Princess' replie re: Wine

[blondee419]

It looks like we *can* still bring wine onboard if it was purchased in port, though it's subject to the $15 cost. I think.

 

Here's what I got on my fb post:

Princess Cruises I apologize that I am just now getting back to you.

 

The policy remains the same in terms of passengers being permitted to bring one bottle of wine or champagne onboard per adult per voyage. If this bottle is opened in a public area (such as the dining room) a $15 corkage fee will apply, however if the bottle is consumed in the privacy of the passenger's stateroom, no corkage will apply.

 

What has changed is that we recognize some of our passengers have preferences for particular wines or champagnes and we will now be allowing passengers to bring additional bottles of wine or champagne onboard our vessels during the cruise and at embarkation. Each bottle in excess of the one bottle per voyage per adult will receive a $15 corkage fee irrespective of where this will be consumed. Princess will begin monitoring and enforcing the above policy in the coming weeks and months as we introduce this new policy.

 

And on my Twitter feed:

Princess Cruises ‏@PrincessCruises @blondee419 Passengers are able to bring 750ml bottles of wine onboard to enjoy during the cruise as well as at embarkation... continued

@blondee419 Anything above &beyond the 1 bottle per adult per voyage will incur a corkage fee of $15 per bottle regardless of where consumed

[caber]

how can they tell if you have previously brought wine aboard? If you have flown in to the embarkation port there may not have been time to purchase wine before embarking.

[Carolyn R]

I wish they would take length of voyage into consideration.

[caber]

I wish they would take length of voyage into consideration.

 

That is so true.

[skynight]

Well, when Princess offers excursions to vinyards, and they do, they should at least allow you to purchase the wine and bring it onboard w/o cost.

[Northender]

I wish they would take length of voyage into consideration.

 

I totally agree, Carolyn. I mentioned this same thing on another of the many threads.:):)

[Pushka]

Unless its marked on your card somewhere that you've previously brought wine onboard then they won't know.

[Redwing55]

Unless its marked on your card somewhere that you've previously brought wine onboard then they won't know.

 

Very likely, but the more folks post work arounds and "I got away with" posts, the more firm Princess will be on enforcement. Have at it.

[MicCanberra]

Unless its marked on your card somewhere that you've previously brought wine onboard then they won't know.

I bet they would, when you scan in when reboarding, it may be marked on your file. Enforcing the rule is another matter.:D

[sagittarius]

"What has changed is that we recognize some of our passengers have preferences for particular wines or champagnes and we will now be allowing passengers to bring additional bottles of wine or champagne onboard our vessels during the cruise and at embarkation. Each bottle in excess of the one bottle per voyage per adult will receive a $15 corkage fee irrespective of where this will be consumed. Princess will begin monitoring and enforcing the above policy in the coming weeks and months as we introduce this new policy."

 

Does this not indicate that extra bottles bought at ports on the cruise will be allowed, but now will be charged unlike previously when extra bottles appeared to allowed free of charge..except when cruising in Oz when they often tried to stop any wine etc being brought on. On the US site they seem to be up in arms as it appeared that wine could only be brought on at embarkation.

[pris993]

Great now we have clarification on the new policy. I am content to let it go at that... thanks much.

[fyrfytr80]

If I bring extra bottles of wine on board (above the 1 per person limit) and charged the $15 corkage fee will I also be charged another $15 if brought to the dining room? Will the bottles be marked as to whether the corkage fee has already been paid? I haven't seen anything official about this.

[Astro Flyer]

If I bring extra bottles of wine on board (above the 1 per person limit) and charged the $15 corkage fee will I also be charged another $15 if brought to the dining room? Will the bottles be marked as to whether the corkage fee has already been paid? I haven't seen anything official about this.

No...that fee includes corkage for bottles in excess of more than 1 per person per cruise.

 

Here's how they marked bottles recently on the Crown Princess to show they were either purchased or a gift from ship's inventory & I've also read that it has been a label instead of this stamp. So they may possibly do the same thing when paying the fee but it seems to me to be a very time consuming procedure that could slow down boarding the ship.

 

Guess only time will tell about how this will be managed.

[MicCanberra]

No...that fee includes corkage for bottles in excess of more than 1 per person per cruise.

 

Here's how they marked bottles recently on the Crown Princess to show they were either purchased or a gift from ship's inventory & I've also read that it has been a label instead of this stamp. So they may possibly do the same thing when paying the fee but it seems to me to be a very time consuming procedure that could slow down boarding the ship.

 

Guess only time will tell about how this will be managed.

