Beer Exchange

[Heyriddle]

Great! I'm going to hold you to this!

I am anxious to hear this as well. We sail in August and are planning on doing this.

 

[Thewilsons03]

Has anyone done this yet? I'm trying to set one up for our cruise in September. I figured we could just do the exchange at the meet up on the first day. Is it ok to just put the beer out on a table and have the exchange there (i.e. in Vista Cafe)? Does this violate any of DCL's rules? I don't want to get in trouble or get DCL rethinking their policy about allowing alcohol on board. So far we only have 4 people interested I'm hoping some more will come around!

Hi!! What cruise date in September? We are the 12 and I'd love to participate!

 

[jenf22]

Hi!! What cruise date in September? We are the 12 and I'd love to participate!

We're on the Fantasy on the 14th. So far we've only got my husband, my dad, and 2 others. I figure anywhere from 6-12 people is perfect. If we could get 6 people, then if everyone brought 2 different 6-packs, there could still be 12 different beers for everyone. Sorry you're not on our cruise!

 

[dawn8179]

You would actually need 7 people if you did not want to keep any of the beer you brought. If only 6 people everybody would be keeping 2 of theirs and have 10 beers from the others.

 

[jenf22]

You would actually need 7 people if you did not want to keep any of the beer you brought. If only 6 people everybody would be keeping 2 of theirs and have 10 beers from the others.

I was assuming we'd keep one of each that we brought. Mostly my husband was less than impressed with the beer selection on the ship and he loved the idea of variety.

 

[disneydeux]

Transport of Beer

We were flying so had to look into options for checking beer. Found a beer shipping box and ordered two - the shipping of the boxes cost more than the actual boxes. It looked secure enough but we also added some bubble wrap & a large plastic bag around the Styrofoam. I threw it around a bit with the beer & it seemed sound. Marked it up fragile (Must be Italian).

Our choice of beer was Boulevard Pale Ale produced by a local Kansas City company. It is one of their signature beers and very tasty.

Location of Beer Exchange

We initially scheduled the Exchange for 2:00 pm on our first sea day (2nd day of the trip) at the Cove Cafe which is located on the adult deck near the adult pool. It is a coffee shop/bar. There was talk that they might not appreciate us with our beer not bought on the ship. We thought maybe a room but that might not be too comfortable and apparently nobody was staying in the Walt Disney suite.

I emailed the lady (Alma) from DCL who helped us set up our private mixology and asked for a room for 15 people for a "gift exchange." She offered us the Outlook located on the top deck of the ship, near the Edge. So that works.

The room itself was fine. If I had gotten there earlier, I would have arranged the chairs to open it up a bit. It was a very business meeting like set up. But what a fun great room.

Exchange Itself

We started by setting up the beers on different tables. Everyone introduced themselves and their beers. There was quite a variety - Wisconsin, Florida, NJ, KS & MO. Then we walked around the room and picked up the beers and filled up our beer containers.

People opened a few & we shared. I had coasters made for the event and each family got one. It lasted about an hour and it was nice b/c now we knew some more people - all who loved beer!

Cleaned up the room a bit and we took off.

Going to post some pics as soon as they load to my dropbox.

 

[Heyriddle]

Transport of Beer

We were flying so had to look into options for checking beer. Found a beer shipping box and ordered two - the shipping of the boxes cost more than the actual boxes. It looked secure enough but we also added some bubble wrap & a large plastic bag around the Styrofoam. I threw it around a bit with the beer & it seemed sound. Marked it up fragile (Must be Italian).

Our choice of beer was Boulevard Pale Ale produced by a local Kansas City company. It is one of their signature beers and very tasty.

Location of Beer Exchange

We initially scheduled the Exchange for 2:00 pm on our first sea day (2nd day of the trip) at the Cove Cafe which is located on the adult deck near the adult pool. It is a coffee shop/bar. There was talk that they might not appreciate us with our beer not bought on the ship. We thought maybe a room but that might not be too comfortable and apparently nobody was staying in the Walt Disney suite.

I emailed the lady (Alma) from DCL who helped us set up our private mixology and asked for a room for 15 people for a "gift exchange." She offered us the Outlook located on the top deck of the ship, near the Edge. So that works.

The room itself was fine. If I had gotten there earlier, I would have arranged the chairs to open it up a bit. It was a very business meeting like set up. But what a fun great room.

Exchange Itself

We started by setting up the beers on different tables. Everyone introduced themselves and their beers. There was quite a variety - Wisconsin, Florida, NJ, KS & MO. Then we walked around the room and picked up the beers and filled up our beer containers.

People opened a few & we shared. I had coasters made for the event and each family got one. It lasted about an hour and it was nice b/c now we knew some more people - all who loved beer!

Cleaned up the room a bit and we took off.

Going to post some pics as soon as they load to my dropbox.

Thanks for sharing!!
Did you put the beer in your checked bag on the airline?

 

[disneydeux]

We checked our beer in the specialized box.

 

[mommy2twingles]

sounds like you had a great time. Was there any charge for the room that you used? Trying to set up one of these for our November cruise

 

[disneydeux]

No charge for the room. I have heard you can get the D Lounge at no charge as well for a Dis Meet & Greet.

Cheers!


ag

 

[mmouse37]

My concern with the beer exchange is that since DCL's official policy is not to consume your own alcohol in public places onboard, is that they will eventually stop these types of exchanges, at least in a public venue. I can only wonder what they will think when they see the pic of Mickey's hand around a beer can (cute but not an image DCL would like, I would guess).

I wonder if Alma knew the gift exchange was alcohol if they would have given you the room.

MJ

 

[EvaSue]

We did a beer exchange on the 10-20-12 Fantasy cruise, and have one scheduled for the 10-20-13 Magic cruise as well. One word of caution! Even after getting permission from shoreside, we were very unceremoniously kicked out of our designated meeting place! We relocated to a stateroom. This time there are several of us in concierge, so we are holding it in a suite where they can't give us the boot! It was very fun, and someone even brought salted caramels to go with our beer! Mmmmmm

 

[jenf22]

Thanks for all the updates! Maybe I will see if we can just meet in a stateroom (where it is legal to consume our own alcohol). So far there are only 4 participants anyway!