New Wine Policy - no more whining about wine

[startwin]

I do not agree this is a fair deal. In the past as long you consume it in your cabin (and I agree to that) it was ok. Now a corckage fee of $18 per bottle is scandalous. Ev en if you take a cheaper bottle around $5 + $18 = $23. This is theft from HAL.

I made already several HAL cruises and in march I believe it will be my last one due to this unrespectfull attitude of ou privacy in the cabin.:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

 

Sorry I don't agree. I know what wine I like, and it still comes in cheaper than buying a comparable bottle at HAL's prices. But it's not all about cost, it's about choice.

[startwin]

I recall reading that never happens by someone here. I unfortunately don't recall who specifically. I recall the posted said the people who are bringing full glasses of wine just purchased them at the bar and carried them in. I wonder if they were in error? Glad to read that you were not spattered on.

As no one can speak for all ships, all passengers, at all times - just as Wakepatrol cannot speak with authority to the reason HAL changed the policy;) - I am sure what you read was that the "someone" had never seen it on their cruises. Have you?

[sapper1]

Prior to the new rules being implemented, we either drank our own wine in our cabin, on our deck, or brought full bottles to the MDR and paid the corkage fee.

 

Now that we will have paid the corkage fee upon embarkation, there is no reason why we can't drink it anywhere on the ship that our hearts desire. I like that.

 

Your one corkage exempt pp bottle will have a different coloured sticker placed on it so you would still have to pay for corkage on that one, should you decide to take it outside your cabin.

[kazu]

I recall reading that never happens by someone here. I unfortunately don't recall who specifically. I recall the posted said the people who are bringing full glasses of wine just purchased them at the bar and carried them in. I wonder if they were in error? Glad to read that you were not spattered on.

 

You must have been doing a lot of reading for being on the boards such a short time:p;) I believe some have said that they haven't seen it. I believe even I reported that some people carrying wine glasses in the MDR had purchased the wine in the Crow's Nest on the Prinsendam as an example that just because you are carrying a glass of wine doesn't necessarily mean it's being smuggled. That doesn't mean that smuggling never happened. Now, there is no fear of it;)

[CowPrincess]

I recall reading that never happens by someone here. I unfortunately don't recall who specifically. I recall the posted said the people who are bringing full glasses of wine just purchased them at the bar and carried them in. I wonder if they were in error? Glad to read that you were not spattered on.

 

We have often carried a purchased glass of wine into the dining room. We've seen others do it, too. Having said that, though, I think you can bank on seeing someone, on every cruise line, on every cruise, attempt to circumvent one or more rules.

[pris993]

I always find it interesting how others worry about what someone else is doing, I never do.

 

We have cruised for 30+ years, have always taken wine on board - enjoyed in our cabin, taken to the MDR paid corking sometimes, sometimes we were not charged, since we also generally pruchase 1 or 2 bottles in the MDR depending on the length of the cruise.

 

Never took wine from our cabin to the MDR or elsewhere on the ship. Never noticed anyone else do either.

 

On Princess, we have a complementary bar set up since we are elite. Drinks at the Captain welcome aboard are so watered down, I thought about making my own and taking it but never did, instead we decided to skip the welcome aboard party. We enjoyed our drink in our cabin while getting dressed instead.

 

When in Europe we have purchased alcohol in ports, Gilbrater, Greece, Turkey. Do recall someone approaching me once in Athens at the duty free store telling me we could not purchase alcohol. I suspect the person was trying to be helpful. I simply responded it is the luck of the drawn sometimes they hold it sometimes they don't. The truth is never had any held.

 

We have cruised Princess, Celebrity, HAL, Cunard generally.

 

Recently cruise lines have gotten more restrictive, suspect this too will pass.

 

We always take on our own corkscrew too, since some days we skip the MDR, elect to have a nice lunch from the buffet in our cabin. Then we can open our own wine, don't need to depend on a cabin steward. We are independent travelers.

[alwaysfrantic]

Drink service was pretty bad last time. If I wanted a drink, I bought at a bar and went in with it. It never occurred to me I wasn't supposed to. We are a captive audience...it sort of all comes from the same place, doesn't it?

[RetiredMustang]

So does anyone have a currant wine list ? Would like to check prices

 

From Eurodam, August/September 2013:

 

 

 

 

 

Dave

[PunkiC]

Your one corkage exempt pp bottle will have a different coloured sticker placed on it so you would still have to pay for corkage on that one, should you decide to take it outside your cabin.

