Bringing Wine on board ( without smuggling)

[Simmons]

I realize this thread is mainly about wine, but what about beer? My last cruise was on Disney and I bought a 30-pack, took it to the port, they put a luggage tag on it and delivered to my cabin. Will that work with RCCL?

[megr1125]

I realize this thread is mainly about wine, but what about beer? My last cruise was on Disney and I bought a 30-pack, took it to the port, they put a luggage tag on it and delivered to my cabin. Will that work with RCCL?

 

No.

 

no alcohol...of any kind...at all......

[P&OMAN]

Wht cant RCI treat there passengers the same as other cruise lines, namely Princess and its sister, British line P&O.

 

Princess still treats their passengers like adults, they allow you to bring on as much wine and champagne as you wish. Unlike other cruise lines that treat their passengers like children. Hopefully everyone continues to use care and bring on amounts that are within reason so Princess won't ever have a reason to change their very liberal policy. Although I bring on the wine that I want and even get more inn the ports, I tend to leave with a decent bar bill, so Princess is still making money off of those that bring on their own.

[Pushka]

I think it is generally annoying the way everyone is stopped from doing something because of the stupidity of the minority. I would be happy to pay a $5 a day levy if it meant I could bring my choice of alcohol on board.

[Sequim88]

I thought I read somewhere that people would want to buy local bottles of alcohol as souvenirs when on port trips and that RCL would hold those bottles until the last night, so as not to penalize people who weren't smuggling, but just buying alcohol from the ports.

 

My understanding as well - especially if you are very up front about it, declare it and then ask for it to be held for you. Always figured this would work for embarkation port as well because for us mid-continent people ALL ports are the same to us as a visited port. Like when we left from San Juan. We could have bought a special souvineer bottle of rum to take home and would have liked to have had it held for us same as rum bought in Barbados.

 

RCI is a spcial case in the cruise industry - whether fallout form the Smith case or just lawyers and insurance company wanting a shield to hide behined but they have set things up to be able to (in theory) monitor consumption (or purchase from them only) and presumably be able to cut people off. Flaw in the argument is allowing taking wine to cabin and inconsistancy with not allowing bottle of liquor purchase on ship to take to cabin.

[WillieC]

Rather than the smuggling thing, which was covered earlier - why not try buying some in advance on the RCCL web site (Gifts and Gear) and request to have it delivered to your cabin? If you booked through a T/A, they have access to T/A rates for a merlot and white wine at a price of something like $13.99 per bottle. Can only be delivered to your cabin. With the white wine though you cannot request a pinot grigio, chardonnay, etc. You get a WHITE wine. They select. Kind of dumb, IMHO. You can also request a white zin, if you prefer that, but I think the price is a little higher.

 

I have never heard of this TA rate for wine - anyone else aware of it? If so please tell me how to tell my TA about it - she is top notch and has never heard of it either. I think this may be bogus info.........

[critterchick]

We only bought 6 cans of soda but knowing how much they cost onboard, we thought we'd go ahead and get a few cans. Price was I think, 8 Euros for 6 cans?? Anyway, cheaper than onboard, for sure ($2.25 each can onboard). Sorry I don't know about the liquor prices.

 

Although nearly double the price, 6 of the ship's cokes are only $14 compared to $8 for what you bought in Europe. Not enough to get excited about. But I would have done it, too. That is, after all, the price of a cocktail (house brand)!;)

 

That brings me to my question - Does RCCL have a corkage fee like the Jade? - it was $15 USD per bottle that you carried on and they took the wine at boarding and brought it to you at dinner when requested. I never had to do this cause, like I said, we just carried ours on board.

 

Here's the irony - RCI won't let you bring wine onboard. But if you get wine from your TA in your cabin, or if you order from the Gifts & Gear wines and have it sent to your cabin and then bring it to the dining room, the policy is to charge $12 corkage. FOR THEIR OWN FLIPPIN' WINE. Not every waiter will do that do you, but it is the policy.

