**NEW** Wine (by the bottle) Pricing List and Market Comparisons

I just talked to my TA and she said you will be charged $15 a bottle when you bring it on, that is not a corking fee, and another $15 if you bring the bottle to the table. You can have the wine in your room and bring it to the table in a glass. It wouldn't be a deal if you have to pay $30 per bottle to bring it to your table.

Your TA is WRONG!

If paying $15 when brought on the ship you can drink it anywhere including in dining rooms with NO additional fee. If bringing your fee free bottle to the dining room there's a $15 fee.

Obviously your TA is unaware of the procedure but won't research to provide you with a correct answer. If that's an example of their knowledge, you might consider finding a more knowledgeable TA.

I just talked to my TA and she said you will be charged $15 a bottle when you bring it on, that is not a corking fee, and another $15 if you bring the bottle to the table. You can have the wine in your room and bring it to the table in a glass. It wouldn't be a deal if you have to pay $30 per bottle to bring it to your table.

That is incorrect. They will let you bring on 1 bottle free for each person. Then you only need to pay the $15.00 corkage fee once (they will charge you for it when you bring it on) for any extra bottles of wine. They will mark each bottle that the corkage fee has been paid and you can take it to the restaurant to enjoy.

HOWEVER, (and this is probably where you got mixed messages) if you take the free bottles of wine that are not marked to the dining room you will be charged a $15.00 corkage fee for it at that time. Just make sure you are taking the paid for bottles to the dining room and consuming the free bottles in your statement (or pouring it in your statement and taking the glass with you around the ship) and everything will be fine. :)

I just talked to my TA and she said you will be charged $15 a bottle when you bring it on, that is not a corking fee, and another $15 if you bring the bottle to the table. You can have the wine in your room and bring it to the table in a glass. It wouldn't be a deal if you have to pay $30 per bottle to bring it to your table.

Just so there is no question, I am going to chime in here and state that your TA is wrong. Whether this can happen with another cruise line or not is another question, but you only pay corkage fee ONCE per bottle. You can return with it to the DR the next night, or they will keep it for you, and no further fee is collected on that bottle.

Each person of drinking age can bring on a free bottle. Every bottle over that is assessed a corkage fee (yes, that is what it is called). Those pre-paid bottles will have a sticker as proof of payment so when you bring them to DR or elsewhere on the ship and staff open it for you, there is NO FURTHER CHARGE.

If you take the unopened "free" bottle to the DR, it is subject to the same corkage fee of $15. If you have consumed some of that free bottle in the room and take the remainder to dinner, you won't be charged.

Sorry - I guess I was typing at the same time as Tigger above, or I would have left it at the two responses. We are all three of us correct in refuting that TA, so I guess we are good now.

I just talked to my TA and she said you will be charged $15 a bottle when you bring it on, that is not a corking fee, and another $15 if you bring the bottle to the table. You can have the wine in your room and bring it to the table in a glass. It wouldn't be a deal if you have to pay $30 per bottle to bring it to your table.

Your TA is incorrect. Read the policy on Princess Cruise official site...the short answer, however is:

1) you can bring 1 bottle per person of drinking age that is staying in the room

2) if you want to drink those bottles anywhere besides in your stateroom, there will be a $15 corkage fee

3) any bottles in excess of the 1 free bottle is charged a $15 corkage fee...you can drink those bottles anywhere on the ship you choose...they will be distinguished by a stamp on the bottle

Note: do not mistakenly bring one of the free bottles to the dining room or you will then be charged that $15 fee...only bring stamped bottles.

LOL - boy, we wine lovers are stomping all over that TA!!! LOL - "stomping", get it???

Interesting stuff here, thank you! One note, on our last cruise on the Star in September, round trip Vancouver>Hawaii, we were surprised that no one was pushing the wine packages. When we asked our Head Waiter about it, he said it was not available on that cruise, mumbled some reason that we never did catch. It really surprised us to not have it available on a 15 night cruise. .

