Wine - Can we Ship it to the Ship?

[wripro]

Even if you can ship to the hotel, with the way cases or packages are handled while being shipped, do you really want to take a chance with good wines? In the days where you could carry on a case it made sense. Now, I don't know. Just a thought!

[redheadednancy]

Even if you can ship to the hotel, with the way cases or packages are handled while being shipped, do you really want to take a chance with good wines? In the days where you could carry on a case it made sense. Now, I don't know. Just a thought!

We've had good luck shipping BUT the wines we ship are just "good" and "different" wines, not top drawer. We have never lost a bottle, however, even shipping from France.....of course not to Nashvile.

[SonomaWine]

Shipping wines work well if using an approved wine shipping carrier, UPS or FedEx, and the correct packaging. I always add the necessary insurance and cross my fingers. As far as shipping to states that are in the dark ages, I always label the contents as "salad dressing". Only once did we get caught by FedEx, but we were only issued a warning. We shipped wine to the Silver Shadow last year, and one of our cases was opened with two bottles missing. Silverseas accepted the responsibility and issued a credit, as it was handled through their port agent and they were unsure where the slippage occurred.

[FKGirl]

I check wine as luggage all the time. I can fit 6 bottles in the bottom of one of my bags (so we often take 2 of those!) But have also had good luck just checking a box of wine as long as it is in a wine shipper - either the Styrofoam shipper or cardboard should work fine.

[NJ Jim]

It is nice to read a thread on one of my favorite topics! As my wine-oriented handle suggests, I am a wine fan who elected to bring wine from the cellar to enjoy at dinner on both of our cruises. While our first cruise on Regent included wine, we nevertheless were told in advance a corkage fee would be assessed. Whether as a result of sharing the wine with the servers or a reflection of the line's good sense, we were not charged. Our other cruise, with Oceania, quoted and charged $25 per bottle corkage. However, they did have a wine sale on board with some interesting selections which, if purchased for use at dinner, was corkage-free.

 

We are considering an Adriatic Seabourn cruise, hence my visit in this forum, and wondered what their policy would be. The policy notwithstanding, I wonder what the ultimate outcome will be.

 

Jim

[Chairsin]

perhaps the reason for the charge on oceana is that wine is not included in the cruise fare -- unlike on Seabourn. Since each bottle you bring on board saves Seabourn money there is no reason why they would have a corkage fee.We have brought bottles on board purchased on shore and never been charged.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Bringing wine on-board is a potential revenue loss for the line. The "free" wine costs them very little and is poured en masse, while the brought-on wine takes extra server time and pre-empts a potential sale of high profit wine from the extra cost list.

 

Our plan on our next cruise is to just have a cab driver take us to the depature city's "booze barn" pre-boarding and pick up a case or two of things that look interesting and are a good value. If we don't see anything, we'll just order off the ship's list.

 

PS - We were just up in Napa/Somoma for four days in October. Brought/shipped home some nice stuff. Sonomawine, did you think last year's wines were a bit better than this year's? Many of the places we went to last year seemed "off" this year. Some, however, hit it out of the park this year.

[WinWin]

We were on the Odessey last month and there was no corkage fee for the wines we brought on board. We did ship some bottles to the ship from the US to Italy....Some friends brought many more wines than us, and they never mentioned a corkage charge. We did participate in the wine tasting at $75 each and it was NOT worth it, but overall, we did find the wine overall to be acceptable. Enjoy your cruise!!!

[wripro]

The solution is simple. In addition to bringing your own wine bring your own corkscrew!

 

Seriously, I doubt very much that there will be a corkage fee on SB.

[SonomaWine]

I am pleased to report that our case of wine was accepted without hassle and there was no corkage fee charged. :D

[wripro]

Just as we thought.

[white oak]

I am pleased to report that our case of wine was accepted without hassle and there was no corkage fee charged. :D

 

SonomaWine

 

As the name implys "White Oak", I have some interest in wine. For those of you interested, White Oak and Bella are just two of many wonderful wineries in Sonoma County. I plan on bringing some Bella Zins and Etude Pinot Noirs on our TA on the Odyssey in March. I'm curious, did you ship your wines in a wine container or bring them on the plane? Also you stated there was no corkage fee. Was that because you drank them in your cabin or were you also able to bring your wines to the restaurants?

