Thought I would update what the wine policy is now and how it works. I had a chance to sit down yesterday with an officer on board the Diamond to clear up all possible questions about bringing wine on board at the ports and the day of embarkation.
Policy clearly states now that you can bring one bottle of
wine or champagne per person per voyage.
This wine must be brought on in your carry on bags.
When you arrive at the port on embarkation day when they
scan your bag at security if they see a bottle of wine or other hard liquor they
will ask you to go to the table at the side close to the security station.
Here they will ask you to show them the wine/champagne. They will ask for your cabin number and will
document how many bottles you have brought on.
If you have brought on more than the allotted one per person they will
charge you the $15 corkage fee and they will put a stamp on your bottle showing
you have paid the corkage for that bottle.
We brought on three bottles in Vancouver we were charged the
$15 corkage fee and the bottle that was stamped we brought to Sabatinis one
night and we were not charged the corkage.
Now if we would of brought either of the other two bottles we would have
been charged the $15 corkage fee.
If you bring the wine on in your suitcase when they xray the
bag they will see the bottle and hold your bag and call you to the desk to show
the bottle. If you have already brought your
allotted one bottle of wine you will be charged the corkage. If you have not already brought on your one
bottle you will be fine.
If you bring out other types of liquor they will confiscate
that liquor and they dispose of it. It
is not allowed period. Which is
understandable they are a business. You don’t
bring your own beer to a restaurant at home and try to drink it do you?
Now with regards to brining wine on at the ports.
If you bring wine on at the ports they will flag your bag at
security and you will be directed to the table beside the security. Here they will check your account to see if
you have already brought wine on and if you are in excess of your one bottle
per person per cabin you will be charged corkage on that bottle. So for example you brought on the three
bottles at embarkation, you were charged the $15 corkage initially. Then in port you brought on two more bottles
you will be charged an extra $30 (2 x $15 corkage).
I hope this helps clear up some questions but if you have a
question post below.
addition: Sept 2014 - Here is a podcast that I did all about bringing wine on board
Thank you, very much, Vicki... You are an angel for this excellent update. We appreciate you searching this out for us. You're the best!
ReplyDeleteHi Vickie,
ReplyDeleteHow does it work if you are doing a back to back? Can you get 2 more bottles of wine for your second cruise?
I didn't know you could change your mini bar for 2 coffee cards. Is that always the case?
Carolyn you get one bottle per person per leg. so two for first leg, two for second leg. Yes the coffee card exchange is relatively new and it can be found on the Princess site in the Q&A section for mini bar
DeleteVickie, If you are doing B2B(2B)....that would be three bottles per person (one for each leg). How do you convince the crew at your embarkation that you are doing these extra two legs to the cruise, and should be allowed to bring on the additional wine?
Deleteno convincing needed, they know we are on b2b2b but we only brought two bottles on initially. We will pick up two more on turn around though.
DeleteVery disappointed about this policy by Princess. One of the things that sold me a few years ago on Princess verses RCL or Celebrity was their flexibility on taking wine aboard.
ReplyDeleteRCl policy is exactly the same as Princess or it was in Dec 2012 two bottles allowed on. No hard liqour. Can't say about Celebrity.
DeleteVickie, thanks for this. Can you find out what the policy is on boxed wine? Does it count as one bottle or more bottles?
ReplyDeletePescado if i see the officer I will check and get back to you
DeleteSomeone has posted that when they embarked on Crown Princess last month in Southampton, they took on a winebox and no-one queried it at all or charged corkage. Usually over 3 bottles in a winebox.
ReplyDeleteHi Vickie,
ReplyDeleteWelcome back. I have been following the Diamond on the Bridge Cams and it looks like you had good weather the first half and so-so weather the second. At least you didn't get the blowing snow that we arrived to in Whittier on 5/18. I had read about this new policy before we boarded the Diamond 5/3 but we had no problem bringing on as much wine as we liked. Are they now really cracking down and will it be on every ship?
Jan Robbins
Vickie, is that 15.00 corkage for both bottles or per bottle?
ReplyDelete$15 per bottle after your first free one
DeleteThank you. Very informative. We'll see you on the Grand Princess in November... Pete and Glenda
ReplyDelete