Removing items from baggage

[Bubbeh]

On 9/23/2024 at 1:22 PM, cruiser3775 said:

No corkage charge if you consume it in your room.

Well, that's the theory but who has ever seen anyone standing outside a cabin just waiting to catch a guest leaving with a glass of wine in hand?  Recently we took our two bottles on board Princess for drinking in our cabin but............

[Bubbeh]

On 9/23/2024 at 1:55 PM, Ozwoody said:

I believe it is now $30aud

I think so too.  

[Bubbeh]

On 9/24/2024 at 7:00 AM, windsor26 said:

 

Now I'll never sleep again wondering what was deleted/edited.  

[OzKiwiJJ]

6 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Good idea.  You can always buy an occasional drink in port.  $30 corkage is ridiculous.  Who is making these rules?  Many people in Australia buy a bottle of wine to enjoy with their meal for less than $30!!

Princess are now setting fees like that in USD then converting to AUD. In the past they just said $15 whether it was USD or AUD. 

[arxcards]

46 minutes ago, Bubbeh said:

Has anyone even bought a bottle since 1976?  Do they still even sell it?  Gross!!!

We were knocking it off from our parents bars for our school parties in the 80's. It is still around the bars as a popular ingredient in mint & choc-mint cocktails.

[ceeceeDee]

1 minute ago, arxcards said:

We were knocking it off from our parents bars for our school parties in the 80's. It is still around the bars as a popular ingredient in mint & choc-mint cocktails.

Do I actually publicly admit I had a Grasshopper (just the one) on a cruise last year??😉

[arxcards]

43 minutes ago, Bubbeh said:

Well, that's the theory but who has ever seen anyone standing outside a cabin just waiting to catch a guest leaving with a glass of wine in hand?  Recently we took our two bottles on board Princess for drinking in our cabin but............

It isn't just cabin, but if you want to take it to a bar or dining area it is subject to corkage. If they choose not to, that is only due to their discretion.

[arxcards]

Just now, ceeceeDee said:

Do I actually publicly admit I had a Grasshopper (just the one) on a cruise last year??😉

A mint cocktail isn't a bad thing once in a while.

[Yaya_in_Oz]

Not being a big drinker and some days I don't drink anything, particularly after a long day in port. The cruise I am on is 22 days, so after drinking my wine bought on I went to the bar and asked for a bottle. They didn't have a list, just a few by  the glass but I was told a cheap one by the bottle was $65 and an expensive one was about $200 I think. I had a choice of Chile, Italy and California. I like Chilean wines so I opted for that one. It was a merlot. I'm no connoisseur so its fine. I've got about 2 glasses left for this evening. I also change my minbar to whisky and diet coke which I have for a change. A drink is nice while watching the sunset on the balcony. Shorter cruises extra purchases aren't usually necessary and half the minibar comes home. Of course that wine would be $10 in Dan's and bringing it on would be cheaper, but we are not anywhere near Dan's and I would never pack wine in my luggage that involved a flight unless it was a cask.

[Bubbeh]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

It isn't just cabin, but if you want to take it to a bar or dining area it is subject to corkage. If they choose not to, that is only due to their discretion.

I've taken my glass of wine into the dining area and also into various bars on a ship.  I've never been challenged and if I was I'd just lie through my teeth and claim I bought it at another bar.  If they asked to check my cruise card/medallion, I look deeply offended and accuse them of distrust.  If truly pushed, I'd claim some stranger bought it for me and that I didn't want to admit that in front of my husband.  I can be a very good liar when I have too, I know how to do it.  I raised teenagers who lied through their teeth whenever their lips were moving.

[arxcards]

5 minutes ago, Bubbeh said:

I've taken my glass of wine into the dining area and also into various bars on a ship.  I've never been challenged and if I was I'd just lie through my teeth and claim I bought it at another bar.  If they asked to check my cruise card/medallion, I look deeply offended and accuse them of distrust.  If truly pushed, I'd claim some stranger bought it for me and that I didn't want to admit that in front of my husband.  I can be a very good liar when I have too, I know how to do it.  I raised teenagers who lied through their teeth whenever their lips were moving.

A glass, no probs. You would even get by with a sippy cup. Just not the bottle.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Yaya_in_Oz said:

Not being a big drinker and some days I don't drink anything, particularly after a long day in port. The cruise I am on is 22 days, so after drinking my wine bought on I went to the bar and asked for a bottle. They didn't have a list, just a few by  the glass but I was told a cheap one by the bottle was $65 and an expensive one was about $200 I think. I had a choice of Chile, Italy and California. I like Chilean wines so I opted for that one. It was a merlot. I'm no connoisseur so its fine. I've got about 2 glasses left for this evening. I also change my minbar to whisky and diet coke which I have for a change. A drink is nice while watching the sunset on the balcony. Shorter cruises extra purchases aren't usually necessary and half the minibar comes home. Of course that wine would be $10 in Dan's and bringing it on would be cheaper, but we are not anywhere near Dan's and I would never pack wine in my luggage that involved a flight unless it was a cask.

