Wine Confiscation on Mercury

[vcdarty]

On 12/12 sailing from Baltimore, my BIL showed his two bottle allowance to attendants at terminal when boarding: a pinot grigio and a bottle of champagne. They promptly confiscated the champers, not considering it a wine?? Upon boarding the ship, he spoke with Guest Relations who informed him that it could be returned if he were to pay the $25. corkage fee. :eek: We were, frankly, outraged, and he repeatedly tried to get clarification from Guest Relations.

 

Eventually, after a day and a half, the head bartender called, said the confiscation had been "ridiculous," and returned the champagne.

 

Any other cruisers with similar experiences?

[Wine-O]

On 12/12 sailing from Baltimore, my BIL showed his two bottle allowance to attendants at terminal when boarding: a pinot grigio and a bottle of champagne. They promptly confiscated the champers, not considering it a wine?? Upon boarding the ship, he spoke with Guest Relations who informed him that it could be returned if he were to pay the $25. corkage fee. :eek: We were, frankly, outraged, and he repeatedly tried to get clarification from Guest Relations.

 

Eventually, after a day and a half, the head bartender called, said the confiscation had been "ridiculous," and returned the champagne.

 

Any other cruisers with similar experiences?

 

Here's the first mistake -- flashing the stuff. That's a no-no. The terminal attendants are part-time workers and don't know all the rules/regulations. Don't ask them any questions -- wait until you get on board.

 

Secondly, the x-ray screeners at the port are "port" security people looking for guns, drugs, knives, and the like. I normally roll thru security with 5-6 bottles of wine carefully bubble wrapped in my roller carry-on, 2 bottles in my backpack, and my wife (who does not drink wine) carrys on 2 additional bottles for me.

 

I then walk up to the next available attendant, smile, show them my boarding pass, passports, credit card, and whatever else they request, pick up my room keys and head for the gangway. I board, thank them for the glass of champagne, and head for the buffet. In fact, I get two glasses of champagne as my doesn't drink wine -- I think I mentioned that. :)

 

It works for me -- that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :)

[C 2 C]

On 12/12 sailing from Baltimore, my BIL showed his two bottle allowance to attendants at terminal when boarding:

 

Why? Did they ask? If they did not, why take the stuff out to show them?

 

It is very typical of Celebrity for the right hand not to talk to the left hand.

Ask 5 people the same question at different times and you will get 10 different answers. I'm only surprised he got his bottle back in 36 hrs.

[iancal]

Not good at all. And bad for business. One of my pleasures is sitting on the verandah, reading a good book, and sipping some of the grape. Going on our 2nd Celebrity cruise. It has been a while since we were on Celebrity...is that two bottles per cabin or two bottles per person. We NEVER volunteer that we have anything like that. If they ask, or see on inspection...welll that is another thing. I will need 3-4 bottles from our 10 day cruise (DW is tt). Need to know if I should be bringing 1.5L bottles or some sort of carton. I normally buy 750Ml bottles or reasonably good plonk prior to boarding.

[Phxazzcruisers]

It is actually 2 bottles pr suite, however when boarding we each actually have two bottles of wine. The posters mistake was SHOWING the wine. We just carry it on and do not say anything. We travel at least 4 times a year on Celebrity and have never had an issue

[CanWeGoYet?]

How strange. The corkage fee is for bringing your own bottle to the dining room, not for bringing it on board the ship.

[vcdarty]

Just checked with BIL. He did NOT show them the wine. They searched his carry-on and grabbed the wine. Then they wanded him. (He's a mild-mannered retired university professor.) And then his wife was patted down. Guess they were suspicious of her portable O2 contraption. (She's on oxygen 24/7.)

 

Welcome to Celebrity, not.