Interesting stuff here, thank you! One note, on our last cruise on the Star in September, round trip Vancouver>Hawaii, we were surprised that no one was pushing the wine packages. When we asked our Head Waiter about it, he said it was not available on that cruise, mumbled some reason that we never did catch. It really surprised us to not have it available on a 15 night cruise. .

Right, and as I think I mentioned in my OP, I haven't paid much attention to the packages before because they simply are not always available. Also, a lot of our cruises have been 7-nighters and frankly, we don't drink 7 bottles in 7 nights. But we do have a 60-nighter coming up and I should think they will offer packages and I also won't want to carry on that much wine in FLL. I do plan to collect wine along the way from ports in Uruguay, Argentina and Chile to replenish my initial supply.

None of those wines are going to be Princess wines, but I can understand from my list what kind of value a purchase plus corkage is relative to what is offered on board.

Steelers36...comparing your prices to the photos I took of the current dining room wine list on the Royal Princess you got an A+ grade. :D

The only differences on the Royal were no 375ml bottles and no Adelsheim Pinot Grigio. Due to their depleted inventory on the Med cruise they had procured additional Italian wines which were still available & we enjoyed. Before our TA from Barcelona their wine inventory was replenished so wine packages were available.

The Maître d' specials may vary by ship but none of those on your list were available on the Royal. Instead they had Masseto ($529), Solaia ($260) and Tignanello ($99).

The Gold packages are also our best option to try some more expensive wine for $28-$31 (plus 15% tip). We got the 10 bottle Gold package for our 15 night cruise but with an UBD & Winemakers Dinner we took 2 bottles of Barolo to enjoy at home.

I had read about a Super Tuscan dinner for $60 which we planned to attend. However since they had $529 Masseto onboard the price was $105 & more than we wanted to pay to taste such expensive wine. ;)

Yes...got the stomping reference :wine-glass: :p but it's amazing how some TAs will give incorrect answers. :eek:

question... do I pack the wines in luggage or carry on ?

Steelers, this is excellent work. Thank you. I also must add that just your expository OP represented a lot of work. Again, thank you for your thoroughness.

I am a data geek, and I love spreadsheets. For anybody who is not interested in bringing their own wine aboard--and there are numerous perfectly understandable reasons for that--this spreadsheet does give some good insights on strategizing wine list decisions.

I added a calculation in an available column of the Princess wine list markups. I don't think anything suprised me, but to share some of my findings:

• On average Pincess wines are marked up 122% over the retail price. So, on average the Princess price is more than twice the "street price." In my experience this is a bit more than the average markup in a shore-based restaurant. In a shore-based restaurant, I expect wine list prices to be about twice "street price." So, 100% markup. Also, I know there is a lot of variation. The wine list markups in Las Vegas strip restaurants start at 200%.
  
• The least markups on the Princess price are for the more expensive wines. For the most part, if a diner is willing to look at a wine that is more than $100 on the wine list. The markup for those wines is not bad. The two best "deals" are the Ornellaia Super Tuscan and the Overture Napa Valley blend. The markup on both of those is less than 8%. The least attractive over-$100 wine on the list is the Opus One with a markup of 98% (still, slightly less than double "street price").
  
• The flip side, of course, is that there is a HUGE g-factor on the lower-priced wines. Those Robert Mondavi Private Selections and the Woodbridges have markups between 350 and 500%. Other winners (or, if you prefer, losers) are the Rex Goliath Moscato at 442% and the Clos du Bois Chardonnay at 402%.
  

So, here's the funny thing. If you order a bottle of, say Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon for $140 in one of the Princess dining rooms or restaurants, the waiter and the headwaiter will fuss over you and give you a lot of attention for the rest of the evening. However, the corporate financial guys are much more excited about the orders for the $28 Woodbridge Zins. They are making an absolute killing on that one.

Also, consider wines by the glass. Most restaurants, and Princess, serve five glasses of wine per bottle. So, if they are charging $8 for a glass of that White Zin, the per bottle revenue goes from $28 to $40. Sweet.

