Drink Package

[bluesplayer]

Never have sailed on Oceania..  my understanding is if you select the drink package as you extra it includes only beer and wine at lunch and dinner?  If so, is there a daily cocktail package for purchase??   Or how expensive are  standard drinks like gin & tonic?

[basor]

30 minutes ago, bluesplayer said:

Never have sailed on Oceania..  my understanding is if you select the drink package as you extra it includes only beer and wine at lunch and dinner?  If so, is there a daily cocktail package for purchase??   Or how expensive are  standard drinks like gin & tonic?

Once onboard you can upgrade to the Prestige package for $20.00 per person/per day and then all alcoholic drinks (except for a few very high end liquors) are included 24 hours a day.....both people in a cabin do not need to upgrade and you can upgrade any time during your cruise,  Once you upgrade, it is for the remaining days of your cruise.  

Edited July 24, 2021 by basor

[LHT28]

The Preismans blog  have menus  (pre covid)  so gives you an idea of prices

https://www.thepreismans.com/marina19_menus.htm

[Flatbush Flyer]

16 minutes ago, basor said:

Once onboard you can upgrade to the Prestige package for $20.00 per person/per day and then all alcoholic drinks (except for a few very high end liquors) are included 24 hours a day.....both people in a cabin do not need to upgrade and you can upgrade any time during your cruise,  Once you upgrade, it is for the remaining days of your cruise.  

Note as well that both the standard and “prestige” packages’ wines are “by the glass” with a limited selection. 
The Prestige Package makes sense for some folks who enjoy higher quality spirits and “double” shots in their cocktails. As for wine, we bring our own - usually a case on longer cruises and replenish along the way. The $25 per bottle corkage for anything taken out of your cabin (no, you can’t carry your own wine in a glass around the ship or to meals to avoid the $25) is actually a good deal if you buy/drink good wine (since the ship wine prices are marked up significantly). Your $75 NorCal Pinot Noir could be priced at $200 plus 18% tip onboard vs $100 ( your $75 retail buy plus $25 corkage, which includes the tip).

Edited July 24, 2021 by Flatbush Flyer

[mauibabes]

Flatbush is right on. Remember the Captain’s Welcome or Oceania. Club Ambassador’s parties with Free Drinks on every voyage and they are quite impressive gatherings.

Everyday from 5:00-6:00 is one of the Happy Hours with half priced drinks and then there are the “Drink of the Day” promotions.  There is also a late evening Happy Hour too. 
We will always bring some very good wines aboard with us and like Flatbush said, our bottle price plus corkage is still a bargain.  We do our best to make dining with the “Finest cuisine at sea” and a great bottle of wine the new norm for cruising.  You can also consider dining in La Reserve or other wine tastings or Single Malt tastings if you need additional opportunities to consume more adult beverages.  
Just enjoy your cruise on Oceania.

Mauibabes

[Flatbush Flyer]

12 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

Flatbush is right on. Remember the Captain’s Welcome or Oceania. Club Ambassador’s parties with Free Drinks on every voyage and they are quite impressive gatherings.

Everyday from 5:00-6:00 is one of the Happy Hours with half priced drinks and then there are the “Drink of the Day” promotions.  There is also a late evening Happy Hour too. 
We will always bring some very good wines aboard with us and like Flatbush said, our bottle price plus corkage is still a bargain.  We do our best to make dining with the “Finest cuisine at sea” and a great bottle of wine the new norm for cruising.  You can also consider dining in La Reserve or other wine tastings or Single Malt tastings if you need additional opportunities to consume more adult beverages.  
Just enjoy your cruise on Oceania.

Mauibabes

And multi-segment cruises repeat “events” with complimentary booze. And then there are occasional officer invited dinners..... the list goes on. 

[bluesplayer]

4 hours ago, basor said:

Once onboard you can upgrade to the Prestige package for $20.00 per person/per day and then all alcoholic drinks (except for a few very high end liquors) are included 24 hours a day.....both people in a cabin do not need to upgrade and you can upgrade any time during your cruise,  Once you upgrade, it is for the remaining days of your cruise.  

Thank you for information..   is there any upgraded wines by the glass?

[bluesplayer]

4 hours ago, LHT28 said:

The Preismans blog  have menus  (pre covid)  so gives you an idea of prices

https://www.thepreismans.com/marina19_menus.htm

The food menus are amazing!!!    who needs wine??  Bringing some on board or having cocktails is fine.  The wine by the bottle price is hefty..  agree better to pay corkage.. Will revisit the dining room menus..  need to try Oceania!!   Thank you for sharing..

[bluesplayer]

4 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Note as well that both the standard and “prestige” packages’ wines are “by the glass” with a limited selection. 
The Prestige Package makes sense for some folks who enjoy higher quality spirits and “double” shots in their cocktails. As for wine, we bring our own - usually a case on longer cruises and replenish along the way. The $25 per bottle corkage for anything taken out of your cabin (no, you can’t carry your own wine in a glass around the ship or to meals to avoid the $25) is actually a good deal if you buy/drink good wine (since the ship wine prices are marked up significantly). Your $75 NorCal Pinot Noir could be priced at $200 plus 18% tip onboard vs $100 ( your $75 retail buy plus $25 corkage, which includes the tip).

