Lots of people bring their own alcohol on vacation. From bottles of wine to a favorite spirit for the cocktail hour, we’ve seen a myriad array of drinks wander through our doors. When we went on the cruise, we brought some choice bottles of wine with us. They had a corkage policy for the restaurant, but we mostly sipped the wine on our balcony, preferring to order from the wine list at dinner. On the ship, it wasn’t unusual to see people entering the dining room with a bottle tucked into the crook of their elbow, whether it was a favorite white Zinfandel or an expensive bottle of Bordeaux. Corkage is not an issue that has come up here very often, and we have settled on a charge of $15.00 for those who wish to bring in a bottle of their own. As wine drinkers, we enjoy the pomp and circumstance that goes with a special bottle, and we totally understand the occasional desire to bring your own.
Recently we were faced with an entirely new situation. We had guests staying with us who brought in a cooler full of beverages. We thought nothing of it, assuming the beverages were meant to be consumed in their rooms or on the balconies. We can understand not wanting to pay the up-charge on in-room beverages. But we were slightly disconcerted when they came down for meals carrying their bottles of Budweiser to be consumed in the restaurant. Since they were the only guests on the premises, we chose to let it go. Still, we were not entirely sure of how to handle the protocol on this one. We’ve heard a lot of talk about people bringing their own wine to restaurants, but has anyone dealt with people who bring their own beer or spirits? I’m pretty certain that it’s illegal to bring in spirits, but beer? We’re still puzzling over how to word a policy and what exactly it should be for these kinds of situations. If I know anything, I know that if it happened once, it will happen again. So what do you think? Is it snobbery to allow people to bring in wine and not beer? If you do let people bring in their own beer, do you charge them for it, or just suck it up?
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