New to Princess - alcohol policy

[shutterbug63]

What's the policy on bringing wine on board on embarkation day? I did google some stuff and the policy seems to be one bottle per adult of drinking age in the cabin.

 

Does that mean that if I'm traveling with my son who's not of drinking age I can't bring on a second bottle unless I want to pay a $15 corkage fee? I googled some stuff and that seemed to be the policy but just looking to confirm.

[Host CJSKIDS]

What's the policy on bringing wine on board on embarkation day? I did google some stuff and the policy seems to be one bottle per adult of drinking age in the cabin.

 

Does that mean that if I'm traveling with my son who's not of drinking age I can't bring on a second bottle unless I want to pay a $15 corkage fee? I googled some stuff and that seemed to be the policy but just looking to confirm.

 

 

here you go....

 

As provided in the Passage Contract, passengers agree not to bring alcoholic beverages of any kind onboard for consumption, except one bottle of wine or champagne per adult of drinking age (no larger than 750 ml) per voyage, which will not be subject to a corkage fee if consumed in the stateroom. Additional wine or champagne bottles are welcome, but will incur a $15 corkage fee each, irrespective of where they are intended to be consumed. Liquor, spirits or beers are not permitted. Please remember that luggage will be scanned and alcohol outside of our policy will be removed and discarded.

[skynight]

What's the policy on bringing wine on board on embarkation day? I did google some stuff and the policy seems to be one bottle per adult of drinking age in the cabin.

 

Does that mean that if I'm traveling with my son who's not of drinking age I can't bring on a second bottle unless I want to pay a $15 corkage fee? I googled some stuff and that seemed to be the policy but just looking to confirm.

 

Policy: One 750ml bottle of wine/pp over 21 can be carried on board without charge for use in your cabin. Additional bottles of wine can be brought on board. Each additional 750ml bottle is assessed a $15 corkage charge, which will appear on your folio. These bottles will be marked and can be used anywhere on the ship. No Beer or spirits are allowed to be brought on board. These will be confiscated and discarded. Alcohol purchased at ports of call or in the ship's store will be held and delivered to your cabin on the last night of the cruise.

[shutterbug63]

Policy: One 750ml bottle of wine/pp over 21 can be carried on board without charge for use in your cabin. Additional bottles of wine can be brought on board. Each additional 750ml bottle is assessed a $15 corkage charge, which will appear on your folio. These bottles will be marked and can be used anywhere on the ship. No Beer or spirits are allowed to be brought on board. These will be confiscated and discarded. Alcohol purchased at ports of call or in the ship's store will be held and delivered to your cabin on the last night of the cruise.

 

Wow...well that kind of stinks. Because I'm traveling with a child, I have to pay a penalty if I want two bottles of wine. Then again, I kind of understand it because if I bring two bottles, I'm spending less money on board on alcohol because I'm traveling with a child.

 

Thanks for the info. :-)

Edited August 8, 2014 by shutterbug63

[aquilegia]

Wow...well that kind of stinks. Because I'm traveling with a child, I have to pay a penalty if I want two bottles of wine.

 

I don't quite follow your reasoning. It's one bottle of wine per adult. If an adult is travelling with a child, they bring one bottle. If 2 adults are travelling, they can only bring a total of 2 bottles (one each). Not 2 bottles each. If you wanted 2 bottles of wine for yourself, you'd still have to bring on an extra bottle and pay corkage of $15.

[shutterbug63]

I don't quite follow your reasoning. It's one bottle of wine per adult. If an adult is travelling with a child, they bring one bottle. If 2 adults are travelling, they can only bring a total of 2 bottles (one each). Not 2 bottles each. If you wanted 2 bottles of wine for yourself, you'd still have to bring on an extra bottle and pay corkage of $15.

 

Oh, sorry, I wasn't clear. There's one adult in my cabin. So I can only bring on one bottle of wine at no charge. It costs me $15 plus the cost of the bottle of wine if I want to bring a second I've purchased on shore.

 

Someone traveling with two adults in the cabin on Princess can bring on two bottles of wine at no charge other than the cost of the bottle of wine.

 

Like I said, I'm new to Princess, we usually sail Royal and their policy allows two bottles of wine per stateroom at no charge whether it's two adults or one adult and a child.

 

I can only bring one on Princess, so I'm either paying the $15 corkage fee for the second or buying a bottle or glasses of wine onboard. That's more money in their pocket. But for me, as far as cost, it's 6 of one a 1/2 dozen of the other for the second as far as cost.

