How do you bring your beverages on board?

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, Spaceball said:

 

Well, I guess that I look it a bit differently.  We’re actually dealing with two separate policies (1) TSA rules and (2) Princess Rules.  I think you have to make a choice of do you want to pay a “corkage fee” or not.  I purchased wine travel bags and a “wine carrier” a number of years ago.  My wife will pack a bottle of wine in her checked luggage and I do the same.  When we arrive at our hotel we take them out and put them into the “Wine Carrier”.  It’s nice because it has a strap that I can simply put over my shoulder as I wheel the other “tagged” luggage.  We also purchase a case of water, and I strap the water to my small roller case.  The only bothersome point is putting them all on the conveyor belt to be scanned.  But once through then it’s smooth sailing. No Corkage Fee. Now friends of our place them all into a case and put a tag on them and they are then called down to Deck #4 later to pay a “Corkage Fee”.  We both end up taking on almost the same amount of Wine and Water but they end up paying $40 - $50 to bring it on all for the convenience of having it brought to their room.  Not a good use of funds in my opinion.

So what do you do at dinner time?  Or are you drinking all the wine in the cabin?

[Spaceball]

17 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

So what do you do at dinner time?  Or are you drinking all the wine in the cabin?

Well again, it’s a matter of convenience.  Our routine is to dress for dinner a bit earlier and we go sit in the Plaza, Club Lounge or Wheel House and listen to whatever entertainment.  I remind our Stewart that we want the “large Wine Glasses” in the room at all times.  So, we “Fill” our wine glass to the top before we leave the room.  We usually don’t drink all of the wine before going to dinner, but if we do, we’re both likely at the end of our drinking spill for the night anyway.....or if we’re still open for more we’ll buy a glass of wine.  But, that is usually a rare situation.  We take wine with us to the pool area, to the Sanctuary when we have it booked, and even to the Princess Theater to see the show.  The Drinks Package is good for some people but even if we buy an occasional glass of wine or specialty coffee, it will never amount to $1200.  Additionally, there are so many deals in cruising today, it’s almost unhear to take a cruise without a deal. Our last 8 cruises have all had “on-board” spending in the amount of $400 to $600; our last two had the 3-For Free; with Free Drinks Package; and with the Club Mini Suite which comes with two-Bottles of wine, we end up with quite enough to drink or free money to spen.

[jimlouisesophie]

On 10/24/2019 at 9:55 AM, Peckishpixie said:

I am trying to find a better way of getting our wine and soda on board. We currently bring wine from Washington in a checked box on Alaska Air (wine flies free!) We stop at a store to get a 6 pack of diet soda and some San Peligrino on the way to the port. Then while trying to check in,  we have to balance the box of wine and the bag of soda plus our carry on luggage. There has to be a better way!

We will be in San Francisco for a few nights prior to our cruise.  I will take the empty  wheeled carry on suitcase to the local wine store, with some bubble wrap and perhaps some clothes to cushion the wine, and get several bottles of wine.  When leaving the hotel for the port, we will put some of our clothes in a large back pack to carry on our shoulder and take the wheeled carry on with the wine and other clothes to the port... Each wine bottle weighs about 9 oz. 

[Cabernetlover]

On 10/24/2019 at 8:51 PM, steelers36 said:

NP.  

 

Thanks for letting me know...

[Cabernetlover]

On 10/26/2019 at 8:52 PM, Aus Traveller said:

Princess allows you to take on as much wine as you want on its Australian cruises, with the AUD$15 corkage fee applicable. Good wine is available in liquor shops in Sydney - look for Dan Murphy, or BWS (short for Beer, Wine, Spirits). For around AUD$10 you can get reasonable Aussie or NZ wine.

 

Thanks for responding to my question, and for giving me ideas of where to buy wine.   This is very useful information, and the reason why I love Cruise Critic and all its helpful members!

[szubieta]

I will be trying this out. It should fit in by carry on luggage till we fly into Seattle.  I will bring extra bungie cords too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N1XF68S/ref=psdc_553520_t1_B004B9V1R2

 

[TheRabbit]

On 10/26/2019 at 6:56 PM, USN59-79 said:

Were we on the same cruise?  We boarded the Coral in Los Angeles for a 60 day around the Pacific, but we got off in Vancouver.  Worked well for us as we took the bus to Seattle, walked to the ferry terminal, and took the ferry to Bremerton.  An enjoyable cruise, but the next one is on HAL from Hong Kong to Hong Kong.

Hi Ray

That was the one.

Terrible what happened to Charles though on his round the world cruise.

[TheRabbit]

2 hours ago, Cabernetlover said:

 

Thanks for responding to my question, and for giving me ideas of where to buy wine.   This is very useful information, and the reason why I love Cruise Critic and all its helpful members!

Another idea we did was take a wine tour and pick up the wines there as you taste them. We did that in 2009. A Dutch couple brought on nearly two cases they picked up on the same tour.

[TheRabbit]

2 hours ago, jimlouisesophie said:

We will be in San Francisco for a few nights prior to our cruise.  I will take the empty  wheeled carry on suitcase to the local wine store, with some bubble wrap and perhaps some clothes to cushion the wine, and get several bottles of wine.  When leaving the hotel for the port, we will put some of our clothes in a large back pack to carry on our shoulder and take the wheeled carry on with the wine and other clothes to the port... Each wine bottle weighs about 9 oz. 

