Bringing your own wine to dinner on AMA

[moesmrs]

We have done a Danube River cruise with AMA in 2013 so I am aware of unlimited wine served with dinner. However we are traveling on the Rhine with good friends in July and the wife ONLY likes sweet wine, think Riesling or sweeter. Since we will likely be in town everyday is it acceptable for her to purchase wine in a shop and then ask the wait staff to serve it at dinner? Is there a corkage fee?

When we cruised the Danube we bought several liquors and wine in various towns and then drank them in our cabin or on the sun deck but we never took them to dinner.

Any experience with this on AMA?

[Cary Cruiser]

Not trying to be a wine snob here, BUT while Riesling is a very refreshing wine paring well with Chinese food, Cajun cuisine, Tex-Mex (with cilantro), roasted pork, roasted duck or goose, and seafood, to me it is somewhat limited as to what you can pair with it.

 

Any sweeter than that and you are probably in dessert wine territory.

 

But, I guess there is no arguing with taste - it's such a personal thing.

[moesmrs]

Really?

While I appreciate your opinion on wine, I wasn't asking for a critique of what you feel one should or shouldn't like or for that matter what wine "goes" with what dinner pairing.

I am asking about bringing purchased wine aboard and having staff serve it. One likes what one likes and as a friend I do not feel it's my place to tell another adult what it is that they "should" drink. But then again I guess i'm not a wine snob.

I would appreciate a sincere answer to the original question asked though if anyone has experience in bringing purchased wine to the dining room.

Edited March 29, 2014 by moesmrs

[franski]

moesmrs -

 

I have to think that this would not be an issue... if you bring your own wine, they don't have to serve theirs!!

 

My suggestion is to speak to the hotel manager when you arrive. They may be willing to serve a Riesling at your table even if it isn't the "usual" wine. If they aren't willing/able to do that, then ask about bringing your own bottle with you.

 

Most cruise lines are very willing to "go the extra mile" for their passengers. This (ie: wine preference) is not a difficult thing to do.

 

Fran

[caviargal]

There is no problem at all to bring wine to dinner on an AMA cruise. We like to pick up special bottles when we travel and have done so on our two AMA cruises. There is a 7 Euro corkage per bottle (as of 2013). No corkage to drink in your stateroom.

 

We are headed to Belgium and the Netherlands with AMA in 6 days and intend to bring aboard the occasional bottle.

Edited March 29, 2014 by caviargal

[moesmrs]

Thank you! Just the info I was looking for. Great suggestion about asking the hotel manager.

@ Caviargal, sounds like you are going on a similar itinerary to ours, hope you post your impressions and experiences when you return. Have a great trip.

[RachelG]

There is definitely no problem bringing your own wine for dinner. They do not even charge a corkage fee.

[caviargal]

There is definitely no problem bringing your own wine for dinner. They do not even charge a corkage fee.

 

We were charged corkage on our two AMA cruises.

[Richiebaseball]

We were on an AMA cruise on the Danube in November 2013 and were not charged any corkage fee for wine we bought at a local winery and had at dinner.

[Wingtips56]

Ama is very eager to please. It sounds like whether they charge corkage or not may vary by crew/ship, but if it's only $7, then it's not bad. Always drink what you like. We like red with everything, and really enjoyed the big Hungarian reds at the beginning of our Danube cruise. As we went north, the evening complementary wine changed with the locale, so we went to Austrian then German wines. To our preferences, we liked them less and much less as we went north, and increased sulfites became a problem for DH. We were OK with them, though stopping at one glass on the northern locations, but we certainly could have brought our own on if we wanted to stay with our preference. (We had a lovely zinfandel with stuffed salmon last night.)

 

So absolutely bring your own wine so you can fully enjoy the cruise.

 

We were just on AmaLotus in Cambodia/Vietnam, and the very free-flowing complementary wine was a very unremarkable box wine from Australia. (We'd been warned here in Cruise Critic not to be impressed, and we weren't! DH couldn't physically tolerate the red.) They did, however, have international premium wines for sale, which we took advantage of. We never even checked into that as a possibility on the Danube, but I'm sure they have options for purchase.

[Cary Cruiser]

Ama is very eager to please. It sounds like whether they charge corkage or not may vary by crew/ship, but if it's only $7, then it's not bad. Always drink what you like. We like red with everything, and really enjoyed the big Hungarian reds at the beginning of our Danube cruise. As we went north, the evening complementary wine changed with the locale, so we went to Austrian then German wines. To our preferences, we liked them less and much less as we went north, and increased sulfites became a problem for DH. We were OK with them, though stopping at one glass on the northern locations, but we certainly could have brought our own on if we wanted to stay with our preference. (We had a lovely zinfandel with stuffed salmon last night.)