 

I have never heard of this TA rate for wine - anyone else aware of it? If so please tell me how to tell my TA about it - she is top notch and has never heard of it either. I think this may be bogus info.........

 

It is not bogus. TAs can purchase gifts for their clients, either from a short list of wines or the Gifts & Gear offerings. The wine that is offered at the TA rate is La Terre, also known as La Terrible. Tell her to go into Cruisingpower (the TA booking website for RCI), click on "Booking Tools", then "Gifts." And there you are. Although the site is acting up today.

[Pushka]

Here's the irony - RCI won't let you bring wine onboard. But if you get wine from your TA in your cabin, or if you order from the Gifts & Gear wines and have it sent to your cabin and then bring it to the dining room, the policy is to charge $12 corkage. FOR THEIR OWN FLIPPIN' WINE. Not every waiter will do that do you, but it is the policy.

.

 

So, does that mean if you order through the Gifts and Gear section (as a customer not a TA) and you specify that you want the wines delivered to the Dining room and not your cabin, that the wines will be $12 dearer than if you had specified cabin?

[LeeBe]

What I do if I want a little grape for the cabin is just order a bottle at dinner and transported to the cabin myself. The dinning room staff will partially open it or I'll get an opener from the cabin steward. A fresh glass is also provided by the MDR:):). Then no worries about the "rules."

[Pushka]

So, does that mean if you order through the Gifts and Gear section (as a customer not a TA) and you specify that you want the wines delivered to the Dining room and not your cabin, that the wines will be $12 dearer than if you had specified cabin?

 

I just tried an online order and the price is the same. So why the heck is there a corkage fee? For the privilege of serving it? I can pour my own glass!

 

So the trick to this is if you just want a bottle to start with in your cabin, have one or two in your room waiting, then have the rest ordered to the main dining room so you can drink with your meal, then bring the bottle back to your room each night for the next night pre dinner drinks.

[Cruzin-K]

I wish I could remember which port this was (Kusadasi, maybe?) but on my recent Med cruise there was one port where we went through security in the terminal building and the AFTER security (X-ray) was a duty free store. I saw one man buying about six bottles of booze. I thought for sure we would have to go through the x-ray again on the ship but nope, we waltzed right on, and that guy had lots of liquor to enjoy the rest of his cruise in his cabin :eek:

 

The cruise happened to be on Princess, but wouldn't security be pretty much the same on all ships at that port?

 

Why on earth would they have the only security checkpoint before the duty free shop, and then zero checks after that???

[Pushka]

I wish I could remember which port this was (Kusadasi, maybe?) but on my recent Med cruise there was one port where we went through security in the terminal building and the AFTER security (X-ray) was a duty free store. I saw one man buying about six bottles of booze. I thought for sure we would have to go through the x-ray again on the ship but nope, we waltzed right on, and that guy had lots of liquor to enjoy the rest of his cruise in his cabin :eek:

 

The cruise happened to be on Princess, but wouldn't security be pretty much the same on all ships at that port?

 

Why on earth would they have the only security checkpoint before the duty free shop, and then zero checks after that???

 

Barcelona. Just hope it stays that way until next year! ;)

[Cruzin-K]

Barcelona. Just hope it stays that way until next year! ;)

 

Maybe, but my cruise didn't go to Barcelona so there's another one out there.

[KMSpa]

It was the same in Valparaiso Chile on the Mariner. We were speaking to some fellow passengers after we set sail and they said they were able to bring several bottles of wine onboard. Someone said the countrys goverment required RCCL to allow it. I don't know if that was true or not. We tried to do it in Argentina and they kept it until the end of hte cruise.

[Ocean Dancer]

San Juan was also a port where you could bring anything from the duty free store after security. Is this still happening?:confused:

[kc320]

San Juan was also a port where you could bring anything from the duty free store after security. Is this still happening?:confused:

 

Not as of last year...they have a 2nd scanner just as you are getting off the gangway onto the ship...:(

[Ocean Dancer]

Not as of last year...they have a 2nd scanner just as you are getting off the gangway onto the ship...:(

 

 

Rats!!!!!!!!!!!!:cool:

[mjldvlks]

. . . Princess still treats their passengers like adults, they allow you to bring on as much wine and champagne as you wish. . . .

