Carryon Wine Policy Clarification from CEO Kruse

[startwin]

A lot of passengers don't even take them through baggage check, instead they carry them on. I decided to go through my pictures from a recent cruise when we were sitting around in the terminal and I was trying out my new smart phone camera. Found these within a few minutes of each other (which I have tried to edit - and pardon the crude editing - to make sure that the people carrying the wine had their identities protected). My DH and I thought that schlepping the wine around was funny (although smart at the time). Anyway, if I found these two in a few minutes, how many others were also bringing wine on. I bet that it's a larger number than we think.

 

 

Curious - which ship and which port?

 

There's that word "schlepping" again - it seems to be quite contagious amongst the anti-wine crew.

Edited November 4, 2013 by startwin

[taxmantoo]

I find it interesting now that two hotel managers were annoyed with our response at CC. I wonder if they were involved with the decision, or had some sort of input.

 

They do much better when you compliment them on the ship and their staff. It seems the overabundance of gushing over them has ill prepared them for the rare constructive criticism or negative comment. Reminds me a lot of myself when I was nine years old :rolleyes:

[startwin]

Finally! Someone saw somebody schlepping cases aboard and they have evidence. Have no fear,they'll be plenty of doubters,claiming they were photshopped or some other ridiculous thing.:)

 

 

Wow!! I bet there's also lots of evidence of people NOT "schlepping" wine aboard, too.:rolleyes:

[innlady1]

I find it interesting now that two hotel managers were annoyed with our response at CC. I wonder if they were involved with the decision, or had some sort of input.

 

Maybe they'd been brainwashed by Seattle to react in that manner when the question came up...about those annoying people on Cruise Critic having the nerve to complain about the new wine policy.

[LindaM]

Maybe they'd been brainwashed by Seattle to react in that manner when the question came up...about those annoying people on Cruise Critic having the nerve to complain about the new wine policy.

 

I believe you hit the nail on the head!!

[indokiwi]

Curious - which ship and which port?

 

There's that word "schlepping" again - it seems to be quite contagious amongst the anti-wine crew.

 

 

I myself am 100% NOT anti-wine - I love it, my family loves it and we LOVE to consume it, especially on a cruise ship! My DH and I were actually a little jealous, as we usually just go straight to the port and don't stop along the way with wine. Sometimes we pack a bottle or two in our checked luggage for a special night. I used the word schlepping, since it seems like it's used a lot here. I could have said lugging which seems in the same vein. Why the conspiracy theory? I was just providing photographs since people mentioned that they didn't believe that other brought large amounts on board. And for the person that pointed out that it could have been water, etc - yes, but you can see in picture #2 that it is all wine, as the tops of the bottles are clear.

 

The ship was the Noordam in FLL last spring. :)

[indokiwi]

I believe you hit the nail on the head!!

 

 

Or, perhaps they could be extremely annoyed that Seattle makes all of these changes without consulting them and them "leaves them to the wolves" to defend an unpopular decision. That would annoy me too.

[localady]

It shall be interesting to see if Princess or HAL adjust their wine policies to be more in alignment with the announcement this morning of the new "Holland America Group" headed up by Stein Kruse. Would really like to see HAL adopt the Princess policy allowing wine to be brought from ports with a set corkage fee. HAL cruises to amazing wine regions all over the world and their current new policy of no wine brought from ports diminishes the travel experience for many, myself included.

Edited November 4, 2013 by localady

[innlady1]

I believe you hit the nail on the head!!

 

I think so...I hope others going on cruises before the end of January will ask the same question at the Q & A. Could prove interesting.

[frankc98376]

I think so...I hope others going on cruises before the end of January will ask the same question at the Q & A. Could prove interesting.

 

Might be nice if Mr Kruse spent some time on the ships between now and January and attended the Q&A sessions.

[innlady1]

It shall be interesting to see if Princess or HAL adjust their wine policies to be more in alignment with the announcement this morning of the new "Holland America Group" headed up by Stein Kruse. Would really like to see HAL adopt the Princess policy allowing wine to be brought from ports with a set corkage fee. HAL cruises to amazing wine regions all over the world and their current new policy of no wine brought from ports diminishes the travel experience for many, myself included.

