Taking alcohol on board

I don't frequent city centre pubs in Sunderland or Newcastle but the bottled Peroni in restaurants is regularly around the £4 mark.

 

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We never usually go into pubs but at the weekend we were early for the cinema, I had a white wine and my husband had half a beer and it was £9.50! That's just local prices, you could probably double it in London.

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I don't frequent city centre pubs in Sunderland or Newcastle but the bottled Peroni in restaurants is regularly around the £4 mark.

 

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We never usually go into pubs but at the weekend we were early for the cinema, I had a white wine and my husband had half a beer and it was £9.50! That's just local prices, you could probably double it in London.

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I don't frequent city centre pubs in Sunderland or Newcastle but the bottled Peroni in restaurants is regularly around the £4 mark.

 

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About the same in Sydney, 7 or 8 dollars or so.:evilsmile:

I think wines are overpriced in UK pubs, even a glass of ordinary plonk, probably from a bulk container is 6 quid or AUD$10. I can buy a decent glass of wine at my golf club for $4, what is that in sterling 2 pound and 40 pence?:halo:

On the P&O UK ships we stick to the house wine - Olly Smith, quite drinkable and not too expensive.

We were on QM2 in March, Sydney to HK, wine prices way over the top.

We never usually go into pubs but at the weekend we were early for the cinema, I had a white wine and my husband had half a beer and it was £9.50! That's just local prices, you could probably double it in London.

 

 

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Most of that 9 pound and 50 pence was probably on the glass of wine, which was probably from a 'bag in the box' under the counter.:evilsmile:

I don't frequent city centre pubs in Sunderland or Newcastle but the bottled Peroni in restaurants is regularly around the £4 mark.

 

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Hi,2 euro here in restaurants and 60 cents in stores,cheers,Brian.

Are those prices in Essex or Calabri, Brian ? I suspect the latter.:p

P&O drinks prices are more than anything I pay locally but they are not too bad when compared with prices in say Edinburgh at a decent venue.

Locally you can get a standard pint for around £3 and a good pint of real ale or a fancier beer/ lager for £4- £4.50

The AI packages on RCI and Celebrity are expensive and not really worth it if you are a moderate drinker, even if they are included in your package it still adds to the price. Some of the Thomson ships are also now doing AI in the package price which makes the initial costs a lot more. I hope P&O does not go in this direction.

Fred Olsen do a separate package for £15 pppn which is about right as a couple of drinks and a couple of soft drinks a day and it pays for itself.

Who knows what P&O may or may not decide to do but the old saying if it ain't broke don't fix it comes to mind.

I live in what is supposed to be the most expensive area for beer outside London, Surrey.

At present I pay between £ 3.70 and £ 4.50 a pint of real ale in most pubs.

P&Os prices compare very well with this.

Are those prices in Essex or Calabri, Brian ? I suspect the latter.:p

I am quite happy to purchase a bottle of gin from room service as long as can still bring my own tonic on board. That Britvic tonic they sell is in my opinion, disgusting and ruins a decent gin.

Absolutely - is there no Fever tree at least on board???? - now that should allow me to cancel the cruise - surely being made to drink britvic tonic counts as cruel and unusual

Mind you we went on the Oasis a few years ago - took a bottle of wine and small bottle of JD on - we had the drinks package and took off the wine and JD when we disembarked. But I agree - drinks packages do encourage you to drink more.

At the end of the day though you cant really do anything about it except vote with your feet for the next cruise if any issues about a booked P&O cruise bother you (although I stand by my comments on Britvic tonic)

Absolutely - is there no Fever tree at least on board???? - now that should allow me to cancel the cruise - surely being made to drink britvic tonic counts as cruel and unusual

 

Mind you we went on the Oasis a few years ago - took a bottle of wine and small bottle of JD on - we had the drinks package and took off the wine and JD when we disembarked. But I agree - drinks packages do encourage you to drink more.

 

At the end of the day though you cant really do anything about it except vote with your feet for the next cruise if any issues about a booked P&O cruise bother you (although I stand by my comments on Britvic tonic)

I agree entirely about Britvic tonic but last time we cruised with P&O, which was in January on Ventura, I worked my way through the Gin Menu in Metropolis (took a few nights:D) I always had a bottle of Fever Tree and mostly it was my favourite which is Fever Tree Mediterranean.

