Cruise Talk Central

After a few weeks working on a concise draft of a letter regarding the new Celebrity Alcohol Policy, I finally sent it off today.

I will publish the response once I receive it from Celebrity.

Here is my Letter:
September 5, 2006

Mr. Daniel Hanrahan
President
Celebrity Cruises

Dear Mr. Hanrahan,

I am writing to express my concerns about the new alcohol policy effective July 28^th, 2006. We are currently booked on the November 20^th 2006 Mercury Mexican Riviera Sailing and the June 15^th 2007 Mercury Alaska Sailing. These will be our 3^rd and 4^th cruises with Celebrity

My concern is that the new Alcohol policy now restricts passengers from bringing their own fine wines onboard. In the past, the guests were not allowed to bring any alcohol on board for consumption, but were permitted to pay a corkage fee for wines not purchased onboard. There seemed to be an exception for fine wines in the past, especially with an express written corkage fee policy in the Celebrity literature.

My husband and I choose Celebrity three years ago for the first time because of its reputation for more upscale atmosphere, superior service, and fine dining. This is exactly what we experienced on our past two Celebrity cruises. The ability to bring a selection from one’s own collection, a unique style of wine or special vintage should be part of that upscale atmosphere. I do not want to fear that Celebrity employees will be rummaging through my suit cases and confiscating my wine. Nor do I want to even think that if I want to enjoy that special wine on my cruise that I have to resort to smuggling or perhaps be denied boarding.

I am asking that Celebrity reconsider this drastic and unimaginative new policy and replace it with a policy that would allow passengers to bring a few bottles of wine onboard for consumption either in room or with a corkage fee in the dining room.

Our loyalty in our last few cruise bookings has been with Celebrity, however if our next cruise experiences are diminished by this new policy we may have to seek out another line for future cruises.

I look forward to your response regarding this matter.

Sincerely,

Categories: Blog
Tags: Celebrity Cruises, cruise policies, wine on cruises