What's the point of Vintages. It's empty 99% of the time

[famof4togo]

I can though see the appeal to having both bars that "go off" and have major crowds and also a bar that is "low key", quiet and not packed...best of both worlds type of thing....

[Fouremco]

With our first RCI cruise scheduled next month, we no experience with Vintages. Are any of the wines covered by the Deluxe Beverage Package? A quieter bar is something that DW and I enjoy, but having paid for the beverage package, we'd like to stick with it.

[audome78]

We love vintages...in fact, it is a determining factor on which ships we cruise on. The wine variety is extensive, and we find, generally, the Stewart's really know their wines. We do not get the beverage package, so we're there to experiment with a lot of wines.

 

Having said that, last week on Brilliance, we went to vintages only to wait for 10 minutes while the"bar person" chatted with another employee. After waiting that long, we left, with no wine.

 

If they are going to have the space, they should at least take care of those of us who really want to be there.

 

And yes, it was duly noted on our survey.

[trivia addict]

Completely agree with Jersey Girl!

Complaining about a venue that can be relaxing and not crowded or noisy is counterproductive for those who complain about too many people in their spaces.

Love to go there for a quiet drink before dinner with DH or a chance to catch up with DD when she is with us,

We usually end up talking wine with the knowledgeable servers and also learn much about their home cultures.

We would miss Vintages.

[molsonschooner]

I noticed that too on my recent cruise on Indy. Hardly ever saw anyone in there when we walked by.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

We often commented during our Indy cruise how quiet Vintages was. We would sit at the pub and we hardly ever saw any one there.

[Janet524]

Love, love, love Vintages. It's our go to place to relax after a day touring around in port, for relaxing before dinner and meeting up with friends. Would be peeved beyond words if they did away with it for another beer and umbrella drink venue.

 

Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F using Forums mobile app

[schlocklate]

We love vintages, frequent it often and buy wine even though we are on the drink package. The wine selection and knowledge is so much better than anywhere else on the ship.

I am surprised how few people take advantage of it.

Miss having dinner ($) there which I believe was an experiment. Great idea.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Forums mobile app

[margeecruiser]

Hi, Schlocklate

 

Do you think the wine pairing dinner in Vintages was authorized by the Food and Beverage manager or the Vintages bar manager? We would love to see this on other ships. We've only seen it on Liberty. Would a request to the F and B or Hotel Director be of any help?

 

Margee

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[BND]

The only Vintages we've ever been in was on Freedom when we were in a GS and had a meet and greet with the Officer's for suite guests there. Of course, we cruise on smaller ships frequently that don't have one. We'll see what we do on Oasis in Oct/Nov since we're on a b2b and will have a little more time to check out places onboard.

[andrew2346]

My experience in Vintages took place on the Anthem last April. It was never "crowded" by any stretch but there were the usual suspects in there for pre-dinner drinks and post dinner antics : ) Loved the wine dispenser..would never have been able to try those very expensive wines otherwise. Such a treat.

 

After dinner the Hotel director would mosey in and teach my 6 year old son a cork trick. He still plays this game to this day : ) We were provided a free flight of Caymus while our son was entertained by the HD. Later that night he had the captain come through so we could get our pictures taken and later in the cruise those were delivered to our cabin.

 

The HD loved to get behind the bar and do his own tasting experience with us. It was such a good time. We did this every night of the cruise. Yes...the snacks were from Jamie's and they were fantastic.

 

If you like wine I highly recommend Vintages. It feels like a ship within a ship so to speak. Not crowded, no cattle call...an almost decadent experience.

[lhanson38]

I love Vintages. Always a get a glass of wine before dinner then take a other glass to dinner Vintages wine list is sooooooo much better than any other on the ship. We almost always end up there for other glass after dinner.

Its hit and miss on the Ships on how busy they are.

[Lionesss]

We have previously been invited to some small gatherings related to meet the staff and C & A cocktails here on Freedom, that was a couple years back.

 

Other than that, never went in.

 

Safe travels.

[DonnaK]

I agree - it is usually empty. It desperately needs background music. A guitarist or keyboard player, a crooner, etc.

 

On our Celebrity cruises, the wine bar was a great hangout, a mellow crowd, with nice pre/post-dinner entertainment.

[theotherchad]

True and since Royal Caribbean decided to do away with the pub entertainment that is also wasted space. At least at one time the pubs were packed which is more than you can say for Vintages.

 

That was a temporary thing. The Pub entertainment is back, at least on the Freedom class ships. I think it was a failed experiment. They realized that people really wanted the pub entertainment, so they brought it back.

 

At one time they had done away with the band that plays in the show lounge, but that came back too.

[theotherchad]

The other thing I was thinking about was that, if you think about it, most of the venues on the ship are sparsely populated at various times.

