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Alcohol - bringing on ship


Scottygirl1
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I'm actually likely to significantly reduce the amount of wine I bring on at Christmas this year. We have a significant amount of onboard credit to burn through, and are planning to take the train to New York a couple of days before embarkation rather than driving to Brooklyn. I'll bring a couple of bottles of champagne but otherwise will try to be less of a pack mule en route to the ship.

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I've even witnessed a small group bringing on a number of wine boxes.

 

Perhaps someone can confirm this goes on regularly.

 

 

In terms of volume, a 3 litre box of wine is equivalent to four bottles. Why is that less acceptable than taking on a case of wine containing six bottles which is regarded as acceptable?

Alternatively one could board with two bottles of wine and then take on board one bottle of wine purchased on shore at each of six ports. This would be eight bottles taken on board.

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In January 2017 we bought on board litre botles of wehisky and Baileys and had no problem at all. Not sure if rules have changed since.

 

Was in your carry on luggage or the checked baggage? Did you have any problems getting it through the xray machine.

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Just disembarked QM2 a few days ago. Eastbound crossing. Brought a bottle of rum onboard no problem. It was in my checked bag. I wish I would have brought two bottles with, especially with Cunard drink prices. They are the only line I know of that has separate charges for the alcohol and mixer. A very backhanded way of charging more per drink. Also you have to be very specific about your mixer. For instance a rum and coke. They will bring a bottle of coke on the side and you mix the drink yourself. It's more expensive this way. Order a rum and pepsi and the drink comes mixed with the pepsi out of the bar gun. Less expensive this way. Of course by force of habit I'm used to ordering "rum and coke" so I would end up with the bottle of coke on the side and a price tag of $13.46 for a single cocktail. Most lines offer coke or pepsi, not both, mix the drink for you, and charge a single price for the drink.

 

I love Cunard and QM2 is probably my favorite ship afloat, but I really don't like how they charge for drinks now. This a fairly new practice. I believe it started when QM2 came out of refit last year. I guess they need to pay for the refit somehow.

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Just disembarked QM2 a few days ago. Eastbound crossing. Brought a bottle of rum onboard no problem. It was in my checked bag. I wish I would have brought two bottles with, especially with Cunard drink prices. They are the only line I know of that has separate charges for the alcohol and mixer. A very backhanded way of charging more per drink. Also you have to be very specific about your mixer. For instance a rum and coke. They will bring a bottle of coke on the side and you mix the drink yourself. It's more expensive this way. Order a rum and pepsi and the drink comes mixed with the pepsi out of the bar gun. Less expensive this way. Of course by force of habit I'm used to ordering "rum and coke" so I would end up with the bottle of coke on the side and a price tag of $13.46 for a single cocktail. Most lines offer coke or pepsi, not both, mix the drink for you, and charge a single price for the drink.

 

I love Cunard and QM2 is probably my favorite ship afloat, but I really don't like how they charge for drinks now. This a fairly new practice. I believe it started when QM2 came out of refit last year. I guess they need to pay for the refit somehow.

 

What if we got caught at southampton taking a bottle of something onboard? :evilsmile: Not that I am asking for advice to do anything illegal :halo::halo: ;)

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What if we got caught at southampton taking a bottle of something onboard? :evilsmile: Not that I am asking for advice to do anything illegal :halo::halo: ;)

 

 

 

The worse thing that can happen is they confiscate the alcohol and hold it till the end of the cruise, then return it to you. I don’t believe this will happen though. For the time being at least, Cunard seems quite lenient.

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What about bringing onboard or attempting to bring onboard a bottle of spirits what would happen then?

Last month, for the first time, I brought on board a half bottle of gin along with a bottle of Champagne. This was in Halifax, Nova Scotia. For the first time the security chap said: "Sorry, I will have to look in your bag." I said: "I have two bottle in there" to which he replied: "We don't care about bottles, but I see some metal." It was the two tins of tonic water. He looked at them and said: "Thank you" and waved me on my way.

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Sailing from Southampton on a Canaries cruise recently and we took a chill bag with a litre bottle of gin, a couple of bottles of tonic and in my husbands rucksack a box of red wine and a box of white wine for drinks in the cabin. When we went through the scanners before check in my husbands rucksack had to put through the X-ray twice as they thought it looked like he had several iPads on top of each other in the bag. They asked him to open his bag and when they saw the boxes of wine they laughed and told him to enjoy his cruise. The cabin steward also provided us with fresh ice each day which I don’t think they would do if they didn’t think people would bring drinks for the cabin.

