RCI not allowing passengers to bring wine onboard?

[xpcdoojk]

Mine may be a XLT1200 it is a 3 person. We ski behind it somewhat regularly. The only problem with the Yamaha is that it tends to bog down when you ski behind it, so you have to be creative, IE you have to have a little slack, so it becomes another skill test. The Seadoo is much easier to start than our Yamaha, but the Yamaha is much more forgiving to ride. We only ride multiple when skiing. Wife Krystal and I ride solo. She has lost a little of the passion for PWCs, I still really like to ride and explore, although it is fun to play in the wake of a Silverton on the Seadoo.

So keep the dream alive! :D

jc

[xpcdoojk]

Had a very nice Cing se pages Saturday night it was the 2001 from Chateau St Jean. It was very nice.

jc

[John44]

No problem bringing 2 bottles of wine on board at each port of call on Med Cruise Legends of the Sea last week, 12 bottles opened by assistant waiter only charged corkage once,

[worldsbestcandles]

John44,

How did you bring hte bottles on board? Did you pack them in a backpack or were they in open view in a tote or box from a winery or something? Just curious.

Thanks,
WBC

[John44]

[quote name='worldsbestcandles']John44,

How did you bring hte bottles on board? Did you pack them in a backpack or were they in open view in a tote or box from a winery or something? Just curious.

Thanks,
WBC[/QUOTE]

Two bottles at a time at each port, just in a small holdall which went through the scanner but was never queered we made no effort to hide the bottles. And openly took them into the main restraunt each night where the assistant waiter opened them, the only time we got charged corkage was when the wine waiter opened the bottle.

Corkage was £5.50 for the bottle.

THey were charging £22 for a bottle of Faustino V11 Rioja which could be purchassed in the ports for 4.20 euro which is £3 what a rip off.

[worldsbestcandles]

Thanks for sharing you're experience!

[island lady]

Just back today from our cruise on the Mariner. We carried 2 bottles of champagne for sailaway for two cabins, and 6 bottles of red wine for 6 nights dinner. Split up in 3 different carry ons, and not even a blink when we put them through the scanner. My champagne was brought out of my fridge 10 minutes before we got to the port, and was packed with ice packs. It was very chilled, (and very delicious :D) when we popped the corks for sailaway.

 

Got charged for corkage in both Chops and Portofino., plus the first night in the dining room. The other 3 bottles were no charge.

 

Wonderful time...and wonderful wine!! :)

 

Cheers!

[Skipgil]

Island Lady...did you wrap the bottles and then pack them? Also, did you pack these in your carry-on bags or were the bottles packed in your suitcase??

Thanks...

[island lady]

Island Lady...did you wrap the bottles and then pack them? Also, did you pack these in your carry-on bags or were the bottles packed in your suitcase??

Thanks...

 

These were in 3 different carry on's (three people traveling) that we took through the scanners as we were boarding the ship. Just regular totes, with one being a roll away. I just wrapped them in small towels and the champagne in a cool pack. The security people never even blinked and wished us a happy cruise.

Nice!! :)

 

Cheers!

[xpcdoojk]

Hey Island Lady and any California folks, I am thinking of doing a week next February in Napa, Sonoma and other wine areas of interest in California, what is the weather like usually, and do you have any off the beaten path recommendations for some great wineries that I might not know of.

 

jc

[worldsbestcandles]

My BF and I were also considering doing a napa visit sometime in 2006. When is the best time to go? Maybe the best times for the following:

 

1. Best time for tastings

2. Best time for good hotel/B&B rates

3. Best time for having not too many people there

etc...

 

Thanks!

It will be our first trip and we are thinking of taking his mom for her 60th birthday.

 

Steph

[xpcdoojk]

The most expensive and popular time is August thru October for harvest, and grape stomping, etc... It is wall to wall people. We went in April several years ago and it was not too bad. In fact when we were at Chateau Montelena, we were the only ones there in the tasting room at the time. Of course it is all the way up at the end of the valley. I have been told that February is pretty much the low season, and hence, why I am considering going then. highs typically 50 to 70, and in the rainy season.

 

 

jc

[worldsbestcandles]

Thanks jc!

 

That's good information. I noticed in your signature that you did the hawaii cruise on the radiance. We're doing the other (Honolulu to Ensenada), but I was wondering if you visited any of the wineries on the islands? I have heard a couple mentioned, but my Mom had said that one she went to wasn't that good.... is it worth our time to stop by?

 

Thanks,

Steph

[xpcdoojk]

On our Radiance cruise, we went to the Volcano Winery, which is on the Big Island just outside of Volcanoes national park. It was a neat little mom and pop winery. Lots of cute winery stuff, the wines were from non traditional grapes, and they had some version of a honey wine, made from honey from some local strange plant. It was actually not bad. A little background about us might be helpful to you. We live in Missouri, and we have a very strong wine growing history here, but we don't have the climate to grow Cab Sav or Chardonnay or even Riesling etc... The local grapes are Norton, Cynthiana, Vignoles, Chardonnel, etc... The best Nortons are very good, kind of like a Cab/Zin blend, but not as dark. The Vignoles is generally oft dry to sweet. We visit the wine areas at least a couple of times a year and partake heavily. I love these local wines, however I almost never buy them in the stores because they are not as good as a good Zin or Cab or Merlot or Riesling or Chardonnay. So, from that perspective we enjoyed the Volcano winery and we bought a few bottles that we drank on the ship. However, if I walked into the store tonight and they had a special on these wines, I would not buy one bottle. I love wine in all its forms. I love wineries, and I love to help these people to promote their wines, but Hawaii will never be confused for The Russian River Valley... :D

 

jc

[John44]

No problem bringing wine on board Legend of the Seas, only charged corkage twice out of 12 bottles.