Hopefully they haven't changed that as we are on Adonia next September and I would be very sad not to have a decent tonic with my gin!!

Peter

Absolutely - is there no Fever tree at least on board???? - now that should allow me to cancel the cruise - surely being made to drink britvic tonic counts as cruel and unusual

 

Mind you we went on the Oasis a few years ago - took a bottle of wine and small bottle of JD on - we had the drinks package and took off the wine and JD when we disembarked. But I agree - drinks packages do encourage you to drink more.

 

At the end of the day though you cant really do anything about it except vote with your feet for the next cruise if any issues about a booked P&O cruise bother you (although I stand by my comments on Britvic tonic)

If things change (and at the moment there is nothing official to say that they are changing) I hope that P&O continue to sell bottles of gin etc for the cabin as I do enjoy the odd G&T or whisky and ginger on the balcony.

While Celebrity and RCI don't allow alcohol, other than the embarcation wine x 2 they do allow pax to bring soft drinks onboard. You simply stick a luggage tag on a case of small bottles of water, or your favourite tonic or soft drink and they deliver it to the cabin along with the luggage. So you could bring on a whole case of fevour tree on with you!

As an aside what is amusing on these lines with prohibition is the "naughty room" where people who try to smuggle booze onboard are sent to. They know the rules but then are surprised when they are caught. There is also a rich vein of conversation about "rum runners", Florry mentioned one earlier in this thread.

There are lots of ingenious ways to smuggle drinks onboard for those who are desperate enough to do so. Apparently along with the bra mentioned earlier there are fake stomach bags, fake binoculars that take a litre etc. People have also mentioned smuggling booze in their toilet bag by emptying and cleaning a mouthwash bottle and filling it with a white spirit and a drop of green food colouring! Some people are open about their bootleg smuggling during dinner conversations.

It's not the first time that a bottle of "water" (vodka) or "iced tea"(whisky) has been confiscated at security, everyone seems to think that they are the first to try to empty the content and fill it with a spirit.

Hopefully this does not come to pass and P&O stick to their current policy but if they do change there is a whole new set of people watching to do re the would be booze smugglers 😀

As I have a few cruises booked I contacted P and O about this; they assured me that there are no plans at all to stop passengers bringing on a couple of bottles.

If things change (and at the moment there is nothing official to say that they are changing) I hope that P&O continue to sell bottles of gin etc for the cabin as I do enjoy the odd G&T or whisky and ginger on the balcony.




While Celebrity and RCI don't allow alcohol, other than the embarcation wine x 2 they do allow pax to bring soft drinks onboard. You simply stick a luggage tag on a case of small bottles of water, or your favourite tonic or soft drink and they deliver it to the cabin along with the luggage. So you could bring on a whole case of fevour tree on with you!




As an aside what is amusing on these lines with prohibition is the "naughty room" where people who try to smuggle booze onboard are sent to. They know the rules but then are surprised when they are caught. There is also a rich vein of conversation about "rum runners", Florry mentioned one earlier in this thread.




There are lots of ingenious ways to smuggle drinks onboard for those who are desperate enough to do so. Apparently along with the bra mentioned earlier there are fake stomach bags, fake binoculars that take a litre etc. People have also mentioned smuggling booze in their toilet bag by emptying and cleaning a mouthwash bottle and filling it with a white spirit and a drop of green food colouring! Some people are open about their bootleg smuggling during dinner conversations.




It's not the first time that a bottle of "water" (vodka) or "iced tea"(whisky) has been confiscated at security, everyone seems to think that they are the first to try to empty the content and fill it with a spirit.




Hopefully this does not come to pass and P&O stick to their current policy but if they do change there is a whole new set of people watching to do re the would be booze smugglers 😀

Our bottle of JD (only a half bottle) was cleverly disguised as a bottle of JD as we thought we could just take a bottle each on (never great at the small print). Maybe we got away with hiding the contraband in plain sight (or security saw our two year old and thought we might need it) good news about fever tree! I'll be sampling it with a splash of gin next easter😁.




