Best way to bring wine onboard

[sanchari]

They should not open your luggage without you being present!!!

 

 

Contract says they can I think ( on the app now )

 

It says they call you if it's locked ..

[JC13]

Just a reminder, there are great wine specials by the bottle in Vines and in many of the venues. I will bring my two bottles, then I just purchase additional wine on special by the bottle. Often times it is less than retail at home. This lessens what I have to carry on board. What else does one do with lots of on board credits.

[jasbo49]

The downside seems to be that they could discard your wine. I mean, you'll have the moral high ground of "I don't recognize compound adjectives as binding policy," but you also won't have your wine. If you want to take the chance, that's you call!

 

Funniest thing I've read so far in the month of November.

 

Jim

[JimmyVWine]

Boarded the Caribbean Princess in Houston on Nov 4th and had one bottle of wine in my carry on bag - was told to go to the table and register my wine.......I just kept on walking and no one stopped me.

:rolleyes:

 

I know that the quote above pertains to someone who only had one bottle with them, so they wouldn't have had to pay anything, and therefore, what is posted below doesn't apply to their situation in the same way. But there are lots of people who brag about sneaking past the payment table, so this is for them...

 

 

Went to a Target store in Houston on Nov 4th and had one bottle of household cleanser in my shopping cart - was told to go to the cash register to pay for my purchase......I just kept on walking and no one stopped me. :rolleyes:

 

I was in Vines on Nov 4th and picked up an interesting bottle of wine and was reading the label. When the bartender turned his back for a minute, I walked right out of the bar with the bottle in my hand and no one stopped me. :rolleyes:

 

Why do we all agree that the Target and Vines stories represent bad behavior, but many think that walking past the payment table during the boarding process is commendable? :confused: PCL has an absolute right to derive revenue from wines that passengers bring on board to offset the expected per person revenue that won't be realized due to lower wine sales during the cruise. Their economic model depends on being able to recapture lost revenue caused by having the most generous personal wine allowance of any cruise line in its class. But when people abuse that generosity, they are driving nails into a coffin. Each person who "keeps on walking" past the payment desk brings us all that much closer to the day when PCL aligns its personal wine policy to the rest of the industry. PCL has clearly set out its rules and policies, and those rules and policies are quite favorable to us, the passengers. Smuggling your wine on board is deprivation of revenue. It makes no sense to me why people who would never shoplift at Target or steal a bottle of wine from Vines would be so cavalier about sneaking wine on board without paying the agreed-upon fee. And it makes even less sense to me why one would brag about such conduct. If you have only one bottle with you, you won't be charged anything at the table, so it won't kill you to stop and register the wine. Maybe the ship needs to keep an accounting of how many bottles have been brought on board, and skipping the table messes up their numbers. I don't know. And if you have more than one bottle per person, for goodness sake, be an adult and pay the fee.

Edited November 16, 2015 by JimmyVWine

[polaris86]

I just sailed on the Island Princess with two other adults. All three of us put a bottle of wine in our checked bag. Nothing in our carryons. All three checked bottles made it through no problem.

[cafelovercanada]

We will be travelling with 7 adults on the Coral Princess next year. From what I've read, we can each bring one bottle 750 ml in our carry-on. Are we allowed to purchase wine while we are in port? Will we need to pay a corkage fee for these bottles?

Thanks for any info you can provide!

[Platonic]

When we boarded Diamond Princess last year one of our suitcases arrived at the cabin plus a note on the door summoning us to the 'naughty room'. Our words not theirs. When we walked into the room on deck 4 (which was full of cases) we were told to find our case, put it on the table and unlock it. The officer then asked if we had alcohol in it. No. Do you have wine. No. Do you have water. No. We have screened your luggage and there is a bottle in there. Then I remembered the body lotion I had bought in the airport and had put in my case to avoid the weight in my hand luggage. Once they had seen it we were allowed to take our case. I was very glad not to be a smuggler!!!

[suzyed]

Can't find the link on princess.com where it says to use carryon luggage for wine

 

@goofy559 can you please share ?