[melissa593]

did you carry on or pack in your luggage:D

 

Did you enjoy the wine in your cabin or with dinner?

I am now debating whether I will even be able to bring wine (5 people flying and I realized I do not have enough luggage just for clothing!!!) Also, wine could get heavy as a carry on (could I get the 17 year old to carry it for me:eek: )

 

thanks for the insight

Melissa

[John44]

did you carry on or pack in your luggage:D

 

Did you enjoy the wine in your cabin or with dinner?

I am now debating whether I will even be able to bring wine (5 people flying and I realized I do not have enough luggage just for clothing!!!) Also, wine could get heavy as a carry on (could I get the 17 year old to carry it for me:eek: )

 

thanks for the insight

Melissa

 

We took our wine to the dinning room each night.

 

Why bring your wine on a aeroplane, buy it at each port of call.

 

We carried ours on 2 bottles at the start of the cruise, then one or two bottles at each port of call.

 

The first night the wine waiter opened it and charged us £5.50p to our on board account for corkage, all other nights our assistant waiter opened the bottle and there was no charge.

 

The first port of call was Gibraltor the wine showed up in the luggage scan and we were offered the choice of paying the corkage charge then and there or having the wine stored for us until the end of the cruise, we paid and they put a sticker on the bottle to indicate we should not be charged corkage again.

 

At all other ports of call altough it must have shown on the scanner no charge or mention was made, and our assistant waiter opened all bottles at no charge.

 

We were purchassing bottles of wine at £3 which they were charging £22 for on the ship.

 

Needless to say my assistant waiter got a good tip.

[worldsbestcandles]

We took our wine to the dinning room each night.

 

Why bring your wine on a aeroplane, buy it at each port of call.

 

We carried ours on 2 bottles at the start of the cruise, then one or two bottles at each port of call.

 

John44,

 

I realize that you were on a Med. cruise, which has outstanding wines available in many places. However, many of us are not so lucky so we must pre-plan:) . I would imagine that even some emabrkation ports are shy on really good stuff. For us, we are starting in Hawaii. All other things being equal, Hawaii's taxes are higher than my home of Michigan and they may even charge more because it is in Hawaii (those who have been know what I'm talking about), therefore, it is more cost effective to buy before I fly. However, I don't think I will take all of the wines we want on the plane (due to weight) but only the "special" ones from our own humble cellar. The rest we will probably buy in Honolulu, although we may just suck it up and buy the wine package on board... we are still deciding what to do....

[wwinfl91]

It's great to see that this thread is still attracting people interested in bringing their wine onboard.

 

Keep voting in the poll and have a great next cruise.

[beachguy]

John44,

 

I realize that you were on a Med. cruise, which has outstanding wines available in many places. However, many of us are not so lucky so we must pre-plan:) . I would imagine that even some emabrkation ports are shy on really good stuff. For us, we are starting in Hawaii. All other things being equal, Hawaii's taxes are higher than my home of Michigan and they may even charge more because it is in Hawaii (those who have been know what I'm talking about), therefore, it is more cost effective to buy before I fly. However, I don't think I will take all of the wines we want on the plane (due to weight) but only the "special" ones from our own humble cellar. The rest we will probably buy in Honolulu, although we may just suck it up and buy the wine package on board... we are still deciding what to do....

 

(This is beachchick)

 

Just an FYI regarding Hawaii and purchasing wine. Over the past several years, the selection has improved and the prices have dropped. Even the Safeways have decent selections at prices not much higher than the mainland (and sometimes cheaper if it's a club deal). There are several very nice wine shops on the islands as well.

 

The selection I've seen ranges from top US West coast wineries to French, Italian, and German, as well as Australian wines. I have been amazed at how much better the selections have gotten lately. In fact, I was stunned to see a favorite boutique winery wine (the vintners are friends as well) on the wine list at Volcano House on the Big Island. I've decided that from now on I won't bother to schlep wine over with me, I'll just buy it there.

 

A little background: We live in a prime CA wine region and are used to high quality wines (also grew up near another prime CA wine region). I'm not an expert, but I know good wines.

 

Certainly you should bring any super special wines from your cellar, but you'd be much better off just buying your every day wines in Honolulu. I wouldn't do a wine package with RCI because I think the prices and selection both stink.

 

beachchick

[xpcdoojk]

dearest beachchick, why are you posting under the beachguy id? If you log out and log back in you can log in under your other preferred id.

 

jc

[worldsbestcandles]

Beachchick,

 

That's interestign what you said about the winery on the big island... because I had some family and friends just go there and they said it was pretty much just the island wine (like Pineapple wine, etc...) and it wasn't very good. Plus, we have such limited time in port I want to spend it seeing things and not trying to find a wine store so I have enough wine for 4 days at sea... we are still trying to decide if we are renting cars the two days we aren't doing excursions. I guess I'd rather buy in HNL where I have been before, rather than spending time on Maui and the Big Island looking for wineries...

 

We are probably going to buy stuff in HNL, but I may have my family there check to see how much wine is because things get marked up a lot out there just because they are on the islands and all. We're still figuring out what to do...

 

WBC

[wwinfl91]

If you are stopping in Kona, try the following store. They had a pretty wide assortment of wines from all over the world.

 

http://www.konawinemarket.com/right.shtml

 

Have a great next cruise.

[worldsbestcandles]

Thanks for the info! We are stopping there.

[beachguy]

dearest beachchick, why are you posting under the beachguy id? If you log out and log back in you can log in under your other preferred id.

 

jc

 

Well, my hard drive died (didn't crash, physically died) so I'm on DH's computer and I'm just too dang lazy to logout and log back in.:D

 

beachchick