Wine service

[smj777]

I have been told that you can no longer leave unfinished bottles of wine in the MDR to be brought back to you next time. Does this mean that you have to carry unfinished bottles to and from the dining room yourself?

[Purdey16]

I wouldn’t mind doing that but I think ours will be finished every night 😂

[wowzz]

I seem to remember reading that as well, altgough, like Purdey, we never have any left over. 

No doubt this will be cited as an anti-covid measure,  but for the life of me I cannot understand why.    

[LondonLad60]

1 hour ago, Purdey16 said:

I wouldn’t mind doing that but I think ours will be finished every night 😂

I'm reminded of one of Delia Smith's so-called 'top tips' - "Leftover wine can be frozen in ice cube trays and used in stocks and gravies". Leftover wine? Are you serious??

 

Bob

[Happy afloat]

Hi, yes, this was certainly the case in November on Ventura. When I asked why, I was told it was the new policy. Assumed it was down to covid but who knows? 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

I seem to remember reading that as well, altgough, like Purdey, we never have any left over. 

No doubt this will be cited as an anti-covid measure,  but for the life of me I cannot understand why.    

I think you are right, but I think the real reason is ' cos we can '.

[janieb1962]

We saw quite a few folks walking around with unfinished bottles … sad but true 😂

[wowzz]

48 minutes ago, janieb1962 said:

We saw quite a few folks walking around with unfinished bottles … sad but true 😂

To be fair, we've done that. Taken a bottle with a bit left to a bar. Less chance of spillage than with a glass.

[smokey01]

6 hours ago, smj777 said:

I have been told that you can no longer leave unfinished bottles of wine in the MDR to be brought back to you next time. Does this mean that you have to carry unfinished bottles to and from the dining room yourself?

In October I had to take the half finished bottle back to my cabin and bring it back the next night. I was surprised at first but soon became used to it.

[wowzz]

36 minutes ago, smokey01 said:

In October I had to take the half finished bottle back to my cabin and bring it back the next night. I was surprised at first but soon became used to it.

You have more willpower than us.

We'd have had a nightcap,  or a lunch time aperitif or a pre-dinner sharpener,  but the bottle would never have lasted until dinner! 

[Selbourne]

I do hope that these ‘because of Covid’ excuses that are used everywhere now (not just on P&O) as an excuse for poor service or cost cutting get ditched asap, but I fear that they won’t. We never drink a whole bottle of wine at dinner, not because we are cheapskates but because we just don’t want that much. One of the things that we really like is being able to leave an unfinished bottle and have it brought back to the table the next night. Having to cart it around after dinner going to a show and the same the next night going for drinks before dinner is a faff. 

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, Selbourne said:

I do hope that these ‘because of Covid’ excuses that are used everywhere now (not just on P&O) as an excuse for poor service or cost cutting get ditched asap, but I fear that they won’t. We never drink a whole bottle of wine at dinner, not because we are cheapskates but because we just don’t want that much. One of the things that we really like is being able to leave an unfinished bottle and have it brought back to the table the next night. Having to cart it around after dinner going to a show and the same the next night going for drinks before dinner is a faff. 

Totally agree.

If the cruise line just said that certain services were not available because of reduced crew numbers (due to reduced number of pax), we would all understand. 

Hiding behind the Covid excuse is wearing thin.

 

[jeanlyon]

10 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I do hope that these ‘because of Covid’ excuses that are used everywhere now (not just on P&O) as an excuse for poor service or cost cutting get ditched asap, but I fear that they won’t. We never drink a whole bottle of wine at dinner, not because we are cheapskates but because we just don’t want that much. One of the things that we really like is being able to leave an unfinished bottle and have it brought back to the table the next night. Having to cart it around after dinner going to a show and the same the next night going for drinks before dinner is a faff. 

Exactly the same here.  We never drink a whole bottle.  In fact we normally had a bottle of each - red and white - on the go and they would ask which one we wanted.  This is really sad.

[Eglesbrech]

Hopefully it is just temporary. There have been so many adverse changes from many companies for “covid”. Some make sense, others are questionable to say the least. I can see some sense in this as second day wine will have several touch points on the bottle and on the cork (remove, replace, remove again) so perhaps it is part of the “hands” risk assessment but covid is airborne.
 

We often leave bottles, particularly when we are having different meals so one orders a bottle of red and one white. They may find that wine sales fall if folks can’t have what they want and opt for the usually cheaper wine by the glass rather than a bottle.
 

I don’t want to be carrying wine around a ship and I’m sure others don’t want to be sharing a lift with people carrying it. I’m a klutz at the best of times, red wine in my hands is a danger to others while walking.

 

Hopefully post covid things will go back to normal for all things that have changed.

 

Does anyone remember if they implemented this kind of thing during any norovirus outbreak? I do remember menus going, salt and pepper etc but don’t remember about wine.

