Bringing wine onboard

[Bellalu]

Those of you who have brought your own wine onboard, how did you pack it? Did you have it in a box that you checked in with your luggage? I guess it would be considered one of our four pieces then? Seems pretty risky to pack it in with our clothing. We'd like to bring some champagne onboard to celebrate our 30th anniversary, but I didn't know quite how to do this.

[tinaparrotthead]

I always bring a bottle of wine on board...here's what I do. I use bubble wrap, a lot of it around the bottle first. Then I put that in a plastic bag and tie it up (just in case it does bust)...then I wrap it in a towel and it gets packed in the very middle between the clothes...never had one to break or even shift in the luggage....of course I have the luggage so packed it can't shift!!!

Good luck!

[dividedsky319]

I always bring a bottle of wine on board...

 

A bottle of wine?! ;)

 

We plan on bringing at least a case, hah...we're trying to figure out the best way to bring it on board as well.

[mamaofami]

Since we drove to the port, we simply packed a few bottles and wrapped them in bubble wrap. Put them into a carry on and that became really heavy. We let the porters take it. No problem.

 

We did bring wine that was served in the diningroom and then we had no corkage fee. My husband simply brought the wine to dinner, the wine steward took it and replaced it with a cold bottle and the same process was repeated whenever we needed more. I emailed someone in customer service at HAL and she sent me the wine list that is used in the diningroom on the Noordam which is the ship we were on.

[caviargal]

A bottle of wine?! ;)

 

We plan on bringing at least a case, hah...we're trying to figure out the best way to bring it on board as well.

 

 

We always bring a case aboard and pack in a styrofoam wine shipper box, designed expressly for this purpose. It makes the flight with us with no problem and we then check it with the porters when we arrive at the dock.

[calbob]

So, if you bring wine that is served on the ship...No corkage fee is charged...I think that may be worth the "hassle" of wrapping etc....as the mark up is pretty high...Can someone verify no corkage fee if type of wine is already served on the ship ?

Thanks

CALBOB

[coolcat12]

I have used a small rolling suitcase (Carry-on size) in the past on other cruiselines. I just pack the bottles well and then used the suitcase for purchased goodies on the return. I think I saw another post and the passenger just gave the wine in a standard booze box to the porter. When I used the small suitcase I just rolled it with me and did not check it with the porters.

[mamaofami]

There was a thread on these boards before my 2/7 sailing on the Noordam. That's how I found out about the no corkage fee if you bring the same wines that are served in the diningroom.Makes no sense to me, but who am I to argue with a good deal? Believe me, there was none and we saved a lot of money this way. My Dh had a class of wine or two every night for dinner and that adds up. Hopefully, someone else will come to this board and verify for you that there was no corkage fee. The wine steward couldn't have been nicer.

[caviargal]

The corkage fee on HAL is quite reasonable and personally I am very happy they still allow passengers to bring wine aboard.

 

The corkage fee is assessed to cover the cost of serving wine. I personally would not bring a wine aboard that is on the menu.

[gdsommlier]

We have always brought a special bottle or two to have when we dine in the Pinnacle grill, in the past I have wrapped it in bubble wrap and carried it on. On most ocassions the $15 corkage fee is on our bill but it is well worth it since the wines we have would not be on the wine list. Also on some cruises we have open more than one bottle at a sitting and they have only hit us once for the corkage fee, not for each bottle.

[gourmetgirls]

We took 3 cases of wine ( 6 adults ) on board for our Veendam cruise in Alaska in 2005. We pre-ordered it from a wine store across the street from our hotel in Anchorage. They faxed us their inventory and we ordered the wine from home prior to our cruise. They had it packed in wine boxes, labeled and delivered to the concierge at the hotel. We sent it with the rest of our luggage on the shuttle to the ship. It was waiting for us in our cabins when we arrived. We took our own wine to dinner in the dining room and the Pinnacle Grill and were only charged the $10.00 corkage fee about half of the time. We also enjoyed our own wine prior to dinner at various locations on the ship. Our cabin steward was very good about keeping us supplied with wine glasses and ice in a wine cooler.

 

We are planning on picking up a couple of cases in Rome prior to our Mediterranean cruise on the Westerdam this summer, as well as, supplimenting our supply with purchases at our different ports of call. This way we will be able to enjoy wines from the various areas that we will be visiting.

[CruiseJude]

We always bring some bottles of wine with us to enjoy on our balcony or when getting ready for dinner. If we're driving to the port we secure the wine box and put one of the HAL luggage tags on it. The porters then will deliver the box of wine to our cabin with our luggage. If we fly to the port, we don't carry it with us on the plane. We would then order the wine from the ship and have it delivered to our cabin.

[twinkletoes4445]

When we were on the Zuiderdam (in Feb.) there was a corkage fee each night (for the wine that Mr. and Mrs. Hapifeet brought to the table) of $15. The only time there was no charge was when we used the champagne from our room (it was a suite gift).

 

I asked the wine steward what he received from the $15 and I believe he told me 50 cents.