If it is a stamp, I know someone who would buy a bottle just to get it stamped.:D

[Amuse Bouche]

This is great news!

 

I can't help but think that the last, what, two weeks (?) were so vague on details because they were waiting to see what the interpretation and backlash would be.

If the Cruise Critic crowd is anything, it's blunt.

 

I know in all the wine threads people have mentioned that we are but a small representation of all the cruisers, but I actually think there are probably more people who either surf the boards before a cruise without becoming a member (you can read, but not post) or people who are members but never post.

 

Thanks for posting Blondee419!

[IECalCruiser]

The following suggestions were included in an e-mail I sent to Princess yesterday. Doubt it will do any good but it was worth a try.

Change the policy to allow passengers to bring back wine purchased on Princess shore excursions free of corkage. Princess advertises some US West Coast cruises as wine cruises. On those and many other cruises around the world, Princess offers a number of shore excursions that stop at wineries for a wine tasting. Some (I believe at least one Ensenada shore excursion) may even include a free bottle of wine. Wineries earn money through the sale of wine after the tastings and passengers like to take a bottle or two of wine back to enjoy in their cabins. This change may encourage more people to sign up for Princess shore excursions and will let the business’s that participate in the Princess tours to know that Princess supports the wineries on those shore excursions. For instance, we brought back several bottles of wine from a Princess winery tour outside of Montevideo and got together with people we met on the tour several times later in the cruise to enjoy the wine and relive the tour.

 

Change the policy from one bottle of wine corkage free per person per cruise at embarkation (or ports) to one bottle per person per week. Longer cruises attract your loyal returning Princess cruisers. One bottle per person on a seven day cruise might be OK, but not on longer cruises. This would more fairly treat passengers on longer cruises. I would propose something like:

·

1-7 days – One bottle/person

·

8-14 days – Two bottles/person

·

15-21 days – Three bottles/person

·

22+ days – Four bottles/person

 

Change the policy to allow passengers on B2B cruises to bring on board all allowed corkage free wine at the first embarkation or any other time. For instance, we did a B2B in Seattle. We brought on board more than one bottle per person at our first embarkation. Pier 93 in Seattle is remotely located and it would have been cumbersome to need to get a cab to get to a location to buy wine. Why force passengers to incur the additional cost of a taxi when all of the wine could be brought on board at one time?

[antsp]

Anyone giing to buy the seawitch logo stamp kit selling on ebay.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You didn't really look did you

[pablo222]

Unless its marked on your card somewhere that you've previously brought wine onboard then they won't know.

 

How 'bout the night before a port call, the pursers desk prints out a

list of who has used their allowance, and they have the list at the gangway.

 

When you stop at then liquor table, the attendant consults the list.

 

Or, if you like, when you bring your first bottle on board, punch a hole

in your card.

[antsp]

The hole punch idea probably will work. Rccl clips holes in your card for all sorts of things.

[CruisinChris]

I predict they will fail in their effort to enforce this. The logistics are not straightforward and implementation will be challenging. It's one thing for HQ to make a policy, it's another for the ship to implement in the field. It doesn't seem that they did a test, either, which is unusual. I think we should all calm down and see how it plays out. My guess is that it's not going to be too different. Except for the folks who were schlepping CASES of wine aboard "just slap a luggage tag on it." I think the crackdown is intended to dissuade that type of behavior versus folks casually bringing on a bottle or two of wine.

 

Oh, and for what it's worth, the only region I've ever seen Princess enforce the liquor policy in is the Caribbean. Never in other regions. (I understand that the Australia-based ship catering to the Aussie market have different issues and policies. I'm not speaking to that here).

[Northender]

The following suggestions were included in an e-mail I sent to Princess yesterday. Doubt it will do any good but it was worth a try.

Change the policy to allow passengers to bring back wine purchased on Princess shore excursions free of corkage. Princess advertises some US West Coast cruises as wine cruises. On those and many other cruises around the world, Princess offers a number of shore excursions that stop at wineries for a wine tasting. Some (I believe at least one Ensenada shore excursion) may even include a free bottle of wine. Wineries earn money through the sale of wine after the tastings and passengers like to take a bottle or two of wine back to enjoy in their cabins. This change may encourage more people to sign up for Princess shore excursions and will let the business’s that participate in the Princess tours to know that Princess supports the wineries on those shore excursions. For instance, we brought back several bottles of wine from a Princess winery tour outside of Montevideo and got together with people we met on the tour several times later in the cruise to enjoy the wine and relive the tour.