 

In my previous I took 3 bottles of wine for the 2 of us and didn't get charged for the 3rd ( I don't remember whether I checked those in or carried on [emoji30][emoji30][emoji30])

 

The policy says 1 bottle of wine or champagne free per person and any more bottles are charged $15 each ( size is 750 ml )

 

We brought on a case of wine in 2012, but we checked it in with our luggage. This was probably before the "1 bottle/pp rule", although we knew we would be charged the corkage fee when a bottle was brought to the dining room.

 

Last year we only brought on two bottles and had them in our carry-on. They had a table set up where they checked your bottles....but I don't remember if they put a sticker on the bottle or not....sorry.

Edited November 17, 2015 by suzyed

[suzyed]

I have put two in carry-on bags and two in checked luggage. All four made it through just fine.

 

I don't think there is any problem getting bottles through...you will be charges the corkage fee in the dining room.

[suzyed]

The bottom line is to pack two bottles in your checked luggage & if they catch it, so be it. IF they don't you're ahead $30. Why put all four bottle in the carry on luggage & almost assure they'll find it?

They've created the problem so let they work for the money.

 

I'm pretty sure they don't care if you carry on 10 bottles...it's not about "catching" you. They will just charge $15 per bottle over the 1 bottle/pp allotment.

[suzyed]

"As provided in the Passage Contract, guests 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."

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/onboard/experience.jsp

 

Under alcohol policy.

 

Even if you think it's not clear that wine must be carried on, they do, since you've already handed your checked luggage off by the time you get to the table where you pay corkage on extra bottles and they apply the stamp. So by definition, any alcohol found in checked luggage is outside their policy.

I believe they are referring to actual bottles of ALCOHOL, not wine or champagne? Since they can charge $15/bottle of WINE/CHAMPAGNE, why would they discard it when they could charge you for it?

 

The only time it would make sense to pack your wine, is if you have so much you can't physically carry it on!:eek:

[likeadisguise]

I'm pretty sure wine is alcoholic.

 

I believe you're referring to liquor.

[sanchari]

I believe they are referring to actual bottles of ALCOHOL, not wine or champagne? Since they can charge $15/bottle of WINE/CHAMPAGNE, why would they discard it when they could charge you for it?

 

 

 

The only time it would make sense to pack your wine, is if you have so much you can't physically carry it on!:eek:

 

 

The contract is pretty clear in stating that wine should be in "carry-on" only ..

 

Looks like the enforcement varies but if you are stickler for law or can't afford to lose your wine carryon is the way to go

[kennicott]

There is no problem with bringing your initial wine allowance and additional wine at $15.00 per bottle on board in checked luggage. We have been on 5 Princess cruises in the last 12 months, 11 weeks of sailing, brought wine on board in checked baggage each time.

 

Our last cruise, got off two weeks ago, was different in that in involved almost a week of cruise/touring before we got on the ship. Our three checked luggage bags had more liquor in it than we intended but didn't realize we wouldn't see the bags again after we left our final hotel, until we got into our cabin. I had 5 bottles of wine in them, plus we had part of a bottle of Jack. They found them all, and left rule notes in each suitcase and explained what they did, confiscated the Jack and didn't charge us the $15.00 per bottle for the three additional bottles of wine. The only thing that confused me was the Jack, I thought they would return the Jack at the end of the voyage, but they went by their rules, that only happens if you bring hard liquor on board at intermediate ports. Did I complain? Heck no. Tip, if you are going to pay the $15.00 per bottle buy the best you can afford, no sense in paying that for cheap stuff as you can get $20.00 to $30.00 from cabin service.

 

 

Princess booze rules:

 

Bringing liquor onboard at embarkation: It's not allowed. It will be confiscated and discarded.

 

Bringing wine or Champagne onboard: Two-part rule: Each passenger of drinking age can bring one bottle of wine or Champagne (no larger than 750 ml) per voyage, which will not be subject to a corkage fee if consumed in the cabin. When brought to restaurants, a $15 corkage fee applies. Bringing additional wine or Champagne bottles aboard is allowed, but each bottle will incur a $15 corkage fee, irrespective of where they are intended to be consumed.

 

Purchasing liquor in port: It will be retained until the end of the cruise.