What my husband and I noticed on our recent Regal Princess cruise was that the wine prices were considerably lower than in restaurants in our area and, imo, that is what you should actually be comparing the Princess Wine prices to - an upscale restaurant, not a liquor store. Compare the price to a restaurant where the wholesale price of wine (not retail) is multiplied x2.5 to x3.

Your post actually made me burst out laughing! Why? Consider a Princess MDR being on land and marketed as an "upscale" (to use your term) restaurant serving the same menu (including hamburgers at dinner), portions, and quality! We suspect that "upscale" restaurant would not survive a week! We have cruised on 14 cruise lines (including some luxury lines) and have only dined in 2 on board restaurants that we would have visited if it was on land...and both of those were alternative restaurants (not on Princess) with pretty high prices.

Cruise line food and MDRs do not compare to anything ashore. One could arguably compare it to restaurants in all-inclusive resorts, but even that is a stretch.

Hank

question... do I pack the wines in luggage or carry on ?

Both.

Steelers36,

Thanks for your work. If you buy 4 Korbel Brut splits at the bar during Happy Hour, you will save $18.40 instead of $13.50. Also, they will not open them if you ask them. Each bottle is perfect for 2 mimosas!!! Ever think of adding a Happy Hour savings column?

;p

We always bring our own wine on board. Why limit yourself to what's on the ship's wine list?

Thank you so much. This is very helpful!

Thanks so much for all your hard work and time in working up the list. Will definitely be using to determine what to buy/do on our upcoming cruise!!:D

Thanks for this great info. My husband is a math geek and loves spread sheets. We will bring 2 bottles on board our next cruise and enjoy in our stateroom. This will help us decide if we want to buy a bottle for dinner.

Mr Steelers Thanks for sharing.

Good luck on Thursday (!) Go Patriots!!!!

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony

Your TA is WRONG!

If paying $15 when brought on the ship you can drink it anywhere including in dining rooms with NO additional fee. If bringing your fee free bottle to the dining room there's a $15 fee.

Obviously your TA is unaware of the procedure but won't research to provide you with a correct answer. If that's an example of their knowledge, you might consider finding a more knowledgeable TA.

Thank you Astroflyer.

I was on the phone with Princess staff for 30 minutes about this, they finally contacted the food and beverage manager. He said after your free bottle of wine the additional wine has a $15 fee and a sticker and you won't be charged again if you bring it in the dining room.

question... do I pack the wines in luggage or carry on ?

Technically you should carry it all on. In the past, people have reported slapping luggage tags on taped up boxes and having it arrive in the room via the porters. I don't think I ever would have trusted that system, but really you are supposed to carry it into the terminal with you so that it can be checked and assessed the applicable corkage fee (they write up a chit and later post it to your on board account). If you have bottles in your "checked" baggage, it will likely be caught on inspection and held and you will be contacted to come pick it and pay fees owing. Hopefully they will not confiscate it, thinking you were trying to "put one over" on them. (They will confiscate liquor). Please consult the Princess wine policy.

Mr Steelers Thanks for sharing.

Good luck on Thursday (!) Go Patriots!!!!

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony

You're most welcome, Captain. I do hope we come out stronger than Sunday's dud opening half. But a W is a W, no matter how they get there.

Judgement day comes Dec 17. I can hardly wait.

I think the actual comparison is what can you buy the wine for, carry it on board, and pay the $15 corkage fee compared to buying a comparable wine on board and paying the 15% gratuity...which process is the best bang for your buck? That is the real question.

 

Taking the spreadsheet provided and adding 15% to the wines, I can bring a much better wine on board and pay the $15 fee and still save money. Worst case scenario, the cost will be the same, but the wine I hand carry on will be a better wine.

I hope you have figured out that I already added in the 15%, and it's in the final price.

And your last line is my whole reasoning and point. I am not out to buy the Princess wine list - I am out to buy good value wines, not spending a fortune, that I know we will enjoy.

Steelers, this is excellent work. Thank you. I also must add that just your expository OP represented a lot of work. Again, thank you for your thoroughness.