 

So absolutely bring your own wine so you can fully enjoy the cruise.

 

We were just on AmaLotus in Cambodia/Vietnam, and the very free-flowing complementary wine was a very unremarkable box wine from Australia. (We'd been warned here in Cruise Critic not to be impressed, and we weren't! DH couldn't physically tolerate the red.) They did, however, have international premium wines for sale, which we took advantage of. We never even checked into that as a possibility on the Danube, but I'm sure they have options for purchase.

 

You better watch out Wingtips56 - you make get scolded for not addressing the OP's original post...and OH NO...you expressed a preference for red wine. You're gonna really get it now.

[caviargal]

We also drink red exclusively and very much enjoyed the big and chewy Hungarian wines served on our cruises. In Germany, we opt for the Dornfelder most of the time when ordering in a bar.

 

We enjoy wine and always seek out local wine stores and wine bars when we travel. It is one of our favorite pastimes when traveling.

[Hoyaheel]

We enjoy wine and always seek out local wine stores and wine bars when we travel. It is one of our favorite pastimes when traveling.

Ditto for me! And, as my husband is a homebrewer, we search out local beers always too. One of the reason we chose Avalon was for the cabin fridges so we could buy local beers during the trip. I'll drink red or white so the chilling isn't as important for me.

[didicruiser]

If a corkage fee is charged, perhaps you could carry a glass of wine with you to dinner?

[caviargal]

If a corkage fee is charged, perhaps you could carry a glass of wine with you to dinner?

 

IMO, that would be quite tacky, especially since the corkage is so low.

[Mark_T]

IMO, that would be quite tacky, especially since the corkage is so low.

 

... and even if that didn't bother you, I'm still struggling with the concept of making one glass of wine last for the entire meal!

 

I suppose one could pop back to the cabin mid-meal for a top-up but that does rather put you back at the 'tacky' point :)

[joanne2]

Why tacky? If you were drinking anything in the lounge before dinner, surely you could carry it in.

[moesmrs]

I never thought such a simple question would garner such strong feelings!

 

Corkage fees are not an issue, we would be happy to pay a fee.

 

DH, myself & GF's husband are all red wine drinkers. You may be shocked to know that we actually know quite a bit about wine and have enjoyed all types and varietals in the U.S and abroad.

 

My GF just likes sweet wine, she's not uneducated about wine. She just happens to prefer sweet whites-not my choice but she's the one drinking it, so why would I care what she drinks (?)

 

We WILL NOT be sneaking back to our rooms to pour wined during dinner! While that might be a option for some (not judging here) it is not an option for us.

 

I appreciate all your responses, even the snarky ones.

 

In vino veritas!

[franski]

I never thought such a simple question would garner such strong feelings!

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic!! :cool:

 

Sometimes the most simple of comments or questions releases a maelstrom of responses.

 

I still think you have a reasonable chance of asking for - and getting - the type of wine you want served at your table. If they aren't able to provide it, I am sure that they will do their utmost to work with you to ensure that your dining experience is a pleasant one.

 

Enjoy your cruise!!

 

Fran

[Host Jazzbeau]

You will be in the best area of the world for sweet dinner wine. But my recollection of the wines that AMA served on our Rhine cruise last year is that they were more Alsace-dry than Mosel-sweet. I do like sweet German wines [the sweeter -- the more syllables before the auslese -- the better!] but it is hard to pair a trockenbeerenauslese with food! :)

[Host Jazzbeau]

I have posed a question on the upcoming Q&A with AMA about the logic of charging corkage fees at dinner when wine is included.

[caviargal]

I have posed a question on the upcoming Q&A with AMA about the logic of charging corkage fees at dinner when wine is included.

 

I do not find this policy objectionable personally. The wait staff still open and serve the wine and the policy applies to lounge as well as dining room, which is fine with us. The by the bottle list is limited and we are happy to pay a corkage to be able to drink what we prefer.

[Mark_T]

I do not find this policy objectionable personally. The wait staff still open and serve the wine and the policy applies to lounge as well as dining room, which is fine with us. The by the bottle list is limited and we are happy to pay a corkage to be able to drink what we prefer.

 

I would tend to agree, there is additional work involved in this and a small charge probably also serves to limit the number of people electing to use the facility, as it might become rather unmanageable if significant numbers were doing it.

[purduemom1]

I have posed a question on the upcoming Q&A with AMA about the logic of charging corkage fees at dinner when wine is included.

 

Thank you for posting this question. An official answer or clarification will be appreciated by many of us.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Got the reply from AMA:

 

We do not charge a corkage fee in our dining room during lunch or dinner. However, if you’d like to enjoy your bottle of wine in the bar, for example, there is a nominal corkage fee.

 

This seems to explain why some posters have said they were not charged the fee while someone else mentioned $7.