[North Pole]

Is there a duty free shop aboard where wine and champagne is sold? If so, it would be easy to buy the bottles to drink in the cabin there.

[NoNoNanette]

We always bring a case of wine/champagne on our cruises. You can pick up a cheapo collapsible "cooler on wheels" at Walmart. Load 'er up, wheel her on, then fold it up and pack it to go home.

 

(Or fill it up with souveniers and roll it back off!)

[Chivalrygirl]

Is there a duty free shop aboard where wine and champagne is sold? If so, it would be easy to buy the bottles to drink in the cabin there.

 

No, there is no duty free shopping for wine. There is a duty free shop for hard liquor but you can not get hold of this until the last sea day when you collect it from the shop. All the HAL instructions say it will be delivered to your cabin on the last day, this was not what we experienced we had to go get it ourselves. We did a back to back so we were at least able to get some duty free rum for the second cruise at duty free prices. HALs on board prices for liquor of any sort I consider to be bordering on extortion, but I guess that is subjective, each to his own opinion!

[Chivalrygirl]

So, if you bring wine that is served on the ship...No corkage fee is charged...I think that may be worth the "hassle" of wrapping etc....as the mark up is pretty high...Can someone verify no corkage fee if type of wine is already served on the ship ?

Thanks

CALBOB

OMG Calbob, what a good idea. HOw you have not been dissected into small pieces on this board and spat out again beats me! I guess the gross dissectors must be away on cruises so you are very lucky. Don't you realise that to do this is to commit a sin ;)

One smart American that has no intention of being ripped off by HALs exorbitant wine prices. Cheap Aussie chardonnay that costs $US5 selling on board as house wine for about $US20, cool profit eh!

[caviargal]

OMG Calbob, what a good idea. HOw you have not been dissected into small pieces on this board and spat out again beats me! I guess the gross dissectors must be away on cruises so you are very lucky. Don't you realise that to do this is to commit a sin ;)

One smart American that has no intention of being ripped off by HALs exorbitant wine prices. Cheap Aussie chardonnay that costs $US5 selling on board as house wine for about $US20, cool profit eh!

 

Just keep in mind that most all the other mass market lines have a no wine to be brought onboard policy in place and they do enforce it.

 

If people are not willing to pay the reasonable corkage, HAL might just do the same.

 

I am happy to pay for the privilege of bringing my own aboard.

[calbob]

Chivalrygirl......

 

You just did.........Feel better now........????

 

CALBOB

[Cruiser61]

Ok fellow cruisers, where on the Internet does one find the HAL wine list?? I have googled and yahooed and zip.........

[mamaofami]

I emailed kswenson@HAL and she got me the wine list that is served in the diningroom on the Noordam. I got the suggestion from this board.

At first, she sent me the list of wine that is available to buy onboard, but another email got me the diningroom list.

 

If HAL allows this, what's the problem?

[caviargal]

I emailed kswenson@HAL and she got me the wine list that is served in the diningroom on the Noordam. I got the suggestion from this board.

At first, she sent me the list of wine that is available to buy onboard, but another email got me the diningroom list.

 

If HAL allows this, what's the problem?

 

I do not think HAL "allows" it, rather it is a way to avoid paying a corkage by those who choose to take advantage of the situation. How can they know if it is from their cellar or your luggage?

 

It is not above board, that is my point.

[coolcat12]

Ok fellow cruisers, where on the Internet does one find the HAL wine list?? I have googled and yahooed and zip.........

I searched too. I want an up to date list for my Oosterdam "pre-cruise wine purchase extravaganza"!

 

There is a Volendam list here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=394723&highlight=%22wine+list%22

 

HAL wouldn't email me a current list. They told me to look at the gift order form but that list isn't what I am looking for. I want the wine list so I DON'T purchase what is onboard.

[mamaofami]

Actually, Caviar girl, I honestly don't know if you are correct or not. I did email HAL ship's services before we went. I asked this question and was told I could bring the wine on board and not pay a corkage fee if it was one of the wines served in the diningroom. Since they emailed me the complete list of wine served on the Noordam, I didn't think I was doing anything that wasn't above board. Wouldn't ship's services have told me that this was a no no?

 

When my husband handed the wine to the dining steward in the diningroom, he had to know it wasn't from the ship's cellar. He was more than happy to take it and replace it with a cold bottle. If we had bought wine from the HAl store, we wouldn't have been able to use it while on board.If we were ordering a bottle at the table, of course the wine steward would know that too.

 

This is a confusing situation, but we thought we were doing something that was ok to do.:confused:

[midgecruiser]

I have no idea what is above board or what is not. However, on our cruise out of Seattle, which is our homeport, we brought wine on board the Oosterdam. We would bring a bottle to dinner about every other night and they would charged a corkage fee. My husband talked to the wine steward the first night about the corkage fee and how much it was. The wine steward told us that if we brought wine that is offered on the wine list that there would not be a corkage fee other wise it would be $15.

 

We also did not really understand this. Maybe it has something to do with a contract with that winery. Only speculating. I really have no idea why but that is what we were told. Wendy