 

I can't speak for what they allow, but their official policy according to their website is that "passengers are permitted to bring one bottle of wine and/or champagne per person purchased in a shoreside location onboard. . ."

They have $15.00 corkage fee if you take it to dinner.

[mjldvlks]

For anyone who is interested, here are the alcohol policies [without commentary -- they are what they are] of the major cruise lines taken from their websites:

 

Cruise Line Alcohol Policies.pdf

[Janman]

Do they confiscate the wine if it is in your suitcase when you check in?

[LeeBe]

Really depends on how close they are monitoring. If they see it during the luggage scanning, you maybe called to the "naughty" room and claim it. They will normally hold it until the last night if it is in the original container.

[Bakincakes]

They take whatever alcohol they feel like taking.

 

I think if people hadn't gotten out of hand, like bringing an entire bar with them:rolleyes:, RCI would probably be looking the other way if pax brought on one or two bottles of wine.

 

But as usual the minority ruined it for the rest and now RCI has gotten alot tougher about smugglers.

 

My sister recently sailed on the Allure and her tablemates were grousing about losing their rumrunners. Between the two couples they had packed 10 of the things.:rolleyes:

 

If they hadn't been so greedy maybe they would have gotten them through.

[Trekker954]

I thought they'd (RCCI) retain it until the final night.

 

Not always. When they started cracking down (before I knew better) I was sailing the Mariner out of Long Beach. I had gone to a wine tasting event after flying to California and bought three bottles of expensive wine to die for, packed them in my bags; was called down to the naughty room (where they confiscated my three bottles and was told they would be destroyed). There must have been over 200 bottles of booze in their naughty room that I saw. I pleaded to get them back before disembarkation and they said no and referred me to customer service. Customer service denied me and even tried to blame it on a US Customs policy (saying they weren't allowed)(considering I know CBP rules and policies inside and out - I found this insulting), but didn't push it since I know it was a RCCL rule that I did break it. What I'm trying to tell you, although East coast sailings normally will return it the last night, its not in stone and they can change up the rules whenever. So those that want to smuggle bottled wine, don't smuggle expensive wine.

 

I think my issue was this happened when they decided to crack down and there were just too many smuggled bottles to process for return. However, considering what I paid for them, I certainly hope they went to the crew parties and really weren't destroyed.

[gadaboutgal]

Let's go back again to embarcation from a US port.

If your luggage is locked when you turn it over at the curb to the porters, the ship will not break the lock. If you have anything inside the luggage which is suspicious after it is xrayed, you will be called down to the "naughty room" to open your luggage and it's then they would ask for you to surrender your wine. At this point in time, you can turn over the bottle of wine that you have sitting on top of your clothes and whatever is below may stay below- are they going to rifle through the rest of your case? Hmm, just figure the odds. (this is strictly theoretical, of course, as we don't smuggle since being D+ at 50cruises+ we have sufficient alcohol provided by the line,)

[Bakincakes]

Let's go back again to embarcation from a US port.

If your luggage is locked when you turn it over at the curb to the porters, the ship will not break the lock. If you have anything inside the luggage which is suspicious after it is xrayed, you will be called down to the "naughty room" to open your luggage and it's then they would ask for you to surrender your wine. At this point in time, you can turn over the bottle of wine that you have sitting on top of your clothes and whatever is below may stay below- are they going to rifle through the rest of your case? Hmm, just figure the odds. (this is strictly theoretical, of course, as we don't smuggle since being D+ at 50cruises+ we have sufficient alcohol provided by the line,)

 

 

My sisters tablemates said the pax were forced to "rifle". Once they found some runrunners they made them move clothing and found the others.