Bringing wine onboard-M and S class

[mjwcruising]

I have taken boxed wine in my checked luggage many times and never had a problem.

[ronswife]

San Juan authorities really are the most liberal I have seen. In fact, depending on the terminal there is a duty free alcohol store right at the boarding escalator - AFTER you check into the ship, but before you go through security. The store will tell you exactly what you can and cannot do based on your ship. They told us that as it is common for people to board the ship with a few bottles (including hard liquor) and then come back for more before the ship leaves. Not all ports are that easy.

[lvcruiser]

Okay everyone, I'm looking for specifics here. What, if any, problems has anyone had bringing aboard larger than standard sized bottles of wine? The DW wants to bring one 750ml of one kind and a 1.5 liter bottle of another kind of wine, and is planning on carrying it on, not packing it away. The Celebrity website states that 2 bottles per cabin are allowed, but does not state a specific size. In fact, to my knowledge, no where on the site is size mentioned at all. So it appears to me that size problems will occur only at the whim of the security guards at the gate and I am wondering what kind of history has anyone had regarding this issue. Thanks in advance for the help.

[dexter99]

I would speculate that they mean a 750 ml bottle. In the wine industry, food, beverage business, etc, that is a 'bottle'. A 1.5 l bottle is a magnum, smaller ones have names, even bigger ones have names (375 ml is a demi, 3 l is a jeraboam, etc).

 

They probably don't expect people to bring on much other than standard bottles because in much of the world, they aren't common.

 

And I might also speculate that when they came up with the policy, they thought about people bringing on a good bottle or two for a celebration, not people bringing on boxes of jug wine to save money.

[lvcruiser]

Thanks for your response; however, I am not looking for speculation. I'm asking if anyone has had a problem with carrying on anything larger than the "standard" 750 ml bottle. The DW certainly has no interest in bringing on "jug" wine; I had to chuckle when reading previous posts regarding boxed wine - "ah, yes. A very nice Franzia, likely boxed last November." Rather, she is interested in bringing a nice Riesling from work where she can purchase it at cost so she doesn't have to pay three prices onboard. As I said earlier, I am looking for specifics and not conjecture - will anything larger than a 750 ml be confiscated?

[FinelyCruising]

Too bad the pot shots had to start up :o

[Lsimon]

... I'm asking if anyone has had a problem with carrying on anything larger than the "standard" 750 ml bottle......

 

If you do a search there are lots of older threads that discuss this. The majority of them indicate large bottles were not a problem, and even passed close inspection at times, but there have been a couple of instances where the larger bottles were not allowed. I think the bottom line is that it will probably be OK but will have some uncertainty.

 

If it were me and Riesling were my wine of choice, I'd just take two standard bottles and buy the rest on board. As wines go, most Rieslings are not extremely expensive and Celebrity has a couple that go for under $30.

[Cruiser Susie]

As I sip some very nice Cava at this moment Mr Simon.:)

 

And Mrs. Simon says, "Cheers!" We have one bottle of Cava we brought home from Spain last year and are planning on enjoying it soon. I will think of you when we do! Hopefully we can gather up some more in September. We can buy it locally, but it is lots of fun having one bought by us in Spain.

[lvcruiser]

Larry, thanks for the response. I have to admit to being a bit lazy and not taking the time to do a search on the subject. From what you have disclosed, it appears my original thought may be correct - being at the mercy of the security at the gate.

 

John