Wine for cabin/balcony

[Poconolady]

Thanks for the info.....will definitely do this next year!!!:D

 

 

We have taken our two bottles thru the scanners with our carry ons and then gone to our cabin. After checking out the ship we have gone back to town for awhile,and then stopped in the duty free on the way back onto ship, bought four more bottles that lasted us thru the transatlantic. That was back in the day when you had to pay for drinks separately instead of drink packages.

[champagnecruiser]

We left from Barcelona on HAL last year and although it is true that Security is before the Duty Free Stores HAL had crew, some of them wine waiters, 'lingering' around the shops watching what passengers were purchasing. The crew had radios and notified a member of staff who was standing just where passengers board.When the passengers boarded they were asked if they had any alcohol above the permitted amount. Any excess was taken from the passengers and stored until the last evening of the cruise.

I'm not suggesting that Celebrity would do this but HAL certainly did.

[ghstudio]

Secret Hint. During lunch, the bar in the oceanview cafe often offers bottles of wine at much lower prices than similar wines in the MDR (or elsewhere). You aren't allowed to bring them to dinner (yes, they are marked somehow or they are special labels...they do recognize them...we know from experience)....but you can certainly take the bottle to your cabin and enjoy it on your balcony.

[NoWhiners]

We left from Barcelona on HAL last year and although it is true that Security is before the Duty Free Stores HAL had crew, some of them wine waiters, 'lingering' around the shops watching what passengers were purchasing. The crew had radios and notified a member of staff who was standing just where passengers board.When the passengers boarded they were asked if they had any alcohol above the permitted amount. Any excess was taken from the passengers and stored until the last evening of the cruise.

I'm not suggesting that Celebrity would do this but HAL certainly did.

 

Hmm, so in Barcelona you can't just pay the corkage fee and take the wine onboard to enjoy during the trip? I didn't realize this could happen, thanks for the heads up.

 

ML

[NoWhiners]

Secret Hint. During lunch, the bar in the oceanview cafe often offers bottles of wine at much lower prices than similar wines in the MDR (or elsewhere). You aren't allowed to bring them to dinner (yes, they are marked somehow or they are special labels...they do recognize them...we know from experience)....but you can certainly take the bottle to your cabin and enjoy it on your balcony.

 

This is a great tip! We'll give it a try on our first X cruise (in 2017!).

 

ML

[NoWhiners]

Here is a Texas Aggie engineering thought, ;)

 

Take a small kitchen funnel with you. When you finish your first bottle dont throw it out, save it. Then make a couple quick trips to one of the bars, get 2 glasses, return and pour them into your empty. Then you don't have to get out of your jammies or such:eek: when you want another glass on the veranda!

 

Presto! Yes it is, " A bit labor intensive, but certainly doable" :D

 

This is a good idea. Another variation (that we used on a recent cruise where we didn't have time to get wine before we boarded) is to also bring a plastic bottle of some sort with your funnel! We had an old well-rinsed plastic milk bottle, but i suppose you could also use an empty water bottle or some other type of water bottle. Toss it at the end of the cruise.

 

Did this each night before went back to our cabin and had plenty of wine for a nightcap.

 

ML

[kathynorth]

Secret Hint. During lunch, the bar in the oceanview cafe often offers bottles of wine at much lower prices than similar wines in the MDR (or elsewhere). You aren't allowed to bring them to dinner (yes, they are marked somehow or they are special labels...they do recognize them...we know from experience)....but you can certainly take the bottle to your cabin and enjoy it on your balcony.

 

Thanks for this tip! I learn something new every day on these boards!

[kathynorth]

Hmm, so in Barcelona you can't just pay the corkage fee and take the wine onboard to enjoy during the trip? I didn't realize this could happen, thanks for the heads up.

 

ML

 

On Celebrity you can openly present bottles of wine and pay corkage, even when cruising out of Barcelona.

 

What prior posters are saying is that at the port in Barcelona the check in and security checks take place before you reach the duty free stores, similar to what you see in an airport. There is an escalator right after the duty free shops. At the top you are greeted by ship staff, they swipe your card, and welcome you aboard. This means that passengers can walk on ship with the permitted 2 bottles of wine, get off ship, purchase 2 bottles of wine, go back on ship, etc. There is no way for ship personnel to check to see if what you are bringing back on board are your first 2 bottles or additional bottles. I suppose a cruise line could have staff positioned to watch what passengers buy, but it's more likely they would track liquor purchases since you can clearly not bring any liquor onboard.

[Tiggertastic]

It's only worked for us if is is your embarkation port. They don't put the secure on the ship on embarkation here as there are so many scanners at the port. The are 2 shops, duty free and another selling soft drinks etc. When it's been a port of call we've had a scanner onboard but each ship may differ.

[Gracie115]

It's only worked for us if is is your embarkation port. They don't put the secure on the ship on embarkation here as there are so many scanners at the port. The are 2 shops, duty free and another selling soft drinks etc. When it's been a port of call we've had a scanner onboard but each ship may differ.

 

Ah...that seems more normal....guess we will find out next year when we are there overnight mid way through our TA on Reflection.

[vulcan1971]

I have done three westbound transatlantic crossings over the past three years. This was my experience in 2014, your mileage may vary.

 

Our ship embarkation was Civitavecchia and a port day following immediately on Day 2 at Livorno. I had an excursion planned for touring Tuscany wine country, but found myself bringing home two bottles of wine as we approach the ship. There was no concern about them being taken away till the end of the cruise since I was not planning to drink them on the ship. However I passed right through security with no problems and no questions, the wine was displayed quite prominently in the carry box. This got me to asking questions and doing research on Cruise Critic when I returned home only to find out that it's a common experience in European ports that the two bottle carry-on at embarkation or additional bottles at various ports has lax enforcement. Since I had several more stops in the Canary Islands, I tried a second time to buy champagne when I found a great price in Gran Canaria and was successful again at boarding the ship, no questions asked, and took the wine to my room. This was in November 2014.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6 Plus on the T-Mobile 4G LTE Network using Tapatalk Pro

Edited June 8, 2015 by vulcan1971

[Gracie115]

I have done three westbound transatlantic crossings over the past three years. This was my experience in 2014, your mileage may vary.

 

Our ship embarkation was Civitavecchia and a port day following immediately on Day 2 at Livorno. I had an excursion planned for touring Tuscany wine country, but found myself bring home two bottles of wine as we approach the ship. There was no concern about them being taken away till the end of the cruise since I was not planning to drink them on the ship. However I passed right through security with no problems and no questions, the wine was displayed quite prominently in the carry box. This got me to asking questions and doing research on Cruise Critic when I returned home only to find out that it's a common experience in European ports that the two bottle carry-on at embarkation or additional bottles at various ports has lax enforcement. Since I had several more stops in the Canary Islands, I tried a second time to buy champagne when I found a great price in Gran Canaria and was successful again at boarding the ship, no questions asked, and took the wine to my room. This was in November 2014.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6 Plus on the T-Mobile 4G LTE Network using Tapatalk Pro

 

Thanks...guess we'll give it a try and see what happens...

[vulcan1971]

Thanks...guess we'll give it a try and see what happens...

 

 

One more thing..... My final port for disembarkation was Fort Lauderdale. I left the ship with 4 bottles of wine/champagne, declared it with customs, and passed right through with no paperwork or fees.

 

 

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