 

We have never had a stamp on any of our free bottles. They just stamp the ones on which we have paid the corkage and those are the ones we take out of the cabin.

[sapper1]

We have never had a stamp on any of our free bottles. They just stamp the ones on which we have paid the corkage and those are the ones we take out of the cabin.

 

The new policy is to put one colour of sticker on the free bottle and another colour of sticker on the corkage bottles. This was reported a few days ago by a poster who experienced the new system.

The new policy has only been in place for a few days and that is why you haven't experienced it.

[cruz chic]

Drink service was pretty bad last time. If I wanted a drink, I bought at a bar and went in with it. It never occurred to me I wasn't supposed to. We are a captive audience...it sort of all comes from the same place, doesn't it?

There is nothing wrong with bringing it in from another bar. HAL's wine service is pathetic even though I know some people report to the contrary. It doesn't mean it isn't true if you haven't experienced it.

[SeaBands]

Now they need to reduce the price of wine purchased on board to match that of Princess. They are much fairer.

[PunkiC]

The new policy is to put one colour of sticker on the free bottle and another colour of sticker on the corkage bottles. This was reported a few days ago by a poster who experienced the new system.

The new policy has only been in place for a few days and that is why you haven't experienced it.

 

I was thinking about the way they handle it on Princess buti guess there really isn't any reason it should be the same.

[realnurse2]

From Eurodam, August/September 2013:

 

 

 

 

 

Dave

 

So, where is the 'Santa Carolina'? :confused:

[kazu]

So, where is the 'Santa Carolina'? :confused:

 

You just ask for the house wine and you will get it.

[Two@Sea]

Since I sent an email regarding my displeasure with the sudden restrictive wine policy (suggesting a corkage fee would be a viable alternative... go figure) and received their generic reply, I now feel it is only courteous to send another email acknowledging the revised policy. Unfortunately, I no longer have the appropriate address. Help, please? Thanks.

[POA1]

From Eurodam, August/September 2013:

 

 

Dave

 

We owe you a note of thanks for those Dave! I stuck copies in Evernote so everyone in our party could share them - and the drink lists, and the Pinnacle list, and the Le Cirque list - for planning purposes.

 

Your lists were really helpful and much appreciated. :thumbup:

[SeaWatch]

Is the house wine still $7 or less?

[cruz chic]

Now they need to reduce the price of wine purchased on board to match that of Princess. They are much fairer.

I would have agreed with you in the past about Princess. They have brought out a new wine list and they have taken the wine I like off of it. Not impressed with what I see now.

[kazu]

Is the house wine still $7 or less?

 

It was the last time we were on - $6.95 - mind you it's not our wine of choice but it was under $7.

 

I'm hoping that by the time they get Explore4 figured out you can buy others and just pay the difference - we'll see soon enough;)

[SeaWatch]

Paying the difference would be an incredible bonus for this plan - however Holland America so they would not allow that. I can only hope it is going to be changing in the future

[RetiredMustang]

We owe you a note of thanks for those Dave! I stuck copies in Evernote so everyone in our party could share them - and the drink lists, and the Pinnacle list, and the Le Cirque list - for planning purposes.

 

Your lists were really helpful and much appreciated. :thumbup:

 

You are most welcome! I'm just happy that someone is getting some use out of those photos! From your post, I surmise that you went to my Eurodam 2013 blog and extracted the other lists you mentioned -- that's why I posted them, so others could use them.

 

(Now, this geezer needs to google what Evernote is ... :D)

 

Dave

[ISLAND DIVA]

If you brought two bottles of wine on board,one is free and one you pay the corkage fee.Since the corkage fee is paid ,I assume you can take a glass of wine from that bottle to the dining room.How would they know that you have paid the fee for that wine and are not just bringing a glass from your cabin.

[POA1]

(Now, this geezer needs to google what Evernote is ... :D)

 

Dave

It's a cross platform note & file sharing app. My wife and I use it for things we need to sync between all our computers, phones, etc. There are PC, Mac, iPhone, Android & BlackBerry versions.

[SilvertoGold]

If you brought two bottles of wine on board,one is free and one you pay the corkage fee.Since the corkage fee is paid ,I assume you can take a glass of wine from that bottle to the dining room.How would they know that you have paid the fee for that wine and are not just bringing a glass from your cabin.

 

Good question. I am sure HAL is working on it! They will need to do a lot of fine-tuning with this plan!