Taking wine on board?

This is a question I am asked on a regular basis. Can I take wine on board? Now the answer is it depends on who you are cruising with!!

The American cruise lines seem to be a bit funny about it!! I remember traveling with NCL about 4 years ago and I had bought a lovely bottle of wine in Madeira however it was confiscated from me upon boarding the ship!! Its ok I got it back on the last evening!!

What made me think about this is Holland America line have recently backtracked they had a new rule in place where by you were limited to one bottle of wine per person however they have now changed this to unlimited. Great you say? Well not really when they are charging $18 corkage fee per bottle.

I recently cruised with Cunard and had heard conflicting information regarding taking wine on board however they do allow one bottle per person. It will cost you nothing if you consume the wine in you cabin but a $20 corkage fee will apply if consumed in the restaurant. (We stopped off in France and bought 4 bottles between 2 of us and had no problem taking it on board)!!

Best by far are P&O Cruises they have no official limit on how many bottles can be taken on board. They do charge corkage of £11 per bottle if consumed in the restaurant.

I have to say for drinks my favorite cruise line is P&O. I find the prices on board are so reasonable compared to others. You can get house wine for around £15 a bottle and they don’t add an additional 15% service charge like so many of the American lines. Don’t forget prices on board are in sterling so no need to worry about exchange rates!!