The secret to packing wine in luggage is two zip-lock bags per bottle. The surround the bottle(s) with soft clothing. I've packed many bottles of wine etc in my checked luggage and never had a problem. 

[Ozwoody]

2 hours ago, Yaya_in_Oz said:

Not being a big drinker and some days I don't drink anything, particularly after a long day in port. The cruise I am on is 22 days, so after drinking my wine bought on I went to the bar and asked for a bottle. They didn't have a list, just a few by  the glass but I was told a cheap one by the bottle was $65 and an expensive one was about $200 I think. I had a choice of Chile, Italy and California. I like Chilean wines so I opted for that one. It was a merlot. I'm no connoisseur so its fine. I've got about 2 glasses left for this evening. I also change my minbar to whisky and diet coke which I have for a change. A drink is nice while watching the sunset on the balcony. Shorter cruises extra purchases aren't usually necessary and half the minibar comes home. Of course that wine would be $10 in Dan's and bringing it on would be cheaper, but we are not anywhere near Dan's and I would never pack wine in my luggage that involved a flight unless it was a cask.

 

At $65 for the cheapest wine is ridicules, that would have to be at least a 400-500% mark-up.

Hate to admit it but even with a $30 corkage, it is starting to make take on wine a must do, if you like a glass with your meal. Back in 2012 I was buying a reasonable red for $15-$20 a bottle, and I can still buy similar wine for the same amount, so they can't claim inflation, so its just plain rip off.

As we don't drink much alcohol, it would not irk me so much, except the price they are charging for zero alcohol  package at $54.85 per person rivals the plus package!!!???

The Classic Soda Package at AU $27.42 per person, seems to be not viable either, especially seeing they have pulled the hot chocolate out as well.

Nope tea total seems to be the go. Except two you know what's at boarding.😁

 

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Ozwoody said:

 

At $65 for the cheapest wine is ridicules, that would have to be at least a 400-500% mark-up.

Hate to admit it but even with a $30 corkage, it is starting to make take on wine a must do, if you like a glass with your meal. Back in 2012 I was buying a reasonable red for $15-$20 a bottle, and I can still buy similar wine for the same amount, so they can't claim inflation, so its just plain rip off.

As we don't drink much alcohol, it would not irk me so much, except the price they are charging for zero alcohol  package at $54.85 per person rivals the plus package!!!???

The Classic Soda Package at AU $27.42 per person, seems to be not viable either, especially seeing they have pulled the hot chocolate out as well.

Nope tea total seems to be the go. Except two you know what's at boarding.😁

 

 

No different to the mark-up on wines at many Sydney restaurants. We went to a nice French restaurant in Chatswood last week. It was a casual brasserie style restaurant with great food but not fine dining. The wine prices were very similar to those on Princess although the cheaper ones were better quality than Princess has.

 

The problem with Princess is that there are a number of very interesting wines that aren't on their wine list. After finally finding one of their sommeliers who would actually listen to what we wanted, and what our budget was, we ended up getting some excellent wines at very reasonable prices. 

[Ozwoody]

16 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

No different to the mark-up on wines at many Sydney restaurants. We went to a nice French restaurant in Chatswood last week. It was a casual brasserie style restaurant with great food but not fine dining. The wine prices were very similar to those on Princess although the cheaper ones were better quality than Princess has.

 

The problem with Princess is that there are a number of very interesting wines that aren't on their wine list. After finally finding one of their sommeliers who would actually listen to what we wanted, and what our budget was, we ended up getting some excellent wines at very reasonable prices. 

I'll be cheeky, um are you willing to share the info regards the hidden stash of excellent wines at reasonable prices.😁

[OzKiwiJJ]

25 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

I'll be cheeky, um are you willing to share the info regards the hidden stash of excellent wines at reasonable prices.😁

It may depend on the ship but we found or were offered these wines. I can't remember exactly what the prices were. They weren't cheap but they were reasonably priced by restaurant standards.

- Innocent Bystander Central Otago Pinot Noir - you don't normally see this wine in Australia, we get the Yarra Valley pinot noir.

- there was a very nice Australian Pinot Grigio that we had during the early part of the cruise but I can't remember the brand.

- an excellent Albarino

- we scored several bottles of Marsannay, a Burgundy, at around $60 a bottle - our sommelier got it for us at some shipboard auction and it was delivered to our cabin. We ended up creating a makeshift wine rack to hold all our wines - we'd picked up a few at ports by then. 

- a Chablis

- a couple of bottles of a US Durif which was excellent. I didn't realise Durif was being grown in the US, I thought it was only found in Rutherglen. 

 

The silly thing is they started running out of listed wines that we liked fairly early on - before the half way point - but were not allowed to reprint the wine list. So until we found the good sommelier, TK,  we had to play a guessing game and our poor junior waiter had to keep running backwards and forwards until he could get something we liked. 

 

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

A couple of the listed wines weren't available right from the start but we found alternatives by accident. For example we'd ordered an Innocent Bystander shiraz but the only Innocent Bystander they had was pinot noir. Thank you, that will do nicely says the pinot noir afficionado (me). I think we managed to drink all their stock of that one during the cruise! I doubt many other people would have known to ask for it.