If you're anything like us, when packing for a vacation you carefully stash as many bottles of wine into your suitcase as possible. So when I started planning a cruise trip, I had a harsh reality check. That's because most cruise ships severely limit the amount of booze you can bring. What's a wine lover to do?! One option is to get all Pablo Escobar and start taping bottles to your body. Probably not smart.
Smuggling booze onto a cruise ship is probably not the best idea.
Bringing Wine on a Cruise
First things first: don’t try to smuggle your precious bottles on board. X-ray machines will spot them, and you’ll be a very sad cruiser if they make you leave them behind. Worse, they might confiscate the wine, and you may never see that bottle again.
Cruise lines limit alcohol for a simple reason: people really like drinking on a boat. The average passenger consumes eight times their normal daily intake on a cruise. That spike translates into serious money! Some estimates put Carnival Cruise Line’s weekly alcohol revenue at $500K, which adds up to $500 million a year.
There’s also the question of liability. When alcohol is purchased onboard, it’s easier to monitor and track consumption. Bottom line: if you want your wine, don’t count on sneaking it past security. A smarter approach is to look for ships catering to discriminating wine lovers, where the rules are more flexible.
How Much Can You Bring?
The most straightforward option is bringing your own wine, but how much you can carry depends on the cruise line. Some allow a few bottles per cabin, some charge corkage fees, and others don’t allow any alcohol at all. On average, most cruises seem to permit up to two bottles per cabin, but always check the rules of your specific carrier or consult a travel expert before booking.
You're on a ship. Next stop? The bar of course.
As the number of people looking for great wine continues rising, the cruise industry has taken note of the growing need to accommodate wine lovers. Cruise lines have started adding wine bars, wine tasting courses, and more wine-related shore excursions while in port.
The Best Wine Bars on Cruise Ships
Once you deplete your personal wine rations, you'll need to find some options on board. You won't have a problem finding a house red or white on any ship, but what if you want some Bordeaux Grand Cru Classe? Some ships have much better stocked bars than others. We consulted our friends at CruCon to get some recommendations on the best options.
Oceania's La Reserve
Oceania is the clear winner if you're really, really into wine. Like, you got a cellar full of DRC and Screaming Eagle.
Oceania partnered with Wine Spectator to bring a high-quality wine experience for the connoisseur, offering wine seminars and vintage tastings along with gourmet wine pairing dinners with seriously delicious meals made by Master Chef Jacques Pepin. Just check out the sample menu and try not to drool on yourself. Just note, only the Marina and Riviera ships have La Reserve restaurant and wine bar. However, all their ships have a strong focus on fine dining, with restaurants like Toscana boasting a modest but well-appointed wine list of Italian reds and whites, so you'll have plenty of good options for wine.
Crystal’s Vintage Room
Image via Cruise Critic
The Crystal sommeliers travel every year to a summit to sample some of the greatest wines in the world. Their vast knowledge helps them advise guests on the best wines for their individual tastes. With both an expansive and rare variety of bottles from regions like Spain, Italy, France, and Napa Valley, guests onboard have the opportunity to try some of the best wines from around the world.
Celebrity Cellar Masters Wine Bar
Celebrity offers approximately 400 different types of wine onboard from around the world.
Celebrity offers a dedicated wine bar, Cellar Masters, with an amazing variety of wine for passengers. If you are planning to go on a Solstice Class ship, be sure to check out the two-story wine tower, which features 1,800 bottles of wine stored at perfect serving temperature.
Disney's Pink
This chic Champagne bar has everything you want to escape reality.
Decked out in a calm, cream color with hundreds of hand-blown glowing glass bubbles and a nice selection of wine and bubbly by the glass, you'll feel like you're in the middle of a glass of Champagne!
Princess' Vines
This bar is found on all of Princess' Grand and Royal-class ships.
Enjoy a great selection of reds, whites, and sparklers alongside small bites. The actual wine list can vary between ships, but you should expect a wide selection of wines from around the world.
MSC Cruises' La Cantina di Bacco
Found on the MSC Divina ship, this quaint Italian-inspired restaurant has some incredible tapas and pizza to accompany a great wine list. They also offer a "Winemakers Experience" where guests can blend their own wine to take home as a souvenir.
Cunard's Veuve Clicquot Champagne Bar
This bar is found on the Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria ships, taking a cue from the roaring twenties and serving up expensive champagne in opulent Waterford crystal glasses.
Aside from the namesake Veuve Cliquot, guests can enjoy plenty of other high-end bubbles and wines along with small bites of caviar and hors d'oeuvres.
Norwegian’s Michael Mondavi - The Cellars
Norwegian recently partnered with Michael Mondavi to create a truly unique experience onboard their newest ship, the Norwegian Escape.
While in the Cellar Bar, sample amazing wines in a truly immersive experience. Check your nightly newsletter, The Freestyle Daily, to see what wine-based events will be held the next day. Learn the best wine pairings for meats and uncover the perfect wine-and-chocolate combinations.
Beyond the Bar
Many cruise lines now offer wine-themed events on board, from tastings and pairings to hands-on blending classes. Celebrity Cruises, for example, employs over 3,500 sommeliers fleet-wide, with around 200 certified sommeliers on each ship. Yes, you read that right. These aren’t casual wine enthusiasts — these are well-trained experts leading the charge.
Classes like “Blendtique™” teach passengers how to blend and bottle wine onboard, and you can even create personalized wine labels to send to family and friends. Celebrity also boasts a dedicated wine bar, Cellar Masters, and has earned 39 Awards of Excellence from Wine Spectator’s Restaurant Wine List Awards in the past four years.
Wine-focused activities aren’t limited to Celebrity. Most cruise lines offer tastings, blending workshops, and pairing sessions, particularly on itineraries through wine regions like the California Coast, Italy, Spain, France, and New Zealand.
For anyone looking to explore new wines and learn the craft, a wine-centric cruise can be one of the most memorable and educational vacations you’ll ever take. This guide is designed to help you find the best cruise option to suit your wine passion.
While we might specialize in daily wine deals, we have zero connections in the cruise industry. For that, we recommend using a website like CruCon to find the best deals on cruises.
