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Taking alcohol on board


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From what I have seen and heard about, I think there are a lot of people abusing the system and pushing it too far - so spoiling it for the rest of us. Apparently, the other Carnival lines allow a bottle of champagne/wine pp...... It wouldn't worry me to be honest as we feel the prices on board are very reasonable and you are able to buy a bottle of spirit eg gin at a very competitive price.

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We always take a bottle each of our favourite tipple to enjoy whilst getting ready for dinner and a nightcap before we go to bed and would be sad if this were to stop.

However, I am amazed at the amount of alcohol some people boast about taking on board on other sites. If what tgey say is true, then I think they are really pushing it. As has been oreviously posted, P&O do not stipulate an unlimited amount, but a reasonable amount and it wouldnt surprise me ar all if they did decide to clamp down on passengers taking advantage.

It depends on what you call reasonable. If my wife and I have half a bottle of wine between us while we get ready for dinner (not unreasonable I would say) that equates to around 12 bottles on a 24 night cruise. Can't see anything unreasonable about that.

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This rumours seems to crop up every 6 months or so. To enforce a limit of say one bottle of wine per person would, I think be counter productive. Many cruisers prefer P&O because of their drink policy, and if this policy was to change, many would vote with their feet and switch to Princess, RCL etc.

The drink that passengers take on board to drink in their own cabins is in addition to the drink that will be purchased on board, not in place of on board purchases. I will drink a glass or two of my own wine when getting ready for dinner -if I no longer can take my own wine I will not be buying wine on board for my pre-dinner tipple.

 

Definitely "in addition to" for me. I take a couple of bottles of spirits not sold onboard, and perhaps a bottle of wine. I may also try a local wine at one or two of the ports. This to me is "reasonable" and is one reason why I keep returning to P and O. Yes I buy drinks in the bars and restaurants too. If P and O go the American way I shall stop booking with them. May as well go with Celebrity and buy a drinks package. But I may also stop buying a balcony. P and O forget that they benefit from that when people take something onboard because they like a balcony drink before dinner or at sailaway time.

I resent any restriction of my freedoms. The only time I sailed with a cruise line which forbade alcohol I managed to get my usual 2 bottles onboard; not saying how on here. If they treat me like a naughty child I'll behave like one!

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I think this could well be true, we have seen some change already and I suspect they will bring a drinks package in with effect from New Year and this will align to loyalty changes - but that's just my opinion.

To be honest I am not fussed by this, whenever we take alcohol onboard we seem to struggle to drink it, as most of our consumption is with dinner.

If P&O hiked their prices that would bother me more!

P&O potentially bringing in an all inclusive option would enable them to use it as another booking incentive like OBC. Let's face it they have been asking in questionnaires so it's on their agenda and my guess is that many cruisers want drinks packages - but not me!

 

 

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A drinks package wouldn't interest me either, but I would be concerned about the potential binge drinking and resultant behaviour that might result. Also, I understand that drinks packages can be a real con. Friends of ours recently went on one of the US lines and had a drinks package. They realised pretty soon once they boarded that very little was available for the price cap, so they paid extra for a higher level package and they still found that some drinks were still above this price cap. The thing that really irritated them was that you couldn't pay the difference. If your drink was a few cents above the cap (which many were), if you wanted one you had to pay the full price. I find P&O drink prices to be very reasonable - unlike the US lines - so I would favour keeping things as they are.

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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..... ��

 

Sent from my Sony Z1 Compact.

 

I've never been in a hotel that searches your bags and bans you from bringing alcohol in. Naturally like any cruise ship you cant drink it in the restaurants but you can do what you like in your room and on your balcony .

 

I think P&O are severely underestimating their market here. They claim their bar prices are normal pub prices but in reality they are far more expensive than your average pub but just about 'doeable' if you know what I mean.

 

If this is the case then its goodbye from us.

 

There is a fine line between the massive land based all inclusive holiday long haul market and a cruise ship that allows you to bring on your own alcohol for consumption in your cabin / balcony. If they want to cross it so be it - we''ll go elsewhere and I'll be drinking my all inclusive drinks on a Caribbean beach or Mauritius rather than the Britannia for alot less money.

 

All inclusive drink packages on Celebrity / NCL are a rip off and certainly take the price up to a new level . I guess this is the way things are going, which is a shame and that Caribbean cruise in March will be off the agenda - more for the principal I guess.

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A drinks package wouldn't interest me either, but I would be concerned about the potential binge drinking and resultant behaviour that might result. Also, I understand that drinks packages can be a real con. Friends of ours recently went on one of the US lines and had a drinks package. They realised pretty soon once they boarded that very little was available for the price cap, so they paid extra for a higher level package and they still found that some drinks were still above this price cap. The thing that really irritated them was that you couldn't pay the difference. If your drink was a few cents above the cap (which many were), if you wanted one you had to pay the full price. I find P&O drink prices to be very reasonable - unlike the US lines - so I would favour keeping things as they are.

 

 

 

I'm not sure about other lines but the house wines on P&O are reasonable.

