All ready-to-drink liquor onboard is subject to a 15% automatic gratuity. It doesn't matter what type of liquor you buy (a glass of wine, a bottle of wine, a shot, a beer, or a mixed drink) or where you buy it onboard (at dinner, at Palo, at one of the bars, or on
Castaway Cay). The 15% does not apply to alcohol that will not be consumed on the ship and is purchased from the duty free shop onboard.
As for the corkage fee:
1. It is a flat $15.00 plus the 15% gratuity for a total of $17.25.
2. This only applies to wine or champage that you do not buy directly from
Disney Cruise Line (i.e. you bring it from home or buy it at a port of call).
3. The fee is basically a "service fee" to recover the cost of the service involved in handling a bottle of wine for which the restaurant (cruise line) is not making any money off of (since you didn't buy it from them).
[Here is the definition of
corkage fee from the
Everything Wine Book byDanny May and Andy Sharpe:
If you go to a restaurant that serves wine but allows you to bring your own special wine, the restaurant will often charge an additional fee for bringing your own. This fee is called the corkage fee. It covers having the staff uncork and serve you your wine in the restaurant's wine glasses, which will be cleaned later by restaurant personnel. It also covers some or all of the profits not made on the wine you might have bought had you not brought your own.]
BTW, the above mentioned book is an excellent read. It really breaks wine and wine drinking down well and avoids the "uppity" atmosphere of many books on the subject.
4. Bottles of wine bought from
Disney Cruise line (say, at Palo or any of the other restaurants)
are not subject to the corkage fee but
are subject to the 15% gratuity.
Hope this helps a little!
P.S. Momma Rae, please have a glass of the Piesporter for me! Aside from the Fairy Tale, it's probably my fave!