 

Purchasing liquor in ships' duty-free shop: It will be retained until the end of the cruise.

[PensFan1028]

We have always taken the 1 bottle per person on and have always had them in our checked luggage.... Honestly thought that's where it needed to be and we have never had an issue ?

[StLouisCruisers]

They don't want wine bottles in the checked bags for another reason, too. If those bottles break, your belongings and bag will be a mess and so will anyone else's bags that are near yours during transport onto the ship. Bags are slammed one on top of the other in those little cages they pick up with forklifts. It's much safer to bring your wine onboard in your carry on.

[cafelovercanada]

Just a reminder, there are great wine specials by the bottle in Vines and in many of the venues. I will bring my two bottles, then I just purchase additional wine on special by the bottle. Often times it is less than retail at home. This lessens what I have to carry on board. What else does one do with lots of on board credits.

 

Sorry, but there have been a number of references to Vines on many threads ... is this a place that is on board the Coral Princess? I don't see this on any of the deck plans.

[need2travel]

I'm curious to know if there's any leniency in the rules if you're on a longer (say, 30 day) cruise. Also, are the Ocean Princess and Pacific Princess as strict as the larger ships? Seems to me that the smaller ships often have the longer itineraries. What happens on a B2B?

[capriccio]

I'm curious to know if there's any leniency in the rules if you're on a longer (say, 30 day) cruise. Also, are the Ocean Princess and Pacific Princess as strict as the larger ships? Seems to me that the smaller ships often have the longer itineraries. What happens on a B2B?

 

The rules are the same across the fleet and regardless of the length of the cruise. We've done 2 B2Bs out of Fort Lauderdale since Princess started restricting the number of bottles of wine. We have done this twice - most recently last month - out of Fort Lauderdale. In the first case (February 2014) it was a true B2B with separate boarding documents and we just brought both sets of paperwork with us and showed them to the folks at the 'wine table.' They recorded the 2 'extra' bottles and gave us a receipt and they were delivered to our cabin the afternoon of the last day of the first cruise. No corkage was charged. Last month we were on 2 10 day cruises purchased as a single cruise. We showed the folks at the wine desk our cruise paperwork noting the 20 days and they let us take all 4 bottles on. Again, no corkage was charged.

[bigmjh]

As for bringing wine on board at port stops ... we just got off a 14 day Caribbean Princess cruise. We brought 2 bottles of wine on at two different ports (Newport, RI and Charleston, SC). They were in the blue princess tote bags ... went through security scanning ... never questioned ... never stopped. We figured that the worst case scenario would be one where they would be confiscated and returned at the end of the cruise.

[pthjudy]

I'm curious to know if there's any leniency in the rules if you're on a longer (say, 30 day) cruise. Also, are the Ocean Princess and Pacific Princess as strict as the larger ships? Seems to me that the smaller ships often have the longer itineraries. What happens on a B2B?

Sometimes they neither ask nor check. We had 2 bottles of wine when embarking the Regal a few weeks ago. No one asked or checked. Other times I had to go to another table and sign something. Also, I always have the room steward leave me 2 wine glasses every day. I would pour the wine in the room, carry it to the dining room, and no one questioned it. I've done the same thing on Royal Caribbean, Disney, and Oceania without incident.

[kennicott]

They don't want wine bottles in the checked bags for another reason, too. If those bottles break, your belongings and bag will be a mess and so will anyone else's bags that are near yours during transport onto the ship. Bags are slammed one on top of the other in those little cages they pick up with forklifts. It's much safer to bring your wine onboard in your carry on.

 

Airlines allow liquids in checked luggage and they are a lot harder on luggage than anyone else. Haw. Furthermore, when they sell you liquor on board, duty free, give it to you the night before disembarkation, then transfer you directly to the airport they expect you to place it in your checked luggage, otherwise TSA is going to throw it out.

 

They make for transport, which we use, special water tight bubble wrap type bags for our wine in checked luggage as well as other liquids that might rupture or break. You can find these at many large liquor stores.