Edited August 8, 2014 by shutterbug63

[Colo Cruiser]

Oh, sorry, I wasn't clear. There's one adult in my cabin. So I can only bring on one bottle of wine at no charge. It costs me $15 plus the cost of the bottle of wine if I want to bring a second I've purchased on shore.

 

Someone traveling with two adults in the cabin on Princess can bring on two bottles of wine at no charge other than the cost of the bottle of wine.

 

Like I said, I'm new to Princess, we usually sail Royal and their policy allows two bottles of wine per stateroom at no charge whether it's two adults or one adult and a child.

 

I can only bring one on Princess, so I'm either paying the $15 corkage fee for the second or buying a bottle or glasses of wine onboard. That's more money in their pocket. But for me, as far as cost, it's 6 of one a 1/2 dozen of the other for the second as far as cost.

 

Probably best to bring one and buy the others onboard. ;)

You don't pay corkage on them.

[shutterbug63]

Probably best to bring one and buy the others onboard. ;)

You don't pay corkage on them.

 

That's what I'm thinking. Less hassle & the cost ends up being about the same.

[timetravler]

Be aware that Princess is not consistent with their enforcement of this policy. I just completed a British Isle cruise and a Norway cruise. They never checked any wine what so ever that I saw. Plus we bought Scotch and Whiskey and Calvados on our cruise at the ports. We once again were not stopped at all when boarding. I did not try to hide any of it and was very willing to pay a corkage fee if asked. Only when we brought our wine to be opened in the dinning room did we pay a corkage fee. No problem as we do the same back home.

[shutterbug63]

Be aware that Princess is not consistent with their enforcement of this policy. I just completed a British Isle cruise and a Norway cruise. They never checked any wine what so ever that I saw. Plus we bought Scotch and Whiskey and Calvados on our cruise at the ports. We once again were not stopped at all when boarding. I did not try to hide any of it and was very willing to pay a corkage fee if asked. Only when we brought our wine to be opened in the dinning room did we pay a corkage fee. No problem as we do the same back home.

 

Thanks for the info. That changes my perspective a bit. :-)

[JimmyVWine]

Like I said, I'm new to Princess, we usually sail Royal and their policy allows two bottles of wine per stateroom at no charge whether it's two adults or one adult and a child.

 

I can only bring one on Princess, so I'm either paying the $15 corkage fee for the second or buying a bottle or glasses of wine onboard. That's more money in their pocket. But for me, as far as cost, it's 6 of one a 1/2 dozen of the other for the second as far as cost.

 

I think that you are looking at this a bit sideways. Yes, RC will let you bring on 2 bottles without a fee, but that is it. Not a drop more. On a 7, 10 or 14 day cruise, that isn't a very good deal. Assuming that you consume wine every day or nearly every day, (and you care about the quality of wine that you drink), you will spend way more on wine on RC than on Princess which allows you to bring on 7, 10 or 14 bottles if you choose. A bottle that retails for $30 in a wine shop will likely cost you $80 or so on board. If you are on a 7 day cruise and drink one bottle a day, your cost on RC would be:

 

2 bottles brought on for free that you bought for $30 each = $60

5 bottles bought on board at $80 each = $400

Total = $460.

 

On Princess, your total would be:

1 bottle brought on for free that you bought for $30 each = $30.

6 bottles that you brought on and paid $15 corkage on and which you bought for $30 each = $270

Total = $300.

 

The truth is, Princess, even with its corkage fee, still has the most lenient and advantageous wine allowance of any cruise line in its class. Now granted, these numbers get skewed a bit if you are the only adult in your cabin and you will drink less than a bottle a day. Still, 4 bottles consumed over a week or 10 days on RC would cost (2 x $30)+(2 x $80), or $220 whereas on Princess your cost would be (1 x $30) + (3 x $45) or $165.

Edited August 8, 2014 by JimmyVWine

[Mom33]

Oh, sorry, I wasn't clear. There's one adult in my cabin. So I can only bring on one bottle of wine at no charge. It costs me $15 plus the cost of the bottle of wine if I want to bring a second I've purchased on shore.

 

Someone traveling with two adults in the cabin on Princess can bring on two bottles of wine at no charge other than the cost of the bottle of wine.

 

Like I said, I'm new to Princess, we usually sail Royal and their policy allows two bottles of wine per stateroom at no charge whether it's two adults or one adult and a child.