[SonomaWine]

White Oak-

We had planned on shipping wine to the ship, but the weather was just too bad to risk sending wine from California to Florida. We found a great wine shop in Ft. Lauderdale that had most of our favorites. Though Seabourn guest services said there would be a corkage fee, we didn't have one. We enjoyed our wines in all the dining venues. I see we were on the Silver Wind together in July 2007.....we must know each other?

[Martita B.]

For Sailors embarking in Ft Laud "Crown Liquors" is a wonderful store for wines ~ convenient location (just off of 17th St) I drink Chilian reds and was so pleased to find many at "Crown" ~

Excellent customer service as well.

Martita B.

[white oak]

SonomaWine

 

I believe we do know each other. On the July 2007 Wind cruise we might have played in the "Texas Holdem" tournament almost every night when Silversea was experimenting with the installation of video poker gaming machines in the casino. We had a conversation about wine at the pool bar and my memory was you have a very large collection. If your still cruising, sounds like all is well with you (and R?). I wish they had installed the poker machines fleetwide. We had quite the eclectic group for our nightly gambling forays, a few lawyers, a realtor, a German business and factory owner, an opthamologist, a first year med student. That was a great cruise.

[SonomaWine]

White Oak, thank you for jogging my memory and reminding me of the late nights playing Texas Holdem. I agree, they should have those machines on all the ships. If I recall you had some very entertaining stories. :p

 

When in Ft. Lauderdale, I highly recommend Andy at Wine Watch. They have a very deep cellar, and you can order from their website and pick it up on the way to the ship.

[mrsgritoli]

This feels like a reunion of sorts.

 

I was the lawyer in the Hold em Poker games on the Wind during that 2007 Lisbon/CPH cruise. Loads of fun and laughs. I remember Sonomawine ( Hi R; Jeff here of Jeff/Lauren pairing), but having a hard time placing WHite Oak's face.

 

Nice to see you over on the Seabourn Board. I have become (slightly) disenchanted with SS since the 2007 sailing. We did Seabourn Legend in 2008 and 2009, and have booked the Sojourn Norwegian Fjord leg this summer (which if I remember correctly was the leg immediately subsequent to the 2007 Wind leg we were on). SS in 2010 was a disappointment.

 

How was the Sojourn? I won't ask you how the wine was.

[SonomaWine]

Jeff & Lauren, nice to see you are on the Seabourn board. This was our first Seabourn cruise and we were very happy--and very suprised with the complimentary wine offerings! There are many things we like about Silversea and Seabourn, and at the end of the day we feel each strength and weakness balance each other out.

 

You will love Norway, and I hope you have good weather--we had lots of rain, mist and cold days! I think you will also be very pleased with the Sojourn, it was nice to be on a new ship.

[jpver]

As wine is part of the "all included" formula, I do not see any advatage bringing bottles of wine on board!!

 

It is different is wine is charged as on other vessels. There I bring wine with me for consumption in my cabin. There I understand that they charge a corkage fee if you want to have it in the restaurants.

[wripro]

Some people, especially oenophiles like Sonomawine, like to bring special bottles on board for their enjoyment.

[SonomaWine]

Some people, especially oenophiles like Sonomawine, like to bring special bottles on board for their enjoyment.

 

Thank you for coming to my defense WriPro. I was trying not to take offense. Jpver, if you befriended us, you would be certain to enjoy some nice California wines with us!

[wripro]

You're welcome, SonomaWine. As a former resident of Sonoma I understand completely.

[jam52]

We were on the Odessey last month and there was no corkage fee for the wines we brought on board. We did ship some bottles to the ship from the US to Italy....Some friends brought many more wines than us, and they never mentioned a corkage charge. We did participate in the wine tasting at $75 each and it was NOT worth it, but overall, we did find the wine overall to be acceptable. Enjoy your cruise!!!

We did two tastings on the Sojourn last fall. We tasted 5 wines at both the French and Italian tastings. I think I probably had a full bottle and most of the wines were probably $75 retail, so I didn't think it was unfair.

[WinWin]

We did two tastings on the Sojourn last fall. We tasted 5 wines at both the French and Italian tastings. I think I probably had a full bottle and most of the wines were probably $75 retail, so I didn't think it was unfair.

wish we'd been on your cruise!