Cellar Wine Master Package HAL - help

[Holidaycraze]

Unfortunately, After calling HAL, the person was unable to answer all my questions regarding this wine package for our 7 day cruise.

It states 6 bottles of wine  - I had to call to find out indeed it is the cellar 1 type wine - the lowest end (any comments on these wines?)

2.  I asked what are the two wine tasting events.... HAL didn't know.  I did explore and one wine tasting is event is almost 50 dollars(premium) on board and second is 25 dollars 

does anyone know if we get to do both of these ?. The HAL contact has no idea.  If we get the premium wine tasting that would be worth while

overall what do people think

Thinking of doing this as I like the idea of the Pinnacle which is included and having a nice dinner the sail out evening from Vancouver to Alaska.

Coast line is lovely

Or: 

4 bottle of Level 1 and 4 bottle of Level 2 and skip the Cellar Wine Master Pack and buy Pinnacle separately and not go to wine tasting 

Can you tell - I do love my wine 

Thanks for any advise anyone can give 

 

 

[kazu]

11 minutes ago, Holidaycraze said:

Unfortunately, After calling HAL, the person was unable to answer all my questions regarding this wine package for our 7 day cruise.

It states 6 bottles of wine  - I had to call to find out indeed it is the cellar 1 type wine - the lowest end (any comments on these wines?)

2.  I asked what are the two wine tasting events.... HAL didn't know.  I did explore and one wine tasting is event is almost 50 dollars(premium) on board and second is 25 dollars 

does anyone know if we get to do both of these ?. The HAL contact has no idea.  If we get the premium wine tasting that would be worth while

overall what do people think

 

It’s the standard two wine tastings on HAL.  The first is from the 1st package (and possibly one from the 2nd package.  The second tasting is from the 2nd and 3rd packages.

 

I didn’t know that the prices had gone up that much or I didn’t notice last time.  I thought it was less than that.

 

It seemed to me that the 1st was just under $20 and the 2nd just under $40 but my memory may have failed me.

 

Frankly, I prefer their wines around the world (and I like wine).  If they do that on board, go for it.  It’s fun with different wines from different countries and you get to taste and then drink the ones you like 😄   It was $25 pp last time we were on (April this year).

 

11 minutes ago, Holidaycraze said:

Thinking of doing this as I like the idea of the Pinnacle which is included and having a nice dinner the sail out evening from Vancouver to Alaska.

Coast line is lovely

Or: 

4 bottle of Level 1 and 4 bottle of Level 2 and skip the Cellar Wine Master Pack and buy Pinnacle separately and not go to wine tasting 

Can you tell - I do love my wine 

Thanks for any advise anyone can give 

 

 

 

My suggestion is to do the Math.  Other than a bottle in level 1, I far prefer 2 or 3 so I would go with your second option.

 

the other thing is that if you do the Cellar Master Package, you don’t get to choose your PG dinner (I did it once).  I’d far rather prebook the PG dinner for the night I want than take the risk, but I am a planner 😉 

But, don’t let me discourage you, weigh it out and decide.  

When I did the math last time before I got to the stars where I got discounted packages, there was no cost savings.  And, you need to use every single thing in the package. 😉 

[Holidaycraze]

thanks so much Kazu.  I have cruised HAL several times but for years have been on different lines, mostly celebrity.

I'm going to check my star status ..... and most likely just book the cellar 2 wines and dinner separately.  thanks for the advise. 

I thought i read its cheaper to book the wine package before the trip but doesn't server get a bonus if you book the wine package the first night at dinner - is it more expensive?

[dillpickle48]

If you book in the MDR the server does get the benefit. Wait to buy on board to make sure the wine you want is available on that ship. Hope this helps.

[kazu]

13 hours ago, Holidaycraze said:

thanks so much Kazu.  I have cruised HAL several times but for years have been on different lines, mostly celebrity.

I'm going to check my star status ..... and most likely just book the cellar 2 wines and dinner separately.  thanks for the advise. 

I thought i read its cheaper to book the wine package before the trip but doesn't server get a bonus if you book the wine package the first night at dinner - is it more expensive?

 

It’s the same price whether you book the wine package on line or on board.  There is no benefit to buying it early.

 

and yes, the server gets credit if you buy it on board.  I prefer to buy it on board for that reason as well as to check what the selections are.

[msmayor]

1 hour ago, kazu said:

 

 yes, the server gets credit if you buy it on board.  I prefer to buy it on board for that reason as well as to check what the selections are.

 

Meaning the dining room server...so if I wait until our first dinner they will get credit? 

 

We usually see staff at a table during embarkation selling the package which is where we purchased it last time, but if my own server can get credit I'm perfectly fine waiting until dinner to purchase.

[Holidaycraze]

Thank you so much - we will wait until we are on the ship. 

 

[kazu]

3 hours ago, msmayor said:

 

Meaning the dining room server...so if I wait until our first dinner they will get credit? 

 

We usually see staff at a table during embarkation selling the package which is where we purchased it last time, but if my own server can get credit I'm perfectly fine waiting until dinner to purchase.

