Bringing wine on board STAR while in Venice, etc.??

[imwmn913]

I've done some google-ing, and it does appear we can bring onboard the STAR some wine or champagne . We embark from Venice. I also read that there is a corkage fee, but since we always bring along a wine opener (in checked luggage of course) we won't have that issue while in our cabin. Can anyone verify this -I just don't want to any issues upon embarkation.

Thanks

 

[AliClick]

I believe the corkage fee prepaid upon boarding the ship. 

[cruisinsc1]

Yes, corkage fee is charged at embarkation. 

[imwmn913]

Oh - so they charge the onboard account the $15.00 corkage fee no matter what.  Hmmm....

 

Thanks!

[tomk3212]

Yes the corkage fee has nothing to do with actually opening your bottle of wine.  It's the fee NCL (and other cruise lines) charge for bringing a bottle of wine/champagne aboard that you didn't purchase from them.

 

As an example; we bought my late dad-in-law a HUGE bottle of champagne for his 70th birthday that he later brought aboard a Celebrity cruise line ship so he could share it with us & others.  The corkage fee at that time (2001) was around $50; the fee was based on how much champagne the bottle held.  So charging a corkage fee has been around for awhile.  In our case the waiter actually opened the champagne so we not only paid the fee but also tipped the waiter.

[Named-Tawny]

The ncl corkage fee is amazing value. When you board, bring your bottles to the MDR and ask to check them. They'll give you numbered cards, and take the wine to their temp controlled cellar.

 

From there, you can hand the card to your waiter from any restaurant on the ship, and they'll bring you your wine. It's fantastic, IMO

[imwmn913]

Thanks everyone for the replies. We really are not planning on bringing our own wine on board, but we thought if we did see a nice bottle in Croatia we would. It's not that big of a deal to us ... we are fine with drinking the wine the ship will provide in our beverage package.

 

 

[bluesea777]

9 hours ago, imwmn913 said:

Thanks everyone for the replies. We really are not planning on bringing our own wine on board, but we thought if we did see a nice bottle in Croatia we would. It's not that big of a deal to us ... we are fine with drinking the wine the ship will provide in our beverage package.

 

 

 

If you find and buy nice bottles of wine and you want to take them home, give them up when you board ship and they will store them until the last day. You don't need to pay corkage fee if you give them the bottles to keep. Same applies to bottles of spirits.

 

[imwmn913]

That is a good idea, but, even though I travel with lots of baggies and bubble wrap, I think I will pass on bringing home wine!

Although on one trip to Edinburgh I did pick up a nice bottle of scotch/whiskey and the furnished heavy duty cardboard container worked perfectly - no spillage. It was indeed the extra weight to our luggage to bring home the scotch!

[imwmn913]

IF I could have one final clarification .... (I am the OP)....

 

If we find a bottle of wine in any of the ports that we visit, bring the wine back to the ship, for us to drink ONLY in the room (we always pack a wine bottle opener) is there still a $15.00 corkage fee?  We would NOT take it to the dining room . IT would be ONLY for our consumption in our room using our wine bottle opener.

[fastpitchdad]

4 minutes ago, imwmn913 said:

IF I could have one final clarification .... (I am the OP)....

 

If we find a bottle of wine in any of the ports that we visit, bring the wine back to the ship, for us to drink ONLY in the room (we always pack a wine bottle opener) is there still a $15.00 corkage fee?  We would NOT take it to the dining room . IT would be ONLY for our consumption in our room using our wine bottle opener.

 

Yes...if you want to drink it while on board you have to pay the $15.

[imwmn913]

Thanks!   In another window (site was running slow) I finally found the link stating the policy  .

But thanks for re- affirming what I thought was the policy!

 

 

[firstimer2009]

For what it's worth, we bought two bottles of wine in Venice and had them in our carryon boarding bag.  No one flagged it for the corkage fee.  We think it was just a busy day at the port and was missed.  We did keep them in the room so never paid the fee in the dining rooms.