Bringing Wine or Liquor on Board?

As a first-time Cunard cruiser, can we bring wine or liquor on board to enjoy in our QM2 cabin? Or are there rules against this, as on NCL, Celebrity, Princess, etc? No mention is made in the huge QM2 brochure I just got from the travel agent. Would appreciate comments from former QE2 or QM2 cruisers on this question. Many thanks.

Choose2Cruise

Hi,

I have no idea about bottles of spirits, but I have successfully taken champagne onto every cruise over the years (packed in suitcase), and the room maids have always been happy to provide glasses/ice bucket when they have not been provided in the room...

what room are you in? i've just got off the QM2 Med cruise - fantastic ship!

/Donna

ps how do NCL, Celebrity, Princess etc enforce the rule??

2005 QE2 (booked this week!)

2004 QM2

2003 QE2

2002 QE2

2001 QE2

2000 QE2

1999 QE2

We'll be in a B5 cabin, don't know the number yet, on the 12-6-04 cruise to the Caribbean out of NYC. Really looking forward to 2 weeks on this beautiful ship.

The other cruise lines we have been on will take any liquor bottles found in your carry-on baggage away from you before boarding and return it to you the night before you disembark. They have also x-rayed checked luggage and when it doesn't show up in your cabin, you hunt it down on the ship and are asked to open it and if you have liquor in it, same procedure: confiscation and return at end of cruise. We saw many wine and some liquor bottles just beyond the security check-in point on a table marked with the passengers' cabin numbers on a recent cruise.

Some people try to "smuggle" stuff in in water bottles (for gin, vodka, clear liquids) or darker bottles (for scotch, bourbon, rum); many are successful and enjoy their "before dinner" drinks in their cabins. The dining rooms still charge a $10 corkage fee to open your own wine bottle, but if you can't bring wine on board, what's with the fee?

Most cruise line brochures are very specific about their "bringing liquor on board" policies. But Cunard does not spell it out in theirs. Maybe I will call them and see what they say. Thanks for your info to my question. By the way, did the Todd English restaurant charge extra for eating there? The brochure says no, but that reservations are necessary. Thought I saw a post where a $30 surcharge pp was mentioned.

Choose2Cruise

Hi...

My partner and I were on the QM2 and brought along 9 bottles of wine. Never was it an issue!

Craig

I've never read or heard about any carry-on-alcohol policies at Cunard. In fact it never occurred to me that it might be a problem. I think that it is definitely worth taking a chance...

To answer your question about Todds - yes there is a surcharge: $30 per person for dinner and $20 per person for lunch (it's well worth it, but we chose to go for lunch as we didn't want to miss a dinner in the restaurant). I understand that there wasn't a charge when the ship was launched, but that they had to introduce one when they found out that everyone wanted to eat there instead of their designated restaurant...

/Donna

If you don't carry anything on board with you, are there places to buy bottles e.g. whiskey or gin on board ship (I'm referring to the QE2) so that you can take it back to your cabin?

If you buy spirits in the duty-free shop aboard the QE2, they are whisked away from you and then returned the day (maybe the day before) you disembark.

Alternatively, i'm pretty sure that you can order bottles of spirits for consumption on board (i think you order them the the same way as you would order room-service). I seem to remember them being about twice the price of duty free (say £40 instead of $20 for duty-free). I have never done this, so i stand to be corrected...

/Donna

2005 QE2 (just booked)

2004 QM2

2003 QE2

2002 QE2

2001 QE2

2000 QE2

1999 QE2

On my travels on QE2 and Caronia I have taken bottles onboard via my carry on bag and had no problem. Both in NYC and Southampton. I once even had a bottle of very nice single malt scotch in a shopping bag from as shop in the Southampton Shopping Mall.....Waitrose(sp?)

I have also purchased bottles in various ports at a great price (Canaries). The prices to buy a bottle for your cabin once on the ship are not that bad and you cabin steward will bring you a complete list. I just find it part of the fun to have a drink will getting dressed for dinner!

Ships Sailed:QE2,Crystal Symphony,Caronia,

QM2 in Jan 2004

Thanks for the info on QE2 shops. I agree about it being a 'nice' way to start an evening by having a little drinkies whilst getting ready for dinner. Also, having a little night-cap when returning to the cabin after a stressful! day cruising.