I do think the tendency is to 'get your monies worth'. That doesn't interest me but it may indeed change onboard culture. From what I can tell on Princess it fairly easy to buy one drinks package and share it per couple so it is probably very cost effective for bargain hunters.

 

 

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I'm not sure about other lines but the house wines on P&O are reasonable.

I do think the tendency is to 'get your monies worth'. That doesn't interest me but it may indeed change onboard culture. From what I can tell on Princess it fairly easy to buy one drinks package and share it per couple so it is probably very cost effective for bargain hunters.

 

 

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The last time I was on Princess they were pretty scrupulous about people not sharing a drinks package. One drink at a time, and only for the person with the package. If you were caught 'sharing' you lost the package.

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A drinks package wouldn't interest me either, but I would be concerned about the potential binge drinking and resultant behaviour that might result. Also, I understand that drinks packages can be a real con. Friends of ours recently went on one of the US lines and had a drinks package. They realised pretty soon once they boarded that very little was available for the price cap, so they paid extra for a higher level package and they still found that some drinks were still above this price cap. The thing that really irritated them was that you couldn't pay the difference. If your drink was a few cents above the cap (which many were), if you wanted one you had to pay the full price. I find P&O drink prices to be very reasonable - unlike the US lines - so I would favour keeping things as they are.

Royal Caribbean Deluxe Drinks package from Barcelona in June was $12 maximum per drink and Prosecco was $2 more and Sauvignon blanc $4 more plus tax but you only paid the extra.

You are allowed to bring 1 bottle of wine on board only when embarking.

We are lucky P&O don't restrict what drink you bring on board at embarking and at ports of call.

 

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Think of a queue of passengers coming off a tender and every bag needs to be checked and bottles removed from bags, tagged and stored for collection later. Then think of the angry passengers and the even more angry ones waiting in the queue.

 

Have they got enough staff to police this.

 

David

 

It happens on Princess when you go through security if they pick up alcohol on the scanners you are then directed to tables at the side where the drink is taken off you and your details given and a receipt and then you have to wait until the end of the cruise to get it back. It works with no problems so do not see why it will not work on P&O.

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"I've heard it on good authority ". If you are not prepared to name your source, you shouldn't be spreading rumours that can't be substantiated. This only causes alarm amongst P&O customers who have booked cruises under the booking conditions at that time.

 

 

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You can by bras that contain a bottle worth of wine in each 'cup' with a straw. Do you think these show up on the scanner? I'm worried I might be left somewhat deflated if they confiscate it.

 

 

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I'm not sure about other lines but the house wines on P&O are reasonable.

I do think the tendency is to 'get your monies worth'. That doesn't interest me but it may indeed change onboard culture. From what I can tell on Princess it fairly easy to buy one drinks package and share it per couple so it is probably very cost effective for bargain hunters.

 

 

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I agree with you florry, the wine prices, in fact all drinks prices, are extremely reasonable, plus they don't have any surcharges on them.

 

P&O have been extremely reasonable in letting their passengers bring alcohol on board at all. They could ban it altogether, as could every cruise line, as they could, very reasonably, expect their passengers to buy all their drinks on board.

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If its the port that does the security and scanning then you can get away with bringing bottles of alcohol on (Princess have an "honesty" table where you admit to bringing alcohol onboard which got ignored). If you get scanned on the ship its another matter.

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Prices are indeed on a par with pub and restaurant prices and compare favourably down here in the south

 

Paying £4.15 for a can of Carling (which I can buy for 60p in Morrisons) which isn't even a pint was a bit of a shock two weeks ago on Oceana, they are slowly making it dearer.

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Il agree the wine prices are reasonable however the pint and can prices aren't. £4.10 a pint of fosters is at least 30% more expensive than my local. Many people also forget p&o do not have to pay duty on that pint price whereas your local boozer does.

P&o is a lot cheaper than other cruise lines bar prices but they are still making a massive profit even when the waiter takes his commission out of the payment.

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Well I guess it's off to cruise with Thomson from now on especially as they have a couple of decent ships now (Discovery 1 and 2) and all their booze is all inclusive (and the tips) and they seem to be getting better reviews than P&O. Worth a try at least.

 

Peter and Jenny

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"I've heard it on good authority ". If you are not prepared to name your source, you shouldn't be spreading rumours that can't be substantiated. This only causes alarm amongst P&O customers who have booked cruises under the booking conditions at that time.

 

 

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FWIW we have a nine future cruises with P&O all booked when room service was mostly free but it didn’t stop them changing that, and while I’m not prepared to name my source either I was told on this years worldly the exact same thing by a senior officer. They are Fed up of passengers abusing the privilege and drinking brought on alcohol on deck.

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On the ask P&O Site here they seem to have added the word “small” or am I mistaken?

 

“We will generally allow a small, reasonable amount to be taken on-board for you to enjoy in your cabin however, taking bottles of alcohol into restaurants or lounges will incur a corkage fee of £15 (prices are subject to change) per item (any size) per occasion.”

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