Wine

[cruisingisall]

I know Princess allows passengers to bring a bottle of wine on board as long as it is consumed in the cabin. Do they allow you to bring a bottle bought in port on board to drink in the cabin?

[JimnKaren]

Once the ship has sailed from its starting point, generally, the cruise lines do not allow you to bring more wine on board and take to your cabin. The exception would be if you are on a cruise line excursion to a winery (or something similar), in which case you are allowed one bottle per person without any additional fees.

 

If you discover a wine that you like on shore, but several bottles. They will hold them for you and return them when you get off the ship. Then you take them home and enjoy them at your leisure. What? You are flying home? Oops. Time to move to some place close to that port. That's what we did. Moved from Illinois to Florida and we bring home wine from Europe!!

[JimmyVWine]

I know Princess allows passengers to bring a bottle of wine on board as long as it is consumed in the cabin. Do they allow you to bring a bottle bought in port on board to drink in the cabin?

Yes. Here is what you can bring:

 

• One bottle per adult at no cost which remains free of charge if consumed in the cabin. If the bottle is brought to a public venue, it is charged a $15 corkage fee.
  
• At the initial port of embarkation, you can bring on board as many additional bottles as you choose. Those bottles, (beyond the one per person described above) will be assessed the $15 fee right then and there at the time of boarding, and charged to your stateroom account. Those bottles can be consumed anywhere for no additional charge since you have already paid for them.
  
• At ports of call, if you bring on a bottle of wine, it will most likely be waved on through for no charge at that time. The ship has the right to charge you $15 when you bring it on, but I have never seen that happen. They seem too busy collecting and storing bottles of hard liquor that need to be stored by the ship until the end of the cruise. Since that wine bottle was not charged at the time you re-boarded the ship, you can, of course, drink it in your cabin without fee. No one is spying on you to see if you open the bottle. If you take it to a restaurant or bar, the server will check to see if this bottle has previously been assessed a fee, and seeing that it has not, you will be charged $15 at that time.
  
• Not sure what would happen if you try to bring a case of wine on at a port of call. I have only brought on one bottle per person per port, and never been charged. If you bring on a case, they might take notice and charge you the fee at the security station or perhaps require that you store it until the end of the cruise. Never seen anyone bring on that much at a port of call, so I just don't know. Perhaps people who have cruised up the coast of CA, France, Spain or Italy might have some experience with large volumes purchases at ports.
  

Edited August 10, 2018 by JimmyVWine

[JimmyVWine]

Once the ship has sailed from its starting point, generally, the cruise lines do not allow you to bring more wine on board and take to your cabin. The exception would be if you are on a cruise line excursion to a winery (or something similar), in which case you are allowed one bottle per person without any additional fees.

 

This simply isn't true. (I note that you used the term "cruise lines" plural, so perhaps you are addressing this generically. My comments apply to Princess specifically.) I have brought wine on board in St. Maarten, Mexico, St. Thomas, Montenegro, Rhodes, and other non-winery ports. And I have done so openly, never once hiding the fact that I had a bottle of wine in my possession. While the hard liquor bottles have been tagged and collected, the wine has always passed right through.

[tailspintom]

This simply isn't true. (I note that you used the term "cruise lines" plural, so perhaps you are addressing this generically. My comments apply to Princess specifically.) I have brought wine on board in St. Maarten, Mexico, St. Thomas, Montenegro, Rhodes, and other non-winery ports. And I have done so openly, never once hiding the fact that I had a bottle of wine in my possession. While the hard liquor bottles have been tagged and collected, the wine has always passed right through.

That has been my experience as well. On one extended east to west trans-Atlantic, I purchased a local bottle of wine from each of the wine producing ports we visited. On showing the security staff what we purchased, we were told to enjoy our wine every single time. Most recently I purchased a bottle of wine from the Tedeschi winery while in Maui with the same result. It is one of the things I like about Princess.

 

The same thing did not happen to us on Celebrity and RCCL. They charged a corkage any time we purchased a local wine. And it is OK, that is their rule.

[IECalCruiser]

This simply isn't true. (I note that you used the term "cruise lines" plural, so perhaps you are addressing this generically. My comments apply to Princess specifically.) I have brought wine on board in St. Maarten, Mexico, St. Thomas, Montenegro, Rhodes, and other non-winery ports. And I have done so openly, never once hiding the fact that I had a bottle of wine in my possession. While the hard liquor bottles have been tagged and collected, the wine has always passed right through.

I can add Livorno, Italy; Montevideo, Uruguay; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and Fuerte Amador, Panama to your list. I have only seen a “wine check-in table” once or twice on port days.

 

 

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[capriccio]

Just off the top of my head (I know I'm missing some ports), I can add San Francisco (as a stop, not embarkation), Seattle, Naples, and Toulon to the list.

[IECalCruiser]

Just off the top of my head (I know I'm missing some ports), I can add San Francisco (as a stop, not embarkation), Seattle, Naples, and Toulon to the list.

I should have added Toulon also.

 

 

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[TheRabbit]

That has been my experience as well. On one extended east to west trans-Atlantic, I purchased a local bottle of wine from each of the wine producing ports we visited. On showing the security staff what we purchased, we were told to enjoy our wine every single time. Most recently I purchased a bottle of wine from the Tedeschi winery while in Maui with the same result. It is one of the things I like about Princess.

 

The same thing did not happen to us on Celebrity and RCCL. They charged a corkage any time we purchased a local wine. And it is OK, that is their rule.

We have had the same experience with first bottle brought on. All others where stored. However, we did not inquire if we could take the rest and pay the fee.

[Pia1913]

I can add Livorno, Italy; Montevideo, Uruguay; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and Fuerte Amador, Panama to your list. I have only seen a “wine check-in table” once or twice on port days.

 

 

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Just off the top of my head (I know I'm missing some ports), I can add San Francisco (as a stop, not embarkation), Seattle, Naples, and Toulon to the list.

 

You can add Barcelona to that list too. In fact, I have never been questioned at any European port stop; same with Australia, NZ, Baltic, etc. I buy wine everywhere. :D