Wine prices on HAL

[mactire]

Am I the only one that thinks the prices for bottles of wine on HAL are very high. I live in England and have only ever cruised with British ships where the prices of bottled wine seem to be much cheaper. Thoughts please?

[Flying-Dragon]

Am I the only one that thinks the prices for bottles of wine on HAL are very high. I live in England and have only ever cruised with British ships where the prices of bottled wine seem to be much cheaper. Thoughts please?

 

We just completed a 14 day New Zealand cruise on Oosterdam and did a price check. The wine was from a winery in Marlborough which we visited on a shore excursion. Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc - $49 on the dining room menu. $11.99 in the local supermarket in Port Chalmers (Dunedin), and $15 at the winery itself. Paying the $18 corkage charge (for all bottles after the first two on day one, with a one bottle each exemption for the winery shore excursion) made this a $15+$18 = $33 bottle, which was still much cheaper than buying it on board.

 

I wouldn't say HAL is unusually high - Celebrity, which we had just done 2 cruises on immediately before this one, was much the same level. Celebrity doesn't allow any extra wine to be brought on board after the first day's 2-bottle limit. Should any cruise lines charge that much - that's another question. HAL's policy (new as of autumn 2013) is at least more flexible.

[hawkeye3d]

We just completed a 14 day New Zealand cruise on Oosterdam and did a price check. The wine was from a winery in Marlborough which we visited on a shore excursion. Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc - $49 on the dining room menu. $11.99 in the local supermarket in Port Chalmers (Dunedin), and $15 at the winery itself. Paying the $18 corkage charge (for all bottles after the first two on day one, with a one bottle each exemption for the winery shore excursion) made this a $15+$18 = $33 bottle, which was still much cheaper than buying it on board.

 

I wouldn't say HAL is unusually high - Celebrity, which we had just done 2 cruises on immediately before this one, was much the same level. Celebrity doesn't allow any extra wine to be brought on board after the first day's 2-bottle limit. Should any cruise lines charge that much - that's another question. HAL's policy (new as of autumn 2013) is at least more flexible.

 

I have found that buying wine in port and paying the corkage was definately less expensive. I'm a fan of low priced wines, around 5 euro's, and I've mostly found some drinkable wines at that price, but there's always the barely drinkable which can also be said of HAL's lower priced wines. I found that even though Celebrity has a policy similar to HAL's that you cound bring wine abord in any port with no questions or fees. Other's who had many more Celebrity cruises confirmed that this was the norm.

 

Bob

[JRT5000]

Am I the only one that thinks the prices for bottles of wine on HAL are very high. I live in England and have only ever cruised with British ships where the prices of bottled wine seem to be much cheaper. Thoughts please?

 

I was thinking the opposite....I find the alcohol/wine prices much more to my liking than Celebrity and Princess prices.

Guess it's relative....

[Lizzie68]

I have found that buying wine in port and paying the corkage was definately less expensive. I'm a fan of low priced wines, around 5 euro's, and I've mostly found some drinkable wines at that price, but there's always the barely drinkable which can also be said of HAL's lower priced wines. I found that even though Celebrity has a policy similar to HAL's that you cound bring wine abord in any port with no questions or fees. Other's who had many more Celebrity cruises confirmed that this was the norm.

 

Bob

 

I don't know anything about Celebrity's wine selections, but I have to say I quite enjoy HAL's house white wine - but obviously I am easy to please when it comes to wine.:D I believe it is Santa Carolina.