Aqua class and Blu?

[Luvcrusn]

Hello,

 

Does anyone have a current wine list for Blu? Sailing in 2.5 weeks and trying to decide if I need to upgrade from Classic to Premium. I am concerned that since there are no drinks on the menu under $12, I am also going to struggle with finding a wine in the classic package range. We are sailing equinox!

We always find plenty on the Classic list. In addition now if you order something above the Classic allowance you only pay the difference + 18%.

[musik07]

We always find plenty on the Classic list. In addition now if you order something above the Classic allowance you only pay the difference + 18%.

 

On our roll-call people posted that there will be a sale from Thursday-Monday with 20% off the upgrade which brings it to just above $90 for the week for the upgrade. Hence why I am toying with it. Not sure if I would pay $90 in upgraded prices.

[cangelmd]

Hello,

 

Does anyone have a current wine list for Blu? Sailing in 2.5 weeks and trying to decide if I need to upgrade from Classic to Premium. I am concerned that since there are no drinks on the menu under $12, I am also going to struggle with finding a wine in the classic package range. We are sailing equinox!

 

Good luck with that! I tried hard to find a wine list before our Jan cruise which was a return to Celeb for us after many years. Never found that wine list, but learned a few things for what it is worth.

 

DH and I are wine geeks who live in a state with very limited wine availability. We have a wine cellar, and a number of reds that we have collected and put away by the case. We have wine with dinner most evenings, but rarely drink out of our collected wines - we typically buy at the grocery store/Costco-Sams/or occasionally Target. We enjoy wine at many price points, but our typical everyday wine with dinner at home is $10-15 a bottle at our somewhat elevated state run prices.

 

If you search the boards you may find some pix of drink menus from various bars, I never found the actual wine list for any restaurant. Understand that with the pkgs, most people are drinking by the glass, not by the bottle as you would maybe expect in a nice restaurant. Based on the posted bar wine by the glass list here, and what I found on board, the few wines that I actually recognized were grocery store wines in that $10-15 range, and were listed on the Premium list. There were a couple of my favs at $9 though, so those WOULD be on the Classic. Based on my Jan research, there is a wine list, and it is a little different from MDR to Blu to Luminae, but if you are a wino and want/need to order by the bottle, then they will be happy to bring you any or all wine lists - but we were only the 2 of us, and didn't need it.

 

Our experience was that the sommeliers and assts were quite knowledgeable about their lists, very savvy about checking and remembering your drink pkg and NOT trying to upsell or confuse you (there is an initial at time of boarding upsell, and the bar waiters I think get some credit if you upgrade your drink pkg with them, so unless there is a super sale between now and your sailing date, if you wait, find the sommelier for your restaurant at boarding and upgrade then or at first dinner, you will have made a friend for life,:D) - they will recommend good wines for your food and your pkg. The printed recs are pretty good as well, although I don't know if they are for either pkg every time.

 

If I was concerned about spending (which I will be after I retire and I'm trying to cruise as much as possible on a budget), I would get the Classic or no pkg and pay the upgrade. I would get a white in a bar and carry it in to dinner, then perhaps order a red either from the Classic or with upgrade at entree time. The good thing lost with this strategy is the pairing - you and your dinner partners can wine pair with different courses and can have different reds, for example if appropriate. On the pkg, the sommeliers just come around and keep topping off your glass (which can be either good or bad, just saying), but it makes for a relaxed enjoyable experience - right now that is worth something to me.

 

I will say we booked a TA in April with a travel agency and we were having some Celebrity website issues that continued on into May when the last sale came around, the package sale just before the Premium package went up in price. DH spent almost a whole day on the phone with Celeb and the travel agent to straighten our reservation out so that we could buy the upgrade just before the sale ended and the price increased. Even with the sale, I don't drink much coffee and less alcohol all the time, so it was a close call about whether to upgrade me or just pay the by the glass difference. No question for DH, he drinks enough espresso to make up the difference :*

[musik07]

Good luck with that! I tried hard to find a wine list before our Jan cruise which was a return to Celeb for us after many years. Never found that wine list, but learned a few things for what it is worth.

 

DH and I are wine geeks who live in a state with very limited wine availability. We have a wine cellar, and a number of reds that we have collected and put away by the case. We have wine with dinner most evenings, but rarely drink out of our collected wines - we typically buy at the grocery store/Costco-Sams/or occasionally Target. We enjoy wine at many price points, but our typical everyday wine with dinner at home is $10-15 a bottle at our somewhat elevated state run prices.

 

If you search the boards you may find some pix of drink menus from various bars, I never found the actual wine list for any restaurant. Understand that with the pkgs, most people are drinking by the glass, not by the bottle as you would maybe expect in a nice restaurant. Based on the posted bar wine by the glass list here, and what I found on board, the few wines that I actually recognized were grocery store wines in that $10-15 range, and were listed on the Premium list. There were a couple of my favs at $9 though, so those WOULD be on the Classic. Based on my Jan research, there is a wine list, and it is a little different from MDR to Blu to Luminae, but if you are a wino and want/need to order by the bottle, then they will be happy to bring you any or all wine lists - but we were only the 2 of us, and didn't need it.

 

Our experience was that the sommeliers and assts were quite knowledgeable about their lists, very savvy about checking and remembering your drink pkg and NOT trying to upsell or confuse you (there is an initial at time of boarding upsell, and the bar waiters I think get some credit if you upgrade your drink pkg with them, so unless there is a super sale between now and your sailing date, if you wait, find the sommelier for your restaurant at boarding and upgrade then or at first dinner, you will have made a friend for life,:D) - they will recommend good wines for your food and your pkg. The printed recs are pretty good as well, although I don't know if they are for either pkg every time.

