Recommended Red Wine

[markeb]

I don’t want to pay cruise ship prices for an older vintage, but most reviews have 2015 just now reaching “drinkable” with a drink by of 2035. 2016 is still way young. I’ve tasted both, and have both in the basement.Good but need time. Trying to match my life expectancy with theirs…

[PuraVida3000]

We have a cruise coming up on Millennium in a RS. First time on X. How do we go about reserving the bottles (or trying) we would like?

[phoenix_dream]

We were recently on Silhouette and they were out of Decoy and red Conundrum. Very disappointed. They kept trying to give us cheaper wines instead. We buy the premium package primarily for better wine. I don’t want to pay premium prices for wine that sells for $10-$12 a bottle at home!  I just hope this is truly a supply issue and not a price saving idea or a way to clear out an over supply of wines left over from the shutdown.

Edited March 29, 2022 by phoenix_dream

[Stockjock]

On a recent sailing, I mostly drank the Conundrum, which is a respectable red.  I wanted to pay extra for the Caymus, but the ship had none.

[George C]

2 hours ago, PuraVida3000 said:

We have a cruise coming up on Millennium in a RS. First time on X. How do we go about reserving the bottles (or trying) we would like?

I would definitely bring two bottles of wine, if you open it in a public area it’s a 25 dollar corkage, or just open it in your cabin .

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, phoenix_dream said:

We were recently on Silhouette and they were out of Decoy and red Conundrum. Very disappointed. They kept trying to give us cheaper wines instead. We buy the premium package primarily for better wine. I don’t want to pay premium prices for wine that sells for $10-$12 a bottle at home!  I just hope this is truly a supply issue and not a price saving idea or a way to clear out an over supply of wines left over from the shutdown.

And they remain out of Decoy and Conundrum, as I tried to order both today. 

 

I am going to make it a point to see what they have for choices.  I had the Kendall-Jackson Elegance Pinot Noir with my seared Branzino and a Vive Malbec with my filet at dinner tonight.  Passable but I would like something a little more upscale. 

[drakes2]

8 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

We were recently on Silhouette and they were out of Decoy and red Conundrum. Very disappointed. They kept trying to give us cheaper wines instead. We buy the premium package primarily for better wine. I don’t want to pay premium prices for wine that sells for $10-$12 a bottle at home!  I just hope this is truly a supply issue and not a price saving idea or a way to clear out an over supply of wines left over from the shutdown.

I would be pretty annoyed if I was given a $9 glass of wine after paying for premium package. I remember on my November 2021 Silhouette cruise my waiter was offering me a red wine that he said was on both packages don't remember the name but I declined and went to the Tuscan restaurant for a nice Italian red. I don't know why a wine would be listed on the Basic and Premium package. 

[terrydtx]

On the Equinox last August, we had a nice list of red wines under the $15 PDP price in Luminae. We told our Sommelier what we liked and she brought us some wines by the glass under $15 that were not on the wine menu. We like Pino Noir in the summer and they had 4 or 5 different ones we enjoyed. One I remember was  Called Cherry Tart Pino Noir and it was very good.

Edited March 29, 2022 by terrydtx

[Texed]

20 hours ago, George C said:

One time in Luminae they were temporarily out of decoy and sommelier had us taste some other wines which we didn’t care for so he gave us caymus for no extra cost 😁

 

A great sommelier.  👍

[drakes2]

10 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

On the Equinox last August, we had a nice list of red wines under the $15 PDP price in Luminae. We told our Sommelier what we liked and she brought us some wines by the glass under $15 that were not on the wine menu. We like Pino Noir in the summer and they had 4 or 5 different ones we enjoyed. One I remember was  Called Cherry Tart Pino Noir and it was very good.

My preference is La Crema pinot the mid to upper end either from Sonoma or Willamette Valley in Oregon but have not seen it on the menu in my last two very recent cruises. 

[terrydtx]

17 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

My preference is La Crema pinot the mid to upper end either from Sonoma or Willamette Valley in Oregon but have not seen it on the menu in my last two very recent cruises. 

We also like La Crema and I do not remember seeing it on the Equinox either. I do not think there were any Oregon Pino's in the PDP or we would have tried one. Oregon is producing some spectacular Pinos but most are also spectacularly priced high. We were in the Willamette Valley last year and shocked at what some wineries want for their better wines.

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Texed said:

 

A great sommelier.  👍

Our Luminae sommelier would bring us wines in the PDP price and open a new bottle and leave it at our table to finish, never was charged for any of the wine. The PDP wines became a never-ending glass of wines. I have no proof that some of the wines she brought were even in the PDG price. We not once had a bad wine with dinner in Luminae. Our sommelier got an extra cash tip envelope at the end of the cruise too.

Edited March 29, 2022 by terrydtx

[zitsky]

4 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We also like La Crema and I do not remember seeing it on the Equinox either. I do not think there were any Oregon Pino's in the PDP or we would have tried one. Oregon is producing some spectacular Pinos but most are also spectacularly priced high. We were in the Willamette Valley last year and shocked at what some wineries want for their better wines.