 

It's not the first time that a bottle of "water" (vodka) or "iced tea"(whisky) has been confiscated at security, everyone seems to think that they are the first to try to empty the content and fill it with a spirit [emoji3]

What do they do, demand to sniff your bottle of Liptons? If so I'd be tempted to fill it with something else!

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What do they do, demand to sniff your bottle of Liptons? If so I'd be tempted to fill it with something else!

 

 

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Florry, I now have an extremely amusing mental image, you are wicked😂

Florry, I now have an extremely amusing mental image, you are wicked😂

I was thinking the same thing lol.

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Thread about to morph into a "Rum Runner" or "Dehydrated" one.

Thread about to morph into a "Rum Runner" or "Dehydrated" one.

Sounds like a regular Carnival thread.

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I have no particular opinion on this subject either way, but I can't help thinking that you cannot turn up to a Hotel and say "It's okay, I've bought my own wine/spirit so I don't need yours." Not sure this would go down too well..... [emoji53]

 

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Well you might not say it but still do it. After a long drive and ferry today we've just opened a bottle of wine we brought with us [emoji485]

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Well you might not say it but still do it. After a long drive and ferry today we've just opened a bottle of wine we brought with us [emoji485]

 

 

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Way to go, BYO, when on a road trip in Australia or even in the city hotels, we go to a local bottleshop (off licence to the Brits) and buy a bottle of vino to have in the room or on the hotel balcony. Or we take a few bottles from home. Hotel wine prices and mini bar prices in OZ are super high, like $38 for a 750ml bottle of wine you can get in the bottleshop down the road for $8. Hotel/Motel rooms here nearly always have fridges and wineglasses. Just about every bottle is screw top.:p But we have some decorum, we would not consume it in the hotel bars or restaurant, always buy a drink or two there.:halo:

So the same on the ships, take a bit of grog on and buy a bit of grog on board.:halo:

Way to go, BYO, when on a road trip in Australia or even in the city hotels, we go to a local bottleshop (off licence to the Brits) and buy a bottle of vino to have in the room or on the hotel balcony. Or we take a few bottles from home. Hotel wine prices and mini bar prices in OZ are super high, like $38 for a 750ml bottle of wine you can get in the bottleshop down the road for $8. Hotel/Motel rooms here nearly always have fridges and wineglasses. Just about every bottle is screw top.:p But we have some decorum, we would not consume it in the hotel bars or restaurant, always buy a drink or two there.:halo:

 

So the same on the ships, take a bit of grog on and buy a bit of grog on board.:halo:

Hi,I remember we paid $35 for a bottle of smirnoff in Port Douglas in 2013.That was a bottleshop,the hotel was beyond our means,cheers,Brian.

Yep, we call the bottleshop 'bottlo.' :p

Bottle of Smirnoff now would probably be about $45, or maybe a bit cheaper in the discount liquor shops like Dan Murphy or 1st Choice, probably $40 there. Although I bought a 700ml bottle of Teachers Scotch in Dan Murphys the other day for $29. Whats that? 18 quid? The more you drink the more you save !!

Govt keeps putting the taxes up.:evilsmile: Just like the U.K.

Yep, we call the bottleshop 'bottlo.' :p

 

Bottle of Smirnoff now would probably be about $45, or maybe a bit cheaper in the discount liquor shops like Dan Murphy or 1st Choice, probably $40 there. Although I bought a 700ml bottle of Teachers Scotch in Dan Murphys the other day for $29. Whats that? 18 quid? The more you drink the more you save !!

 

 

Govt keeps putting the taxes up.:evilsmile: Just like the U.K.

I've been following this thread, and coincidentally I was waiting my turn in the barbers yesterday and listening to a conversation between the barber and the customer in the chair, as you do.

The customer said he had recently returned from a cruise on Aurora, and went on to describe his experience. One of his comments was that he thought the drinks prices a bit on the high side. He then said that someone recommended doing what many do and buy a hip flask (or two), buy their desired tipple ashore, and just purchase glasses of mixers in the bars, obviously adding the spirit from the hip flasks. He said it saved them a small fortune on the 18 night cruise.

I was quite stunned, as we always have a bottle in our cabin, but buy wine etc in the bars and restaurants, as we thought everyone does, naively perhaps.

Maybe the abuse of bringing bottles on board is more widespread than a tiny minority.