Recommended way to bring wine onboard RCI ships

I would take the wine in a carry-on because it solves many problems that way.

 

Take the wine to the dining room. The dining room people will keep wine chilled for you. If you want wine chilled before your first dinner, you would have to seek our a bar and ask for a bucket with ice. You may not have time to chill the wine by the time you see the stateroom attendant.

We carry our allowed 2 bottles exactly that way as we board ship. Then we know they are safe. I would not like to get my luggage and find something broken and I do not want to create a reason for anyone to be going into my luggage or calling me to some room.

I've noticed quite a few posts suggesting taking personal bottles of wine to dining room for dinner. Doesn't RCCL charge a corkage fee if you do that?

I've noticed quite a few posts suggesting taking personal bottles of wine to dining room for dinner. Doesn't RCCL charge a corkage fee if you do that?

No corkage fees in the dining room, or anywhere else on the ship.

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Thanks! Good ideas and I checked for other sources and found them at Bed, Bath & Beyond, 3 for $12 and I can use a coupon!

and it would be easier to buy on the way to the ship but we have the transfers from airport to pier and I don't know if the shuttle would stop for a wine buy :cool:

Thanks! Good ideas and I checked for other sources and found them at Bed, Bath & Beyond, 3 for $12 and I can use a coupon!

and it would be easier to buy on the way to the ship but we have the transfers from airport to pier and I don't know if the shuttle would stop for a wine buy :cool:

Unlikely the cruise line shuttle will make a stop for wine.

Thanks! Good ideas and I checked for other sources and found them at Bed, Bath & Beyond, 3 for $12 and I can use a coupon!

and it would be easier to buy on the way to the ship but we have the transfers from airport to pier and I don't know if the shuttle would stop for a wine buy :cool:

Found them even cheaper at The Container Store, 3 for $3.99 !

We carried on 3 bottles of wine last week. The plan was if they took the 3rd bottle away, they would return it on the final night by 6:00pm and would be able to drink it them. I carried on 2 bottles and the other person in the cabin carried on 1 bottle and they didn't say anything (maybe because they were in separate carry-on bags). The only baggage check is at the initial x-ray. Of course, no corkage was charged by anyone, including in the main dining room.

If you really want more wine, you could probably pack a 2 bottles in a checked bag then in the unlikely event it gets caught and you are called to the naughty room, they'd probably let you have it, as it is your "two bottles permitted". :) Or bring on 2 bottles each and go through different x-ray machines.

As for two 12-packs of soda and case of water we put through as checked bags with tags attached, so I'm not sure how they would have fared in carry-ons. Their rules say soda and water are not allowed, but we followed the advice of "cruising veteran friends" by just attaching luggage tags to them and giving them to the porter and all was fine.

We have always put our wine in our carry on bags. So when you board the ship it's you handling your bag and all you have to do is show it to them upon biatding.

Thanks for you post...I was wondering if they record your stateroom..I can't remember what ship did that..or cruise line..I've sailed them all. So.. just saying..If my husband and I aren't standing together or near each other ..we could both have two bottles in our carry ons.. and that would be that..Really would beat paying $ 35 plus gratuity for a four dollar bottle of wine in the dining room. ( So silly, Berringer , I don't drink it but it amazes me!!!) You know, I have absolutely no problem paying for a wine package and always used to buy the five or seven bottle package,but they eliminated it, and I just don't drink enough to justify buying a beverage package. At least on celebrity, I could use some of my beverage package on coffees, but there is now way I could drink that much.. thanks for the wine info..it will definitely help.

I phoned RC, we are cruising Jewel of the Seas, and was told that on embarkation you can still buy a wine package. We will also bring on our two bottles of wine.

I would take the wine in a carry-on because it solves many problems that way.

 

Take the wine to the dining room. The dining room people will keep wine chilled for you. If you want wine chilled before your first dinner, you would have to seek our a bar and ask for a bucket with ice. You may not have time to chill the wine by the time you see the stateroom attendant.

We are planning to bring a total of 4 bottles of wine onboard (2 per stateroom). Could we drop all 4 bottles off at the dining room once we board, so that we could carry them on but not have to lug them around until our cabin is ready? Or do they just "store" one bottle for you at a time? Thanks!

Could we drop all 4 bottles off at the dining room once we board, so that we could carry them on but not have to lug them around until our cabin is ready? Or do they just "store" one bottle for you at a time? Thanks!

I don't see why not. At the very least I would try. They can certainly handle storing more than one bottle per table.

Please post reply back to this thread or start a new one and let us know if it works. I'm sure others would be interested in doing the same and hadn't thought of this.

Thanks! Good ideas and I checked for other sources and found them at Bed, Bath & Beyond, 3 for $12 and I can use a coupon!

and it would be easier to buy on the way to the ship but we have the transfers from airport to pier and I don't know if the shuttle would stop for a wine buy :cool:

Too bad you have transfers. If you're talking about your May 2016 Oasis trip, you could take a taxi and stop at the Walgreens right at the entrance to the port. Unless of course you're looking for something special, otherwise they have a decent selection of wines. The taxi is probably cheaper than the transfers and you don't have to wait for the shuttle/bus to fill up before you get underway.

