Corkage Fee???

[sarahs06790]

On the regular RC board someone commented that they are now charging a $15 corkage fee per bottle of wine that you get in their wine packages.... does anyone know if this is true on The Oasis?

[Pumbaamd]

If you have your wine in the dining room, there is no corkage fee. Some say they have paid a fee if ordered outside the dining room. We have ordered our bottle of wine (from the package) at other dining venues including WJ, Chops and Portofino, and at bars like the Schooner Bar and never were charged an extra fee. Enjoy your wine package. BEFORE ordering your bottle somewhere other than the MDR, ask ahead if there is a charge. It may change from ship tp ship.

Have a great time on your cruise!

Rick and Deirdra

[bajathree]

I believe that corkage fee thing is still leftover from the days when you were allowed to bring your own wine aboard.....since the ONLY wine that you can bring to any of DR's is a bottle that you obviously bought on the ship there is no need to worry as they wouldn't charge you any corkage fee.

[sarahs06790]

Thank you guys for clarrifying that!!

[robntawn]

We bought wine from RCCL, and had it delivered to our stateroom. By the end of the cruise, we still had 1 bottle left, and decided to take it to Chops on our last day. The waiter insisted that there would be a $10 corkage fee, and would not budge on this. I asked to see the Maitre D', and he said the same thing. I did not (and do not) agree with this, but agreed to pay it because we wanted to finish the wine. We not only got a $10 fee after dinner, but also a 15% gratuity added to that fee. Again, I questioned this and was told that they didn't have any way to mark $12 corkage, so they did it this way. I didn't want to make a big stink out of this, so went ahead and paid, and let them know that I would report back to Cruise Critic about my experience, as well as send a letter to HQ. I don't expect any miraculous changes, but I do have a problem paying corkage for wine that I have already purchased from RCCL! And to add a gratuity to that corkage is just salt in the wound!

[waterbug123]

since the ONLY wine that you can bring to any of DR's is a bottle that you obviously bought on the ship there is no need to worry as they wouldn't charge you any corkage fee.

 

We have always brought wine from home, and it's always made it onto the ship, though we are well aware that there is no guarantee of that. Sometimes we drink it in our cabin, sometimes we take it to the MDR or other restaurant. Sometimes we are charged a corkage, which we fully expect and are ok with, sometimes we are not.

On Oasis specifically, we were questioned about our wine twice. (first time we've ever been questioned) In Boleros we were told we could not bring wine so they couldn't serve it. We said fine. Then they said they would go ahead and serve it, and in fact, refused to charge a corkage. (We tipped $20 though.)

We were also questioned at Giovanni's Table. Again we said, fine, no problem, we'll save it and order wine here. Waiter came back and said he checked with a manager and no problem, they would serve it. Told us very apologetically that there would be a corkage, which we assured him was absolutely fine with us.

[bajathree]

We bought wine from RCCL, and had it delivered to our stateroom. By the end of the cruise, we still had 1 bottle left, and decided to take it to Chops on our last day. The waiter insisted that there would be a $10 corkage fee, and would not budge on this. I asked to see the Maitre D', and he said the same thing. I did not (and do not) agree with this, but agreed to pay it because we wanted to finish the wine. We not only got a $10 fee after dinner, but also a 15% gratuity added to that fee. Again, I questioned this and was told that they didn't have any way to mark $12 corkage, so they did it this way. I didn't want to make a big stink out of this, so went ahead and paid, and let them know that I would report back to Cruise Critic about my experience, as well as send a letter to HQ. I don't expect any miraculous changes, but I do have a problem paying corkage for wine that I have already purchased from RCCL! And to add a gratuity to that corkage is just salt in the wound!

 

Thats very odd.....I sometimes buy an extra bottle in the MDR just to have and have taken it with me to restaurants and never been charged a corkage fee.....I just tell them it was bought on the ship.....you should not be paying a corkage fee for a bottle of wine bought through RCCL.

[pingi3]

Thats very odd.....I sometimes buy an extra bottle in the MDR just to have and have taken it with me to restaurants and never been charged a corkage fee.....I just tell them it was bought on the ship.....you should not be paying a corkage fee for a bottle of wine bought through RCCL.

My question would be what if a travel agent has a basket waiting for you when you get to your room and it has wine in it?

[mgg42]

We bought wine from RCCL, and had it delivered to our stateroom. By the end of the cruise, we still had 1 bottle left, and decided to take it to Chops on our last day. The waiter insisted that there would be a $10 corkage fee, and would not budge on this. I asked to see the Maitre D', and he said the same thing. I did not (and do not) agree with this, but agreed to pay it because we wanted to finish the wine. We not only got a $10 fee after dinner, but also a 15% gratuity added to that fee. Again, I questioned this and was told that they didn't have any way to mark $12 corkage, so they did it this way. I didn't want to make a big stink out of this, so went ahead and paid, and let them know that I would report back to Cruise Critic about my experience, as well as send a letter to HQ. I don't expect any miraculous changes, but I do have a problem paying corkage for wine that I have already purchased from RCCL! And to add a gratuity to that corkage is just salt in the wound!

 

Robntawn, I'm wondering, was the wine you brought (i.e. purchased from RCI for your stateroom) on the list at Chops? If so, I wonder if there is a premium. Does anyone know if they charge more for wines at the specialty restaurants than if they are ordered for the room? What about a price difference with the MDR?

[robntawn]

I don't know if the wine was on Chops list. Probably not, since it was dreadful. The cost for wines is the same no matter where you buy them, and there is no premium for buying in a specialty restaurant.

 

The whole thing seemed rather arbitrary to me, especially tacking on another 15% service charge. I realize that the whole corkage fee thing is from the days that you could bring on wine, but now that you can't, it should be a moot point.