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Carrying on wine?


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Kristi

 

Are you lost this is the RCI board not Carnival.:D ;)

 

I always pack my wine in a suitcase inside a waterproof rubber dry or float bag. The individual bottles are wrapped in bubble wrap, never have had a problem. That being said specific to your question, I think it totally depends on the individual ship. Short 7 day or less cruises are IMHO are more likely to have the policy enforced compared to longer cruises. The policy is pretty much sometimes they allow it and sometimes they don't. I am pretty sure though if it is just a couple of bottles that you have a very good chance of no problem. If you do get it confiscated they will bring it to the dining room for you and charge a corkage fee, or hold it for you til the end of the cruise. So even if they enforce the rules it is not really a problem. I think they are much more likely to confiscate it in a port of call than at the embarkation, but that, again, is JMHO.

 

jc

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We found some wine being sold at a port that DH hadn't encountered in many years, so he bought a couple of bottles fully intending to just take it home rather than consume in on board (so we wouldn't have minded if it were taken and returned at the end of the trip) - no one said a word.

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We are having a state gift exchange on our Mariner cruise and there is a winery here that makes some wonderful wine. I know....who'd have thought someone would make good wine in Iowa? Anyway, there won't be much room in my suitcase because of my beer :D So I was hoping I could just carry the bottle on.

 

Thanks for the help!

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It depends on the inspector on the dock when you embark. They have the right to confiscate the wine. In my case, I had an inspector who joked about it, but I was able to carry on two bottles of "inexpensive "wine in complete view with no problem.

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I had two very different experiences with bring alcohol on board. We cruised on Carnival one time and heard mixed reviews on their tolerance of bringing aboard alcohol, so, we packed a bottle of wine in each of our 4 checked bags and a box of wine in another, then loaded up our backpacks and the kids' backpacks each with a bottle of champagne (we were travelling with a big group). We figured if they confiscated the champagne from the backpacks, at least we'd have the wine in our luggage. Well, we got onboard with all of it and didn't even drink half of it. Just the champagne when we left port. Our cabin steward must have thought we were nuts with all this wine in our room!!!

 

Then, in February, just me and my hubby sailed on Norwegian. He had secretly packed a bottle of Dom Perignon to bring on board in his carry-on back to surprise me on Valentine's Day, and they not only took it from him while going through the detectors, but he had to fill out paperwork for the bottle and we were told it would be given back the last night of the cruise. He was upset, but we knew we had 2 bottles of wine in our checked luggage, so we figured we'd just drink that for our special night. When we realized that we were the only ones on our floor that still didn't get our luggage, we asked our steward where it was and he then informed us we had to go to a certain room and claim our luggage. When we got there, we were met with official looking people who checked our ID then made us unpack our luggage and they confiscated the 2 bottles of wine from us. Everything was returned to us the last night of the cruise, but we thought it was ridiculous.

 

I feel the cruise lines make so much money off alcohol on these cruises that people who just want a couple of bottles in their rooms to entertain friends or family before heading to dinner or out for the evening is no big deal. We definitely spend a lot of money on the ship, and are sure by having a couple of bottles of our preferred beverage in our room is not hurting them. Obviously, if people are bringing cases of alcohol on board that's different, but just a few bottles............no big deal.

 

Just my feelings...................

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I'm not saying that cruiselines DON'T have a right to have rules to limit bringing alcohol on board their ships (ok, I hate that they would do it, but I'm not denying their "right" to do it), but if what happened to CruisinKat happened to me, and they dragged me somewhere to unpack my suitcase while they sifted through it for CONTRABAND, I would never ever ever ever ever ever sail on that line again, and I would tell their staff that, and I would tell them that I intended to tell everyone that I knew and everyone that I ever met in the future NOT to cruise on that line.

 

(JM not particularly H 0).

 

Carol

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I'm with Merion Mom! I can't believe they did that! On NCL Star in Hawaii, my husband and I were on separate flights. I explained to him to transfer his wine from his carryon into his big suitcase after his flight ( because I had read on the boards that that was the best way to get them through). He "forgot" that I told him and they were taken out of his carryon at boarding. Mine were fine because I put them in the checked luggage. All I can say is that you are a better gal than I, cruisinkat, for not having that really put a damper on your trip!:)

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Thanks for the support, my fellow cruisers! If there's a funny twist to my previous story...........they returned all our alcohol to us on the last night of the cruise (which happened to be Valentine's Day), so, not only did we get to drink our Dom Perignon, but the wine too!!!! So, in the end, it worked out to our advantage for a romantic Val. Day dinner. It was a crazy, fun night!

