Wine woe on Wind

[Stevanb]

Now with on-board ship credits you can buy the wine you like

[Silver Spectre]

Now with on-board ship credits you can buy the wine you like

 

Only true if they carry the wines you like.

Last year Cloudy Bay was available on the Whisper for 45 or 50 US$, but it is no longer carried on the Wind, and I'm afraid the list is small and biased much more towards the expensive end.

[Stevanb]

Not wine drinkers For us the choice is easy ABSOLUTE

[BILLP1]

We could not get a glass of Pinot Grigio on our fall Whisper cruise. It was not the end of the world for us but it was surprising to be on an Italian ship and for them not to have a common Italian drinking wine.

 

The quality of the wine on Silversea was no where near as good as we have had on past Regent cruises.

[Goldens4]

No Santa Margharita Pinot Grigio at all??????:eek: What the heck is going on??? That wine has been on board (Shadow) since 2006.

[wripro]

NewLondon,

 

Are you seriously saying that because Silversea has discounted its rates we should no longer expect the same quality we have enjoyed previously? So cheaper wines are okay? What about no more special orders? What about cheaper brands of alcohol? What about no more room service? What about sailing on Celebrity instead if we are willing to accept less? If Silversea cannot maintain its product it should no longer call itself a luxury line. They already charge extra for two specialty restaurants, something no other luxury does (not even Oceania). I don't buy it for a moment.

[billcrooz]

No Santa Margharita Pinot Grigio at all??????:eek: What the heck is going on??? That wine has been on board (Shadow) since 2006.

 

not anymore; we were on the Spirit last november and asked for it;the sommelier on board seemed embarrased that they no longer carried it;sign of the times; nothing is as it was unfortunately; lot of cheap chilean wines,but the worst was no Hendricks !!:mad:

[Stevanb]

NewLondon,

 

Are you seriously saying that because Silversea has discounted its rates we should no longer expect the same quality we have enjoyed previously? So cheaper wines are okay? What about no more special orders? What about cheaper brands of alcohol? What about no more room service? What about sailing on Celebrity instead if we are willing to accept less? If Silversea cannot maintain its product it should no longer call itself a luxury line. They already charge extra for two specialty restaurants, something no other luxury does (not even Oceania). I don't buy it for a moment.

 

We where just on Oceania

 

The food on Oceania specialty restaurants where as good as Celebrity's

 

The food in the dining was the same as Celebrity's nothing really exotic normal cruise food

 

No free wine

 

But the price is much less so what it come down to is price.

 

I am sure if take the credit and buy the wine you like I am sure it works out

 

That is what we did we had a huge credit due to being asked to get off a oversold sailing so we used the credit at the bars for Martinis

 

We are paying more on SS BUT the Martinis are included

 

Also know someone that was on Regent and they are wine drinkers and they said the wine was not as good as it used to be BUT you get free excursions

[Goldens4]

Thanks, Billcrooz. OMG! I guess I'll keep lurking on another luxury line's message boards and see what I can find out. Santa M. is not that expensive. I just picked up a case at Sam's for $23.00 per bottle. When does the Boone's Farm and Ripple come out on SS???? By the way, I expect higher prices on all-inclusives whether it be by sea or land. Just look at the prices in the grocery stores!!!!! It goes up every week. How's that "hope and change" going for you????

[BILLP1]

We have been paying $17.99 a bottle retail for Santa M in New York . How much could it cost Silversea who buys tax free in bulk?

[kpercy]

Hi Wripro, You may be absolutely right, but remember today fares are substantially discounted, so why should we expect everything to be the same. I still maintain that the wine is satisfactory; and part of the fun is dicovering new labels that we can have at home. Insisting on the same as 10 years ago without paying the same premium is wishful thinking.

Economics still control experiences unless one has more money than God!

 

I have yet to find a substantially discounted fare. Silversea(like others) employ rather clever marketing techniques... Increase the price substantially with onboard credit and flights costed in. Then discount heavily, but cleverly they still benefit from a net price increase overall each year.

I have been travelling with Silversea for a number of years and each year the net price has risen marginally, which of course is understandable.

 

I find the best deals are cruise only fares as I tend to fly premium cabins and book my own flights or use airmiles.

 

The Venetian Club Value fares are no frill fares, and from my point of view offer the best value.

 

Sorry to hijack this thread but I also have found cheaper wines filtering through on board inparticular rubbishy champs!

[newlondon]

I agree with everything you say, but I do know that since our first SS cruise in the Norwegian fjords 5 years ago to our recent Chilean fjord trip the per-diem cost was down. I also do cruise only so that may make a difference.

[DebbieH103]

On our last SS sailing, they had seemed to move to 4 or 5 house wines for white and same for red with some others available if you could wait. We found the selection of the day to almost always be savignon blanc, and when we asked for chardonnay, there were about 3 or 4 that weren't too hard to get. They had Santa Margharita then, but we hate it...

[DebbieH103]

I love Regent and SS, I could go on either any day, but Regent doesn't even let you have Grey Goose in the room if you also get Jack...there is give and take everywhere...

[Silver Spectre]

More alcohol grumbles.

 

There is no Guiness on the ship, not even for St Patrick's day.

 

There is now a new wrinkle to get one to spend. This is the Sommellier's Special Connoisseur's Wine Tasting. Its $30 a pop, no advance list of wines or vintages, and having studied the vastly reduced Connoisseur's Wine list, heaven knows what you may have inflicted on you.

 

Finally, the wine pairings with the Champagne dinner are not good and sometimes quite unimaginative.

[turnip eater]

" There is no Guiness on the ship, not even for St Patrick's day.":eek:

 

No NZ Sauv Blanc and now no Guinness.......I'm a NZSB fan and husband loves Guinness...We've put them down on 'Have we forgotten anything'...What's going on:eek::eek:

[lord of the seas]

Thankfully I see that you are booked on the Seabourn Quest.

Stiff upper lip until then.:(

[Silver Spectre]

Life gets worse, now running out of the only drinkable SA SB.

 

Methinks, good time to go home.

[DebbieH103]

I prefer the wine tastings be on wines that are included so I can see what I have missed and maybe include one or two that are not included that people should buy but then to charge for the tasting? Normally, only a few swigs are given of two or three wines, so paying $30 would make me want to know in advance what I was getting.