 

Very interesting indeed. I think the Princess policy is very fair. On our 21 day cruise, I brought on 18 bottles...six of which we brought home (15 wine; 3 limoncello from Sorrento). brought home 4 bottles of wine and the 3 limoncello. So, the 10 that were consumed on board would have been an additional $150 revenue for HAL. For me, not much more than what we paid on board with the $18 a bottle corkage fee anyway. What we really enjoyed was sitting on the verandah at sailaway with a glass of wine from whatever port we had visited and a plate of cheese.

[localady]

Very interesting indeed. I think the Princess policy is very fair. On our 21 day cruise, I brought on 18 bottles...six of which we brought home (15 wine; 3 limoncello from Sorrento). brought home 4 bottles of wine and the 3 limoncello. So, the 10 that were consumed on board would have been an additional $150 revenue for HAL. For me, not much more than what we paid on board with the $18 a bottle corkage fee anyway. What we really enjoyed was sitting on the verandah at sailaway with a glass of wine from whatever port we had visited and a plate of cheese.

 

Exactly Sheila, we did 37 days last year on the Nieuw Amsterdam in the Med and that cruise would have been truly diminished if we'd not been allowed to bring a few wines back from all the marvelous wine regions we visited. We would be okay with paying a per bottle fee.

[Wakepatrol]

Wow!! I bet there's also lots of evidence of people NOT "schlepping" wine aboard, too.:rolleyes:

 

Why not dig and search and find it for us?

[kennicott]

Good question Sail. When DH took the tour the ship management pointed out exactly what was brought onto the ship by passengers and what was sold by HAL. So HAL does know the "total" number of bottles, but would probably not know who they originally belonged to.

 

"Exactly what was brought on the ship by passengers." Unless they started new procedures in the last two years, they never attempted to account for the wine I brought on board over 200 sea days with them. Lots of it. They never looked in the bag, ever.

[innlady1]

"Exactly what was brought on the ship by passengers." Unless they started new procedures in the last two years, they never attempted to account for the wine I brought on board over 200 sea days with them. Lots of it. They never looked in the bag, ever.

 

Sounds as though, when they recycle, they segregate the wine bottles sold on the ship and the ones disposed of in the guest's staterooms.

Edited November 8, 2013 by innlady1

[frankc98376]

Like many hotels, wine sold by the ship likely has a sticker or stamp on each bottle. This enables them to know if corkage should be charged. Also is a security measure to discourage employee theft.

I've heard that Princess stamps bottles that are brought on and corkage paid.

Would be quite easy to sort at the recycling center.

Edited November 8, 2013 by frankc98376

[Linda&Vern]

Sounds as though, when they recycle, they segregate the wine bottles sold on the ship and the ones disposed of in the guest's staterooms.

Sheila - Just to clarify ... they have the ability to segregate the bottles. As an example, the tour staff in the recycling center held up several bottles to the group and said "this is a HAL bottle purchased on the ship, this bottle was brought onto the ship from outside, etc." My point was that "if" HAL wanted to know how many bottles were being brought onto a ship, they have the means to do it.

[kennicott]

Yes, probably correct, in that only recently they have began to focus on wine purchased on shore and consumed in staterooms. More than likely they performed random sampling on certain ships, which gave them a pretty good approximation of the volumes involved.

 

Having witnessed the relatively large profits on the sale of booze during my tenure with the airlines and the restaurant business, I always wondered when Carnival Corp. would start focusing on these lost revenues.

 

Sad in a way, as HAL's wine policy was one item of their cruise experience that sort of set them apart from the herd. It appears this new policy of HAL's will be the most restrictive to date within the Carnival family, if you discount their luxury line Seabourn where most all liquor is on the house, so they care less what you buy off the ship.

 

My guess is this is more or less a trial balloon to test the reaction. If it is met by a modicum of consternation from guests, more liberal wine policies, like those on Princess, will be adjusted accordingly $$$.