What happens if you take a bottle of wine to dinner on one night. Only drink half but dine in a different resturant the next night.Can you get ur bottle in different resturant.x

For what it's worth, I cruised a couple years ago in May, one Majesty (or Monarch... The one out of Canaveral). I had my checked bag taken to the naughty room due to having a wine bottle in it. I went down to pick it up, and it was extremely straightforward to show them the bottle and they let me walk off with it. It was a minor disruption to not have that suitcase delivered to my stateroom, but it allowed me to wrap it up in clothes padding, and I didn't have to log it around on board with me until the stateroom was ready.

What happens if you take a bottle of wine to dinner on one night. Only drink half but dine in a different resturant the next night.Can you get ur bottle in different resturant.x

Yes just tell your waiter where you will be the following night and they will send your wine there.

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If we bring wine we put it in our carryon. Last time we had 4 rooms with an adult in each room and brought 8. Maybe it was the amount that raised a red flag but they made us all show our boarding passes that we did indeed have 4 separate rooms.

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Yep, I had mine in a backpack. They sent me to secondary inspection to make sure it hadn't been filled with something else and resealed.

 

Same happened last week on a Carnival and I had one bottle of champagne in my backpack.

 

When you pass through x-ray they will tell you to go over to another security desk for inspection.

WAIT WHAT???? You have a corked/sealed bottle of wine and they are trying to "determine if it was filled with something else"? The only way they could prove your wine wasn't wine is if they forced you to break the shrink wrapped seal, take a corkscrew and force you to open a perfectly good bottle of wine. I don't think (or hope) they would ever do that. Say your bottle of wine (if that's truly what you are carrying) is $150....or whatever a good expensive wine costs, would you approve of them forcing you to pop to cork on that bottle? And can they even do that? That opens a whole new can or worms.

If you have an unopened bottle (corked and sealed) there should never be any question. Now if it didn't have the seal around the neck and it was a screw top, I can see it happening there.

With that being said, I was on RCCL Freedom last August out of PC, carried on 1 bottle of wine in my backpack (wrapped in bubble wrap and encased in a cardboard box) and they never even gave it a second look on the xray. The 2nd bottle was checked in our luggage (wrapped in bubble wrap, thick towel, and put inside a heavy sealed plastic box, in case it broke) and it made it to the room no problem.

I haven't decided how I will carry on to Oasis out of Port Everglades. Who has time to deal with security sending you to 2 or 3 additional lines to look at sealed bottles of wine that you're allowed to carry on anyway.

Gosh, and I want to bring on my own Zephyrhills water - can you imagine the issues that is going to create..... :eek:

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We also use these wine diapers! I used to use the wine carriers w/ bubble wrap, then found the air had left the bubble wrap.

Just wondering. If we don't bring the two bottles of wine on Embarkation day, can we bring them during one of our ports of call?

We also use these wine diapers! I used to use the wine carriers w/ bubble wrap, then found the air had left the bubble wrap.

 

Just wondering. If we don't bring the two bottles of wine on Embarkation day, can we bring them during one of our ports of call?

You mean can you buy them in one of your ports and bring them back on board? I did that with liquor onboard that we purchased and in one of our ports of call and they held all bottles until the last night of your cruise. Not sure if they hold wine. I'm going to assume same rule. So if you want wine "during your cruise" then I think you will need to carry on with you at embarkation.

Two (2) bottles per cabin! Bon Voyage!

Which is why I suggested putting it in your checked luggage. A corkscrew really can't be considered a weapon if they'll give you one on board. It is not on RC's list of prohibited items. However, I guess I should clarify that is should be okay if it is just a corkscrew. My dad has one of those multitool corkscrews with a knife blade for cutting the wrapping off the top of the bottle. *That* might get confiscated.

We brought two on our cruise, one in each luggage just in case one got taken. One was a regular corkscrew and the other was the corkscrew combo thingy with the bottle opener and "knife" (if that's what you really want to call it). Both made it to the room. If TSA allows everything from box cutters to ice picks in your checked luggage, then I would hope RC would allow a corkscrew.

When we went on the Navigator last May I just carried my bottles in my back pack and wrapped like a shirt or something around each one to keep them from breaking. When we were boarding the ship, we were sent to a separate line to declare our bottles. We just had to take them out, show them to them and they took down our names and stateroom number. I don't know if they double check all that or not. I figure it's not worth the risk of possibly having a bottle confiscated.

When we went on the Navigator last May I just carried my bottles in my back pack and wrapped like a shirt or something around each one to keep them from breaking. When we were boarding the ship, we were sent to a separate line to declare our bottles. We just had to take them out, show them to them and they took down our names and stateroom number. I don't know if they double check all that or not. I figure it's not worth the risk of possibly having a bottle confiscated.

Wow, how weird that they all do things differently. They never sent me to another line, they never took my bottle out of my backpack to inspect it and never asked for my name or room number. Maybe they never even saw it being wrapped in bubble wrap and cardboard and all, who knows. Again, this was Port Canaveral, so maybe they don't care so much there. We'll see how they are in Ft. Lauderdale.

Too bad you have transfers. If you're talking about your May 2016 Oasis trip, you could take a taxi and stop at the Walgreens right at the entrance to the port. Unless of course you're looking for something special, otherwise they have a decent selection of wines. The taxi is probably cheaper than the transfers and you don't have to wait for the shuttle/bus to fill up before you get underway.

I agree and we took a taxi the last time. But my sister felt a little uneasy for some reason in the taxi we had so she wanted the transfers this time☺

Two (2) bottles per cabin! Bon Voyage!

Do not put them in your luggage! Carry on is the best way! No corkage fee on RCI anymore if used in cabin! Enjoy and safe sails all.