Buying liquor on board

[Cher7]

This will be our first cruise with Oceania. On previous cruises with Princess, we have called room service just after embarking and have ordered our bottle of liquor for use in our stateroom. I am wondering if this is something we can do with Oceania or do we have to bring it with us?

 

Thanks in advance for any information. :)

[Rickey 88]

This will be our first cruise with Oceania. On previous cruises with Princess, we have called room service just after embarking and have ordered our bottle of liquor for use in our stateroom. I am wondering if this is something we can do with Oceania or do we have to bring it with us?

 

Thanks in advance for any information. :)

 

Sorry, but there are no duty-free liquor purchase facilities on any Oceania ship. Suggest you bring whatever you wish with you as there are no restrictions when you board.....

[Cher7]

When we purchased "the bottle" upon embarking on Princess, it was not from duty free but from room service and I assume that they acquired it directly from one of the bars. It was pretty much the same cost as bringing one on board and it avoided the hassle of packing it. However, we will bring one with us if that is what we have to do.

[HappyMarv]

Yes, Likker by the bottle is available on the Room Service menu but be sure you're sitting down when you look at the price. I like to take my own aboard in plastic bottles. Though a bit heavy, it's sure a lot more cost effective and the plastic bottles aren't likely to break. BUT, to be sure, we put each bottle in a zip-lock bag. This also helps to guard against leaks caused by changes in pressure aboard the aircraft.

Most days, O has specials in the bar which are reasonably priced - but your favorite may not be the special of the today. Don't know if you can get advanced information on what the upcoming specials will be. Just a thought.

 

ME

[serendipity1499]

I'm confused about the Oceania's Alcohol Policy...:confused:

 

Several posters have stated it's OK to bring liquor & wine on board Oceania cruises.. Cruise Critic has a Newsletter which spells out alcohol policies aboard most Cruise lines; in which it was stated, it's OK to bring wines & liquors aboard an Oceania cruise..

 

However the Oceania WEB site seems to contradict what everyone is saying:

 

FROM OCEANIA’S WEB SITE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

"Alcohol Policy: The sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages will be limited to guests aged 21 years or older. Oceania Cruises will refuse and prohibits the sale or service of alcoholic beverages to guests under the age of 21 years. Guests are kindly reminded to consume alcohol in moderation. Oceania Cruises reserves the right to prohibit and retain all alcohol bought ashore for consumption on board the vessel."

I bold-ed the last sentence..

Would like to hear from those who have cruised on Oceania.. Have you brought liquor or wine on board & was it confiscated or frowned upon?

Thanks..Betty

[Rickey 88]

The Oceania policy has been widely discussed here in previous posts - and what you have quoted is their current policy which simply states that the company "reserves" the right to prohibit the bringing of liquor on board their vessels. In doing so, they could, if necessary, start to ban the carry on of bottles - if it ever should become a problem.

 

So far, and we have been on seven cruises, it has never been a problem and passengers have behaved responsibly.

 

Let us hope that everyone continues to act responsible and avoid the troubles that we read about regarding other cruise lines....

[serendipity1499]

The Oceania policy has been widely discussed here in previous posts - and what you have quoted is their current policy which simply states that the company "reserves" the right to prohibit the bringing of liquor on board their vessels. In doing so, they could, if necessary, start to ban the carry on of bottles - if it ever should become a problem.

 

So far, and we have been on seven cruises, it has never been a problem and passengers have behaved responsibly.

 

Let us hope that everyone continues to act responsible and avoid the troubles that we read about regarding other cruise lines....

 

Appreciate your response..Thanks Rickey..

[Marra]

We have just come back from a cruise on the Regatta and can assure you they are very good about bringing liquor on board. In every port we would bring back wine or spirits from that part of the world and they never said anything. So every evening before dinner our friends and us would have pre-dinner drinks. We always had them in someones room. And we always ordered wine with dinner and had drinks on the ship in Martini's. As you can tell, we drink a lot. I think they don't mind it as long as you do not abuse the privilege. And it was a privilege as far as I'm concerned.

 

We landed in Paris for 4 hours on our way to Venice and we bought some of the best Bordeaux wines I have ever tasted. And we brought it on the ship. They really are a great cruise line and we will definitely sail again with them.

[CruisingSerenity]

Just so you know, while Oceania lets you take alcohol on board, sometimes the Customs agents who inspect your bags just before you board do not know this....as happened to me on my March cruise. They were just getting ready to remove it when an Oceania crew member told them I was allowed to bring it.

 

FYI.

[merryecho]

Marra, did you buy your wine at the airport? Mind sharing what it was? I will be in CDG next trip and love a good bordeaux

[Marra]

Merryecho

 

I don't know the names but they came in a box of 3 for 33 Euros. We were with a group of 4 couples and 3 of the couples bought the red bordeaux and one couple bought the white. They weren't terribly cheap seeing we were in wine country but they were worth every Euro. We got it at the duty free. There were 3 different types of bordeaux and they were all excellent. Every single person admired each bottle. But we also bought local wine at every port and they are all worth trying. I guess even the white was very good. I meant to keep the names but the bottles were picked up by housekeeping.

[Jane110]

Marra, did you buy your wine at the airport? Mind sharing what it was? I will be in CDG next trip and love a good bordeaux

 

 

I got some nice Chateau Belair from CDG airport duty free shop last month for 15 Euros a bottle. It was excellent. I also have some Chateau Belair for about 70 Euro's a bottle, but the 15 Euro was quite good for the price.

[merryecho]

Thank you- I never thought of buying wine at duty free- I will give it a try.

[twscott1961]

We will be on the Insignia in Sept., Athens to Rome, so I was wondering if we can find good wines in ports like Turkey, Egypt, Crete,Cyprus, Rhodes and Athens. I like dry, red wines. If any one has any ideals, I would love some suggestions.

[Rickey 88]

We will be on the Insignia in Sept., Athens to Rome, so I was wondering if we can find good wines in ports like Turkey, Egypt, Crete,Cyprus, Rhodes and Athens. I like dry, red wines. If any one has any ideals, I would love some suggestions.

 

While I can't give you specific names of the brands you might find on your cruise, here are some generalities....

 

Turkey and Egypt are Muslim countries, and Turkey is more tolerant than most. We have had several good Turkish wines - but as for Egypt, their reds are tolerable, but limited and all other wines are imported and heavily taxed.

 

Crete, etc. have some good local wines and Greek reds especially are quite good. Rhodes and Cyprus rely mostly on imports and taxes seemed to make them rather expensive.....

 

Have a great cruise!

[twscott1961]

Rickey88, Thanks so much for the great ideals. Sounds like if I find any decent wines in Greece or Turkey, I might want to stock up a little. We did find some Greek beer that we liked last time. We are looking forward to our cruise. This will be our first with Oceania. We chose this one because we will go to Egypt and Turkey, and some other ports that we have not visited.