Edited November 8, 2013 by kennicott

[innlady1]

Sheila - Just to clarify ... they have the ability to segregate the bottles. As an example, the tour staff in the recycling center held up several bottles to the group and said "this is a HAL bottle purchased on the ship, this bottle was brought onto the ship from outside, etc." My point was that "if" HAL wanted to know how many bottles were being brought onto a ship, they have the means to do it.

 

Interesting, Linda. As someone else said, perhaps they stamp each of their bottles in inventory.

[JulieRose]

I was annoyed since HAL prices their wine too high. I have booked a cruise on Princess and found their wine prices (similar policy) much more reasonable. I hope that HAL follows the same pricing that Princess does.

 

The Princess policy (as of last year) was very permissive. We brought on almost a whole case that we later distributed to our wedding guests. No problem. My mother also got through security with one of those double size bottles which unfortunately broke and got all over her clothes (luckily it was white!) Glad we're sailing under the old policy.

[carolmacey]

What percent of guests do you suppose actually bring more than one or two bottles aboard? On Embarkation? In ports?

 

Europe and FLL likely will have varying percentages but do you think 25% of cabins bring wine? I tend to think the number if smaller than we might think. Curious what others think.

 

 

We are just home from a HAL cruise and many passengers were talking about the upcoming wine policy. Can't give you a firm figure, but maybe 40% of people we spoke with casually mentioned the new policy. But maybe we were just hanging our with the winos.

[carolmacey]

We haven't sailed HAL out of FL, so I can't say I've witnessed it. Actually, I've never noticed anyone carrying on wine in Europe. When I asked wine drinkers on our last cruise if they brought it on, the far majority said no.

 

I agree about HAL wanting to standardize the policy. However, the hotel manager was most emphatic about the reason being cases being brought on. He was quite annoyed with us at CC, as well. I hope he doesn't remember what I look like....I will probably be banned from ever attending the Q&A session. That's OK...my only interest was the wine policy, so I was glad to be able to voice my opinion in that arena!

 

When we boarded in Boston, our luggage was not scrutinized much at all, but new comers in Ft. Lauderdale were "caught" a lot, or so I heard.

[frankc98376]

Sadly it's always a few that spoil it for the rest.

I spoke with a woman in the Therapy Pool on the Oosterdam that bragged about buying special "bladder" containers that couldn't be seen on x-ray. She filled them with booze of course and they made it on just fine. She also bragged that they got their inside cabin for less than $400.

She went on to tell me to make sure and remove the gratuity on the last night to make sure you get good service.

She said they would end up with basically no shipboard bill. I said "just one for the thermal Spa" to which she said she threw a fit at the front desk about something and they gave her a day pass.

I cant tell you how bad my tongue hurt from biting it- surprised I didn't bite it off.

I was hoping I would see her again in a more public place to point her out to a staff person.

[sail7seas]

When we boarded in Boston, our luggage was not scrutinized much at all, but new comers in Ft. Lauderdale were "caught" a lot, or so I heard.

 

 

:confused: Got "caught" doing what?

 

The new wine policy has not yet gone into place and guests are still permitted to bring as much wine aboard as they wish.

 

[cruz chic]

Sadly it's always a few that spoil it for the rest.

I spoke with a woman in the Therapy Pool on the Oosterdam that bragged about buying special "bladder" containers that couldn't be seen on x-ray. She filled them with booze of course and they made it on just fine. She also bragged that they got their inside cabin for less than $400.

She went on to tell me to make sure and remove the gratuity on the last night to make sure you get good service.

She said they would end up with basically no shipboard bill. I said "just one for the thermal Spa" to which she said she threw a fit at the front desk about something and they gave her a day pass.

I cant tell you how bad my tongue hurt from biting it- surprised I didn't bite it off.

I was hoping I would see her again in a more public place to point her out to a staff person.

Wow, what a loser that person is. I hope karma comes and bites her hard. This is the quality people Hal attracts with their giving the farm away pricing policy:rolleyes:.