First Time NCL (and NCL Sky at that)

[jdvmd]

Never cruised NCL so I am a little confused by your corkage fee statement. So even if I am not going to be drinking my wine in the dining room, there is a corkage fee?

This fee is assessed on boarding?

Can someone point me to the information on this? I did not get that reading the FAQ's, I took the corkage fee to be assessed by the dining room like other establishments.

 

NCL allows you to bring on wine, wine only. You will pay the $15 per 750ml bottle of wine and can enjoy anywhere on the ship. This means any bar, any restaurant AND it means your cabin/balcony. Sometimes the wine is not detected if in checked baggage so you are getting a freebie BUT if you tried to take that bottle of wine to the main dining room, bar or specialty restaurant, AND they see that corkage has not been paid, you will be charged then. They do check your account to see if corkage has been paid and for however many bottles. Each bottle also is affixed with a "Corkage Paid" sticker once you pay the corkage.

If you carry on the wine and it is detected upon going through security, your shipboard account is charged then.

[miztressuz]

thanks jdvmd i would have never thought that. i must have skipped over that part about cabins in the FAQ because that's not really a corkage fee, its a flat out surcharge then. i wish they would call it what it is. that's a bummer, we usually bring a bottle for the cabin so that we don't have to wander out to the bar if we want a drink once we get settled. but for such a short cruise it's not worth $15 extra :(

 

i like the 2-for1 martini's that have been mentioned by several, hopefully that holds out until the fall. and I have noted the milk and cookies at the Great Outdoors (that pic looked good)

any other recommendations anyone? or did we exhaust the 'don't miss's :p

[jdvmd]

thanks jdvmd i would have never thought that. i must have skipped over that part about cabins in the FAQ because that's not really a corkage fee, its a flat out surcharge then. i wish they would call it what it is. that's a bummer, we usually bring a bottle for the cabin so that we don't have to wander out to the bar if we want a drink once we get settled. but for such a short cruise it's not worth $15 extra :(

 

i like the 2-for1 martini's that have been mentioned by several, hopefully that holds out until the fall. and I have noted the milk and cookies at the Great Outdoors (that pic looked good)

any other recommendations anyone? or did we exhaust the 'don't miss's :p

 

I have no problem with NCL's corkage fee policy. We routinely bring a case or more of wine onboard. For us, it is more about the selection. We bring wines from our personal cellar that are low production and no that there is no way they would appear on a NCL wine list. If they did, they would cost hundreds. For us, the $15 is a bargain to bring on what we want. Lines like RCCL do not allow you to bring on anything. Carnival limits you to one bottle and Celebrity is two bottles. Corkage on Celebrity is $25 if taken to the dining room.

[tjcjr]

Be sure to check out the Friends of Dorothy meetings. I'll be sailing on NCL Sky on 2/27/12. Maybe I'll see you there!

 

This is only my 2nd cruise on NCL. My partner and I were on the SS Norway (formerly the SS France). It was a great historic ocean liner refitted for cruising. Unfortunately, it blew up two weeks after our cruise and it was scrapped. I enjoyed the NCL cruise the best. I swore never to go on another Holland America cruise, but ended up on one via RSVP. Had a blast, but I still preferred NCL.

 

http://tjcjr.homeip.net