We were on Caronia for her return from South America to Southhampton this past March. Shortly before we left, friends of our served us a boxed Shiraz from Australia (Langleys brand). It was so good we decided to take a box of Langleys with us onboard. We not only didn't have to worry about breakage i.e.glass bottles, but it turned out to be the best wine we had onboard. There was absolutely no problem with Cunard and the box(=4 bottles) served us the entire trip in our cabin before dinner. This was the first time we had ever taken wine or any other liquid refreshment on board any of our 23 previous cruises. I have ordered a bottle from room service for "cocktail hour" while getting dressed and it was terribly expensive. While onboard we received a very nice cut glass fruit bowl for our anniversary from the Captain. Guess what fit perfectly in our suitcase after the box was finished??

Rick,24 cruises and counting! Next cruise- #25-Riverboat cruise from Amsterdam to Vienna in July '04

It really depends sometimes on the staff member you are dealing with, some allow more than others. I have brought on a vintage bottle of champagne that was not available on the ship, telling them it was for a special occasion and was allowed to bring it to the cabin. If you wish to have the wine served in the dining room there is a corkage fee of $10 (may have increased). But in general they allow wine to be consumed in the room which you have carried on.

While Cunard may allow you to bring wine, it is not their policy to allow bottles of spirits to be brought on for in room consumption (but would store them for you until disembarkation

The wines and spirits are quite reasonable on Cunard (and poured generously) and in the past we have not encountered anyone who brought liquor on the ship, only fine wine for a special occasion.

We are sailing again on 11/6 to the Caribbean also for 10 days and are very excited about sailing to Barbados, St Lucia and Martinique (we’ve been to St. Maarten and Thomas before and like Mtbny on this forum will probably walk off the ship and right back on in St Thomas – not our favorite port – an spend the day on board lounging by the pool).

We were in a B5 cabin this past May and you will have a Hull Balcony. It affords privacy, but you cannot view the sea from your chaise lounge as a rectangle is cut out of the hull from the upper half, the bottom being completely obstructed view wise.

Jeanne

Actually, Cunard do specify in their brochure - the UK 2004 one anyway - but you have to look at the small print at the back : under booking information, item 1.7 Alcohol consumption laws, after the bit about reserving the right to serve alcohol to under 21s, and not being liable for other peoples behaviour if they drink too much ( ), it (eventually) states "Guests are remined that acoholic beverage or liquor may not be brought on board for consumption while on board"

Having said that, I took a liquer on that I was fairly sure would not be available on board - I took a small amount in a plastic bottle, in my checked in luggage. it leaked - luckily only a small amount into a plastic bag. I kept it in the fridge, so the stewaress knew about it - no problem. My friends took a large bottle of gin, in its original bottle - again no problem!

In the end I did most my drinking at the pool side and in the dining room, so the small bottle was quite enough!

Karen

Caronia Sept 2003

I am happy to hear the bringing wine on board is not going to be a problem. A 10.00 corkage fee is pretty reasonable considering we rarely finish a bottle at one sitting and having it stored and available at our table the next night is very nice. We will be on the 11/26/04 cruise out of New York and had planned to bring at least 3 bottles of champagne and may be three each of white and red. That should do us.

Just returned Jun 11th from a 24 day cruise and although we took some miniatures in our suitcases, we wouldn't have needed to. Room service will deliver a liter of whatever (Canadian Club $37.50 (43.12 with the gratuity)) and on two stops we bought liters of Gin and Scotch, for about 12-15 Euros and no attempt was made to even ask us if we had liquor. In fact, the duty free shops at the bottom of the gangway sell quite a bit of liquor to QM2 passengers. But drink prices on board are not that unreasonable. Beer like a pint of Guiness is 3.75 plus grat. Martinis 4.95, most mixed drinks are in that range.

Rick J

I just spoke again with someone at Cunard about bringing wine or liquor on board the QM2, and was told there are no specific restrictions. He seemed to indicate that Customs might have a limit of one or two bottles, but he wasn't even sure about that. I asked him directly if it would be alright to bring some wine and a bottle or two of liquor on board for in-room consumption, and he said he didn't see a problem with it. So it would seem that the "wine and liquor police" are not as prevalent as on many other cruise lines. I also heard that the corkage fee is now up to $15, if you want your own bottle opened in the dining room. Thanks for all the above comments and suggestions.

Choose2Cruise in NM

Choose2Cruise - If you are just going to drink the wine in your room - make sure you bring your own corkscrew!!! your room steward will charge you the corkage fee (which is $15) and will not leave the corkscrew. There are plenty of reasonably priced wines on board so unless the wines you want to bring are really special, you should probably just go with what they have. enjoy!! - Mo