 

Change the policy from one bottle of wine corkage free per person per cruise at embarkation (or ports) to one bottle per person per week. Longer cruises attract your loyal returning Princess cruisers. One bottle per person on a seven day cruise might be OK, but not on longer cruises. This would more fairly treat passengers on longer cruises. I would propose something like:

·

1-7 days – One bottle/person

·

8-14 days – Two bottles/person

·

15-21 days – Three bottles/person

·

22+ days – Four bottles/person

 

Change the policy to allow passengers on B2B cruises to bring on board all allowed corkage free wine at the first embarkation or any other time. For instance, we did a B2B in Seattle. We brought on board more than one bottle per person at our first embarkation. Pier 93 in Seattle is remotely located and it would have been cumbersome to need to get a cab to get to a location to buy wine. Why force passengers to incur the additional cost of a taxi when all of the wine could be brought on board at one time?

 

Thanks, IECal. Hopefully you will receive a reply, especially for the part I changed to red. As I have also mentioned before, we bought all of our wine onboard on our B2B to Alaska. I believe my favorite (Kendall Jackson Chard) was $32 a bottle. The servers in Crooners were great and even volunteered to take our wine to the Dining Room every night for us. But on our next cruise in Oct., it would really be nice to pick up some wine in Venice before boarding.:)

 

If you want to post the email address for Princess, I will also be glad to send an email paraphrasing the above.:D

 

Now, it will be interesting to see how they answer your email.

 

We are in for a huge storm here in the Northeast starting late tonight. :eek: Keeping our fingers crossed that we won't lose cable, internet, phones,etc. It could be days before we get plowed out.:p

[IECalCruiser]

Thanks, IECal. Hopefully you will receive a reply, especially for the part I changed to red. As I have also mentioned before, we bought all of our wine onboard on our B2B to Alaska. I believe my favorite (Kendall Jackson Chard) was $32 a bottle. The servers in Crooners were great and even volunteered to take our wine to the Dining Room every night for us. But on our next cruise in Oct., it would really be nice to pick up some wine in Venice before boarding.:)

 

If you want to post the email address for Princess, I will also be glad to send an email paraphrasing the above.:D

 

Now, it will be interesting to see how they answer your email.

 

We are in for a huge storm here in the Northeast starting late tonight. :eek: Keeping our fingers crossed that we won't lose cable, internet, phones,etc. It could be days before we get plowed out.:p

I received the response below:

Thank you for your email regarding our wine policy.

 

The policy remains the same in terms of passengers being permitted to bring one bottle of wine or champagne

onboard per adult per voyage. If this bottle is opened in a public area (such as the dining room) a $15 corkage

fee will apply, however if the bottle is consumed in the privacy of the passenger's stateroom, no corkage will apply.

What has changed is that we recognize some of our passengers have preferences for particular wines or champagnes

and we will now be allowing passengers to bring additional bottles of wine or champagne onboard our vessels at

embarkation. Each bottle in excess of the one bottle per voyage per adult will receive a $15 corkage fee irrespective

of where this will be consumed. Princess will begin monitoring and enforcing the above policy in the coming weeks

and months as we introduce this new policy.

 

We recognize that purchasing wine or champagne ashore can be an enjoyable aspect of shopping and exploring our

ports of call. Passengers are able to bring onboard 750ml bottles of wine or champagne, however anything above and

beyond the one bottle per adult per voyage will incur a corkage fee of $15 per bottle - regardless of where consumed.

 

..., your comments are important to us. We are always looking for ways to improve our service so customer

feedback such as yours are reviewed, this being said, your suggestions will be forwarded to the Food and Beverage

Department.

 

We value your loyalty to Princess Cruises and look forward to welcoming you onboard the Emerald Princess in

June and the new Royal Princess in September, 2013.

 

Regards,

Princess Cruises

Customer Relations Department

customerrelations@princesscruises.com

I believe others have posted, but it appears that Princess has made a small change to the proposed policy and will allow wine to be brought on board at ports. We need to continue letting Princess know our negative thoughts and constructive criticisms regarding the proposed change in enforcement of their wine policy,

[bjkTX]

If it is a stamp, I know someone who would buy a bottle just to get it stamped.:D

 

And take it back to the cabin after dinner every night to "refill" it :-)

[pablo222]

And take it back to the cabin after dinner every night to "refill" it :-)

 

No need to wonder why princess has to resort to charging

'corkage' as bottles come on to the ship.

[MicCanberra]

No need to wonder why princess has to resort to charging

'corkage' as bottles come on to the ship.

It is that and the taking of cases of wine onboard rather than a bottle or two.:D