Booze

[BOOFER]

We have been on nine cruises and had no problem with having booze in our checked bags. We are going on the Spirit this Nov.;first time on NCL;will we have a problem?

 

[oakleygirl]

We just got back from a cruise with NCL and here are the rules....you can bring I think.....two bottles of wine on board (I would check on this) but they charge you a corkage fee, $15 or so, I guess they take it and then give it to you in the restaurant. Otherwise who wouldn't just drink it in their room. You can bring booze on board from your on shore excursions, but you need to declare it and pick it up the night before you disembark. There are some people who invent fairly ingenious ways to get booze on board. Once on board the drinks are sort of in the average price department, depending on where you are from. The fru fruit drinks are nine dollars and seven for a refill. There is a fully mini bar in each room, we drank most of the vodka and rum minis (maybe 8 over the eight days) and it cost almost ninety dollars to refill, don't recommend it. The beers are $4.50, wine $6.50 and all comes with a 15% gratuity attached (above that cost). There are wine tastings, and martini tastings (there were on the Star anyway) and those were $15/person. I recommend the martini tasting, the wine wasn't that great. So, we had a great time, I am sure contributed to the next paint job on the ship with our drink tab, but we had a blast. Just do your homework and keep track of how much you are spending....oh, and have fun.

 

[nmnita]

One of the few things that I hate about NCL is the booze policy. All lines say no, you can't bring liquor on board but few really enforce the rule. NCL does. You can put it in your through luggage and maybe you will be safe, if not you will need to report to the "naughty" room where they will have you open your luggage. If there is liqour they will keep it for you until the end of the cruise. As for wine, you can bring as much on as you want, but each bottle will be charged a $15 corkage fee regadless as to where you drink it. I would suggest you simply order a bar set up before cruising. That way the booze will be in your cabin when you arrive.

Nita

 

[jcarterbd1]

You can order bar set-up to have booze in your cabin when you get on board. You just supply the mixers.

 

[CatieCupCake]

We were one of "those" people that came up with ingenious idea of how to get liquor on the ship. After we discovered how much they charged for a drink (on another cruise line) we went to a grocery store and bought a bottle of JD and two single bottles of Ice Tea. We then poured out the Iced Tea and poured the jack into the bottles. It was darn near the same color.

Our only problem was I don't drink and had they asked me to take a sip as we re-boarded the ship I would have been in trouble, but I just screwed back on the lid and walked on...they didn't say a word....

 

[nmnita]

As much as I do not like the policy of not being able to at least bring a bottle of wine on board for my cabin without paying a corkage fee I do question all of you who are talking about how much drinks are on ships. Where in the world do you live? Any major city in our country now charges between $6.00 and $10.00 (some more) for a glass of wine plus many add the gratuity. Mixed drinks usually start at $5.00 (min) and I have been to many places where martinis will run $7.50 to $10.00. Why does everyone talk about the cost of drinks on ships?

Nita

 

[uppitycats]

[quote nmnita]As much as I do not like the policy of not being able to at least bring a bottle of wine on board for my cabin without paying a corkage fee I do question all of you who are talking about how much drinks are on ships. Where in the world do you live? Any major city in our country now charges between $6.00 and $10.00 (some more) for a glass of wine plus many add the gratuity. Mixed drinks usually start at $5.00 (min) and I have been to many places where martinis will run $7.50 to $10.00. Why does everyone talk about the cost of drinks on ships?

Nita[/quote]

Well, you're right -- in the major cities liquor prices are in the range of what you quote.

But where *I* live -- "happy hour" beer is $1.25; goes up to $2.50 after 6 p.m. "Hard liquor" drinks are $2.00 during "happy hour" -- 4 - 6 p.m.; go up to $2.50 after 6 (and before 4...bars here open around 11 a.m.). Drinks with more than one liquor in them -- add 50 cents per additional liquor. So a vodka martini on the rocks (in my case, vodka, dry vermouth, couple of olives) costs me $3.50. If I want a particular liquor, tack on another 50 cents..if the bartender remembers. Same for wine -- around $2.50 - $3.00 glass, depending on variety.

So for those of us who don't travel often, rarely get to big cities, and save for months..maybe years...for our next cruise...$6 - $10 for a glass of wine, $5.00 + for liquor or beer, martinis at $7.50 - $10 ... adds A LOT to our budget.

 

[uppitycats]

...and we just came back from our local vineyard where we buy a year's supply of wine (12 bottles). The most expensive wine is around $20 a bottle; the cheapest is $7.50. They had an open house today, and were selling wine by the glass -- $4.

 

[nmnita]

Damn,

I am going to move to the city where you reside. We live in a small town and still don't get specials like that. The Moose Lodge is the exception. Wine is still $2 a glass, mixed drinks $2.50. Of course we aren't talking top or even mid range brands. We are talking boxed wines and never heard of scottch or vodka.