If you buy 12 bottles, just put them in a case box and tape it shut with a luggage tag. We brought on two cases that way with no problems.m Just checked them at the curb.

The other 12 bottles were very high end so we put them in boxes with Styrofoam liners.

Here is a link to a google doc with info I put together before our cruise from skimming several threads on wine taken on Princess cruises.

 

LINK

Edited October 29, 2019 by TheRabbit

[TheRabbit]

15 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

That explains it as I was going to say that I didn’t fancy the excess baggage charges flying across the pond with that lot 😜.

We jump the pond next year, but we have a plan. As we are doing a 26 day out of Rome, we are planning on buying the wine in Civitavicchia the night before the cruise.

[ExDean]

FWIW...Just off the Crown and we took 24 cans (2 cases) of LaCroix soda duck taped, with a convenient handle.  Checked it with our luggage and it was waiting at our stateroom door with the luggage...no questioned asked.

[villauk]

6 hours ago, TheRabbit said:

We jump the pond next year, but we have a plan. As we are doing a 26 day out of Rome, we are planning on buying the wine in Civitavicchia the night before the cruise.

 

 

Yes, that’s what we do: buy our bottles prior to boarding, wherever we are cruising from in the world. Unfortunately, we can’t take sailings that long as we’re still working - one day when we’ve retired 🤞. Enjoy Europe.

[Ombud]

17 hours ago, Spaceball said:

We also purchase a case of water, and I strap the water to my small roller case.  The only bothersome point is putting them all on the conveyor belt to be scanned.  

😳 Isn't a 1/2 case delivered to your stateroom just $7?

[Spaceball]

3 hours ago, Ombud said:

😳 Isn't a 1/2 case delivered to your stateroom just $7?

I couldn’t tell you because I’ve never done it.  I have seen in the On-Board Services a 12-Pack of water and I think it’s $12 or $14, which is reasonable.  But since we have the time during our Pre-Cruise stay we pick up a full 24-Bottle case for like $3.50.

As I said, it’s a matter of perspective and convenience.  We drink a lot of water and according to Cruise Critic and other on-line authorities the water on-board is safe to drink. But I am a creature of habit.

[Spaceball]

11 hours ago, ExDean said:

FWIW...Just off the Crown and we took 24 cans (2 cases) of LaCroix soda duck taped, with a convenient handle.  Checked it with our luggage and it was waiting at our stateroom door with the luggage...no questioned asked.

The idea sounds great and is worth trying out on our upcoming AUS/NZL cruise.

[TheRabbit]

7 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

Yes, that’s what we do: buy our bottles prior to boarding, wherever we are cruising from in the world. Unfortunately, we can’t take sailings that long as we’re still working - one day when we’ve retired 🤞. Enjoy Europe.

Retirement is highly under rated. Enjoy it when you get there and read ahead how to be successful. Our Sidney to LA cruise was our retirement kick off.

[crochetcruise]

On 10/26/2019 at 3:35 PM, USN59-79 said:

I was able to take advantage of Alaska Airlines offer of free shipment of a case of wine last year from Seattle to Los Angeles where we boarded the Coral Princess.  In hindsight, I should have had a small wheeled thing to go with it.  It was OK until we reached the terminal on the Princess bus.  They took my luggage, but wouldn't take the case of wine.  I had to carry it into the terminal myself, pay corkage for ten of the bottles and then carry it to my room on the ship.  Concerning carrying on water:  Last few time we were on Princess you could order a case of water (12) for six dollars and something if you ordered before your cruise.  We ordered four cases for the 60 day cruise.

 

You can-at least in Australia-buy 6 cans of soda for the price of 5 through the Cruise Personalizer. Sorry don't remember the AUD$ price, but remember thinking it would be easier for me when I next cruise, to have soda in the fridge for night time drinks.

[crochetcruise]

19 hours ago, Cabernetlover said:

 

Thanks for responding to my question, and for giving me ideas of where to buy wine.   This is very useful information, and the reason why I love Cruise Critic and all its helpful members!

 

Once you have your accommodation booked, I respectfully suggest a Google search for those names to locate your nearest store.

 

[Peckishpixie]

On 10/26/2019 at 3:14 PM, TheRabbit said:

60 night pack rim. It was just the two of us. The white/light blue/black patterned case behind the boxes was a sewing machine

If you are addicted to sewing raise your hand!

[Gallivanting Souls]

On 10/24/2019 at 1:45 PM, TheRabbit said:

 

You can see in the picture cases of wine (5), water, soda, Gatorade, etc

All the items had luggage tags and were checked.

 

Are you doing an around the world cruise?

[MissP22]

8 hours ago, familyoutdoors said:

Are you doing an around the world cruise?

I wonder where they put all that stuff in the cabin?

Maybe they travel in an owners suite. 

[New Cruiser Girl 2]

On 10/24/2019 at 4:25 PM, jimlouisesophie said:

We will be buying several bottles of wine at a local shop before getting onboard as we will be there for a few days before our cruise.  I will put a heavy back pack in my checked back when leaving home and will take it out, pack it with our purchased wine and put it on my back, to be screened on cruise day.  When in ports, we will do the same and pay the corkage if asked.

In Alask this summer I brought Tetris Pkgs of wines on board at each port and no one said a word about it . No corkage , no nothing. It was great !