[CrabbyHarper]

In Baltimore on Dec 12, for the very first time my carry-on was searched. The lady - was she port personnel or X crew? Asked me to open my bag and show her exactly what was in there. I had a bottle of sherry, wrapped in lots of paper to cushion it. She DID let me go on, but this is the very first time this has happened to me. We are both seniors, carry only one bag, and I walk with a cane. Not Spring Breakers by any means - I WISH!

 

The exchange between me and the lady was pleasant - I even offered to share a glass with her.;)

[Gablin]

For me, the lesson from this story is to pack the wine in checked baggage.

[julia]

In Baltimore on Dec 12, for the very first time my carry-on was searched. The lady - was she port personnel or X crew? Asked me to open my bag and show her exactly what was in there. I had a bottle of sherry, wrapped in lots of paper to cushion it. She DID let me go on, but this is the very first time this has happened to me. We are both seniors, carry only one bag, and I walk with a cane. Not Spring Breakers by any means - I WISH!

 

The exchange between me and the lady was pleasant - I even offered to share a glass with her.;)

 

 

Oh for gosh sakes.... the security person had NO idea if you had a bottle of "sherry" (allowed as it is wine) or a bottle of "scotch" (NOT allowed) in your luggage.

 

So you were asked to show it..... sorry, but NOT out of the ordinary in many cases.

[patchit]

12/12 I walked on Mercury carrying a bottle of wine in my hand, with a big bow--not trying to conceal it any way. No one said anything to me until I got on board and then outside of the Oasis (I think) a sommelier spotted me and the bottle still in my hand and informed me I would have to pay a corkage fee to open it. Which I already knew.

[stipmom]

Do you need to bring a corkscrew with you to open the wine in the cabin or would the stateroom attendent be able to get you one?

[C 2 C]

would the stateroom attendant be able to get you one?

 

Yes. There should be two glasses in your cabin already for the optional wine purchase bottle in your cabin. The corkscrew is not the best but it will suffice. Enjoy.

[iancal]

We have not been on Celebrity for quite some time. We have done many other cruises on various cruise lines. IF we have an issue, it will be very simple for us to just select another cruise line for our next cruise. It is a competitive market and we have never had this issue on two of our other favourite lines. So, if Celebrity actually management actually read these boards this is one customer who will vote with his feet if we experience any silly behaviour that has been described in this post.

[woody14h]

I'm still not sure who the security personnel are at the scanner, Celebrity or TSA. The machine is on the ship after presenting your boarding pass. We always have to put our carryons through the machine. We have been told to check our 1 or 2 bottles of wine until the end of the cruise. I believe the people manning the ship's entry are X employees and are looking for contraband liquor more than guns, knives etc. Other lines are not as religious as X in this scrutiny. They had no right to ask for the corkage fee unless you opened these in public places.

 

This will always be a bone of contention as each ship has a different policy.

[Wine-O]

I'm still not sure who the security personnel are at the scanner, Celebrity or TSA. The machine is on the ship after presenting your boarding pass. We always have to put our carryons through the machine.

 

I have never gone thru shipboard scanners or x-ray machines upon initial embarkation on a Solstice ship -- it's always been at the port before you check in. I seriously doubt they are TSA personnel.

 

Shipboard x-ray scanners are usually set up on the first port visit, and yes, they are manned by X's security. They look for everything. Sometimes they confiscate, and sometimes they don't.

[C 2 C]

I'm still not sure who the security personnel are at the scanner, Celebrity or TSA. The machine is on the ship after presenting your boarding pass.

 

At what embarkation port were the scanners on the ship rather than in the terminal?

Barcelona has the best set up. You sign in, get your boarding pass and proceed through a small shopping are where you can stock up to your heart's content.

[iancal]

We are on a Celebrity cruise in Feb. Looking forward to it. We have just started shopping for another cruise. If we have any issues pertaining to confiscation of one of our three bottles of plonk on this cruise, , the next cruise selection will be that much easier because X will be off the list pronto. On our last three cruises (two different cruise lines) we boarded with three bottles AND we were able to bring a bottle on board at our port stops. I have no issue with a corkage fee if we take a bottle into one of the dining areas. It its the grape that I open and consume in my cabin that I would have an issue with.