The few bars in town still charge $5.50 for mixed drinks and $5.00 min for wine.

AS for your wine consumtion, 12 bottles for a year, you obviously are not big drinkers. 12 bottles lasts us about 12 days.-D


Nita

 

[Conniemc]

LOL Nita....my eyes were bugging out reading those posts....Moose Lodge???
I couldn't understand where these people live either....south and midwest I presume.

 

[nmnita]

Heck we just moved to NWAR about 5 weeks ago and are paying $5 to $7 for a glass of wine and the same for a mixed drink. If they live in the midwest, it must be very mid, certainly not down toward the Mo/Ar or OK boarder....Or as I said they spend their nights at the Moose Lodge......

Nita

 

[Conniemc]

Here in the Northeast, it's about $8 for a bar brand mixed drink in a typical restaurant or bar. More expensive restaurants are higher.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

Up in Alaska (North Pole) the Moose and Elk Lodges are pretty much the only places to buy cheap booze. Stores sometime have special reduced prices and there are happy hours up here but, basically, in restaurants (fancy or not) booze is around the same price as on a ship.

 

[park slope guy]

Been on 5 cruises with NCL and never got caught. Put wine boxes in your checked in luggage and you will not have a problem or a corkage fee. Their scanners will not pick up a bottle radar signature and they will pass it through without opening your luggage. The problem is that you should have sampled the wine box before storing an unopened one in your luggage as the quality of the wine may be below your normal expectations. Don't rely on the word of wine clerks. As for hard stuff, you may store it in your small plastic bottles in your checked luggage-as a second line of defense against detection, spray a little perfume on the bottles and if asked, say it is after shave lotion or something. Of course, when you are in port, store the hard stuff in iced tea bottles-say Snapple

 

[nmnita]

[quote park slope guy]Been on 5 cruises with NCL and never got caught. Put wine boxes in your checked in luggage and you will not have a problem or a corkage fee. Their scanners will not pick up a bottle radar signature and they will pass it through without opening your luggage. The problem is that you should have sampled the wine box before storing an unopened one in your luggage as the quality of the wine may be below your normal expectations. Don't rely on the word of wine clerks. As for hard stuff, you may store it in your small plastic bottles in your checked luggage-as a second line of defense against detection, spray a little perfume on the bottles and if asked, say it is after shave lotion or something. Of course, when you are in port, store the hard stuff in iced tea bottles-say Snapple[/quote]the wine box I can understand and yes, make sure you know what boxed wines are good and which are not. as for the hard stuff, I have no problem just getting a bar set up or paying the price. Why is it so hard to understand, the cruise lines do not make money on our cruise price, but on gambling, shore excursions and the bar. I can't in a million years imagine going so far as to do the small plastic bottle thing and then spray the outside so it smells like something else, nor would I do the Ice Tea thing while in port.

There are those who will do anything to beat the system, while the rest of us pay for it.....

Nita

 

[Conniemc]

[quote park slope guy]Been on 5 cruises with NCL and never got caught. Put wine boxes in your checked in luggage and you will not have a problem or a corkage fee. Their scanners will not pick up a bottle radar signature and they will pass it through without opening your luggage. The problem is that you should have sampled the wine box before storing an unopened one in your luggage as the quality of the wine may be below your normal expectations. Don't rely on the word of wine clerks. As for hard stuff, you may store it in your small plastic bottles in your checked luggage-as a second line of defense against detection, spray a little perfume on the bottles and if asked, say it is after shave lotion or something. Of course, when you are in port, store the hard stuff in iced tea bottles-say Snapple[/quote]

You MUST be joking....

 

[nmnita]

[quote Conniemc][quote park slope guy]Been on 5 cruises with NCL and never got caught. Put wine boxes in your checked in luggage and you will not have a problem or a corkage fee. Their scanners will not pick up a bottle radar signature and they will pass it through without opening your luggage. The problem is that you should have sampled the wine box before storing an unopened one in your luggage as the quality of the wine may be below your normal expectations. Don't rely on the word of wine clerks. As for hard stuff, you may store it in your small plastic bottles in your checked luggage-as a second line of defense against detection, spray a little perfume on the bottles and if asked, say it is after shave lotion or something. Of course, when you are in port, store the hard stuff in iced tea bottles-say Snapple[/quote]

You MUST be joking....[/quote]I am still at a loss to understand these people. My own granddaughters husband (they are leaving on a 5 day cruise today, different line of course) is putting small bottles in the toe of his shoes. When her told me this a couple of days ago, I almost fell over. He knows how I feel about this, yes, they don't have a lot of money (she is still in college full time and they have a toddler) but if they can't afford to support the bar, either don't cruise or don't drink. I hate to be a mean old lady, but they are also putting a bottle in their luggage, I hope he gets caught; it will teach him a lesson. SHAME ON ME!!!!-D=huh