Excellent advice to bring your own wine.  I saw the $12.00 bottle of Chardonnay selling for 85 dollars.. Thank you for clueing me in..   Now the dilemma..     corkage vs. upgrade and having cocktails..  thinking will be thrilled either way.. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

7 minutes ago, bluesplayer said:

Thank you for information..   is there any upgraded wines by the glass?

No. There may be the occasional decent wine-by-the-glass like Shramsberg Mirabelle sparkling or Arbolero Carminere. But, they will run out quickly on a longer cruise.

Same goes for the 7 bottle deal. At $40+ per bottle, most on the list are mediocre except for one or two (which wine savvy folks might grab as in 7 of one kind of wine). We’ve done this a couple of times when we’ve seen Mirabelle on that list - bought seven bottles of it to augment our personal wine.

Also, once you board, ask for the “bin end” list of wines they’re trying to unload. There will be some decent wines at about 25%+\- off the O price.

[Flatbush Flyer]

5 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

No. There may be the occasional decent wine-by-the-glass like Shramsberg Mirabelle sparkling or Arbolero Carminere. But, they will run out quickly on a longer cruise.

Same goes for the 7 bottle deal. At $40+ per bottle, most on the list are mediocre except for one or two (which wine savvy folks might grab as in 7 of one kind of wine). We’ve done this a couple of times when we’ve seen Mirabelle on that list - bought seven bottles of it to augment our personal wine.

Also, once you board, ask for the “bin end” list of wines they’re trying to unload. There will be some decent wines at about 25%+\- off the O price.

We do some pre-Cruise research on wine shops in embarkation ports, contact them ahead of time about our preferences (even to the point of identifying a salesperson familiar with NorCal wines who can use that info in selecting new-to-us regional wines in/near their geographic location and along the cruise itinerary route). Once there, we stop at the shop to go over the case and then have it sent to our hotel. We pack lightweight/sturdy collapsible winery carry-cartons that we then use to carry-on to the ship and use for in-cabin storage. We discard them at the end of the cruise since we have plenty (being right next to “wine country”).

[mauibabes]

Blues player,

I think what many of us are saying is that whether you spend your $ on cocktails or wine, you can get a great bang for your buck by bringing some favorite wines along and paying a corkage fee. You will visit your ports, of call and you may taste some great local wines so buy some bottles and bring it back aboard. You are from Seattle and there are some wonderful wines there or OR or CA.  Depending on your Stateroom category, you may also receive Champagne or wine or many bottles of alcohol from Oceania. Whether you buy O wine by the bottle or your own with the corkage fee, any leftover wine in a bottle can be held by your Sommelier and delivered to you in any restaurant at your request.  Oceania goes out of their way to make life easy when it comes to consuming adult beverages.  
Just enjoy yourselves 👍🍷💵🍹💰🥂

Gerry

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, mauibabes said:

Blues player,

I think what many of us are saying is that whether you spend your $ on cocktails or wine, you can get a great bang for your buck by bringing some favorite wines along and paying a corkage fee. You will visit your ports, of call and you may taste some great local wines so buy some bottles and bring it back aboard. You are from Seattle and there are some wonderful wines there or OR or CA.  Depending on your Stateroom category, you may also receive Champagne or wine or many bottles of alcohol from Oceania. Whether you buy O wine by the bottle or your own with the corkage fee, any leftover wine in a bottle can be held by your Sommelier and delivered to you in any restaurant at your request.  Oceania goes out of their way to make life easy when it comes to consuming adult beverages.  
Just enjoy yourselves 👍🍷💵🍹💰🥂

Gerry

Let’s clarify one thing: There may be a single true “sommelier” onboard an Oceania ship at any given time. But, the vast majority of folks serving you wine would best be classified as “wine stewards” and nothing more than that. They have been trained to sell you wine from the ship’s stock and that may be the extent of their expertise.

[rln44]

We will be on a 20 day cruise on Marina in December.  I have brought a bottle (or two) of gin   on other Oceania cruises but I can't imagine carrying 20 bottles of wine from the US to Peru.

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 hours ago, rln44 said:

We will be on a 20 day cruise on Marina in December.  I have brought a bottle (or two) of gin   on other Oceania cruises but I can't imagine carrying 20 bottles of wine from the US to Peru.

Perhaps you could do what we do - which is to buy wine in the embarkation port (e.g., Lima, Peru). - There are many excellent South American wines. For example, the vineyard areas between Santiago and Valpo Chile are close to the Southern latitude equivalent of Napa and Sonoma Counties between Sacramento and San Francisco. Add CSU and UC oenology grad wine makers and you’ve got many great wines at half the price of their California counterparts.

[pinotlover]

FF;

 

I think their problem is that they are in the wine dessert between Miami and Lima on that 12/1 sailing. 
 

Best solution for them is to pick up a few bottles in Miami and make do with the wine by the glass offerings at the other meals. The beer pairs better in RG anyway, so there’s a night or two you don’t need wine. 
 

The wines by the glass are not terrific offerings, but I can normally find something that will adequately pair with my dinner. For the other nights, there’s corkage or just buy a bottle from the list occasionally. Not a great financial deal, but I’m always happier afterwards. Sometimes you can catch an excellent bottle at 2X retail as opposed to 4X. I jump on them.