Europe wine purchases

[halegliss]

Is it possible to buy wine to take home from Madeira ? We are cruising there next year and I am unsure of the policy of taking the wine on the ship and if it is worth the hassle.

 

 

NCL cruises

2012 Pearl

2014 Dawn Forums

[Sauer-kraut]

Is it possible to buy wine to take home from Madeira ? We are cruising there next year and I am unsure of the policy of taking the wine on the ship and if it is worth the hassle.

 

Yes you can bring it on board, you can either surrender it upon boarding if you plan on taking it home and they will hold it until the last night of the cruise. If you want to drink some of the wine you will have to pay the $15 per bottle corkage.

[NMLady]

Yes you can bring it on board, you can either surrender it upon boarding if you plan on taking it home and they will hold it until the last night of the cruise. If you want to drink some of the wine you will have to pay the $15 per bottle corkage.

 

I thought that as of July 16 wine could only be brought aboard at original embarkation, not at ports. I hope you are correct since we'd love to buy some wine in Madeira, pay the corkage and have it to drink the rest of the cruise.

[hawkeyetlse]

I think some of the notifications they sent around last month made it sound like that, but Sauer-kraut's advice is correct. On our recent cruise they had a corkage table set up at every port. We brought vodka on in St Petersburg, no problem (had to wait in line to get it back on the last night).

[Sauer-kraut]

I thought that as of July 16 wine could only be brought aboard at original embarkation, not at ports. I hope you are correct since we'd love to buy some wine in Madeira, pay the corkage and have it to drink the rest of the cruise.

 

I think some of the notifications they sent around last month made it sound like that, but Sauer-kraut's advice is correct. On our recent cruise they had a corkage table set up at every port. We brought vodka on in St Petersburg, no problem (had to wait in line to get it back on the last night).

 

So it seems to depend on staff and ship. No conclusive across the fleet policy. :cool:

[halegliss]

I think some of the notifications they sent around last month made it sound like that, but Sauer-kraut's advice is correct. On our recent cruise they had a corkage table set up at every port. We brought vodka on in St Petersburg, no problem (had to wait in line to get it back on the last night).

 

 

Great I'm looking forward to trying some new wines and bringing it home!

 

 

NCL cruises

2012 Pearl

2014 Dawn Forums

[SquishTheWhale]

We bought several bottles of wine and rum in Madeira- to take home as gifts, not to drink on board. Had them in my partners rucksack, put it through the scanners, walked straight on with it without a word said. If anyone had stopped us we would have happily surrendered it until the end of the cruise, like I say it wasn't for us to drink so we weren't going to pay corkage!

 

It might not be particularly moral, but it seemed like the only people paying corkage were those who actually volunteered to. I'm willing to bet we weren't the only ones 'smuggling' wine back on board in Madeira, although we might have been the only ones not planning to actually drink it! They had a corkage table set up just after the scanners.

 

Finally polished off my bottle of Passionfruit and Honey rum last weekend and I can report it was pretty good :) Don't drink wine so I can't report back on that, but I understand the wine there tastes more like port than wine.

Edited August 17, 2016 by SquishTheWhale

[halegliss]

We bought several bottles of wine and rum in Madeira- to take home as gifts, not to drink on board. Had them in my partners rucksack, put it through the scanners, walked straight on with it without a word said. If anyone had stopped us we would have happily surrendered it until the end of the cruise, like I say it wasn't for us to drink so we weren't going to pay corkage!

 

It might not be particularly moral, but it seemed like the only people paying corkage were those who actually volunteered to. I'm willing to bet we weren't the only ones 'smuggling' wine back on board in Madeira, although we might have been the only ones not planning to actually drink it! They had a corkage table set up just after the scanners.

 

Finally polished off my bottle of Passionfruit and Honey rum last weekend and I can report it was pretty good :) Don't drink wine so I can't report back on that, but I understand the wine there tastes more like port than wine.

 

 

I hadn't thought of that thanks!

 

 

NCL cruises

2012 Pearl

2014 Dawn Forums

[hawkeyetlse]

We have also encountered lax enforcement at many ports in the past, but with the new "no beverages" policy they seem to be very strict about sending people to the corkage/storage/confiscation table.

 

It creates a huge amount of extra work for them, though, especially for a port like Madeira, where many people are going to buy wine. The line to pick up bottles on the last night of the cruise is going to be very long… :mad: