Corkage Fee: Will Princess Inventory My Wine?

[Griller]

"Room Temperature" from the old world back when was less than we think today. Mid to upper 60's F. You don't want to be going over 70F

 

Back then was when I was a kid we thought we were living in toasty luxury when we got central heating in the 1970's and the thermostat was set at 68 which we were told was the optimum without being so warm it was unhealthy.

 

Before we got the central heating the ice never melted off the inside of our windows in winter.

 

Would have been good for the white wine I guess, had we ever had a bottle of wine....... life was not so sophisticated then

[Tedferg]

It is not uncommon for MDR to have trouble retrieving a bottle stored from prior evening. I think there is no chance for OP.

[Ron the Rev]

Back then was when I was a kid we thought we were living in toasty luxury when we got central heating in the 1970's and the thermostat was set at 68 which we were told was the optimum without being so warm it was unhealthy.

 

Before we got the central heating the ice never melted off the inside of our windows in winter.

 

Would have been good for the white wine I guess, had we ever had a bottle of wine....... life was not so sophisticated then

Absolutely Griller, now some people seem to only be able to "whine" about wine. My motto is sip it, drink it or sip it, throw it.;)

[jagoffee]

Think you should have booked on Crystal not Princess.

Princess is a mass market cruise line, maybe a step up from Carnival....................... staff are trained to do one simple job repetitively, they are trained exactly how to do it, and no deviation.

If it isn't in their job description and the rule book don't expect them to be able to do anything.

It did not used to be like that of course.

 

Really?

Crystal will store two cases of personal wine at a specified temperature until you want to drink it?

 

Impressive.

[EastBay Cruisers]

Another prank thread?

Like the guy who was totally PO'd because Princess did not send enough e-mail?

 

Or the guy who wanted to organize a protest demonstration walk-out of the entire Meet n' Greet at 10 A.M. due to AIBP restrictions?

 

And this OP wants the Princess "head sommelier" to supervise the storage, chilling, and serving of 24 bottles of his wine?

 

LOL. I live close to wine country. My dear Mr. and Mrs. Howell the Third: You simply do not want the shiraz served at the same temperature as the merlot. Everyone knows that is a terrible faux pas. Really, dears, how gauche;p.

 

Enjoy your cruise on Crystal, and do have your personal correspondence secretary get back to us on how well the sommelier did. ROFL. :p

Edited October 7, 2017 by EastBay Cruisers

[suzyed]

Oh my, in Europe we drink red wines at room temperature, I had forgotten that in US everything has to be on ice, IMHO you don't get the true full flavor of most red wines if they are cold.

No, we do not ice our red wine...ever! We have a wine refrigerator at home....do you think Princess will let us bring it onboard?

Edited October 8, 2017 by suzyed

[satxdiver]

Really?

Crystal will store two cases of personal wine at a specified temperature until you want to drink it?

 

Impressive.

 

You hopefully get what you pay for. Want to go on Crystal? Get out your money as the fare will be a lot more than Princess.

[satxdiver]

You have to remember that in the old world Europe, they did not have central heat and using only a fireplace did not heat their abodes to 72F. So room temperature to them was something around 60F which to most of us here in the US is really cold. When they talk about room temperature for red wine or ales, they are talking about 60F.

 

I agree that people over here in the colonies think that their drink must be ice cold while the rest of the world has a different opinion. Ice cold red wine, ale or even white wine is tasteless but unfortunately that is how it is served in the US.

[Hlitner]

Oh my, in Europe we drink red wines at room temperature, I had forgotten that in US everything has to be on ice, IMHO you don't get the true full flavor of most red wines if they are cold.

 

We are not all "unrefined" on this side of the pond :). We keep our home wine storage cabinet at 60 F (15.5C for you Brits) for our red wines. By the time the wine is poured and properly aerated its temperature will slightly increase....which is perfect. As to whites we prefer to serve them about 55 F. Our experience on Princess is that the reds are served at close to room temperature and the whites are generally a bit too chilly for my taste.

 

As to having them store your decent wines, we have no clue if they will accommodate your request. But we would probably pay an early visit to the Maitre'd and ask if it can be done...pointing out that since they are charging you a corkage fee...the least they can do is provide proper storage and service :). My suspicion is that the Maitre 'd will think you should be admitted to a psychiatric hospital.....but it never hurts to ask.

 

Hank

[EastBay Cruisers]

No, we do not ice our red wine...ever! We have a wine refrigerator at home....do you think Princess will let us bring it onboard?

 

Yes. You should book an entirely separate suite to hold all the favorites from your home wine cellar. Call the moving company to carry your larger refrigerators to your port of embarkation, then they can be forklifted aboard the ship. Any objections from Princess can be smoothed out with a few little "folded favors" in crisp green currency. :p

[EastBay Cruisers]

As to whites we prefer to serve them about 55 F.

That's too warm for the pinot grigio, as it won't allow the notes of white raspberry to be detected. Also too warm for the sauvignon blanc, as it obscures the green herbaceous notes, my dear.

;p

[SimonaD]

Can I just say....

 

 

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[Lucky TGO]

I don’t think so. Good luck!!!

Tony

[Cyber Kat]

Princess will let you bring cases ... cases? of wine aboard? I can’t get past that, let alone the rest. [emoji15]

 

I know Viking doesn’t care what you bring onboard, but I thought all the Mass Market lines had limits.

 

 

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[Hlitner]

Princess will let you bring cases ... cases? of wine aboard? I can’t get past that, let alone the rest. [emoji15]

 

I know Viking doesn’t care what you bring onboard, but I thought all the Mass Market lines had limits.

