Regal No Longer offers liquor through room service

[pablo222]

My friend is currently sailing on board the Regal Princess. She just texted me and said that you can no longer order bottles of wine or liquor through room service.

 

You are probably the most reliable poster here. I am looking forward to your first-hand report after your regal cruise.

 

I just got off royal, and they still had liquor in the room service menu -- although I didn't try to order any.

[Host CJSKIDS]

You are probably the most reliable poster here. I am looking forward to your first-hand report after your regal cruise.

 

I just got off royal, and they still had liquor in the room service menu -- although I didn't try to order any.

 

Thank you so much!!!

 

I'll do a live from thread since I'll have unlimited internet and it's fast.

[kennicott]

This story really isn’t pertinent to this thread, except that it is germane to the Princess change of procedures from time to time.

 

Our liquor preorder was in our cabin, including my red wine. We set sail, I looked around the cabin for the corkscrew which heretofore was always there. Called cabin service and asked for one. “No can do.” Why? “It is against policy.” How do I open my wine then? “We will send someone up to open it for you.” Geez, that sounds like a lot of trouble, look I’ll be happy to purchase one from you, no matter the cost. “We can’t do that either.” Why? “Well, children could play with them and get hurt and sue us.” No kids here, send one up. “No can do.” Okay, forget it.

 

So what was I going to do, I thought about knocking upon nearby doors to see if they happened to have one but then decided to try the ship’s gift shop since we had just sailed it was open. Behold, they had real nice ones and inexpensive at that.

 

A while later an officer shows up. Now I hadn’t got nasty but they someone determined that I was upset. I explained, no problem. But let me give you a little advice, try telling the truth it would save all a lot of frustration. “What do you mean?” You should simply say, “Princess policy has changed, we no longer provide corkscrews in the cabins, however we have a beautiful selection in our gift shop.”

 

Lesson: Always carry a corkscrew in your checked luggage.

[voljeep]

lots of good/decent screw off wine caps now due to the cork shortage and contaminations

[chamima]

This story really isn’t pertinent to this thread, except that it is germane to the Princess change of procedures from time to time.

 

Our liquor preorder was in our cabin, including my red wine. We set sail, I looked around the cabin for the corkscrew which heretofore was always there. Called cabin service and asked for one. “No can do.” Why? “It is against policy.” How do I open my wine then? “We will send someone up to open it for you.” Geez, that sounds like a lot of trouble, look I’ll be happy to purchase one from you, no matter the cost. “We can’t do that either.” Why? “Well, children could play with them and get hurt and sue us.” No kids here, send one up. “No can do.” Okay, forget it.

 

So what was I going to do, I thought about knocking upon nearby doors to see if they happened to have one but then decided to try the ship’s gift shop since we had just sailed it was open. Behold, they had real nice ones and inexpensive at that.

 

A while later an officer shows up. Now I hadn’t got nasty but they someone determined that I was upset. I explained, no problem. But let me give you a little advice, try telling the truth it would save all a lot of frustration. “What do you mean?” You should simply say, “Princess policy has changed, we no longer provide corkscrews in the cabins, however we have a beautiful selection in our gift shop.”

 

Lesson: Always carry a corkscrew in your checked luggage.

 

 

We are just off a month on the Emerald.

Our cabin steward (who was unbelievably fabulous!!!!!!) must have noticed the two bottles of wine we brought on board with us and by bedtime the first evening (without asking) we not only had 2 wine glasses but also a corkscrew. So I'm not sure it's "Princess policy".

[PensFan1028]

Hope this isn't the case. We always order a bottle through room service to enjoy while we get ready for dinner or a quick drink when we stop in the room during the day. Not a big deal to pre-order but would have been a bummer if we didn't know. I'll keep a lookout for updates on this... may just pre-purchase to be safe. Thanks for the info.

[lilfish7]

Thank you for sharing! My dad (who happens to be Elite) always orders his Irish Whiskey/Scotch via room service, to enjoy a glass in his cabin before dinner. I informed him of this new policy and he just verified it with Princess rep today (12/1). He's not exactly thrilled, as he doesn't know how much to order ahead of time. He expressed his frustration of the new policy to the Princess supervisor lady on the phone, but stated that due to the attitude he received, he's pretty sure the complaint wasn't going to do anything productive.

 

I'm sure Princess is wanting people to buy the liquor by the glass in their bars, but I have a feeling that this will either a) cause people to pre-purchase more than normal and avoid the bars or b) sneak liquor on board.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Thank you for sharing! My dad (who happens to be Elite) always orders his Irish Whiskey/Scotch via room service, to enjoy a glass in his cabin before dinner. I informed him of this new policy and he just verified it with Princess rep today (12/1). He's not exactly thrilled, as he doesn't know how much to order ahead of time. He expressed his frustration of the new policy to the Princess supervisor lady on the phone, but stated that due to the attitude he received, he's pretty sure the complaint wasn't going to do anything productive.

