RCCI's Wine Choices Question

[fischymom]

I am unknowledgable about wine, but would like to order the 5 bottles to have on our cruise. I like sweet fruity wines,to semi-sweet my husband is semi-sweet to slightly dry. What bottles would you recommend from their choices? I MAY go through 2 bottles he WILL drink 2-3 bottles. :D

[slyster]

I'm like you....I'm not too familiar with wines but when I asked this same question last year I was told to try the Berringer white zinfandel in the gold package and there's a chateau st. michelle, reisling in the platinum package. I think the chateau st. michelle is sweeter than the white zinfandel.

 

Here's what I found out...when you buy the gold package, the 5 bottles of berringer white zinfandel cost exactly what the package costs so you aren't saving any money at all. Same goes with the chateau st. michelle in the platinum package. The exact cost of 5 bottles came out exactly the same as what the package costs.

 

So what I did was not purchase the package...I just bought them individually and switched between them. Hopefully that makes sense.

 

Here are a copy of my threads to give you an idea...we pretty much asked the same thing :-) but my question was last Fall:

 

1. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1301471

2. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1289703

 

you might find this helpful too with figuring out the prices of the wine packages versus individual wine bottle prices:

 

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1129043

 

Good luck!

[fischymom]

definately leaning to just buying by the bottle because of no savings! Thanks Slyster.

[Sequim88]

Even when there is a savings it is not that much unless the packages with more bottles are used.

 

For a red we found the Pinot Noir Estancia on the Platinum package to be pretty sweet/fruity.

 

I've been using the lists to try to find items locally to preview and rate so we can make a better decision about package or by the bottle.

[baggal]

I am unknowledgable about wine, but would like to order the 5 bottles to have on our cruise. I like sweet fruity wines,to semi-sweet my husband is semi-sweet to slightly dry. What bottles would you recommend from their choices? I MAY go through 2 bottles he WILL drink 2-3 bottles. :D

 

Order bottles as you drink them because the package savings isn't that great. You can ask your waiter for a recommendation - especially depending on what you are eating for dinner. If you and your husband want different wines, you can order two different wines and they will store them for you for the next night. Never had a problem. They even saved bottled water from one night to the next.

[slyster]

sequim88...thanks for that recommendation...I might just try that one :-)

[foxgoodrich]

We love the Caliterra Sauvignon Blanc (Gold package). It's not exactly dry and not exactly sweet, and it's light and delicate at the same time. We usually prefer reds, but this is one white wine we always order. I think it kind of tastes like flowers smell....okay I know that's goofy, but it's a lovely wine!

Judy

[mamaza]

We love the Pinot Grigio, Danzante (from Italy) so much that we usually buy the gold package to get at least 3 of them. It's sort of a sweet but dry white wine. The gold package runs youi about $27 a bottle and Danzante sells at $33 each.

[mamaza]

Open the PDF attached File to see a neat chart of the available wines and packages. This might help.

Wine -Onboard vs Pkg Prices[1].pdf

[calspouse]

The chart is a great help. Thanks for posting it.

[peteukmcr]

Open the PDF attached File to see a neat chart of the available wines and packages. This might help.

I'd like to add my thanks for posting this comparison, it is proving very helpful for my fellow sailors on our upcoming Liberty TA (I've already chosen my package!).

[slyster]

We bought a couple of bottles of wine here at home to try. I really prefer my wine on the sweet side...not dry. We tried the Pinot Noir Estancia last weekend and it wasn't sweet to me. A little fruity maybe but overall didn't find it sweet enough for my liking. I also bought a bottle of the Chardonnay Kendall-Jackson. We'll see how that one tastes this weekend ;-)

[cruisinp]

For the sweet wine drinker the Riesling is the best (in my opinion) and the Pinot Noir is a good choice for your DH. I agree with other posters that the package is not always the way to go. My DH and I purchased a package many cruises ago. We wound up drinking way more wine than we really wanted as we didn't want it to go to waste. We have also had the waiter save an open bottle for the next night only to find that they can't find the bottle. It has happened to me 3 times. The issue finally gets resolved but it is a little bit of a hassle. Has anyone else had that problem?