 

For instance, in the evening, there are a thousand people in the theater, a thousand having dinner, some on the pool deck, some being entertained in the pub, some in the show lounge, some in the Schooner Bar, some at Boleros, some are on the pool deck, shopping, etc.

 

I don't think Vintages is intended to be a high traffic spot, and given the higher average price per drink, it takes less pax to make it a profitable use of space.

 

As to price, yes the prices are high, but that's more of a wine thing than a RCCL thing.

 

A little secret I'll let you in on. On land, wine and liquors are typically priced somewhere in the area of 3X the retail cost. If you order a glass of cheap ($5-7 retail) white zinfandel onboard, you'll likely pay over 5X the retail price. If you order a glass from a moderately priced wine that retails for around $10-20 dollars a bottle, you'll pay around the same as on land (typically around 3X retail), but if you decide to splurge on a glass of something a little more upscale (over $25 per bottle retail), you'll generally get a bit of a bargain with the per glass price closer to 1.5-to 2X retail cost.

 

Same goes for higher end liquors. I just saw where someone posted the tequila menu from Sabor. They had Don Julio 1942 (retails around $100 a bottle) for $14. Trust me, if you find this on land, it will usually be around $20 or more per shot. The cheapest I've seen it on land is $15 a shot.

[mlmbar]

ABSOLUTELY LOVE Vintages! On Oasis and Allure, we actually made a dinner two nights of the tapas. I think there were 7 kinds for around $20. On Freedom , last Sept, we had a FABULOUS wine pairing dinner there for $50. The young woman leading the pairings was very knowledgeable of wines and how they interacted with the foods. Best $50 spent and would do it again. The bartender there was very very knowledgeable about wines also, suggesting wines to get us out of our ruts. He let us try tastes of his suggestions first. We had the premium package and all wines we tried were included. Going on Adventure in October and greatly disappointed there is no Vintages

 

I think they need to promote Vintages. Many are not aware that it is there. Also, we only found out about the pairings by seeing a sign outside the actual restaurant

[Big_G]

I write this as I sit from central park balcony cabin overlooking Vintages. The only people that I have seen all week there sitting are people bringing their own food/drinks from elsewhere to sit, or the bored waitresses at night sitting outside. Just seems pointless to have all this useless space.

 

...and that's just how we like it. DW is a wine drinker and never had a problem finding a good wine that is covered by the drink package. I'm not a wine drinker but I can get anything I want in there. We've actually made a dinner out of the tapas on Oasis Class ships when we didn't feel like going to the dining room. Music would just spoil the atmosphere.

[schlocklate]

When we did the food and wine pairing I think it was 20months ago on the Liberty. I believe it was and experiment at the time. Head chef (?) Came by both nights we did it. Head wine Stewart was a fan the chef not as much. They were trying several tappas as their next experiment

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Forums mobile app

[molsonschooner]

That was a temporary thing. The Pub entertainment is back, at least on the Freedom class ships. I think it was a failed experiment. They realized that people really wanted the pub entertainment, so they brought it back.

 

At one time they had done away with the band that plays in the show lounge, but that came back too.

 

I understood that eliminating the entertainer at the pub was scheduled to be a short term thing. It was only to be from last fall until early in the new year

[ssb]

I hope this isn't the case on the Freedom next month...I was really looking forward to Vintages....we live in wine country and I generally love a good wine bar....

 

It's a wine bar

And maybe has good wines

But venue is a flop.

[BNBR]

I'm quite looking forward to Vintages myself :)

 

We will spend some time there. As for underutilized space, Royal Caribbean knows what they are doing and I don't think they plan on, or care if spaces are full at all times. The venue serves a purpose and does what it's supposed to do. Many venues are empty and full depending on activities, time of day, etc. And that's ok.

[M&JfromSDL]

DW and I loved Vintages on our Freedom and Indy cruises. It serves as a nice, cozy spot to grab a glass of wine and people watch. Especially on formal nights.

[schlocklate]

Will be boarding the Independence if the Seas tomorrow and will give full report.

Plan on hitting vintages when it opens to see Thier wine list and if they have anything going on besides the tastings

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Forums mobile app

[docd]

I like Vintages, but I also enjoy wine. Unfortunately, my first experience was bad as they would not accept my drink package there. Our last cruise we ate lunch at Vintages and thought it was amazing. You have to like that type of dining though. Getting more customers would not be difficult if they really wanted to do so.

 

Regardless, you can say the same thing about a lot of the bars and clubs. They are often empty. For me, this is probably one of the issues with RCI in general. They really want you to entertain yourself. That's fine and all, but I'd prefer some more activities. I want to have difficulty choosing what to do at a given time, not deciding if I want to go at all..if there was even a choice.

[vacationlover_mn]

Do they not take the drink package at all, even if we pay the difference in price?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app