Buying wine in Italy; TA home to Fort Lauderdale

[Kmkub]

Is there a limit to how much wine we can buy in Italy before a cruise? Will Princess take it and keep it for me, or will I be paying a corkage fee for each bottle, even though we intend to bring it home?

[loge23]

It's our experience that bringing wine onboard while in ports in Europe is completely hassle-free: no corkage, no storage. As far as a limit, I don't know but we carried 6 onboard at one port. 

[wallyj]

8 minutes ago, Kmkub said:

Is there a limit to how much wine we can buy in Italy before a cruise? Will Princess take it and keep it for me, or will I be paying a corkage fee for each bottle, even though we intend to bring it home?

I do not believe you are subject to any ‘limit’ and Princess may take and store till the end of the sailing, but you are subject to ‘duty’ by customs. If you will not be consuming on the ship, you will not be subject to ‘corkage’. Not sure if the limits have changed but, but you should check what allowances you are entitled and plan on possible ‘charges’ if you go over the limit. 

[LACruiser88]

During our 37 day Med/TA cruise this past November on the Regal I bought at least 25 bottles of wine in various ports.  We brought on 6 bottles on our embarkation.  No problem bringing them on or with taking them to dinner.

 

Our cabin looked like Total Wines!  We consumed all of it during the voyage.  🍷🍷🍷

 

 

Edited March 22, 2023 by LACruiser88

[Steelers36]

18 hours ago, Kmkub said:

Is there a limit to how much wine we can buy in Italy before a cruise? Will Princess take it and keep it for me, or will I be paying a corkage fee for each bottle, even though we intend to bring it home?

Your post reads like the plan is to buy most or all of the wine prior to boarding the ship.  That means you are likely departing from Civitavecchia.  Are you purchasing the wine there or are you travelling around Italy prior to the cruise?  I can recommend a place in Civi to buy wine, but also a place at the airport if you are in the right terminal was decent.

 

Anyway, depending on when you check-in, there may be no wine table manned by Princess.  We boarded twice in Civi last fall - two different pier locations - and most likely because we arrive early, there was no one there.

 

If you do encounter the wine table, and have no plans to consume the wine, I would ask them to keep it for you like liquor and return at end of voyage.  That would be a solution to avoid corkage fees because their MO is to charge it if they are catching folks during check-in.

 

If no one is manning the station, then you could just take the wine to cabin and as long as it remains there, you have no worries about corkage.

 

For ports during the voyage, you won't have any issue bringing back small quantity and avoiding corkage (for sure a bottle each won't cause any issue), 

[Ombud]

@Steelers36 whats the place in Civitavecchia? 

[Steelers36]

42 minutes ago, Ombud said:

@Steelers36 what's the place in Civitavecchia? 

Enoteca Cavacini on Via Gorizia.  It is behind the large cathedral on the main N/S road by waterfront. 

 

There are no real wine stores (to my knowledge) in the town and other wine bars charge menu type prices for wine bottles to go.  A couple of other stores had small selections and the grocery store only had uninteresting plonk and other non-descript wine it seemed.

[Kmkub]

6 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Your post reads like the plan is to buy most or all of the wine prior to boarding the ship.  That means you are likely departing from Civitavecchia.  Are you purchasing the wine there or are you travelling around Italy prior to the cruise?  I can recommend a place in Civi to buy wine, but also a place at the airport if you are in the right terminal was decent.

 

Anyway, depending on when you check-in, there may be no wine table manned by Princess.  We boarded twice in Civi last fall - two different pier locations - and most likely because we arrive early, there was no one there.

 

If you do encounter the wine table, and have no plans to consume the wine, I would ask them to keep it for you like liquor and return at end of voyage.  That would be a solution to avoid corkage fees because their MO is to charge it if they are catching folks during check-in.

 

If no one is manning the station, then you could just take the wine to cabin and as long as it remains there, you have no worries about corkage.

 

For ports during the voyage, you won't have any issue bringing back small quantity and avoiding corkage (for sure a bottle each won't cause any issue), 

Thanks. We are staying three days in Rome before heading to the port. Our plan is to buy wine to bring home to Florida.

[trvlwrld]

Where in the Rome airport is the 😂wine store…before or after baggage claim?

[JimmyVWine]

On 3/21/2023 at 5:02 PM, Kmkub said:

Is there a limit to how much wine we can buy in Italy before a cruise?

 

Is your question:

"How much wine can I take ON TO THE SHIP" in Italy";

or

"How much wine can I take OFF THE SHIP once I arrive in Florida?"  

 

Different answers.  First is unlimited as far as I know.  Second is limited based on customs and importation laws.

[Kmkub]

2 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

 

Is your question:

"How much wine can I take ON TO THE SHIP" in Italy";

or

"How much wine can I take OFF THE SHIP once I arrive in Florida?"  

 

Different answers.  First is unlimited as far as I know.  Second is limited based on customs and importation laws.

Oh interesting. Does the US have a limit? Can I bring a whole case home?

[JimmyVWine]

11 minutes ago, Kmkub said:

Does the US have a limit?

Yes

 

11 minutes ago, Kmkub said:

Can I bring a whole case home?

Yes, but you will have to pay some fees.  (Now, one could just hide wine in their luggage, and then when asked "Do you have anything to declare?" at the customs area, lie.  But that would be smuggling and I am not advising that approach.)  When the customs people ask you if you have anything to declare, this is exactly what they are talking about.  If you say: "Yes, I have 9 liters of wine that I am bringing in to the country", you will (probably) be asked to pay a fee.  But it may not be much.  Here is the Customs website info.  Scroll down to "Alcoholic Beverages".

 

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/international-visitors/kbyg/customs-duty-info

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by JimmyVWine

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, trvlwrld said:

Where in the Rome airport is the 😂wine store…before or after baggage claim?

Before.  Here is a reference based on the terminal we passed through:

 

It is called Aelia Duty Free. 

Website:   https://www.aeliadutyfree.it/roma/en/wines-en.html

 

[Astro Flyer]

I found some of my favorite Italian wines with good prices at Civitavecchia’s Elite Supermercati which is less than a mile from the port’s entrance. It’s not an enoteca with a large selection but had plenty for us to enjoy. I’ve checked a few other markets which mostly had wines priced likeTwo Buck Chuck.
 

https://www.bing.com/maps/?q=Elite+Supermercati&ypid=YN1354x8054481372322776248&cp=42.09119415283203~11.799406051635742&ppois=42.09119415283203_11.799406051635742_Elite+Supermercati