Is this wine okay to bring?

[Kimm9]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knew if this type of wine was okay to bring on a Carnival cruise. 
It’s called Rancho La Gloria Margarita wine cocktail. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

4 minutes ago, Kimm9 said:

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knew if this type of wine was okay to bring on a Carnival cruise. 
It’s called Rancho La Gloria Margarita wine cocktail. 

I don’t have any idea what Carnival allows but, that’s not a bottle of wine. In fact, while the bottle lists alcohol as an ingredient, there certainly isn’t much of it in the bottle.

You’ve got another item to consider: If I remember correctly, “agave wine” is ferrmented blue agave fortified with blanco tequila. 
 

[LuvCruiSun]

We have brought this on board a few times no problem.

[donaldsc]

48 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

I don’t have any idea what Carnival allows but, that’s not a bottle of wine. In fact, while the bottle lists alcohol as an ingredient, there certainly isn’t much of it in the bottle.

You’ve got another item to consider: If I remember correctly, “agave wine” is ferrmented blue agave fortified with blanco tequila. 
 

 

The bottle says it is 13% alcohol.  That is a typical alcohol level for wine.  However, since the main ingredient in wine is water and this is a cocktail with the main ingredient being agave, this might present a problem.

 

DON

Edited March 29, 2022 by donaldsc

[1025cruise]

At this point this is not being allowed on board.

[LuvCruiSun]

2 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

At this point this is not being allowed on board.

We brought this on board 3 times in the last 6 months in Long Beach.

[Joebucks]

26 minutes ago, LuvCruiSun said:

We brought this on board 3 times in the last 6 months in Long Beach.

 

This does not necessarily mean it is allowed

[Joe817]

10 hours ago, Kimm9 said:

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knew if this type of wine was okay to bring on a Carnival cruise. 
It’s called Rancho La Gloria Margarita wine cocktail. 

Kimm, many thanks for starting this thread. My wife loves this wine, and has been pestering me to pose the same question. As the bottle states: "wine cocktail" and "made with 100% De Agave wine", and the fact that our local Kroger grocery store sells it(and they do not have a liquor license to to sell liquor), we will take 2 bottles with us on our next cruise. I hope they sell the 750ml size. Cindy always buys the 1.5L size.  I'd love to hear others' experience on this as well. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

27 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

Kimm, many thanks for starting this thread. My wife loves this wine, and has been pestering me to pose the same question. As the bottle states: "wine cocktail" and "made with 100% De Agave wine", and the fact that our local Kroger grocery store sells it(and they do not have a liquor license to to sell liquor), we will take 2 bottles with us on our next cruise. I hope they sell the 750ml size. Cindy always buys the 1.5L size.  I'd love to hear others' experience on this as well. 

It’s fortified wine, which means there’s some small amount of Tequila (probably dregs) added to the fermented agave. 
No matter how “good” this tastes to you, it’s far from the taste of an actual Margarita made with 100% Blue Agave (Silver or better) tequila.

I’m a big fan of Tommy’s (San Francisco) recipe which is simply Reposado Tequila (e.g., El Tesoro), fresh lime juice and a touch of agave nectar. 

[Joe817]

14 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

It’s fortified wine, which means there’s some small amount of Tequila (probably dregs) added to the fermented agave. 
No matter how “good” this tastes to you, it’s far from the taste of an actual Margarita made with 100% Blue Agave (Silver or better) tequila.

I’m a big fan of Tommy’s (San Francisco) recipe which is simply Reposado Tequila (e.g., El Tesoro), fresh lime juice and a touch of agave nectar. 

Thanks for your comments Flatbush. You won't get an argument out of me. True, it doesn't live up to the standard of a properly made margarita. But this stuff certainly supplements a real margarita. Especially when we are on our balcony enjoying the water go by. And having one when ever we choose and not paying for the price of one at any bar. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

40 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

Thanks for your comments Flatbush. You won't get an argument out of me. True, it doesn't live up to the standard of a properly made margarita. But this stuff certainly supplements a real margarita. Especially when we are on our balcony enjoying the water go by. And having one when ever we choose and not paying for the price of one at any bar. 

You may want to consider a line like Oceania where you can bring as much personal wine and spirits onboard as you want. The only requirement on Oceania is that you consume your wine and spirits in your cabin (any mixers you need are provided at no extra cost).  You can also take your wine bottles to meals and public spaces for a $25 corkage fee per bottle (which includes the 18% gratuity). O will even store/retrieve unfinished bottles as needed by you. Very civilized and reasonable policy!

[Joe817]

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

You may want to consider a line like Oceania where you can bring as much personal wine and spirits onboard as you want. The only requirement on Oceania is that you consume your wine and spirits in your cabin (any mixers you need are provided at no extra cost).  You can also take your wine bottles to meals and public spaces for a $25 corkage fee per bottle (which includes the 18% gratuity). O will even store/retrieve unfinished bottles as needed by you. Very civilized and reasonable policy!

Nope. That's not going to happen.....unless Oceania sails out of Galveston, which I doubt. We drive to Galveston port.  

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, Joe817 said:

Nope. That's not going to happen.....unless Oceania sails out of Galveston, which I doubt. We drive to Galveston port.  

Oceania includes air tix to embarkation port or you can get an air credit if you DIY.

[Joe817]

13 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Oceania includes air tix to embarkation port or you can get an air credit if you DIY.

Then it sounds perfect for you. Let's get something straight and understood. I'm not interested in any cruise line except Carnival & RCL. 