 

I think it's because wines from the Willamette Valley have become so popular.   Even with all the wineries there is so much demand, they just raise their prices.  You can still find good wine under $20, like Samuel Robert Pinot Noir (Amity, OR) which I can get at my local Total Wine for about $17 or less on sale.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

They did have Cherry Tart on Silhouette.

Edited March 29, 2022 by CHEZMARYLOU

[George C]

4 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Our Luminae sommelier would bring us wines in the PDP price and open a new bottle and leave it at our table to finish, never was charged for any of the wine. The PDP wines became a never-ending glass of wines. I have no proof that some of the wines she brought were even in the PDG price. We not once had a bad wine with dinner in Luminae. Our sommelier got an extra cash tip envelope at the end of the cruise too.

Only time we were no charged a corkage was when we brought a nice bottle to Luminae, after he opened it sommelier asked if he could try it , we told him that was ok and no corkage ( strange on sister line we never are charged corkage rccl)

[terrydtx]

1 minute ago, George C said:

Only time we were no charged a corkage was when we brought a nice bottle to Luminae, after he opened it sommelier asked if he could try it , we told him that was ok and no corkage ( strange on sister line we never are charged corkage rccl)

Isn't the corkage charged when you board with the wine?  This is how HAL handles the charge. With the PDP wines in Luminae we find no reason to bring a bottle of our own or even purchase a bottles anymore.

[George C]

2 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Isn't the corkage charged when you board with the wine?  This is how HAL handles the charge. With the PDP wines in Luminae we find no reason to bring a bottle of our own or even purchase a bottles anymore.

No on celebrity and rccl no corkage when you bring it on , I remember some lines had the charge , remember that you used to be able to bring on unlimited amount of wine, I recall bringing on more than a case on some cruises including hal, not sure if this has changed.

[terrydtx]

15 minutes ago, George C said:

No on celebrity and rccl no corkage when you bring it on , I remember some lines had the charge , remember that you used to be able to bring on unlimited amount of wine, I recall bringing on more than a case on some cruises including hal, not sure if this has changed.

HAL use to allow at least a case which we did several times, you only paid the corkage when you brought a bottle to the MDR. That has changed now only one bottle per person when you embark and pay the corkage when boarding. It had to have changed prior to 2019, the last time we cruised with HAL. The only time HAL waives the corkage is when you bring aboard one bottle per person that was bought from a winery on a shore excursion. We are visiting several wineries on our Oosterdam Greek cruise in August.😁

[mgatc]

On 3/28/2022 at 8:24 AM, ScubaDo said:

I am a Conundrum red fan when on Celebrity.

 

I discovered Conundrum on a Celebrity sailing and became a fan as well! My husband drinks white, and he said the Conundrum White was good as well.

[81Zoomie]

We just noticed on the App, the Lumanae and Murano menus on the Reflection no longer list Caymus (bottle or glass), and Opulence is only available by the glass at lunch. We were on the Millennium in Feb and you could order a glass of Opulence with dinner.  Can anyone who has sailed the Reflection recently comment?   

Edited March 29, 2022 by 81Zoomie

[zitsky]

1 minute ago, 81Zoomie said:

We just noticed on the App, the Lumanae and Murano menus on the Reflection no longer list Caymus (bottle or glass), and Opulence is only available by the glass at lunch. We were on the Millennium in Feb and you could order a glass of Opulence with dinner.  Can anyone who has sailed the Reflection recently comment?   

I believe you but I sure hope this isn’t right.

[81Zoomie]

1 minute ago, zitsky said:

I believe you but I sure hope this isn’t right.

So do we!

 

 

[miched]

Wines vary by ship, cruise and itinerary.    We did a few weeks on the Apex.    Wine that was available during the first week wasn’t on the others,   During the week they would run out of some wine, liquors and beer.    They said it was a supply issue.  Most times what they ran out of didn’t get restocked for the next cruise.  

 

Just try what is available.  
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[happy cruzer]

Also on the Apex a few weeks ago.  Wines by the glass were exactly as listed in the app.  Only once did a sommelier provide anything different.  So they were just the typical wine by the glass types.  Decided in the future to always carry on wine or buy by the bottle; those offered in drink packages are very ordinary.  If you are happy with the ones listed, then you will be happy onboard but to expect any different did not happen for us.  In Eden, only two different reds available....

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, miched said:

Wines vary by ship, cruise and itinerary.    We did a few weeks on the Apex.    Wine that was available during the first week wasn’t on the others,   During the week they would run out of some wine, liquors and beer.    They said it was a supply issue.  Most times what they ran out of didn’t get restocked for the next cruise.  

 

Just try what is available.  
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

I feel like I’ve been in a graduate school lecture.  🙂

 

I’m happy to try what’s available if it’s good quality.  I pay for the premium package to drink better wine.

 

In grad school I shared some good scotch with one classmate and taught another the difference between good and bad.

 

Maybe kind of like a cruise ship?