That should be fine.

 

The last thing I heard, the wine stewards pooled their tips so I think either is fine.

 

If anyone knows something to the contrary, please feel free to correct me, but that has been the way it goes. 

 

ie.  they don’t care who you buy the Cellar Master from as long as you buy it.  

[MAVIP]

21 hours ago, Holidaycraze said:

 

Thinking of doing this as I like the idea of the Pinnacle which is included and having a nice dinner the sail out evening from Vancouver to Alaska.

Coast line is lovely

It can be worthwhile to study the deckplan of your ship, because the Pinnacle does not always have windows to enjoy the sail away.

[madera1]

We wait and purchase our wine package the first day on board. on longer cruises we will do several wine tastings and have enjoyed the wines of the world as they also serve lots of cheeses and crackers/bread. Since we have become 4 star Mariners we seldom bring on our own wine.

[jlnprt]

We have purchased the Cellar Master package on all 3 of our HAL cruises (I know, "only" 3 … hope to increase that number over the coming years!). We love the wine tastings (one in the MDR and one in the Pinnacle). I'm not sure the package is a big cost savings (or any savings at all!). After all those wine tastings, however, I'm leaning toward the wines in the other packages! The "gifts" are nice … we've received a nice cookbook, wine charms, coasters, HAL travel cup, etc., but we don't really need any more dust catchers, so I'm thinking that we will order a wine package and sign up for the wine tastings and Pinnacle Grill separately on our next cruise...unless there is a way to upgrade the wine in the package. 

[DeeniEncinitas]

On 9/3/2019 at 1:26 PM, Holidaycraze said:

thanks so much Kazu.  I have cruised HAL several times but for years have been on different lines, mostly celebrity.

I'm going to check my star status ..... and most likely just book the cellar 2 wines and dinner separately.  thanks for the advise. 

I thought i read its cheaper to book the wine package before the trip but doesn't server get a bonus if you book the wine package the first night at dinner - is it more expensive?

Jacqui (Kazu) is the best with giving great info!! For years I have  followed the advice 

from her!! I so agree please don’t do level one!!! We did and I disliked the wines!! We ate the costs they would not give us the difference in cost to order up and we are 4!stars. That’s ok!!  Have a marvelous cruise and enjoy your time! We also booked our PG separately!!

Denise😊

[Schooner-ca]

My take on a 7 day cruise is bring your own wine and pay corkage. If you get on a cruise of over 2 weeks don’t pass on the cellar master dinner it’s a must. Have done 3 and each one was outstanding. 

[mexico8]

Do you know the price for the cellar master dinner?  We are on the Koningsdam mid-October and I would like to book the dinner.   Should I do it before we embark?

[freestyling]

I can’t recall the cost maybe $99 but you can only book on board. 

[Overhead Fred]

I would recommend getting the wine packages once you have boarded. In my experience, cellar 1 is not that great. Cellar 2 and 3 are much more desirable. Check out http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/here/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Wine-Packages.pdf for prices and wine lists for eash package as of May, 2019.

[kazu]

On 9/4/2019 at 8:22 AM, msmayor said:

 

Meaning the dining room server...so if I wait until our first dinner they will get credit? 

 

The wine steward and the beverage staff get the credit.

 

14 minutes ago, freestyling said:

I can’t recall the cost maybe $99 but you can only book on board. 

 

It was $89 on our last cruise (including the wines).  We haven’t had a bad one yet but we have been a tad spoiled over the last few cruises on smaller and mostly the smallest (and now gone) in the fleet.

[mexico8]

On ‎10‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 7:13 PM, freestyling said:

I can’t recall the cost maybe $99 but you can only book on board. 

Is that per person or per couple?

[faerievert]

We had the cellar master package on our February 2019 Hawaii HAL cruise. I also tried to get clarification on it from HAL pre-cruise with equally little success.

 

It was 6 bottles from list #1, plus a bonus bottle (a house brand cab, you had no choice on this one, but you could choose any from list #1 for the others), plus two nights at Pinnacle, plus two tastings (the standard and the premium). Oh, and there were also wine charms as the other mystery gift. 

 

We paid onboard for the "around the world" tasting (which is a rather amusing and disorganized all you can drink affair). I would probably do that one again rather than the standard pairings tastings. The Ocean Bar's Sip & Savor wine + mini appetizer pairings were much more interesting, imo. At $5 per glass, for a real pour, not just a tasting, with new choices of red and white available each time, I'd rather do several of those than the $25 or $50 tastings. Watch for them on the daily program. Sea days only, I think. On a Hawaiian cruise there are a lot of sea days.