 

I'm sure Princess is wanting people to buy the liquor by the glass in their bars, but I have a feeling that this will either a) cause people to pre-purchase more than normal and avoid the bars or b) sneak liquor on board.

 

Thank you for posting this. As I said, my girlfriend who is on the sailing stated this was indeed the case this week.

 

Guess we all have to remember that Princess makes changes all the time and it has to start somewhere. Perhaps this was the week to start with the Regal.

 

I'm on starting Sunday and will see what I'm told.

[Thrak]

It seems an odd change to me. Many people order liquor for their cabin. I have to wonder if this will simply encourage more smuggling - which I would think Princess would prefer to squelch rather than encourage. Weird. Many times bizarre changes to company policies come about as a result of some bean counter who has no practical experience with the real world application of what they are messing with.

 

I have actually ordered vodka in the past but the selection of scotch that was offered was hideous. Scotch shouldn't have to be made into a mixed drink in order to get it down. As for Irish Whiskey - none was offered at all. Good thing all of my upcoming cruises were booked under the Sip and Sail so I can have my Talisker neat in the bar or, if so desired, can take it back to my cabin.

[cloveygrl]

It seems an odd change to me. Many people order liquor for their cabin. I have to wonder if this will simply encourage more smuggling - which I would think Princess would prefer to squelch rather than encourage. Weird. Many times bizarre changes to company policies come about as a result of some bean counter who has no practical experience with the real world application of what they are messing with.

 

I have actually ordered vodka in the past but the selection of scotch that was offered was hideous. Scotch shouldn't have to be made into a mixed drink in order to get it down. As for Irish Whiskey - none was offered at all. Good thing all of my upcoming cruises were booked under the Sip and Sail so I can have my Talisker neat in the bar or, if so desired, can take it back to my cabin.

 

Frankly, I am more shocked they would let you buy bottles at all at reasonable prices ever (or let you bring wine for free/15$ bottle). I think even with "smuggling" they would make more making people buy drinks by the glass or forcing them to buy the alcohol drink package. Alcohol is usually the bread and butter for margin so I would think they would try to maximize that as much as possible

[kennicott]

Well I decided I better check into this a little further, since we board in about 7 weeks for a little over a 3 week voyage. My concern: if they won’t deliver spirits or wine to your cabin unless you have pre-ordered and paid in advance of the sailing, then, am I supposed to pre-order 3 weeks’ worth of booze? Our longest voyage was about 3 months, if we do one of those again, do I have to pre-order 3 months’ worth of booze? So I called.

It appears to me there has been no significant change in Princess room service liquor policy. The rep. I spoke to was fairly knowledgeable but then after my questioning, he decided he didn’t have the answer for sure, so met with others then got back.

He said, where that rumor stems from is an inventory procedure. If they don’t have enough of this or that in inventory to take care of pre-orders then they won’t deliver to the cabin until they get enough of that particular liquor in the ship’s storage. I suggested, that is the way it has always been, is it not, pre-orders get priority? I pinned them down and they said emphatically, that liquor orders from room service will still be honored and delivered if they have it.

Now, I believe him, but I’m not certain if he has pertinent company policy down accurately with respect to changes here. So, I’m still nervous, made him promise to email me if he gets further insight.

 

 

[skf]

You may however ask your MDR waiter to bring you an unopened bottle from your package and take it to your room.

We have done this on Royal when we had a 10-bottle package deal. We sometimes would bring the bottle back and drink it later and brought 3 bottles back home.

Steve

[ar1950]

Just off of the Star to Hawaii. Liquor and wine both available via the room service menus. The only change that we noticed was that prices were no longer published. You need to call room service to ask the price if you wanted to know.

[easyboy]

Well I decided I better check into this a little further, since we board in about 7 weeks for a little over a 3 week voyage. My concern: if they won’t deliver spirits or wine to your cabin unless you have pre-ordered and paid in advance of the sailing, then, am I supposed to pre-order 3 weeks’ worth of booze? Our longest voyage was about 3 months, if we do one of those again, do I have to pre-order 3 months’ worth of booze? So I called.

It appears to me there has been no significant change in Princess room service liquor policy. The rep. I spoke to was fairly knowledgeable but then after my questioning, he decided he didn’t have the answer for sure, so met with others then got back.

He said, where that rumor stems from is an inventory procedure. If they don’t have enough of this or that in inventory to take care of pre-orders then they won’t deliver to the cabin until they get enough of that particular liquor in the ship’s storage. I suggested, that is the way it has always been, is it not, pre-orders get priority? I pinned them down and they said emphatically, that liquor orders from room service will still be honored and delivered if they have it.

Now, I believe him, but I’m not certain if he has pertinent company policy down accurately with respect to changes here. So, I’m still nervous, made him promise to email me if he gets further insight.

The rep's response re: inventory makes sense. Let's just hope it remains that way.