Which Cruise Lines Allow You to Carry On Wine?
It’s good to be home. Candace and I just got back from a cruise to Alaska with two very good friends and are still readjusting to life on land. It was tough being away from our 10-month-old for that long, but the sleep and general relaxation were wonderful. You don’t realize just how sleep deprived you really are until you get to actually sleep in for the first time in nearly a year.
Still, the trip could have been better and so much more enjoyable if I’d been able to bring my own friggin’ wine on board. Royal Caribbean, the cruise line I sailed on, is typical of the cruise industry in general in that they allow no wine whatsoever to be brought aboard. A few cruise lines allow one bottle per person plus a $15 corkage fee, but that’s still absolutely pitiful for a 7 day cruise.
There are only three cruise lines that allow you to bring unlimited amounts of wine and champagne on board. A fourth, Costa Cruises, allows a “limited amount” to be brought on board, but it must be consumed in the dining rooms. The three that allow unlimited wine are Holland America, Cunard and Norwegian Coastal Voyage. Holland and Cunard both charge a $15 fee per bottle, while Norwegian Costal allows you to consume as much as you want – as long as it isn’t in a “public area”. Oh really, what about the dining room?
I love wine, but I’m not prepared to hole up in my stateroom and drink it alone, Leaving Las Vegas style. I guess you could always order room service, but c’mon, you’re not a leper. Hell, smokers have more freedom on cruise ships than wine lovers do!
After perusing the wine list on Royal Caribbean I would have gladly paid a $15 corkage fee to escape drinking the insipid fare they were offering. The most specific appellation I was able to find on the menu was Sonoma County, and the rest were from notable terroirs like California, Australia or New Zealand. Just awful.
So I thought I’d try my best to save you my misery when planning your next cruise. Below is a list of what each cruise line allows you carry on, how much they charge for corkage, and whether or not you can actually drink your favorite beverage among your fellow cruisers. The info comes directly from this article in the Columbus Dispatch and was originally published in the Washington Post, so it might all be rubbish. You never know with reporters these days 
.
Holland America Line
Unlimited wine and champagne are allowed.
Corkage fee: $15 a bottle.Cunard Line
Wine and champagne are allowed.
Corkage fee: $15 a bottle.Norwegian Coastal Voyage
Any legal alcohol is allowed for consumption in the cabin.
Corkage fee: Does not apply; no bottles may be brought into public areas of the ship.\Costa Cruises
Guests may arrange to bring a limited amount of wine.
Corkage fee: $10 plus gratuity.Celebrity Cruises
Two bottles per stateroom are allowed.
Corkage fee: $25 a bottle.Carnival Cruise Lines
One bottle per adult (21 or older) and only on the day of embarkation. Any other alcohol can be confiscated with no compensation.
Corkage fee: Carnival charges $10 a bottle to have the wine or champagne opened in the dining room, $14 in the Supper Club.Princess Cruises
One bottle per person is allowed.
Corkage fee: $15.Royal Caribbean
No carry-on alcohol is allowed. Security reserves the right to inspect containers such as water, soda and mouthwash bottles and dispose of any alcohol.
Corkage fee: Does not apply.Norwegian Cruise Line
No wine allowed.
Corkage fee: $15 per bottle of wine bought onshore during cruise, which must be consumed in the dining rooms.MSC Cruises
No wine allowed.
Corkage fee: Does not apply.
20 Comments → “Which Cruise Lines Allow You to Carry On Wine?”
It’s extortionary price gauging of a captive market! Are they justifying it in the name of fighting terror?
http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/29/carnival-cruise-lines-bans-liquids-extorts-passengers/
Timely post. We’re doing the Disney cruise in July and I’ve been trying to figure out their wine policy too. What I’ve learned online reading various forums is that the policies for many cruise lines including Disney tend to say one thing but reality is different. Many people say they just carry on their wine and get the nod from cruise staff. Not sure I want to risk it, though. Since I’ll be celebrating my b-day on the cruise, I was really hoping to bring some special bottles. I still haven’t decided what to do.
At least Disney’s wine list looks decent from what I can tell.
Great post, Josh. Thanks for the information.
Tyler,
Thanks for the link! If the decision is purely an economic one, then it is a very, very bad one. A 15 dollar corkage fee per bottle for carry one wine is a pretty good incentive in itself, but when you also factor in the goodwill the cruise lines will be accruing with wine lovers for letting them indulge in their passion while on vacation, to me it seems like a slam dunk.
James,
If I go on a cruise in the next few years it will most likely be a Disney cruise. I’d love to know how it goes.
Thanks Mike!
Hey, a little offtopic, but I came via your comment on Guy Kawasaki’s blog … on the PR post. Great comment … I was really turned off as well by most of the reasons being the fault of the client ….
John,
Yeah I was blown away at the ineptitude of her personal PR. If you are going to be brutally honest, you have to at least be balanced with your criticism. Otherwise you come off as a transparent shill, which is what she is.
