!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll spend plenty of $ on the frou-frou drinks -one by the pool and one late at nite. RCCL will still make $$ on my drinks (and the soda cards). I'd rather bring my fine wine onboard myself - less chance of a "bad" bottle and the 300% markup just gets to me. Somehow, paying $5.95 (or $7.95 w/glass) for a frozen drink doesn't appear to be a ripoff- pay more in NYC for a Margarita ($10 and up).

Thanks all for the answer- we'll pack one in each suitcase!

 

(We bought our 2nd bottle of Champagne yesterday - for $26- ($45 retail; $80 RCCL price; enjoying it on our aft balcony sailing away- priceless).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd rather bring my fine wine onboard myself - less chance of a "bad" bottle

 

Have you ever had a "bad" bottle. I have probably had thousands of bottles of wine in my life, I'm quite old, but the only bad bottle was given to me by a friend that worked for a winery. When I told her about it, her comment was "Yes, we knew the winery was artificially ageing the wine and you got to drink it too late". On cruises and in restaurants I don't do the traditional sampling, if it's bad, never has been, I know they will take it back. $20 corkage fee, if it's for real, sucks. I usually don't take my own wine onboard, but when I have, we have never been charged a corkage fee. Guess times are changing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...