Edited January 29, 2022 by Eglesbrech

[Fionboard]

That's right. Plus there are fewer wine waiters now and usually none at lunchtime with food waiters having to do wine service too. Not enough staff. My cabin steward on Iona (dislike that ship!) had 3 jobs including working in dining room at night. Poor chap was not happy!

[Selbourne]

13 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Hopefully it is just temporary. There have been so many adverse changes from many companies for “covid”. Some make sense, others are questionable to say the least. I can see some sense in this as second day wine will have several touch points on the bottle and on the cork (remove, replace, remove again) so perhaps it is part of the “hands” risk assessment but covid is airborne.
 

We often leave bottles, particularly when we are having different meals so one orders a bottle of red and one white. They may find that wine sales fall if folks can’t have what they want and opt for the usually cheaper wine by the glass rather than a bottle.
 

I don’t want to be carrying wine around a ship and I’m sure others don’t want to be sharing a lift with people carrying it. I’m a klutz at the best of times, red wine in my hands is a danger to others while walking.

 

Hopefully post covid things will go back to normal for all things that have changed.

 

Does anyone remember if they implemented this kind of thing during any norovirus outbreak? I do remember menus going, salt and pepper etc but don’t remember about wine.

There have been Norovirus outbreaks on ships that we have been on and there was no suspension of normal wine service. As you rightly say, the scientists now admit that the risks with Coronavirus are airborne and not from touch, so many of these ‘safety protocols’ are dubious in the extreme. Even the airborne risk needs more than fleeting exposure, so don’t get me started on having to wear masks whilst walking around or, even worse, one way systems “because of Covid”!

[jeanlyon]

Well, our wine is brought and left on the table for us, so apart from when it is brought and taken away, only we have touched it.  We don't like our wine to be poured as they fill up the glass too quickly.  We like to pour our own.  As someone has said, we will end up ordering a glass of wine and not a bottle.

[Snow Hill]

Or is it crafty way of getting you to buy more wine. People might take it back to their cabin, but will they resit having a drink from it before taking it to MDR next night, thus creating an opportunity for the sale of another bottle of wine.

[Eglesbrech]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

There have been Norovirus outbreaks on ships that we have been on and there was no suspension of normal wine service. As you rightly say, the scientists now admit that the risks with Coronavirus are airborne and not from touch, so many of these ‘safety protocols’ are dubious in the extreme. Even the airborne risk needs more than fleeting exposure, so don’t get me started on having to wear masks whilst walking around or, even worse, one way systems “because of Covid”!

I forgot about the mask. Me, red wine and a mask with steamed up glasses- a disaster in the making (and not because I have over-imbibed).

 

Formal night. Me, red wine, a mask with steamed up glasses and heels - a guaranteed disaster 😃

 

 

[zap99]

3 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

I forgot about the mask. Me, red wine and a mask with steamed up glasses- a disaster in the making (and not because I have over-imbibed).

 

Formal night. Me, red wine, a mask with steamed up glasses and heels - a guaranteed disaster 😃

 

 

A Lady staggering towards me with a bottle in her hand.?🤔. Another Saturday night out in London.🤣

[Eglesbrech]

41 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

Or is it crafty way of getting you to buy more wine. People might take it back to their cabin, but will they resit having a drink from it before taking it to MDR next night, thus creating an opportunity for the sale of another bottle of wine.

You are right, some will and buy another bottle some will not and move down to by the glass.

Hopefully it is a temporary issue while staff are doing additional cleaning and will revert back to normal soon 🤞

 

[Eglesbrech]

1 minute ago, zap99 said:

A Lady staggering towards me with a bottle in her hand.?🤔. Another Saturday night out in London.🤣

I can stagger without the aid of any wine, heels and a rough sea are bad enough. To all the gents on here try walking on a moving ship in heels.

[Chippyminton]

We have just got back from the Canaries on Iona, was told that because most people are now using freedom dining, because of covid restrictions, and can use any MDR, Iona has 4, the left over wine was getting tricky to find.

[Eglesbrech]

1 minute ago, Chippyminton said:

We have just got back from the Canaries on Iona, was told that because most people are now using freedom dining, because of covid restrictions, and can use any MDR, Iona has 4, the left over wine was getting tricky to find.

That’s a fair point and one of the potential disadvantages of very large ships.

[Selbourne]

3 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

Or is it crafty way of getting you to buy more wine. People might take it back to their cabin, but will they resit having a drink from it before taking it to MDR next night, thus creating an opportunity for the sale of another bottle of wine.

If so, that plan would backfire with us. Like others have said, we tend to have two bottles on the go in the MDR at any time - one white and one red. If one is running low, we don’t hesitate to order another, as even if we only have one glass from the new bottle it’s not an issue. With this new approach we probably wouldn’t bother to order a new bottle as we couldn’t be bothered to cart it around the ship, so we would just drink more (free) water. Their loss!