Does crew get the $18 corkage fee

[freestyling]

We typically bring 12-18 bottles of wine on our 21+ day cruises. On our Volendam cruise we were told by the food/beverage mgr that the crew does not receive any of the corkage fee but on the Maasdam we were told that it did go into the general crew pool much like the HSC. I’ve asked for an answer for the Mariners Society and Guest Services via email but after 3 weeks no response as of yet. Does anyone know? We did tip the wine/beverage server on our last cruise after each bottle consumed. 

[kazu]

As far as I know, it does go the wine stewards pool.

I have asked the wine stewards as I wanted to bring a bottle to the MDR but wouldn’t have if they didn’t get credit (I didn’t tell them that).

 

That’s just my experience though on the Prinsendam ( a few on that one 😉  ) Rotterdam and Westerdam.

 

Prior to that there was no corkage fee as long as consumption was in your cabin.  It was one reason we took an upsell on the Zuiderdam PS on a cruise - so we could host our friends with appies and wine before dinner.  Remember those days 😉 

[freestyling]

I do remember those days 😉. Good to know that ships other than the Elegant Explorer, which was a ship like no other, do put this toward the wine stewards. Perhaps it’s done by ship? I’ll respond with the answer for HAL when it occurs. Thanks

Edited September 27, 2019 by freestyling

[catl331]

Somewhere I got the impression that they got part of the $18, but not all.  Waiting to hear what you hear. 🙂

[cowmilker]

I don't see the corkage fee as a gratuity, or at least not entirely as one.   I suspect some of it is considered a tip, though, but not all. It's a fee levied because they are storing your wine, retrieving your wine no matter where you are and literally pouring your wine for you. It's the money that goes in part to pay the wine steward's salary.

My husband gets about four glasses of wine out of a bottle, so typically that's four meals where somebody has to go get the bottle from the depths of the ship, and bring it to him and then take it back and put it away.

 

[Copper10-8]

5 minutes ago, cowmilker said:

I don't see the corkage fee as a gratuity, or at least not entirely as one.   I suspect some of it is considered a tip, though, but not all. It's a fee levied because they are storing your wine, retrieving your wine no matter where you are and literally pouring your wine for you. It's the money that goes in part to pay the wine steward's salary.

My husband gets about four glasses of wine out of a bottle, so typically that's four meals where somebody has to go get the bottle from the depths of the ship, and bring it to him and then take it back and put it away.

 

 

Beverage has there own section (not big) of the main galley set aside for them which can be secured so wine does not develop feet, and start walking. That's where those bottles are kept

[St Pete Cruiser]

36 minutes ago, kazu said:

As far as I know, it does go the wine stewards pool.

I have asked the wine stewards as I wanted to bring a bottle to the MDR but wouldn’t have if they didn’t get credit (I didn’t tell them that).

 

That’s just my experience though on the Prinsendam ( a few on that one 😉  ) Rotterdam and Westerdam.

 

Prior to that there was no corkage fee as long as consumption was in your cabin.  It was one reason we took an upsell on the Zuiderdam PS on a cruise - so we could host our friends with appies and wine before dinner.  Remember those days 😉 

My first HAL transatlantic, we brought 12 bottles to enjoy in the room.  When several around noticed and said they won't let you do that (Carnival/Royal/NCL wouldn't), I said we could as long as we carried them to the room ourselves, which we did.

As we were leaving Ft Lauderdale, enjoying our first bottle at sailaway from our verandah, a voice yelled down to us, " there is the guy who brought that wine aboard himself", to which I looked up and said "Cheers!"

I think 2014 was the year that they changed to just one bottle each at embarkation only.

[freestyling]

20 minutes ago, cowmilker said:

My husband gets about four glasses of wine out of a bottle, so typically that's four meals where somebody has to go get the bottle from the depths of the ship, and bring it to him and then take it back and put it away

Never had a bottle last more than one sitting between my DW and myself 😁.

We bring all bottles to our stateroom since I enjoy a certain temp on my reds and bring a bottle down to our meal venue. We don’t eat in the MDR due to hearing issues and the noise level in the MDR. Thanks for response, I would agree that probably only a portion is passed on. Thats the part I’m hoping I can figure out. Don’t want to short change the wine stewards 15%. Don’t mind providing an additional tip just want to be fair. 

Edited September 27, 2019 by freestyling

[CruiserBruce]

30 minutes ago, freestyling said:

Never had a bottle last more than one sitting between my DW and myself 😁.

We bring all bottles to our stateroom since I enjoy a certain temp on my reds and bring a bottle down to our meal venue. We don’t eat in the MDR due to hearing issues and the noise level in the MDR. Thanks for response, I would agree that probably only a portion is passed on. Thats the part I’m hoping I can figure out. Don’t want to short change the wine stewards 15%. Don’t mind providing an additional tip just want to be fair. 

Just so you know the wine stewards don't get all that 15%. It is split (put into a pool for splitting) between the bartenders, the wait staff, and some small portion...like 1 percent, goes to a welfare fund for the employees

[freestyling]

Good to know. Wonder how they handle cash tips. Thanks

Edited September 27, 2019 by freestyling

[mcrcruiser]

Interesting  discussion regards to how the corkage fees are split . 

 

 Some times we bring  on the ship 2 bottles  of Trader Joes ,Sirah  ,a delightful light bodied wine ;which won a gold medal in a NYC wine tasting event  .Imo this wine is good for mist meals except a fish based meal  .Trader Joes once charged just $2.00 per bottle  .Now it is over $2 but less than $3 per bottle .  We ususally find a bottle of ship Champagne in our state room upon embarkation & I take that Champagne to the MGR & trade it for a bottle of red wine .