 

Another little trick I do, is to put clear rum (coconut rum) in Poland Spring water bottles and get those on board, no prob. It gives a little extra kick to my drinks while lounging by the pool, because, God knows....they put hardly any alcohol in those drinks. Any clear booze will do!

 

By all!

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We took (openly) on our Carnival cruise 2 years ago, 2 bottles of wine, a bottle of Bailey's, a box of wine (that was in reality a box of gin) and a couple 2 liter bottles of tonic water and they did not even blink an eye. I emailed RCCL in advance to get "permission" to carry on a couple bottles of private label wine and a bottle of champagne for the sailaway. Not one person asked or seemed to care that they were in our carryons. I guess it's just who is manning the gangway and the xray machines.

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I was thinking of carrying on a bottle of champagne since the day we leave is my husbands bday and it would be fun to celebrate when we get to our room. I guess I could just pack it in my carry on and hope for the best, any suggetions? I looked into ordering a bottle for our room when we arrive but it is about $30...ouch! Way to much for a bottle of champagne.

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Hey Kristi,

 

We will be sailing on the Mariner with you on the 19th. We sailed on her last Jan. also. We put one bottle of wine in our snorkle bag and one in my beach bag. We carried the bags right through security at Pt. Canaveral with no problem. We plan on doing the same thing this time. Now I know what your state gift is.:)

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Reporting back from the Voyager............just got home, and I had NO problems carrying my wine on with me.

 

They X-rayed our bags entering the terminal, but they were just looking for suspicious metal objects, I expect. I had three bottles: one champagne and two red wines.

 

I'm glad that I took them, too. We bought one bottle of wine in the dining room the first night, because I wanted to "get the lay of the land" with our waiter before bringing my own into the dining room. She seemed very happy when I told her that I would rather give HER the "corkage fee" than Royal Caribbean. The bottle I bought of theirs was pretty basic $8 wine, for which they charged $24. It was potable, but barely.

 

I DID pay the corkage fee in Portofino's, though. The good news is that it is "only" $12, not $20 as reported on these boards. The bad news is that they charged the gratuity ON TOP OF the corkage fee. HELLO????? Isn't the corkage fee the fee for serving you your own wine? Isn't THAT the "service"??? Where's the logic in charging a fee for the fee?????

 

Carol

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Merion Mom: I believe that the $20 service fee for Portofinos (and Chops) is for the meal and has nothing to do with wine service. The corkage fee is unrelated to the dining fee; all diners pay the $20 service fee regardless of wine service. Bummer, but that's how RCI has it set up.

 

beachchick

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From the FAQ on the RCCL website:

 

"Can I bring my own liquor onboard?

We apologize for any inconvenience but due to our regulatory and licensing requirements guests are not allowed to bring alcoholic beverages of any kind onboard for consumption or any other use.

 

Alcoholic beverages that are purchased duty-free from the Shops On Board or at ports of call will be stored by us and delivered to your stateroom on the last day of your voyage. A member of our staff will be at the gangway to assist with the storage of your purchases. Should you choose to consume alcoholic beverages purchased from the Shops On Board, a consumption fee will apply at the time of purchase. Note that no open liquor bottles will be permitted to be brought into dining areas or public".

 

Also, found the ship's wine list on the RCCL web site:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/pdf/Domestic_Wine_List.pdf

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Merion Mom: I believe that the $20 service fee for Portofinos (and Chops) is for the meal and has nothing to do with wine service. The corkage fee is unrelated to the dining fee; all diners pay the $20 service fee regardless of wine service. Bummer, but that's how RCI has it set up.beachchick

 

Beachchick: SOMEONE reported that they had been charged a twenty dollar corkage fee in the dining room on RCCL. I don't remember what thread, what poster, what ship, but someone had said that. I was just reporting that we did not experience an (again) increased corkage fee. (it was only $10 eight months ago). My comment about the gratuity was that it was charged on the CORKAGE FEE of $12.

 

(in other words, I paid $20 per person for Portofino's, the additional gratuity that I added for excellent service AND $13.80 for the privilege of drinking my own wine.) Was it worth it? That's a close call, when you add all of that up.

 

Carol

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Carol: My goodness! I am appalled that you would be charged the service fee of $20, which we all know about and expect, and the corkage fee of $12, which most of us know about and expect, AND "gratuity" on top of the corkage fee. That is just nuts! I misunderstood what you had written. I mean, we know about the various fees, but sheesh--a gratuity for a corkage fee? You are so right.

 

beachchick

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