Alcohol now being destroyed

[CruisinChris]

Princess makes plenty of money from me. For every drink I have in the cabin, I buy three or four at the bars. I do not bring liquor on to circumvent buying it on board; I just like to have a drink in my cabin while dressing for dinner or as a nightcap.

 

You can still have a drink in your cabin. Call room service - you can order any kind of drink you want. You can order bottles for your room. You can order bottles of wine or wine by the glass. You can buy a bottle at a bar and bring it back. You do not have to carry on wine or spirit to have drinks in your room.

[billco]

I believe you. We are boarding the Coral in San Pedro on April 20th and I expected to put a wine box in my suitcase and another in my carryon. Are you aware of anyone who had box wine and how it was handled?

I don't know if Princess has addressed that issue yet, I imagine the box in your suitcase would be destroyed. If the box in your carryon is 5 litres, I guess you could pay corkage fees on 4 litres. Or they might consider you a too valuable customer to alienate.

[Mermen]

It is amazing... how many folks here see themselves as the cruise police. My, my... I do not understand why anyone really cares whether someone brings on alcohol or not... all I really care about is what I do.

 

Too true. Same on the Celebrity board though too. I posted a question about rum runners a few years ago and was slapped up one side and down the other and then scolded some more. Live and let live, fellow Bay Area cruiser! :)

To the OP, sorry that happened but hope your cruise to Hawaii is wonderful. Aloha!

 

Does anyone know if Princess offers an in-room bar set up? Celebrity does, but the cost is outrageous!! I think Carnival had one which was much cheaper. Standard spirits are fine (Sky, Bacardi, etc.). Thanks!

[Pia1913]

I don't know if Princess has addressed that issue yet, I imagine the box in your suitcase would be destroyed. If the box in your carryon is 5 litres, I guess you could pay corkage fees on 4 litres. Or they might consider you a too valuable customer to alienate.

 

Me valuable? hahaha. Then again............... ;)

 

I only take 3 liter; 5 too cumbersome.

[woohooTOO]

I wonder how many will say "I spent $23.00 today on drinks. I guess I'll take that off of my discretionary gratuity of $12 per person for mini-suites and suites, and $11.50 per passenger in all other staterooms per day (including children) will be automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis."

[generichandle]

Phfew ...... when I saw the thread title, I thought the USA had reinstated Prohibition. :eek:

 

Doug

[JimmyVWine]

I wonder how many will say "I spent $23.00 today on drinks. I guess I'll take that off of my discretionary gratuity of $12 per person for mini-suites and suites, and $11.50 per passenger in all other staterooms per day (including children) will be automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis."

 

And I wonder how many will say: "I spent over $3,000 for this cruise. Am I really going to short-change the hard working staff over a $15 corkage fee?"

[ONT-CA]

Cancel all tips? To demonstrate what -- that you are cheap?

 

If you don't like the rules, you have to choice to not sail on princess.

Didn't you already tell us you were changing to Celebrity?

 

You miss the point altogether. If they need better return charge for Pizza, charge for something but do not deny an individual his personal tastes that cannot be supplied aboard. My personal expenditures has nothing to do with this. Let me rephrase that; when CCL high for the day is $19.50 share I think it may have something to do with this. And Celebrity? I was speaking of going UP...

[JimmyVWine]

... charge for something but do not deny an individual his personal tastes that cannot be supplied aboard.

 

Your point is well taken, but I think the first response, (before cancelling all cruises), is to phone, write, email, Facebook post, and communicate in every way possible that enforcement of this policy should be counter-balanced with an increase in high end hard alcohol selection. (Of course, you should expect to pay a premium if you want to move from JW Red to JW Blue). When wine drinkers want to "up their game", they can bring on better quality wines and pay $15. When Scotch and Vodka drinkers want to up their game, there should be a way to do that, and it seems the best way to do that is for Princess to stock up on better bottles for which they can charge a higher price per drink. Seems like a win-win.

[woohooTOO]

And I wonder how many will say: "I spent over $3,000 for this cruise. Am I really going to short-change the hard working staff over a $15 corkage fee?"