[C 2 C]

we boarded with three bottles AND we were able to bring a bottle on board at our port stops.

 

 

We havde never had an issue with bringing wine on board at the beginning of a cruise. However only on the South American cruise were we able to bring on additional "samples".

It is not normally confiscated, only stored till the end of a cruise.

We generally cruise back to back so the stored supply, and on board purchases, are delivered to us for the subsequent voyage.

With the new elite perks, we no longer have need of adding to our onboard consumption.:D

[Wine-O]

We are on a Celebrity cruise in Feb. Looking forward to it. We have just started shopping for another cruise. If we have any issues pertaining to confiscation of one of our three bottles of plonk on this cruise, , the next cruise selection will be that much easier because X will be off the list pronto. On our last three cruises (two different cruise lines) we boarded with three bottles AND we were able to bring a bottle on board at our port stops. I have no issue with a corkage fee if we take a bottle into one of the dining areas. It its the grape that I open and consume in my cabin that I would have an issue with.

 

Celebrity's policy is 2 bottles of "wine" upon embarkation only to be consumed in your stateroom. If you decide to bring it to the MDR, you will have to pay corkage. Their policy is pretty well spelled out. Anything more is at your own risk of confiscation, including bring on extra at port stops.

 

You might want to start shopping around now for another cruise line other than Celebrity if this is going to present a problem for you.

[vcdarty]

Thanks to all the cruisers who've weighed in on this thread--some most enlightening comments. FYI the scanners at Baltimore are at the entrance to the terminal; X doesn't scan again upon boarding here, only--as usual--when boarding at other ports.

 

We certainly agree with comments here regarding our freedom to choose another line. The Celebrity wine policy is clearly expressed, if irregularly enforced, and in selecting this line we implicitly agree to honor it--as others apparenly do not. Their call.

 

The problem we encountered is not a make-or-break issue between us and Celebrity, and we might sail with her again, mainly because Baltimore is so very convenient for BIL and his wife and their health issues. But when DW and I plan the next cruise on our own, it won't be with X--and that's not just on account of the unpleasantness we encountered upon boarding.

[woody14h]

By scanners I meant the xray machines which are presumably manned by X personnel. How the luggage coming on board is scanned I don't have a clue but I would think it would be TSA who could care less about liquor in your luggage. Some people have mentioned the luggage has been set aside and liquor taken and stored?? I would like to hear from those people on a first hand basis. Something is fishy about this whole theory. Does that mean that X employees monitor TSA people??

[njhorseman]

Several posts have mentioned TSA. TSA does not conduct security checks at cruise ports. The port operator normally hires private security personnel to screen passengers entering the terminal.

 

Since each cruise line has its own rules about bringing wine and liquor on board, it's rather easy for a private security guard to be confused about what is allowed to be taken on the particular cruise ship that he/she is screening for on any given day.

[JanMD]

For the Florida cruisers- your x-ray people are used to cruises each week. Not the case in Baltimore. We just started to get cruises year round with Carnival- do I have to say anymore with the difference of pax from the two lines. Thus, Carnival goes out every Sunday and Celebrity just started in November. RCCL left again. Welcome to Baltimore.. Thus, Baltimore is used to Carnival pax with trying to get items on...

Thanks for the warning to the first poster. Going out next Sat. We are taking our 2 bottles of wine- per cabin.

[MaggieAtSea]

Does the new Ceelbrity "drinks" packages effect enforcement? It seems, upon reading other threads, that perhaps the introduction of those packages may be prompting a "crack down" on the carry-aboard policy (or a more stringent enforcement of the policy as it has existed).

 

While such a development shouldn't impact anyone's enjoyment of a lovely vacation, it certainly is word to the wise and food for thought.

 

Happy Sailing!