Anyone have actural experience with wine out of Galveston?

[happy cruzer]

Hi,

 

I would like to book a last minute cruise out of Galveston. I would like to make sure that I understand how the wine is handled by Princess and port of Galveston?

 

For a week, the two of use normally like to carry on about 5 bottles of wine. Some for in the cabin , some for lunch, and some in the dining room. We do not mind paying a corkage fee if it is charged at the time of dining.

 

So any actual experiences with wine out of Galveston? I know the official policy and am ok with that. I am asking about the enforcement or lack thereof. And for details about boarding with the wine in Galveston. And for how it is handled in the buffet and the MDR on the Crown Princess.

 

Thanks.

[Pam in CA]

Both my friend and I carried wine onboard the Crown in Galveston last month without any problems. We never took it out of our cabins but I would assume that if you carried it to the buffet or dining room, you would be charged the corkage fee. That's what happened on the Island last October.

[bjkTX]

We sailed on the Crown a few weeks ago. We each had two bottles in our luggage and we carried one each in our carry on - no issues. Most of our friends did the same with no problems. I think one even had a box with bottles of wine in it that they checked in.

[matj2000]

We just got off today.

I brought 5 bottles. 3 were in my backpack and the others were checked.

Nobody said a word.

I also saw others carrying there own wine. One guy was walking in with six bottles in one of those carriers.

[bagney]

We just disembarked off the Crown Princess in Galveston a few hours ago. We embarked last Saturday had no issues with taking a total of eight bottles of wine (2 in each of our two main suitcases and 2 in each of our carry-ons). Not a soul said anything or even looked like it was an issue. Luggage was delivered to room with no problems or issues about the wine.

[happy cruzer]

Thanks for the recent reports! We will share when we return too. Just booked for the 23th.

 

Our favorite part of the day is a nice dinner with our favorite wines in the MDR. Hope the dining is still very good on Princess.

[GFord]

What about Soda's & water? Do you have to carry on or can you put in your checked bags?

[bjkTX]

What about Soda's & water? Do you have to carry on or can you put in your checked bags?

 

I carried on two one liter bottles of diet tonic and 6 small bottles of cranberry juice - no issues.

[caribill]

What about Soda's & water? Do you have to carry on or can you put in your checked bags?

 

You can do either.

[awhcruiser]

How was your cruise?

 

I carried on two one liter bottles of diet tonic and 6 small bottles of cranberry juice - no issues.

[sminfiddle]

I was on the same cruise as Mattj and bagney.

Bought a 12-bottle Wine Shipper at Spec's for ten bucks, I put in about eight bottles of champagne, Moscato and Cabernet. Taped a luggage tag flat on it and the porter took it. It reappeared in the cabin with a sneaker print on it. Nice box! - brought it home to use again. Both wine and champagne are protected snugly.

 

Two plastic-wrapped 24-packs of Ozarka spring water, one for each cabin. Checked in with a flat luggage tag. We put the leftover water in luggage to disembark.

No charges, questions or problem with any of this.

 

I would have brought two cases of Mr. Pibb for the kids but I could not find any!

[keylimepie]

Same here. Took 2 bottles of wine on and one champagne...we opened the bottles in the cabin and took to the dining room and Explorers Lounge. Waitress in the lounge even went and got a bucket of ice for the champagne without being asked.

 

We would have been fine with a corkage fee but it never came up.

 

We also brought one 12 pack of Coke Zero...taped a luggage tag to it and it was delivered to the room without a hitch.

[happy cruzer]

We carried on bottles of wine and wine in a box with no issue. Hopefully this will still be possible with the new wine policies. We paid corkage fee each night in the dining room; we had Select Dining.

 

There's the update for our great cruise, March 23.

[Madison3]

We were on the Crown from 2/16 to 2/23. We took 7 bottles of wine, 1 bottle of champagne, and a 12 pack of diet caffeine free coke in our carryon luggage. Not one hitch. We were charged only once in the MDR for corkage. Since we had the same table every night we tipped the waiter about half of what we saved in corkage fees. We stayed at the Hampton Inn for two days prior to the cruise and bought all of our wine at the Walmart across the street from the hotel. Got some nice wines at a great price. We befriended one of the head waiters who, was a bit of a wine buff, and every night he would come over and try our wine. We ended up not drinking one of the bottles and gave it to him. He was thrilled.

[satxdiver]

We sailed on the 3/2 cruise out of Galveston. We took 6 bottle of wine in a wine carrier and one more bottle in our carryon. Not a word was said as it passed through the scanner.

[GamesGuy3811]

We had no problems on March 23rd 7-day cruise on Crown out of Galveston.

My wife and I brought 4 bottles of wine onboard in our checked luggage without issue (2 per bag).

We did 5:45 pm traditional dining every night and were not charged any corkage fees (although we did develop a good relationship with our waiter and asst waiter).

1st Dinner: No wine (due to very limited selection because we were still within 200 miles of port)

2nd Dinner: Purchased bottle off wine list ($31 CdP - great for price)

3rd Dinner: Opened bottle in stateroom and drank most of bottle, only bringing the glasses to dinner

Remaining Dinners: Brought half-empty bottle to dinner

 

The only time we were almost charged a corkage fee was when we requested a decanter for a birth-year (1984) wine for my wife. The sommelier decanted the bottle and told us we would be charged a corkage fee. I said no problem, thanked him for hosting an excellent wine tasting a couple days previous, and said the bottle was a birth year wine for my wife's birthday. We were not charged a corkage fee.

Overall the charging of corkage fees in the dining rooms is spotty. I believe I wasn't charged any fees since we developed a good relationship with our waiters, purchased off the wine list (including "dessert" wine), and opened every bottle ourselves in our stateroom.

 

On a side note, many of the wine list prices are very reasonable, especially for the higher-end bottles.