Who knows? It will be interesting to see how all this plays out. Seems to me that quite a few people are upset about the situation. I would bet that many would say "I worked hard to pay for my $3,000 cruise and I don't want to spend more on the over priced liquor." Personally, I will buy the over priced 750 ml bottles from Princess.

[olvrxyzh]

This new Alcohol policy will make life ridiculous for anyone flying out of a country to board a cruise because you can only buy Duty Free liquor exiting a country not on your return

 

We often fly out of the UK to stay in a port for several days before a cruise and buy Duty free liquor at Heathrow to enjoy in our hotel etc

 

If this is now going to be destroyed getting onboard Princess Ships too true there will be major arguments

 

If they want to keep it till end of the cruise fine but destroying it is grossly unfair all round

 

 

My understanding is that they will take the liquor from you when you get back to the ship, then deliver it to your cabin on the last day.

[Roses2]

You miss the point altogether. If they need better return charge for Pizza, charge for something but do not deny an individual his personal tastes that cannot be supplied aboard. My personal expenditures has nothing to do with this. Let me rephrase that; when CCL high for the day is $19.50 share I think it may have something to do with this. And Celebrity? I was speaking of going UP...

 

I am afraid you misquoted the price of CCL it closed at $34.30 up almost 2% today.

[MtnStCruisers]

How do we go about expressing our displeasure with the policy? Do we email? Post on the Princess Facebook page?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[cr8tiv1]

You miss the point altogether. If they need better return charge for Pizza, charge for something but do not deny an individual his personal tastes that cannot be supplied aboard. My personal expenditures has nothing to do with this. Let me rephrase that; when CCL high for the day is $19.50 share I think it may have something to do with this. And Celebrity? I was speaking of going UP...

 

When was CCL stock at a high of $19.50? Today (3/28) the high was $34.40 and closed at $34.29. (Sorry for the double information...I didn't read to the end of the thread before starting my post.)

 

And for the passenger who will remove all of his tips...I think you are penalizing the wrong people. The people in the gratuity pool work very hard and have nothing to do with the limits of wine you can bring on board.

 

This thread is very active with offer some good suggestions on how to make it more equitable for those who carry on their wine. The general tone is very negative and sometimes vicious.

 

I agree that people should be allowed to bring on their favorite wines. And I agree that a corkage fee should be imposed on excessive bottles (open for interpretation). I don't understand why there is such an uproar over a policy that has been in place for a long time (One 750 L bottle per person). But then again, I am not a drinker. I have a hard time finishing one bottle in 14 days (and that is with sharing).

 

But this thread will continue to grow.

 

Renee

[Traveling Texans]

I would not be opposed to that, however they stock very bottom shelf items for purchases at extreme prices. If they had better quality room service stocked items then that may sway some folks that direction.

We order Bombay Sapphire from room service, that is not a low quality gin.

[cherylandtk]

The News link posted earlier contradicts part of what the OP stated happened to him. I tend to believe the OP and think Princess may have erred in their implementation. Or perhaps it was miscommunication.

 

According to the link and PR VP Julie Benson, champagne or wine in luggage or carryon is allowed with the payment of $15 corkage fee beyond the one free bottle. It was pretty emphatic in the statement that Princess claims no wine or champagne was being discarded. (Presuming that means the pax pays the $15 fee; not sure what they would do if the pax refuses to pay the $15 fee for the extra bottles).

 

Pia, I think you may have to call and clarify what they intend to do or charge for wine boxes. Whatever it is, suggest you get it in writing, though.

 

Seems that the Princess Beverage Operations Manager was onsite to oversee the implementation, too.

[Dudleydog73]

We order Bombay Sapphire from room service, that is not a low quality gin.

 

I will give you that point, in that Bombay Saphire is our preferred gin as well. Gin seems to be the only thing that Princess stocks well.

 

As I noted, just about every other category they cheaped out on (or only offer one option) while drastically raising the price.

 

I would like to see a more comprehensive wine package, offered on ALL cruises, as well as hard liquour packages available for purchase on all cruises that offer more then what they have now. Something along the lines of the wine packages that have silver, gold, platinum tiers to allow folks to upgrade if wanted.

[Pia1913]

 

 

Pia, I think you may have to call and clarify what they intend to do or charge for wine boxes. Whatever it is, suggest you get it in writing, though.