[babygrljaz]

Maybe it depends on the port.  I've seen it in the bins of confiscated stuff in Galveston in the past

[NutsAboutGolf]

The best way is to put it in a carry with other things so when you go through the XRay so they can't see the labels.  I have seen folks have a carryon bag and a separate plastic grocery bag with a couple of wine bottles, I wouldn't recommend that.  You can generally get away with two bottles of wine per person if you and the rest of your party go through the XRay machines separately and pretend you don't know each other since the xray crew doesn't keep a record of cabin #s and the amount of bottles they let through.  In addition to carrying on, you can also check in two bottles per cabin, if you do that you'll need to go to the naughty room and may be forced to pay the corkage fee (was the case for me in 2009).  Lastly, you can often get away with the dinner corkage fee if you politely ask the drink staff with a $5 bill in hand: "if I give you this five, will you forget to charge me the corkage fee?"

[Joe817]

Thanks Nuts, but we are going to do this straight up honest. We'll see how it goes & I'll report back. After all, as I told my wife, they are only like $10 per bottle, and if they are stolen from us....what's $20 when comparing a $2,000 cruise? Worst case...it's a learning experience, which is a good thing. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

I'm not exclusive to one cruise line, others charge more but believe CCL has the cheapest corkage.  NCL (at least used pre-pandemic) allow unlimited amounts of wine to be carried on.

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 Lastly, you can often get away with the dinner corkage fee if you politely ask the drink staff with a $5 bill in hand: "if I give you this five, will you forget to charge me the corkage fee?"

Great way to help someone lose a job...

AND, Are you aware that most honest people would consider the rest of your post to be equally “low rent?”

[Flatbush Flyer]

7 hours ago, Joe817 said:

....Let's get something straight and understood. I'm not interested in any cruise line except Carnival & RCL. 

Yes- sounds like perfect fit. 👍

[Wanna_Cruize]

I don't know specifically about this wine going through (I think it should) however for the last 3 post-covid cruises out of Long Beach, I put our two bottles of wine in a wheeled-carryon, and tell the people at the xray machine that this bag has our two bottles of wine in it. Never a question, and they never even open the bag to look at the actual bottles of wine (sometimes it's one bottle of wine and one champagne). That might be your best bet. However, that looks like a squared-off bottle, not round like the typical bottle, so they may want to look at it because of that. Good luck! 

[gsb]

11 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Great way to help someone lose a job...

AND, Are you aware that most honest people would consider the rest of your post to be equally “low rent?”

Just pour the wine in your cabin and carry it to the MDR

[Flatbush Flyer]

34 minutes ago, gsb said:

Just pour the wine in your cabin and carry it to the MDR

Hopefully, you’re kidding.

 

Most (if not all) cruise lines prohibit personal booze outside of the cabin with the exception of personal wine at dining venues for which a per personal bottle corkage fee applies. 
And most of those same lines use different glassware in cabins to assist in identifying those who are trying to “game the the system” or who just “don’t have a clue” by filling a cabin glass and carrying it around. Neither is acceptable, particularly on cruise lines with very generous personal booze requirements.

Note as well that on a line like Oceania (where there is no limit to the amount of personal booze you carry aboard at embarkation and visited ports), the appreciative regular passengers have no problem politely reminding booze policy violators about not wanting to jeopardize the very generous booze policy.

Think about it. At a 300-400% markup on ship’s wine, that $75 US retail Napa Cab plus a $25 corkage fee (including gratuity) is far less than the $200+ ship price (plus gratuity). Moreover, provision of no cost mixers for personal in-cabin spirits is another bonus. Savvy cruisers wouldn’t want that personal booze policy rescinded.

 

And, again, “slice it or dice it” any way you want but, trying to sneak booze onboard (including using rum runners or mouth wash bottles) is the epitome of “low rent.”

[babygrljaz]

3 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Hopefully, you’re kidding.

 

Most (if not all) cruise lines prohibit personal booze outside of the cabin with the exception of personal wine at dining venues for which a per personal bottle corkage fee applies. 
And most of those same lines use different glassware in cabins to assist in identifying those who are trying to “game the the system” or who just “don’t have a clue” by filling a cabin glass and carrying it around. Neither is acceptable, particularly on cruise lines with very generous personal booze requirements.

Note as well that on a line like Oceania (where there is no limit to the amount of personal booze you carry aboard at embarkation and visited ports), the appreciative regular passengers have no problem politely reminding booze policy violators about not wanting to jeopardize the very generous booze policy.

Think about it. At a 300-400% markup on ship’s wine, that $75 US retail Napa Cab plus a $25 corkage fee (including gratuity) is far less than the $200+ ship price (plus gratuity). Moreover, provision of no cost mixers for personal in-cabin spirits is another bonus. Savvy cruisers wouldn’t want that personal booze policy rescinded.

 

And, again, “slice it or dice it” any way you want but, trying to sneak booze onboard (including using rum runners or mouth wash bottles) is the epitome of “low rent.”

That's what we've done when we carry on wine.  Cabin steward told us we could use the glasses in the room and we didn't have to bring them back.  Unless something has changed you can carry your wine glass, with wine not purchased onboard anywhere.  What's not acceptable is carrying the bottle around...this is on Carnival btw

[Flatbush Flyer]

51 minutes ago, babygrljaz said:

That's what we've done when we carry on wine.  Cabin steward told us we could use the glasses in the room and we didn't have to bring them back.  Unless something has changed you can carry your wine glass, with wine not purchased onboard anywhere.  What's not acceptable is carrying the bottle around...this is on Carnival btw

Let me guess: Carnival?
If so, it may be due to the stringent limit on what you can bring onboard (e.g.,  2 bottles?) and how it doesn’t make a dent in their booze sales. That’s very different than cruise lines with unlimited personal booze allowances.