Can i keep the wine i'm allowed in my stateroom?

Question

I know that I can bring a bottle of wine. I know that they charge a corkage fee to drink in the dining room. Can I just keep the bottle in my stateroom and avoid the corkage fee? Is that allowed to or do they take the bottle of wine upon embarkation only to be opened in the dining room? I have asked other alcohol questions, I just need the clarification, so that I can do this right. Thanks

Answer 1

No.  You cannot keep alcohol in your room.  They will keep it for you.  If you buy bottles of alcohol on the ship they keep it until you are leaving the ship.

Answer 2

There is no problem with keeping the wine in your cabin.  In fact, you can ask the steward to empty the mini-bar and you can keep wine, soda, or bottled water you carry aboard in the little fridge so it stays cold.

I did this recently on a Celebrity cruise.  On the day before the cruise at Ft. Lauderdale, we went to Wal-Mart and bought a case of water for $3.50 and a 12 pack of Pepsi for $2.25; had wine and champagne in our suitcase, and stored it all in the fridge.  Had a couple of wine & cheese sessions before dinner and took the champagne in an icebucket to one of the shows and drank it there.  No corkage fee - since we did not drink the wine or champagne in the dining room.

Answer 3

There are two issues in your question, bringing wine onto the ship and using the wine in your cabin.

First you need to check with your cruise line to see what their policy is on bringing wine and champaign on board.  Several cruise lines have a policy of allowing each passenger age 21 or older to bring a bottle of wine on board.  But some, like Norwegian and Royal Caribbean do not allow that.  Royal Caribbean actually recently very quietly changed its policy to NOT allowing you to bring wine on board.

If you buy wine in a port stop they will take it when you re-board the ship and return it to you at the end of the cruise.

Second, if you do bring wine on board then YES, you can open it yourself and use it in your cabin.  I regularly order a bottle of wine through the gift section of the cruise line web site and have it delivered to my cabin.  It stays there until I finish it.  I even keep the unused portion in the mini-refrig until I'm ready for it.  If you order wine for dinner you cannot take the remainder of the bottle to your cabin.  But if you order wine for your cabin you will have it there.

So the best thing to do is find out if you can bring a bottle of wine, and if you can then just bring your own corkscrew.  PS: just get a box of wine and pack it carefully in a zip lock bag in your luggage.