 

I agree the Princess bringing on board alcohol policy with respect to hand carry versus checked luggage is a little hazy, perhaps contradictory. Like I previously mentioned, we have had our checked luggage inspected more than once, when they do they always leave a little slip inside explaining the alcohol rules. Never once have they said we should not have booze in checked luggage. They even say they will scan your luggage "and alcohol "outside of our policy" will be removed and discarded". For instance in the FAQ:

 

"As provided in the Passage Contract, guests 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.

 

Alcoholic beverages that are purchased duty free from the ship's gift shop, or at ports of call, will be collected for safekeeping and delivered to the guest's stateroom on the last day of the cruise. A member of the ship's staff will be at the gangway to assist guests with the storage of their shoreside alcoholic purchases while our Boutiques staff will assist guests with shipboard alcoholic purchases."

Edited November 17, 2015 by kennicott

[suzyed]

Airlines allow liquids in checked luggage and they are a lot harder on luggage than anyone else. Haw. Furthermore, when they sell you liquor on board, duty free, give it to you the night before disembarkation, then transfer you directly to the airport they expect you to place it in your checked luggage, otherwise TSA is going to throw it out.

 

They make for transport, which we use, special water tight bubble wrap type bags for our wine in checked luggage as well as other liquids that might rupture or break. You can find these at many large liquor stores.

 

I agree the Princess bringing on board alcohol policy with respect to hand carry versus checked luggage is a little hazy, perhaps contradictory. Like I previously mentioned, we have had our checked luggage inspected more than once, when they do they always leave a little slip inside explaining the alcohol rules. Never once have they said we should not have booze in checked luggage. They even say they will scan your luggage "and alcohol "outside of our policy" will be removed and discarded". For instance in the FAQ:

 

"As provided in the Passage Contract, guests 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.

Alcoholic beverages that are purchased duty free from the ship's gift shop, or at ports of call, will be collected for safekeeping and delivered to the guest's stateroom on the last day of the cruise. A member of the ship's staff will be at the gangway to assist guests with the storage of their shoreside alcoholic purchases while our Boutiques staff will assist guests with shipboard alcoholic purchases."

 

I think one thing that causes confusion is the term "alcohol". I don't believe they are referring to wine/champagne when they say alcohol....they mean liquor, spirits, beer.

If you are on a long cruise and you want to bring several bottles of wine, it would be extremely inconvenient, if not impossible to carry it all on. Therefore, I'm thinking it would be acceptable to pack it in your luggage. I think in that case the corkage fee would be most likely only applied if the bottle is brought to the dining room.

[kennicott]

I think in that case the corkage fee would be most likely only applied if the bottle is brought to the dining room.

 

I would like to agree with you on that, but I must disagree in part, the term "alcohol" is all inclusive when they use it ("alcoholic beverages of any kind onboard for consumption, except one bottle of wine or champagne") with that statement they did not exclude wine or champagne as an alcohol but designated those two as exceptions. So when they say our "alcohol policy" they mean wine, champagne everything else including beer, spirits plus anything with a nip to it, I guess.

 

In the context of the cruise lines jargon, they like to say "wine or champagne" while all the rest being "liquor", I know, I know, so they include beer and spirits as "liquor" so please define "spirits" for me, okay, so I digress; if I were king-for-a-day of the cruise industry I would get that all straightened out in short order, among other things. LOL.

 

Anyway, you indicate "Therefore, I'm thinking it would be acceptable to pack it in your luggage. I think in that case the corkage fee would be most likely only applied if the bottle is brought to the dining room." I say you are wrong with this part of your assessment "I think in that case the corkage fee would be most likely only applied if the bottle is brought to the dining room."

 

Nope, rather, forget the dining room part for corkage fee in this context. Here is what I believe you should be saying: "Therefore, I'm thinking it would be acceptable to pack it in your luggage. I think in that case the corkage fee would be most likely only applied if the bottle is brought onto the ship for consumption".

Edited November 18, 2015 by kennicott

[floridalover5623]

I'm pretty sure they don't care if you carry on 10 bottles...it's not about "catching" you. They will just charge $15 per bottle over the 1 bottle/pp allotment.

 

Oh I'm sure they don't care how many bottles you pack in your checked luggage since they'll charge $15 per bottle but I looke at it in terms of packing in in my checked luggage & not having to pay the difference.