 

Yes, the Pinnacle dinners are assigned nights, but it was very easy to get it switched to our chosen nights on the first day of the cruise (we wanted to go on our birthdays--both were during the cruise). Not every timeslot was available every day, but we had a lot of choices available. We've done this on every cruise. Unless you're very particular that the dinner must be a certain day at a certain time for some reason, it's really not a big deal to book onboard (at least if you book on the first day). We did have trouble getting our second dinner scheduled at the desk. The computer showed that we'd only have one night at the Pinnacle instead of two. She had to go talk to a supervisor who eventually got the second enabled and scheduled. It was confusing and felt like it was taking forever, but on leaving I found the "big nuisance" had cost me not even 15 minutes. Kudos to the HAL staff for being so efficient that a 15 minute wait is so out of the ordinary!

 

Fast forward to the day of the Cellar Master Dinner and we received an unexpected invitation to attend. This was after we'd done our two "included" dinners. So I'm unclear if we were supposed to have been invited to the special event the whole time and inappropriately fought to receive that extra Pinnacle dinner (this would explain why it wasn't originally on our account) or that we somehow "won" a free Cellar Master Dinner. We thought it was the latter because we'd spend so much time hanging out with the cellar master, but we asked him and he said he hadn't done it. We weren't even on the check in list at arrival. But we had the paper invitations addressed to us by name so they let us in. It will forever remain a mystery. It was amazing, btw. I'll be very tempted to attend again on our upcoming cruise. Definitely superior to the usual Pinnacle dinner and paired with excellent wines. They were selling it for either $89 or $99 per person, no mariner discounts allowed. Considering the dinner plus how much wine we drank, it was definitely a good value for money. 

 

Now that we're 3* it doesn't make sense to buy the package again. We'll wait until we're onboard to see their available selection on each list before we choose a package. There's no pre-purchase discount, so I'd rather be able to put off paying for as long as possible! 

 

If you're 2* or lower, and interested in two pinnacle dinners plus two wine tastings, and don't mind being restricted to list #1 wines, it is a good value. And only available for pre-purchase. You can't buy the cellar master package onboard. 

[kazu]

On 10/9/2019 at 1:36 AM, mexico8 said:

Is that per person or per couple?

 

The cost is per person.

[cat shepard]

10 hours ago, faerievert said:

We had the cellar master package on our February 2019 Hawaii HAL cruise. I also tried to get clarification on it from HAL pre-cruise with equally little success.

 

It was 6 bottles from list #1, plus a bonus bottle (a house brand cab, you had no choice on this one, but you could choose any from list #1 for the others), plus two nights at Pinnacle, plus two tastings (the standard and the premium). Oh, and there were also wine charms as the other mystery gift. 

 

We paid onboard for the "around the world" tasting (which is a rather amusing and disorganized all you can drink affair). I would probably do that one again rather than the standard pairings tastings. The Ocean Bar's Sip & Savor wine + mini appetizer pairings were much more interesting, imo. At $5 per glass, for a real pour, not just a tasting, with new choices of red and white available each time, I'd rather do several of those than the $25 or $50 tastings. Watch for them on the daily program. Sea days only, I think. On a Hawaiian cruise there are a lot of sea days.

 

Yes, the Pinnacle dinners are assigned nights, but it was very easy to get it switched to our chosen nights on the first day of the cruise (we wanted to go on our birthdays--both were during the cruise). Not every timeslot was available every day, but we had a lot of choices available. We've done this on every cruise. Unless you're very particular that the dinner must be a certain day at a certain time for some reason, it's really not a big deal to book onboard (at least if you book on the first day). We did have trouble getting our second dinner scheduled at the desk. The computer showed that we'd only have one night at the Pinnacle instead of two. She had to go talk to a supervisor who eventually got the second enabled and scheduled. It was confusing and felt like it was taking forever, but on leaving I found the "big nuisance" had cost me not even 15 minutes. Kudos to the HAL staff for being so efficient that a 15 minute wait is so out of the ordinary!

 

Fast forward to the day of the Cellar Master Dinner and we received an unexpected invitation to attend. This was after we'd done our two "included" dinners. So I'm unclear if we were supposed to have been invited to the special event the whole time and inappropriately fought to receive that extra Pinnacle dinner (this would explain why it wasn't originally on our account) or that we somehow "won" a free Cellar Master Dinner. We thought it was the latter because we'd spend so much time hanging out with the cellar master, but we asked him and he said he hadn't done it. We weren't even on the check in list at arrival. But we had the paper invitations addressed to us by name so they let us in. It will forever remain a mystery. It was amazing, btw. I'll be very tempted to attend again on our upcoming cruise. Definitely superior to the usual Pinnacle dinner and paired with excellent wines. They were selling it for either $89 or $99 per person, no mariner discounts allowed. Considering the dinner plus how much wine we drank, it was definitely a good value for money. 

 

Now that we're 3* it doesn't make sense to buy the package again. We'll wait until we're onboard to see their available selection on each list before we choose a package. There's no pre-purchase discount, so I'd rather be able to put off paying for as long as possible! 

 

If you're 2* or lower, and interested in two pinnacle dinners plus two wine tastings, and don't mind being restricted to list #1 wines, it is a good value. And only available for pre-purchase. You can't buy the cellar master package onboard. 

 

Thank you for this great info! I will be doing a cruise to Hawaii in about 8 days. Now I know to watch closely for those special events.