 

As it happens we brought the majority of wine back with us and still working our way through it three weeks later.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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  • 2 months later...

We have only the occasional drink or glass of wine at home. When we sail Celebrity with the free beverage card we have a good time at the bars and have wine with all our dinners. We see no point in drinking in our stateroom as we wouldn't be doing it at home. The point of cruising is not to have a gin and tonic, which I can have at home, but some of the more exotic drinks you will find only on a cruise. I can see us bringing wine on board and paying the corkage as we know what we like and their prices are high. We transport the bottles in Wineskins, which are a protective thick plastic wrapper which seals to protect your luggage in the event of spillage. We will probably get coffee cards because we really enjoy specialty coffees. As we are cruising to Norway, I can see us picking up some of the local liquors to bring home.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We are going on two legs of a world cruise, about 78 days aboard Cunard in 2019. While I don't have a problem on a 7 or 14 day cruise paying for alcohol, this could get quite costly so I do hope Cunard allows bringing more than two bottles of wine on board at embarkation as well as in most ports of call.

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Regarding an associated matter - on some other cruiselines , there are some pleasant "nooks and crannies" where I have seen people enjoying a glass of wine alone or in small company. I am thinking of some of the decks at the back of the ship on some Princess ships. I am aware that wine brought onboard can be drunk in bars, restaurants etc with payment of a surcharge - but are there any places apart from one's cabin where a tipple can be enjoyed without any unpleasantry. ? Promenade deck?

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Regarding an associated matter - on some other cruiselines , there are some pleasant "nooks and crannies" where I have seen people enjoying a glass of wine alone or in small company. I am thinking of some of the decks at the back of the ship on some Princess ships. I am aware that wine brought onboard can be drunk in bars, restaurants etc with payment of a surcharge - but are there any places apart from one's cabin where a tipple can be enjoyed without any unpleasantry. ? Promenade deck?

 

Then you know why P&O have limited amount of alcohol taken onboard at embarkation and at ports of call. The reason being that people are taking alcohol onboard supposedly for drink in their cabins only but are not they are drinking it around the ship because they are too tight to purchase it from a bar. You will be complaining next when Cunard follow P&O and ban unlimited amounts of alcohol being taken onboard.

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Regarding an associated matter - on some other cruiselines , there are some pleasant "nooks and crannies" where I have seen people enjoying a glass of wine alone or in small company. I am thinking of some of the decks at the back of the ship on some Princess ships. I am aware that wine brought onboard can be drunk in bars, restaurants etc with payment of a surcharge - but are there any places apart from one's cabin where a tipple can be enjoyed without any unpleasantry. ? Promenade deck?

 

One's verrandah or balcony.

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Then you know why P&O have limited amount of alcohol taken onboard at embarkation and at ports of call. The reason being that people are taking alcohol onboard supposedly for drink in their cabins only but are not they are drinking it around the ship because they are too tight to purchase it from a bar. You will be complaining next when Cunard follow P&O and ban unlimited amounts of alcohol being taken onboard.

 

They are P&O but we are Cunard, we would never be so common......I don’t think.

 

David

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Then you know why P&O have limited amount of alcohol taken onboard at embarkation and at ports of call. The reason being that people are taking alcohol onboard supposedly for drink in their cabins only but are not they are drinking it around the ship because they are too tight to purchase it from a bar. You will be complaining next when Cunard follow P&O and ban unlimited amounts of alcohol being taken onboard.

 

Nothing to do with "tightness" - at least not for me. There are many very nice places on a ship - both inside and outside - where I could plant myself - but no bar service available there. I remember VERY fondly a World Cruise on P&O Oriana , which had tables on the Promenade Deck just outside Lords Bar . Have not come across that on any ship yet ( and please don't refer me to those gross bars nearby to the swimming pools!!!!"

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They are P&O but we are Cunard, we would never be so common......I don’t think.

 

David

 

Ha Ha surprising to a lot of "Cunarders" but there is not a lot of difference these days between P&O and Cunard if you dine in Britannia restaurant with Cunard even though some like to think so.

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