 

I can only bring one on Princess, so I'm either paying the $15 corkage fee for the second or buying a bottle or glasses of wine onboard. That's more money in their pocket. But for me, as far as cost, it's 6 of one a 1/2 dozen of the other for the second as far as cost.

 

We have found that if we bring our favorite wine on board and pay a corkage fee, it cost within 2 or 3 dollars of the price of just purchasing it on board.

We don't bother bringing it on board anymore as it is one less thing to pack and we don't have breakage worries. :D

[peety3]

Oh, sorry, I wasn't clear. There's one adult in my cabin. So I can only bring on one bottle of wine at no charge. It costs me $15 plus the cost of the bottle of wine if I want to bring a second I've purchased on shore.

 

Someone traveling with two adults in the cabin on Princess can bring on two bottles of wine at no charge other than the cost of the bottle of wine.

 

Like I said, I'm new to Princess, we usually sail Royal and their policy allows two bottles of wine per stateroom at no charge whether it's two adults or one adult and a child.

 

I can only bring one on Princess, so I'm either paying the $15 corkage fee for the second or buying a bottle or glasses of wine onboard. That's more money in their pocket. But for me, as far as cost, it's 6 of one a 1/2 dozen of the other for the second as far as cost.

Someone traveling with two adults in the cabin has two mouths to feed, hence the reason two bottles are allowed. :)

 

I don't want to encourage any sort of rules violation, but as others have hinted, the enforcement varies by port. In Seattle, there's no "connection" between the security screening and the alcohol desk; you can easily walk right by and continue onward to the health questionnaire.

 

Probably doesn't matter much for you, but any wine you wish to take to the dining room has to have a corkage fee assessed, either during embarkation (for your 2nd bottle and up) or at the DR (for the 1st bottle). If your plan is to drink it in the DR, you'll be paying a corkage one way or another. *shrug*

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

It's usually much more expensive to buy wine on the ship rather than bringing your own & taking the chance of having to pay the extra $15. If you drink inexpensive wine as we do the charge can be almost as much as the cost of the wine itself and besides that, Princess doesn't carry the cheaper wine anyway.

[timetravler]

It's usually much more expensive to buy wine on the ship rather than bringing your own & taking the chance of having to pay the extra $15. If you drink inexpensive wine as we do the charge can be almost as much as the cost of the wine itself and besides that, Princess doesn't carry the cheaper wine anyway.

Your post made me laugh as we think much of the wine onboard a Princess ship is cheap wine. Not all though. We bring only wine that IS NOT offered on the ship and usually some pretty special stuff too. Not to sound snobby But then we do live in the Napa Valley and have access to lots of some very fine wines. A $15 corkage fee is low compared to some restaurants around here. We have paid as much as $50 for a corkage fee, but that was a supper fancy place.

Now the good news is we love to share our wine with whom ever is at our table;).

[shutterbug63]

Someone traveling with two adults in the cabin has two mouths to feed, hence the reason two bottles are allowed. :)

 

I don't want to encourage any sort of rules violation, but as others have hinted, the enforcement varies by port. In Seattle, there's no "connection" between the security screening and the alcohol desk; you can easily walk right by and continue onward to the health questionnaire.

 

Probably doesn't matter much for you, but any wine you wish to take to the dining room has to have a corkage fee assessed, either during embarkation (for your 2nd bottle and up) or at the DR (for the 1st bottle). If your plan is to drink it in the DR, you'll be paying a corkage one way or another. *shrug*

 

If I walk into the dining room with a glass of wine (which I've been known to do), how do they know I should be charged a $15 corkage fee? ;-)

Edited August 8, 2014 by shutterbug63

[karena1]

If I walk into the dining room with a glass of wine (which I've been known to do), how do they know I should be charged a $15 corkage fee? ;-)

 

answer - they don't

[shutterbug63]

answer - they don't

 

Didn't think so.... :-)

[Colo Cruiser]

You can bring as many glasses as you want to the DR. ;)

[Cruisin' Chick]

I too don't get why the policy "stinks." If you were going with another adult, the per ADULT would be the same as if going with a minor. On our last cruise, we weren't upset just because our then-15 year old couldn't bring on a bottle of wine.

 

BTW, if you are interested in finding out the Princess policies, you don't have to google. Just go to http://www.princess.com and look for the "Cruise Answer Place." Plenty of info there. Also find the cruise contract.

 

All in all, you should have a great time on Princess. We switched from Carnival and haven't looked back.