Thanks for the comment. Look forward to reading more of your blog John.
hi Josh – we did that cruise on Princess just two years ago and it is an incredible trip. At the time we were told by Princess that we could bring as much wine as we wanted as long as we hand carried it onboard ourselves. And we were never charged corkage but we’re decent tippers and perhaps that was the waiter’s discretion.
Hope you did the helicopter flight to the glaciers behind Juneau!!!
We took a Royal Caribbean cruise two years ago and took the “College” approach, you might say. It was all about sneaking around. We are accustomed to all-inclusive resorts, so finding out that a cruise does not include our cocktails and wine was a shocker. We bought a couple bottles of bourbon and sealed them in plastic travel bottles. (It’s our favorite mixer for a cocktail.) We also buried several bottles of wine in my overpacked suitcase. Woe to the security person who could get that suitcase unzipped AND rezipped without clothes bursting out all over.
Once onboard, we bought those large plastic lidded mugs in which they give you free soda all the time. This mixed well with the bourbon in my beach bag. In the evening, we’d often pour wine into the same plastic cups and go wandering the boat. For dinner, I would often just have water with my meal. What was interesting was that we won a bottle of champagne in a shipboard contest. They gave it to us and we still weren’t officially allowed to open it. However, if I slipped wine into my backpack and poured some out on the deck, the employees simply turned a blind eye.
We also bought some Taittinger at a duty-free in the Bahamas and they confiscated it the minute we stepped foot back on the boat, but gave it back the morning of departure.
I’m not likely to take any cruises any time soon. But do you know which airlines would let me carry-on a bunch of 3 oz. bottles of wine wrapped in a clear, 1-quart plastic bag?
That’s great. I love the fact that you and your wife got to leave YOUR TEN-MONTH-OLD-CHILD for a cruise to Alaska. What GREAT parents you must be. You sound like the COOLEST people.
Who gives a damn about ***children*** that you gave BIRTH to when you can have overpriced WINE on a CRUISE? And then BLOG about it?
What is that little thing – a BABY – f’Chrissakes – supposed to do while you indulge yourselves with “your dear friends?” and are two thousand freakin’ miles away?
Excuse me. I must be missing something here. A 10-MONTH-OLD???
You two really need to figure out what your priorities are. Go suck up to your presumably rich friends until you figure out what those are.
Jefe,
Yeah we checked out the glacier. Beautiful stuff, though they only let you hang out for 35 mins or so. My one regret is that I wish I could have gotten better pictures on that particular excursion.
Michelle,
Good points. I didn’t want to recommend that anyone do anything *against the rules*, but we also figured out ways to get some slightly better wine on board (gift baskets sent to ourselves). Thanks for the heads up!
Winesmith,
Good to see you blogging again Alan. I take it you don’t have much of an affinity for cruise lines. Let me tell you though, a cruise is far and away the best way to experience the Alaskan frontier. Everthing is so remote and spread out that there really is no other way. Its also much more affordable than you might think (especially if you use mileage points for your airfare like we did).
Richard,
Thanks for the comment. I have to hand it to you, yours is by far the nastiest comment I’ve gotten in over a year and a half of writing pinotblogger,
The unfortunate thing is that you make a pretty good point about leaving a very young child “alone” for 7 days, but your concern is buried under a mountain of snarkiness and just plain old meanness.
To your point: we debated long and hard about taking this vacation, asked trusted councilors, child care professionals and talked with our family. In the end we felt confident that leaving Jack with both his grandparents for a week would make for a good bonding experience for everyone involved (us, Jack, and the ‘rents).
We are fortunate that we are able to take our son to work with us, so we have been blessed to spend nearly every hour of every day for the last 10 months either taking care of or, literally, within shouting distance of The Boy. It’s been fantastic, but its also been tiring.
It took a lot of courage for Candace to tear herself away, and it certainly wasn’t easy or done lightly, but it was without a doubt worth it both for our relationship, as well as for Jack and his grandparents.
Anyway, that’s the story. Hope you enjoyed your rant!
Hi, I really enjoyed you comments. I was told on my last Princess cruise to Hawaii that if you bring your own ‘brands’ that the restaurant serve, as. ie., Kendall Jackson (of which I love), there is not a cork fee or a service charge, is this true? If this is true, do you know of the other fine wines that they consider ‘off limits’ also. I have head that Princess also considers Byron, Pknot Noir, as acceptable also. Any truth in this? Also the French, Beau Jolais Villagies. I am going on a Tahitian Princess trip to Tahiti and the Maques Islands the end of October and any info you can give me as to bring my own wines, and not have to pay the exorbant prices they charge would be very well appreicated.
Respectfully,
Tina Brush
we sail in august to alaska, l’m bringing 2 magnums l red-l white,that meets princess’s
limit of one bottle per person,and a magnum is a very shareable size,and they are not
2 buck chuck. hard liguor is harder to share,better off just to bring a few minitures for personal
pleasure. happy cruising.
I’m glad you found this useful info.
great blog you have!
-Fredericka
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Just called Royal Caribbean to find out their corkage fee and they said that they do not allow passengers to bring any wine. May in fact choose a different cruiseline simply based on this policy.