 

Seems that the Princess Beverage Operations Manager was onsite to oversee the implementation, too.

 

I wonder how a box shows up on xray. The only part that could show would be the spout and that could be attached to something medical. Somehow telephone clarification would not stand up if pier personnel weren't on the ball. Now I wonder what they will do when you carry on wine bought at a port of call.

[johnmik1]

Why can't Princess do it like HAL ,where you can buy a real bottle not the jr. size at a higher price.I drink scotch but would rather not drink than drink J&B,which is all Princess offers!Las year on HAL,I went to the store and bought 3 bottles of 12year old Dewars that I thought would be brought to my cabin on the last day.The person in the store said just take it now.That was day 4 of an 11 day cruise!If I stay at a hotel that has a bar they don't restrict what I can bring to my room for personal consumption,and no cruise line should either!Looks like HAL will be getting my business.

[melody hounddog]

I will give you that point, in that Bombay Saphire is our preferred gin as well. Gin seems to be the only thing that Princess stocks well.

 

As I noted, just about every other category they cheaped out on (or only offer one option) while drastically raising the price.

 

I would like to see a more comprehensive wine package, offered on ALL cruises, as well as hard liquour packages available for purchase on all cruises that offer more then what they have now. Something along the lines of the wine packages that have silver, gold, platinum tiers to allow folks to upgrade if wanted.

 

I too would like to see a more comprehensive wine/beer/liquor package available on Princess.

[Pia1913]

I too would like to see a more comprehensive wine/beer/liquor package available on Princess.

 

There is a wine package, but not all voyages and all ships have them.

[Whoo]

Why can't Princess do it like HAL ,where you can buy a real bottle not the jr. size at a higher price.I drink scotch but would rather not drink than drink J&B,which is all Princess offers!Las year on HAL,I went to the store and bought 3 bottles of 12year old Dewars that I thought would be brought to my cabin on the last day.The person in the store said just take it now.That was day 4 of an 11 day cruise!If I stay at a hotel that has a bar they don't restrict what I can bring to my room for personal consumption,and no cruise line should either!Looks like HAL will be getting my business.

 

When we sailed on the Carnival Splendour last year, we were able to buy full sized bottles (1 liter) of Dewar's and Grey Goose for fairly reasonable prices ($40 for the Dewar's and $60 for the GG) considering we were ordering from room service. Both bottles were delivered within 5 minutes of ordering them. Since Princess is owned by Carnival, why can't Princess offer something similar?

[Colo Cruiser]

Why can't Princess do it like HAL ,where you can buy a real bottle not the jr. size at a higher price.I drink scotch but would rather not drink than drink J&B,which is all Princess offers!Las year on HAL,I went to the store and bought 3 bottles of 12year old Dewars that I thought would be brought to my cabin on the last day.The person in the store said just take it now.That was day 4 of an 11 day cruise!If I stay at a hotel that has a bar they don't restrict what I can bring to my room for personal consumption,and no cruise line should either!Looks like HAL will be getting my business.

 

Princess had the larger bottles many years ago and should bring them back.

[smoosh21]

It would appear that the newly enforced policy includes the assumption that placing otherwise legal wine and champagne in one's checked bags is an attempt to circumvent the corkage fee. And it appears that there is no second chance to 'fess up and pay the fee.

 

So are they charging a corkage fee as you board the ship? Royal just started allowing the wine, and while they may have a corkage fee, it is not charged in your room, at least it wasnt back in December.

 

I understand paying the corkage fee at any restaurant onboard, but it does seem a bit silly to pay if you drink in your room.

 

I am surprised to see from that list that Disney seems to have one of the most relaxed policies of all.

 

I don't bother trying to 'sneak' liquor onboard. I prefer Mojitos and I am certainly not going to try and also sneak on mint and limes to complete the recipe.

[Host CJSKIDS]

It would be great if Princess would go back to selling the larger bottles like they did years ago. I would always order a bottle for our cabin.

 

We like having a drink on our balcony before dinner or after returning at the end of the night and our bar bill is always on the higher side.

 

I'm sorry to see that Princess is going along these lines. I got called down for a bag on NCL when there wasn't any alcohol in the bag and it was annoying to have to wait in line and then lug my bag to the room. Hopefully this doesn't start on Princess.