Bringing wine onboard

[mamaofami]

So glad I could help you all out with the wine list.

The joke of all this is that I don't drink at all. Not one drop. Puts me right to sleep.:eek:

Happy cruising!

[Denn33]

A decent deal is the Merryvale Profile Cab; HAL sells it for $124, and retail is $80 on that wine, so you would pay significantly more for that in most restaurants.

 

The ZD Pinot Noir that they sell for $50/bottle or $10/glass is pretty good and not a bad deal.

[Jade13]

I drink very little but

 

"Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider $ 19.00"

 

I buy this for $2.99 but usually for $2.00 a bottle on sale. I thought the typical resturant mark-up was x 4 so one glass covered the bottle cost?

 

Makes me wonder about the other mark-ups...

[Jade13]

Again, I don't understand having wine swapped out. I agree with the person who posted above. Hal doesn't know if a person who brought it on board had it properly stored...

[caviargal]

Again, I don't understand having wine swapped out. I agree with the person who posted above. Hal doesn't know if a person who brought it on board had it properly stored...

 

I agree, nor do they know if it has been tampered with in any way.

 

It is an unsafe practice and I highly doubt if it would be condoned by the head Sommelier.

[Denn33]

I drink very little but

 

"Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider $ 19.00"

 

I buy this for $2.99 but usually for $2.00 a bottle on sale. I thought the typical resturant mark-up was x 4 so one glass covered the bottle cost?

 

Makes me wonder about the other mark-ups...

 

This one jumped out at me too...it's funny, but I think it's just a feature of the fact that they're not going to sell anything for $6. I'm usually able to get martinelli's in CA for $1.50-$1.75 per bottle, so, this is likely the worst deal on this ship (and it's really juice, not non-alcoholic wine).

 

Typical restaurant markup should be 2X retail (the winery's retail price, not the somewhat discounted price you would pay at a grocery store, trader joe's, costco, etc), not 4X retail, except perhaps on the super-cheap house wine...I've never seen a restaurant with a markup that bad, and I certainly wouldn't be wine from there. Perhaps it's 4X restaurant cost, but, I don't think restaurants can get the wine for as cheap as half the retail price in most circumstances.

[Jade13]

Denn33 - I took a wine class years ago and was told by the person teaching the class that at the restaurant where he worked the wines wre marked up 4x what they paid and that was standard....

 

They must get a really bad deal on the sparkling cider because that really doen't make sense. Also, i assume these prices do not incloude the 15% fee, correct?

 

So a $20 bottle would really be $23.00? That martinellis (which I like for $2.00 once in a while) would be about $22.00?

[mamaofami]

Because of some confusion, and the thought that I did not do what was the correct thing, I called HAL's ship services today and this is what I was told.

 

1. You may bring wine on board. You may bring on what is served in the dining room or what ever you wish.

 

2. You may also preorder wine from HAl and it will be delivered to your stateroom.

 

3. When taking a bottle to the dining room, you are supposed to tell the wine steward that you brought it from home, or from HAL and you do have to pay the corkage fee. If you drink it in your cabin, there is no corkage fee.

 

4. Except for wine and champagne, you may not bring any other alcohol on board for consumtion while on a cruise.

 

Hopefully, this clears up some of the confusion. :)

[Denn33]

Jade: That is interesting to know. I wonder if wine markups have gone down in recent years in order to prevent everyone from just bringing their own and paying the corkage, which has become very popular. I've also noticed that wine markups might vary in different markets. For example, I've noticed that the same bottles of wine are generally cheaper in restaurants in California than in Chicago. This might be because it costs the Chicago restaurants more to get the wine, but also might be because California culture requires restaurants to allow customers to bring their own wine and pay a corkage fee. Additionally, people in CA might be more familiar with the wines and have a better idea of what they should cost / if they are getting ripped off.

 

Obviously, HAL is charging much more than 4 times its cost for the sparkling cider. There is no reason that they couldn't get it for the same price, or more likely less, than you or I get it for. Similarly, it's probably charging more than 4 times its cost for, e.g., Domaines St. Michelle Brut which they charge $30 for and you can buy at Trader Joe's for $7, and the various sutter home alcohol wines they sell that you can buy at the store for $3.50 when they sell them for $22. But, I am pretty confident that it is not charging 4 times its cost for the Merryvale Profile wine I mentioned above (otherwise they would be getting a wine that the winery sells to customers for $80 for $31, which seems unlikely to me.

From examining HAL's menu, it seems, as someone has suggested on these boards for a while, that they offer a much better value on the high-priced wines, and have a higher markup on the cheaper stuff.

 

And yes, you do have to pay the 15% on top of those prices. (Fair enough, though--you would pay a 15-20% tip on wine you order at a restaurant anyways--but it's worth keeping that 15% additional in mind in determining whether or not it's a worth paying the $15 corkage and bringing your own wine versus buying it from HAL)

[caviargal]

On HAL and other cruise lines, they buy their wines and liquor duty free and then mark it up.

 

IME, the better wines (like the Merryvale) have a far less excessive markup than the cheaper wines and I am sure they sell a lot less of the permiums because of the price point.

 

HAL is one of the very few lines left that allow passengers to bring aboard wine. IMO, the corkage fee is a small price to pay for the privilege.

[happy cruzer]

I agree that I love HAL's carryon policy.

 

Princess, Carnival, NCL and Disney all allow the carryon too.

 

Princess's wine list looked a little better than HALs on our last cruise. All the lines mark up the cheap wines alot but I usually can find a couple in my comfort zone.

 

Celebrity seems to have a good list but $25 corkage fee on only 2 bottles.. yuk

 

RCI is the pits, bad list and no wine to be brought on board. They offer packages for "convenience" some of the wines in the package cost more at the package price than at RCI's own bottle price.

 

Anyway, we can slam and anyone cruiseline but it is nice to know what the alternatives are.

[Ineke]

We brought wine in a backpack. We were flying Amsterdam - Rome after a 2 week stay in Holland, and were restricted by the amount of luggage we could check and needed to bring it as a carry-on. We bought the wine in Holland, it is very inexpensive there. The backpack worked fine, even if it was a little heavy. We did have to pay a corkage fee in the dining room, but we did not have the same wines as were on the menu. Nothing beats having a nice glass of wine on your balcony, with some cheese from room service...wish we were back there!

[caviargal]

We brought wine in a backpack. We were flying Amsterdam - Rome after a 2 week stay in Holland, and were restricted by the amount of luggage we could check and needed to bring it as a carry-on. We bought the wine in Holland, it is very inexpensive there. The backpack worked fine, even if it was a little heavy. We did have to pay a corkage fee in the dining room, but we did not have the same wines as were on the menu. Nothing beats having a nice glass of wine on your balcony, with some cheese from room service...wish we were back there!

 

Since liquids are not allowed to be carried on planes for some time now, I assume this was in the "old days".