Pre Ordered Wine

[Granden]

We are sailing on the Grand on 30th May , Mediterranean Adventurer, if I order wine with Princess before embarkation what is the procedure on board,do I get bottles in my stateroom? or what. Is there any other charge as I know if you bring wine onboard there is a $15 corkage fee in the restaurant. Does this apply if you wish to consume your preordered wine in the restaurant.

 

The prices quoted in GBP in the cruise answer book are much better than the dollar price charged on board plus service

 

Graham

[Embracedbylife]

I pre ordered champaign for our last cruise and a coupon was in the room waiting for us when we arrived. I simply called room service and they delivered it pronto and I gave them the coupon. Not sure about corkage fees though or bringining the bottle to the dining rooms.

[chrysalis]

There is no corkage if the wine was bought on the ship.

[LIMPIT]

You can give your pre ordered wine voucher in at any of the Dining Rooms in exchange for the bottle of wine without incurring the 15% additional charge.

 

Lee:)

[ILgirl]

So is this a loophole of sorts on the 15% service fee? If I know that I will be ordering a bottle of wine most nights at dinner and I pre order that wine so that the card is in my cabin on boarding, I would just take that card to the table when I go to dinner and they would serve the wine without the 15% fee or a corkage charge?

[jerryr]

There is no corkage charge on wine you order from your waiter so there is no cost savings by pre-ordering.

 

Jerry

[ILgirl]

There might not be a corkage charge but there is a 15% service fee on a bottle of wine ordered at dinner.

[LIMPIT]

Plus if you pre-order from the UK, the cost is cheaper than buying aboard in US $

 

 

Lee

[sultan_sfo]

The Princess website includes gratuity.

_____________________________

Princess Cellars

 

The following liquors are available as Bon Voyage gifts. Prices include gratuity.

 

______________________________

 

The on-board prices in US$ does not include gratuity. So the prices on the on-board wine list are a little lower (again in US$).

 

But LIMPIT -- make sure to check your shipboard account that no gratuity has been charged. The wine gift cards have a $ value and if one "upgrades" to a higher priced wine by paying the difference, the gratuity becomes a mess.

 

Plus if you pre-order from the UK, the cost is cheaper than buying aboard in US $

 

 

Lee

[NthernLgts]

We are sailing on the Grand on 30th May , Mediterranean Adventurer, if I order wine with Princess before embarkation what is the procedure on board,do I get bottles in my stateroom? or what. Is there any other charge as I know if you bring wine onboard there is a $15 corkage fee in the restaurant. Does this apply if you wish to consume your preordered wine in the restaurant.

 

The prices quoted in GBP in the cruise answer book are much better than the dollar price charged on board plus service

 

Graham

 

Graham, I do not know the answer to your specific question, but remember a couple things. 1st, there really isnt much of a benefit to pre ordering wine for dinner as opposed to ordering in the restaurant once onboard unless there are some exchange rate related differences. Second, if you do wind up with a corkage fee you will only have to pay it once per bottle and Princess will keep track of your wine in the restaurant for you from one night to the next if you do not finish the bottle (usually not a problem for yours truly ;-) ). Third, Princess' pricing of wine is usually quite competitive and they have an above average list, usually with a couple of stunners thrown in. Even with paying a 15% gratuity you'd have to be spending $100 US for a bottle just to be on par with a corkage fee. Last, the whole "corkage fee" thing is hit or miss onboard. Sometimes it is charged, other times not.

[lateuk]

I have just booked for the 1st August on the Grand Princess and i cant find anywhere on the website to pre book wine. I see the tours and the spa stuff but nothing about wine?

[Cruisindad]

http://www.princess.com/learn/onboard/services/gifts/princess_cellars/index.jsp

[lateuk]

Just looking at the form i really dont like the fact they are asking people to email forms to them with credit card details on them. email is highly unsecure and not to different to sending the information on a post card.

 

Anyway now i have the list i will phone my order through.

 

Many thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

[-Lew-]

Will someone please explain the advantage of pre ordering wine?

 

It appears the wine list available for pre ordering is a small subset of the complete selection available onboard. Why limit yourself?

 

There appears to be no cost savings. Pre ordered wines include the same gratuity as would be paid onboard.

So what's the answer?

 

Lew

[Toto2Kansas]

Will someone please explain the advantage of pre ordering wine?

It appears the wine list available for pre ordering is a small subset of the complete selection available onboard. Why limit yourself?

 

There appears to be no cost savings. Pre ordered wines include the same gratuity as would be paid onboard.

So what's the answer?

 

Lew

 

Lew, From what I have read, some like to pre-order because it is charged when you order to your credit card. This way they can keep from having that huge shipboard account bill at the end. There are some passengers that like to pay for things in smaller amounts instead of one big lump. ;)

[-Lew-]

 

There are some passengers that like to pay for things in smaller amounts instead of one big lump.

Okay...that's understandable. Thanks...

 

Lew

[caber]

Will someone please explain the advantage of pre ordering wine?

It appears the wine list available for pre ordering is a small subset of the complete selection available onboard. Why limit yourself?

 

There appears to be no cost savings. Pre ordered wines include the same gratuity as would be paid onboard.

So what's the answer?

 

Lew

 

When we order wine from the UK the price is in pounds. In January when we cruised the cost of a bottle worked out a lot cheaper than what it would have cost us in dollars onboard, given the exchange rate at that time.

[h3rjp]

When we order wine from the UK the price is in pounds. In January when we cruised the cost of a bottle worked out a lot cheaper than what it would have cost us in dollars onboard, given the exchange rate at that time.

 

We ordered 6 bottles in advance, and saved about 30 - 40% over what the cost would be if we purchased the same wine on board and charged it to our account in USD and then settled it sterling. There is no 15% tip for a start (though the room service staff appricate a few dollars for the delivery of your wine) or you can redeem in any of the dining rooms.

 

Plus, for some reason, Princess screwed up our order and we had 3 more vouchers than we paid for. FYI the price had gone up slightly from the edition of the cruise answer booklet we were sent. I'm not sure what the cut off time is for ordering though.

 

I phoned the order through to princess directly and gave them my card details over the phone.

 

Though it may be worth seeing if you can get the 2 USD - 1 GBP on board credit option (which I think depends on when you booked). We didn't know about this till after we got back, so we spent about £200 than we needed to.

[Woodlands Mac]

I was allowed to bring two bottles on board at each Port of Call. Kept one in room and brought other to dinner.

 

Waiter would serve and if any winde left after meal, return to me the next night.

 

Regards,

 

Keith