Question about bringing wine to dining room

[oceanview585]

If we bring wine aboard that is from the wine list offered on ship will we still be charged a corkerage fee if we bring it to dinner in dining room?

[arkcruiser]

Why wouldn't you be charged? The corkage fee is meant to recover the revenue lost when you decide not to purchase the wine from the cruiseline.

[johnmik1]

Why wouldn't you be charged? The corkage fee is meant to recover the revenue lost when you decide not to purchase the wine from the cruiseline.

Because the waitstaff will assume that you were sent the wine as a gift or bought it on board.

[Random00]

When we cruised on the Diamond in May it was hit and miss. Sometimes they charged us and sometimes they didn't. I believe the policy is that they should charge on every bottle. I think our waiter was either just being nice or was too busy and forgot.

[chrysalis]

If we bring wine aboard that is from the wine list offered on ship will we still be charged a corkerage fee if we bring it to dinner in dining room?

 

no, you are not charged.

[Scotto97]

I agree, if you bring wine to the dining room that is on the wine list, you are not charged. Kenwood Jack London Cab.is alway a good choice since it is very popular on board and is always a feature at the Maiter'd wine tasting.

[sultan_sfo]

We changed our strategy -- now even when we take a bottle that is on the the ship's wine list (albeit seldom so) we just say to our waiter that the bottle is not from the ship. Then we leave it to the waiter to charge or not charge. Just makes for a more comfortable rapport because the waiter knows that most TA gifts are now in the form of a certificate delivered to your cabin. Remember that the waiter is also under pressure to add to the revenue of the dining room by selling wine -- no please don't blame the waiter, it is policy. The corkage counts towards that. If the waiter does not charge corkage we just add most of it as additional extra tip and if we don't get charged twice (as on our recent cruise) we give the savings also to the head waiter (who really knows that we had not been charged).

 

Two interesting observation from our cruise of May 26, 2006. Our adjacent table of 8 (same waiter as ours) did bring to dining room Magnums on 3 different nites! Forgot to check how much corkage they were charged. DW and I were just joking whether we should take a double Magnum next time if we board from SF.

 

Another new thing we learned. If the you receive a gift certificate for a bottle of wine from your TA, the waiter can "upgrade" the bottle for the price difference. /Sultan