 

 

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As long as you pay...many lines have no limits. On one of our longer (over 60 days) HAL cruises we saw a passenger, at embarkation, who was pushing his own hand cart with 4 or 5 cases of wine. The wine cartons were all labeled "Charles Shaw" which many oenophiles call "Two Buck Chuck." I could not resist asking him why he would pay corkage fees for bottles of Two Buck Chuck...and he laughed (we became friends during the cruise). It turned out that he had some very pricey wines in those boxes (i.e. Chateau Margaux, Chateau Petrus, etc) but preferred to load them in Two Buck Chuck cartons which was a disincentive to thieves. If you have a $2500 bottle of wine....then that corkage fee does not seem like a big deal :). One evening while having cocktails with that true wine lover I mentioned that we had never seen a bottle of Chateau Petrus on any cruise wine list and he told me he had once seen a bottle on the old QE2. Meanwhile, DW and I will likely finish our half used bottle of Two Buck Check...Sauvignon Blanc at dinner tonight :).

 

Hank

Edited October 8, 2017 by Hlitner

[jjmock]

Guys, boarding the Regal next week.

 

Question, I am bringing a case or two of wines (whites/reds) on board when I check in.:wine-glass::wine-glass::wine-glass:

 

I want to give the wine (upon embarkation) to Guest Services to have them inventory my wine during the cruise. Preferably whites to be chilled at 45 degrees, reds at 60 degrees.

 

Will they do this? I don't want to carry bottles of wine around and prefer the server or sommelier retrieve my bottle either in the MDR or say Crooners bar.

 

Thanks, N2CSoon.

 

 

 

LOL...are you serious?

 

 

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[Steelers36]

........ we saw a passenger, at embarkation, who was pushing his own hand cart with 4 or 5 cases of wine. The wine cartons were all labeled "Charles Shaw" which many oenophiles call "Two Buck Chuck." I could not resist asking him why he would pay corkage fees for bottles of Two Buck Chuck...and he laughed (we became friends during the cruise). It turned out that he had some very pricey wines in those boxes (i.e. Chateau Margaux, Chateau Petrus, etc) but preferred to load them in Two Buck Chuck cartons which was a disincentive to thieves. ........

 

Hank

I don't understand why someone would take the risk of transporting high-end wines for a cruise. The food is fine and all, but hardly worth opening up $$$$$$$ wines for.

Then again, maybe that is all the gentleman drinks.

[Cyber Kat]

As long as you pay...many lines have no limits. On one of our longer (over 60 days) HAL cruises we saw a passenger, at embarkation, who was pushing his own hand cart with 4 or 5 cases of wine. The wine cartons were all labeled "Charles Shaw" which many oenophiles call "Two Buck Chuck." I could not resist asking him why he would pay corkage fees for bottles of Two Buck Chuck...and he laughed (we became friends during the cruise). It turned out that he had some very pricey wines in those boxes (i.e. Chateau Margaux, Chateau Petrus, etc) but preferred to load them in Two Buck Chuck cartons which was a disincentive to thieves. If you have a $2500 bottle of wine....then that corkage fee does not seem like a big deal :). One evening while having cocktails with that true wine lover I mentioned that we had never seen a bottle of Chateau Petrus on any cruise wine list and he told me he had once seen a bottle on the old QE2. Meanwhile, DW and I will likely finish our half used bottle of Two Buck Check...Sauvignon Blanc at dinner tonight :).

 

Hank

 

 

 

Oh that’s cool. I didn’t know that. I knew about corkage fees, but I didn’t know there were no limits. We are skipping from Carnival to Viking with no stops in between [emoji38]. Viking has no limits and no corkage fees. Still think even there the OP wouldn’t get his wine stored to his satisfaction.

 

LOVE the Two Buck Chuck story!

 

 

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[USN59-79]

I look at this differently. For two cases, he is paying Princess $360. in corkage fees. Why shouldn't he expect some service for what he is paying?

[Steelers36]

I look at this differently. For two cases, he is paying Princess $360. in corkage fees. Why shouldn't he expect some service for what he is paying?

 

It's only $330, so no service at that level. :eek:

[need2cruisesoon]

I don't understand why someone would take the risk of transporting high-end wines for a cruise. The food is fine and all, but hardly worth opening up $$$$$$$ wines for.

 

Then again, maybe that is all the gentleman drinks.

 

 

 

Just so we all know, I checked all our wine with the Maitre D at the Symphony dining room. No issues and she was happy to do it.

 

Found a liquor store 4 blocks from the Terminal.

 

 

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[beg3yrs]

Just so we all know, I checked all our wine with the Maitre D at the Symphony dining room. No issues and she was happy to do it.

 

Found a liquor store 4 blocks from the Terminal.

 

 

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Good for you. In spite of all the snarky abuse you received you've kept your cool.

[MarkSeattle]

Good for you. In spite of all the snarky abuse you received you've kept your cool.

 

 

 

More like bad for everyone else if the only bartender working in other areas of the ship actually abandon all of their customers to go get his wine from the dining room because it is too unseemly to take his own his bottle.

[suzyed]

Good for you. In spite of all the snarky abuse you received you've kept your cool.

Good to know!

Question, please? The two bottle (1 per person) that we can bring on without a corkage fee, can they be brought to the MDR and/or specialty restaurant? Or do they have to be enjoyed in your cabin?

[Steelers36]

Just so we all know, I checked all our wine with the Maitre D at the Symphony dining room. No issues and she was happy to do it.

 

Found a liquor store 4 blocks from the Terminal.

 

 

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Did she say it was going to be stored in a temperature-controlled area, or simply where they keep all passenger wine that is partly consumed and can be retrieved at a subsequent meal?