The costs of alcoholic beverages and drink packages can add up quickly on a cruise.
Naturally, cruise passengers often look for ways to save money on alcohol during their vacations.
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For those who want to enjoy several alcoholic drinks per day or who usually order expensive drinks, unlimited alcoholic beverage packages can offer value, but they still typically add $70 or more per day to your cruise cost.
If you just want to enjoy one or two drinks, you’re probably better off paying the regular price per drink. However, if you only want to enjoy a glass of wine in the evening, you don’t necessarily need to pay onboard prices at all.
Most cruise lines will allow you to bring your own bottle of wine on board to drink on the ship. Royal Caribbean permits each passenger of drinking age to bring one sealed 750 ml bottle of wine or champagne on board on embarkation day. Other types of alcoholic beverages are not permitted.
It’s important to note, though, that passengers can only drink the wine that they brought on boarding day. If you purchase wine in a port of call, the cruise line will store it and return it to you at the end of the cruise so you can enjoy it at home.
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Royal Caribbean passengers often wonder if they’re allowed to bring their own wine into the main dining room.
Image source: Nora Tam/South China Morning Post via Getty
Are there rules around where you can drink wine you brought on board?
Although Royal Caribbean’s alcohol policy explains how passengers can bring a bottle of wine onto the ship, it doesn’t note whether the cruise line has restrictions around where passengers can drink their own wine on board.
One passenger recently reached out to other cruisers for guidance on this in the Royal Caribbean community on Reddit.
“For the bottles of wine that we are allowed to bring on board, what [are the] rules on that? I know it’s one per person (adult). But like where are we allowed to drink it?” drmusclemom asked.
The Reddit user wondered if the cruise line prohibited passengers from bringing their own wine into dining rooms, and if there were glasses available in staterooms.
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“Are we allowed to bring a cup of it into the dining room with us? Bring the bottle into the dining room? Are there cups that we can use in the room to drink it from? What are the other rules I need to know?” drmusclemom probed.
Before we get into what passengers say about their experiences drinking their own wine on Royal Caribbean cruise ships, let me explain what the cruise line does spell out in the frequently asked questions section of its website.
Although Royal Caribbean doesn’t specifically limit passengers to drinking their own wine in their staterooms, the cruise line does state that passengers “who consume their personal wine and champagne in public areas will incur a $15 corkage fee per bottle.”
Most cruisers who bring their own wine say they’ve never been charged a corkage fee, however.
Passengers say they’ve had no problems bringing wine into the dining room
“You are not limited as to where you drink your wine. In the dining room they are supposed to charge a corkage fee, but they have never charged us,” KidSeester explained. “Also, if you don’t finish your bottle of wine, the main dining room will store it for you and they will put it on your table the following night. Or as others have mentioned you can take it out with you.”
To reduce your chances of being charged a corkage fee, it’s best to open your own bottle and pour your glasses of wine in your stateroom, as one cruiser pointed out.
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“We often fill the glass in our room before heading to dinner. Just don’t show up asking to have it served; you might get charged the corkage fee,” BrainDad-208 noted.
As for how to get wine glasses, some passengers said they ask at the bar or request them from their stateroom attendant. Passengers also recommended bringing screw-top wine bottles or your own corkscrew. You can also request a corkscrew from your stateroom attendant.
And although you’re allowed drink your own wine most anywhere on board the ship, keep in mind that glass is not permitted in the pool area.
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