 

If I was concerned about spending (which I will be after I retire and I'm trying to cruise as much as possible on a budget), I would get the Classic or no pkg and pay the upgrade. I would get a white in a bar and carry it in to dinner, then perhaps order a red either from the Classic or with upgrade at entree time. The good thing lost with this strategy is the pairing - you and your dinner partners can wine pair with different courses and can have different reds, for example if appropriate. On the pkg, the sommeliers just come around and keep topping off your glass (which can be either good or bad, just saying), but it makes for a relaxed enjoyable experience - right now that is worth something to me.

 

I will say we booked a TA in April with a travel agency and we were having some Celebrity website issues that continued on into May when the last sale came around, the package sale just before the Premium package went up in price. DH spent almost a whole day on the phone with Celeb and the travel agent to straighten our reservation out so that we could buy the upgrade just before the sale ended and the price increased. Even with the sale, I don't drink much coffee and less alcohol all the time, so it was a close call about whether to upgrade me or just pay the by the glass difference. No question for DH, he drinks enough espresso to make up the difference :*

 

 

Thanks. I live in Pennsylvania, the alcohol repression central. Whole Foods by my house just started selling wine and I don't know how to handle it! Anyway, my mom and I are traveling together and she won't drink wine much but I like wine, good beer/cider and cocktails. I am also a lover of almond milk lattes so I will absolutley get mo money worth of a classic package, just trying to figure out if I can get the same value out of a premium. I there is a decent malbec, rose, and resiling I can get by on the Classic!

[BlueLobster]

We have always had the premium beverage package, and have been in blu or specialty restaurants for 4 out of our 5 cruises so far. I rely on the sommelier to suggest the best wine in our package, and have 98% of the time been very pleased. We take a picture of the bottles that we like (we've found that if we both have the premium package, and order in blu or a specialty, the sommelier will leave the bottle for us, versus the MDR where they have typically only served us by the glass) and I look for them at home. I have seen the wines at home for sale in the $10 to $30 range. We too typically buy wines at an average price of around $10 (depending on where we buy them) for our "everyday" consumption at home (no, we don't drink everyday, but we have it available if the mood strikes). On our first cruise, we had one classic and one premium package, and got the best available for each package (and I usually let my wife have the "better" wine, or at least the one she liked more). You could try that, and always upgrade during the cruise if the premium package is offering things more to your tastes. Enjoy.

[Luvcrusn]

On our roll-call people posted that there will be a sale from Thursday-Monday with 20% off the upgrade which brings it to just above $90 for the week for the upgrade. Hence why I am toying with it. Not sure if I would pay $90 in upgraded prices.

I guess it depends on your drink preferences. In our last 5 cruises with the Classic package we've not spent $1 extra. We've enjoyed wine with our dinners and the sommelier was easily able to bring us a nice assortment to pair with our meals without trouble. In addition we enjoy frozen drinks by the pool like pina coladas, mudslides and frozen toasted almonds. Bottled water to go ashore with us, cappuccino after dinner and specialty coffees from Cafe al Baccio. We're not martini drinkers, so we don't get tempted there. For us, we'd never come close to the daily differential to upgrade but would be way ahead if we occasionally paid an upcharge. (We've never had reason to). As stated, it depends on your drink preference. Just don't be afraid that you'll feel deprived if you don't upgrade. There's plenty from which to choose.

[cangelmd]

I want to add that in the past there have been some good deals on upgrading on the ship - that might be particularly attractive if a person is just not sure if it will be worth the money for them, then you could do a real comparison.

Its just right now with the Premium recently increasing in price, you can't tell from peoples' experiences whether those deals are still happening - need more folks who have just come back to post.

[sykimball1498]

Thanks. I live in Pennsylvania, the alcohol repression central. Whole Foods by my house just started selling wine and I don't know how to handle it! Anyway, my mom and I are traveling together and she won't drink wine much but I like wine, good beer/cider and cocktails. I am also a lover of almond milk lattes so I will absolutley get mo money worth of a classic package, just trying to figure out if I can get the same value out of a premium. I there is a decent malbec, rose, and resiling I can get by on the Classic!

 

I drink similar types of wine and the Classic package did have these types. I prefer a dry rose and they had a nice one from France I believe. The Riesling is the Chateau St. Michelle that you see in the grocery stores (you might want to check it out if you haven't so you can make up your own mind to make sure you like it) and the Malbec was fine. I just can't remember the name of it. Just tell them the kind of wine you want and the package you have and they will find a wine for you. However, with most of the classic package there was 1 wine of each kind and sometimes 2 to choose from, not an extensive list, but the wines on there were fine for us. We didn't pay an up-charge the entire cruise, but you can if you so choose. Also, you can try the Classic package for a few days and upgrade halfway through the cruise I believe for the remaining days if you are not satisfied with the wines or other cocktails included.

[KKB]

Hello,

 

Does anyone have a current wine list for Blu? Sailing in 2.5 weeks and trying to decide if I need to upgrade from Classic to Premium. I am concerned that since there are no drinks on the menu under $12, I am also going to struggle with finding a wine in the classic package range. We are sailing equinox!

 

Hey--we just bid on a Move Up to Aqua--FINGERS CROSSED!

I DID upgrade to premium on our cruise when we had AQ & LOVED it--Sommelier knew I like white sauvignon blanc from NZ best, or a pinot grigio & I got to try something new every night. LOVED it.