 

 now if we are doing a longer cruise than 7 days & have extra OBCs we will not only bring our Sirah  but ,we buy a wine package when on board the ship  .

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

[Copper10-8]

10 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

Interesting  discussion regards to how the corkage fees are split . 

 

 Some times we bring  on the ship 2 bottles  of Trader Joes ,Sirah  ,a delightful light bodied wine ;which won a gold medal in a NYC wine tasting event  .Imo this wine is good for mist meals except a fish based meal  ..................

 

"Mist" meals? Not familiar with that one Thanks!

[Lido deck main]

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

Interesting  discussion regards to how the corkage fees are split . 

 

 Some times we bring  on the ship 2 bottles  of Trader Joes ,Sirah  ,a delightful light bodied wine ;which won a gold medal in a NYC wine tasting event  .Imo this wine is good for mist meals except a fish based meal  .Trader Joes once charged just $2.00 per bottle  .Now it is over $2 but less than $3 per bottle .  We ususally find a bottle of ship Champagne in our state room upon embarkation & I take that Champagne to the MGR & trade it for a bottle of red wine .

 

 now if we are doing a longer cruise than 7 days & have extra OBCs we will not only bring our Sirah  but ,we buy a wine package when on board the ship  .

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

I'm from Canada would love to get a good bottle of wine for under$15.00.  We need a Trader Joe's in Canada. :) I swap out the ship Sparkling Wine for a wine as well, usually get white.  

[kazu]

3 hours ago, freestyling said:

Good to know. Wonder how they handle cash tips. Thanks

 

the wine steward either get to keep the whole thing or (per their agreement with the others) they pool them with the other wine stewards.

 

JME - but they get to keep the cash tips most of the time.

 

However once the tip is given, what happens to it is beyond our control.  I know from the smiles I get from my wine stewards that they certainly get benefit from it 😄 

[Krazy Kruizers]

We do order bottles of wine once on the ship.  And we do give cash tips at the end of the meal to the wine stewards.  Yes -- we get big smiles from them -- they appreciate that extra tip.

[Pchamb3]

So, the corkage fee is only $18! On royal and celebrity I think it is $25. Looks like I can bring more onboard with me when I find  a place to purchase wine at the port of Boston near my hotel. Yippee!

[freestyling]

1 hour ago, Pchamb3 said:

So, the corkage fee is only $18! On royal and celebrity I think it is $25. Looks like I can bring more onboard with me when I find  a place to purchase wine at the port of Boston near my hotel. Yippee!

There are 5 wine stores within a mile of the cruise terminal per google. 

[aliaschief]

2 hours ago, Pchamb3 said:

So, the corkage fee is only $18! On royal and celebrity I think it is $25. Looks like I can bring more onboard with me when I find  a place to purchase wine at the port of Boston near my hotel. Yippee!

In days past some folks would have cases of wine brought on and checked with luggage.

 

You can still bring as many bottles you want on-board but you have to carry it on yourself;  you cannot check it with luggage.

[boom_boom]

Back in "the day" I brought 2 cases onboard for a 14 day cruise. With the help of friends we drank them all and tipped the wine steward each time. But, that was a long time ago in place far away.

[USN59-79]

I assume that part of $15 should go to the profit of the Beverage Department.  After all, they are buying $6. to $8. bottles of wine at wholesale and selling them for $25. to $40. to the passengers.  I can buy a very good bottle of wine at Costco for $8. and bring it aboard while paying the Beverage Department a $15. corkage fee.  I am guessing that they would receive a large part of that $15. just to cover their own overhead costs.  Of course, if you pay the full price for a wine package and pay 15% on top of that, that is a totally different matter.  In other words, the $15. corkage fee is totally different from the 15% gratuity on a wine package.

[catl331]

If the average price of bottle sold on board is $40 then the wine steward should get $6 of the $18 fee.

[freestyling]

The Mariners Dept called me today to explain how the $18.00 corkage fee is dispersed. 

 

They use a fleet wide average wine cost that is calculated by the Food & Beverage Dept in Seattle. It is a rolling 4 month average. Currently the avg is 47.38 per bottle.

15% of this or $7.107 is placed in the wine stewards pool by ship. The remainder is shown in the revenue accounting for the Food and Beverage Dept by each ship.

I asked if this could perhaps increase the per bottle wine average and was told no. Seattle reviews wine sales by bottle and/packages to determine the average bottle amount. 

I thanked them for the return call and they said it was easier to call in case I didn’t understand the math. 

Edited October 1, 2019 by freestyling

[oakridger]

1 hour ago, freestyling said:

The Mariners Dept called me today to explain how the $18.00 corkage fee is dispersed. 

 

 

Thank you for this interesting information freestyling!

 

~Nancy

[pmjnh]

We sailed out of Boston earlier this month on the Veendam. We brought our bottle of wine to the MDR on the first night. We had just left Boston Harbor, still in Massachusetts waters and we were charged Massachusetts sales tax in addition to the $18 corkage fee. The total charge was  was $19 and change.  

It never occurred to me that sales tax would be charged.

 

 

Edited October 1, 2019 by pmjnh

[DaveOKC]

2 hours ago, pmjnh said:

We sailed out of Boston earlier this month on the Veendam. We brought our bottle of wine to the MDR on the first night. We had just left Boston Harbor, still in Massachusetts waters and we were charged Massachusetts sales tax in addition to the $18 corkage fee. The total charge was  was $19 and change.  

It never occurred to me that sales tax would be charged.

 

 

As long as you still are in port it is charged.