 

I am a data geek, and I love spreadsheets. For anybody who is not interested in bringing their own wine aboard--and there are numerous perfectly understandable reasons for that--this spreadsheet does give some good insights on strategizing wine list decisions.

 

I added a calculation in an available column of the Princess wine list markups. I don't think anything suprised me, but to share some of my findings:

 

• On average Pincess wines are marked up 122% over the retail price. So, on average the Princess price is more than twice the "street price." In my experience this is a bit more than the average markup in a shore-based restaurant. In a shore-based restaurant, I expect wine list prices to be about twice "street price." So, 100% markup. Also, I know there is a lot of variation. The wine list markups in Las Vegas strip restaurants start at 200%.
  
• The least markups on the Princess price are for the more expensive wines. For the most part, if a diner is willing to look at a wine that is more than $100 on the wine list. The markup for those wines is not bad. The two best "deals" are the Ornellaia Super Tuscan and the Overture Napa Valley blend. The markup on both of those is less than 8%. The least attractive over-$100 wine on the list is the Opus One with a markup of 98% (still, slightly less than double "street price").
  
• The flip side, of course, is that there is a HUGE g-factor on the lower-priced wines. Those Robert Mondavi Private Selections and the Woodbridges have markups between 350 and 500%. Other winners (or, if you prefer, losers) are the Rex Goliath Moscato at 442% and the Clos du Bois Chardonnay at 402%.
  

So, here's the funny thing. If you order a bottle of, say Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon for $140 in one of the Princess dining rooms or restaurants, the waiter and the headwaiter will fuss over you and give you a lot of attention for the rest of the evening. However, the corporate financial guys are much more excited about the orders for the $28 Woodbridge Zins. They are making an absolute killing on that one.

 

Also, consider wines by the glass. Most restaurants, and Princess, serve five glasses of wine per bottle. So, if they are charging $8 for a glass of that White Zin, the per bottle revenue goes from $28 to $40. Sweet.

Absolutely, XBGuy, you have nailed it. Princess is socking it to the cheap, but popular known names from California that mass market will go to. They just have little imagination in their list anymore as it has been changed for the worse not many years back, by plugging in more of the low end wines and then packing on a $30 or so mark-up. Especially annoying is their recent increases when these wines have not gone up in price at retail, meaning the wineries are churning out the low end product each season at the same price point.

They are also playing it pretty safe in many cases. But not unlike many shopping experiences in USA where the west coast wines dominate and very little is seen from Argentina, Chile, etc. (I mention those as we are soon departing on a S.A. voyage, but also these are two places I find value in wine lists in Ontario, but rare in USA).

I kind of expect similar to you in restaurants - a double retail, but more like a flat mark-up for lower priced wines, a double zone, but then higher priced wines not being doubled. Sure, some places are unreasonable in this regard, and upscale places can have extensive wine cellars and then they want to charge market price for older vintages. I am not into that stratosphere when I go out. I sometimes will do BYOW if restaurant allows and corkage is reasonable (some are good about it and others set a dumb price to discourage it).

Here is something new (at least to me). X has increased their corkage from $18 to $25. IDK when they jumped that up, but it looks like a discourage-the-practice move to me. Also, just checked their policy and it states two bottles allowed per cabin - period. Nothing allowed for extra bottles. Corkage fee applies if wine taken to restaurant.

HAL is much like Princess, except corkage fee is $18.

RCCL is much like X (of course), allowing two bottles per stateroom. BUT, no corkage fee is listed, so that is a small concession perhaps.

We have it pretty good with Princess and I appreciate their willingness and cooperation in the matter, even if I think I could make up a lot more interesting wine menu.

Thanks for this great info. My husband is a math geek and loves spread sheets. We will bring 2 bottles on board our next cruise and enjoy in our stateroom. This will help us decide if we want to buy a bottle for dinner.

At the end of the day, you pay thousands for a cruise, so what is wrong paying $30 for a bottle of wine in the MDR for dinner? :hearteyes: