Disney Cruise Line is raising the fee for a meal service

Bringing your own alcohol aboard a cruise ship is a popular money-saving cruise hack. Most regular cruise lines allow passengers who are 21 years of age or older to carry at least one unopened 750 milliliter bottle of wine or champagne per person. Most cruise lines also allow you to bring one or two bottles on board at each port of call.

There is usually a corkage fee if you wish to bring your own bottle of wine into a dining room on a cruise ship to enjoy with dinner. Corkage fees vary by cruise line and range from $10 to $35 per bottle.

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Disney Cruise Line allows passengers to bring two bottles of wine per person on board, but charges one of the highest corkage fees of any cruise line. And now the cruise line has just increased its already high fee.

Beginning in September 2024, Disney Cruise Line passengers who bring their own bottle of wine or champagne to drink with their meal in one of the dining rooms will be charged a $29 corkage fee per bottle. The previous tipping rate of $27 was already significantly higher than most other cruise lines charge.

Many cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, rarely, if ever, charge corkage.

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Image source: Disney Cruises.

Disney Cruise Line’s corkage fee is now nearly double what other cruise lines charge

Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Line both charge a $15 corkage fee per bottle for personal wine or champagne consumed in dining rooms. Carnival’s Princess Cruises and Holland America Line charge a $20 corkage fee per bottle.

Related: Disney and Royal Caribbean Cruises Price Comparison

Regardless of which cruise line you’re sailing with, the best way to avoid being charged a corkage fee is to open your own bottles of wine in the cabin. Just ask your cabin attendant for some wine glasses and a corkscrew.

Most cruise lines advise passengers to only consume their own wine in the cabin to avoid the corkage fee, but you usually won’t be charged if you bring your own glass of wine with you to dinner. Many passengers buy a glass of wine in a shipboard bar before dinner and then bring it into the dining room with them anyway.

Specifically for Disney Cruise Line, planDisney panelists advise passengers planning to sail with the cruise line that they can, in fact, bring a personal glass of wine to dinner without being charged.

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Disney Cruise Line wine packages offer savings

If you don’t want to bring your own bottles of wine on board, but still want to drink wine during your Disney cruise, you can save money by purchasing a Disney Cruise Wine Package.

While Disney Cruise Line doesn’t offer passengers the option to save on alcohol costs by purchasing liquor packages like other cruise lines, it does offer savings of up to 25% with its wine packages.

Related: 3 Popular Amenities You Won’t Find on a Disney Cruise Lines Ship

Disney cruise wine packages offer wines that can be paired with dinner each evening. Both the classic and premium wine packages are available with options from 3 to 7 bottles. Prices start at $105 for a 3-bottle Classic Wine Package. A pint savings package is also available.

After purchasing a Disney Cruise Wine Package, you will have the opportunity to select your bottles of wine from the options available on the day of embarkation.

If you don’t drink all the bottles of wine included in the package during the cruise, you can take them home with you. Passengers are allowed to carry up to two bottles of wine on board. However, alcohol items cannot be removed from the ship if they are opened.

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If you don’t finish a bottle during dinner, you can take it back to the cabin with you or your wait staff can keep it for your next dinner. They will rotate it in the next dining room you visit with Disney Cruise Line’s rotating dining system. You are also free to order more than one bottle of wine from your package per evening.

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