Deluxe Beverage Package worth it for quality, fine wines?

[LB_NJ]

I was on Anthem and did not think they had really good wines by the glass.  If you really want good wine bring your own bottles.

[Sms1973]

1 hour ago, renji said:

I just want to truly thank you and everyone for the very helpful responses and not judging my wine tastes 😬. I am going to do refreshments rather than beverage, bring 8 fabulous wines as I’m driving, and not worry about the possible $15 charge given the alternative markup (which is probably higher than the 20% discount). When I’m not charged the corkage fee I add it as part of an additional gratuity anyway so I’m paying it to the cruise line or the staff either way, although I prefer the latter 🙂. We will save $700 and I’ll put that to an occasional beer and supplemental wine if I find a great glass or bottle on board.  And this will encourage me to wait for my wine and avoid drinking all day! Thank you, this site and the posters generous with your advice to newbies are just wonderful. 

I’m just accepting that the wine will be ok, and to be honest after a day of beach and fruity drinks, my pallet will be shot anyway.  Still can’t do the cheap stuff, but the nicer by the glass should be fine at that point. I’m traveling with a party crew that isn’t into wine, so it won’t bother me.

 

were I in your shoes, remember that you can bring 2 bottle per room, so use all your groups allowances and then just squirrel the good stuff away for yourself!

[Sms1973]

@renji also, do head up to vintages early on and make friends with the bartender.  Ask if they have any special tastings lined up for the week.  When we did Symphony, there were 2-3, and they were Caymus or Nickel and Nickel level wines.  They were worth the time, especially when you get vineyard-specific same vintage side by side.

 

but don’t expect an Opus vertical. 🤣

[George C]

Your not getting fine wines in my opinion with drink package, you are getting decent wines like decoy Cabernet. You do get anything up to the limit which is 13 or maybe 15 a glass anything over that you just pay the difference. On our last cruise on a sister ship we had the UDP which gives you 40 percent off wines under 100 and 20 percent of wines over 100, there were several nice wines just under a hundred so we were happy, different bars and specialty restaurants have different wine lists , I thought Giovanni’s had the best wine selection by the bottle. We always bring on two good bottles of wine like stags leap or Silverado.

[DrDani226]

I find that there are very limited wines for $13 and under per glass, and many you cannot get by the glass. That being said, with the beverage package you can just pay the difference (the difference for anything above $12 or $13, depending on ship), and you get a discount on bottles if I’m remembering correctly. 

[binro01]

Just so you know, a "good" bottle of wine from your local store that would cost 40.00 for the bottle will be around 120.00-160.00 on board if it's on the list. (take a look at any of the menus you can find on the internet) so that 20% discount on a bottle > $100.00 is really no discount at all.

 

The pricing for alcohol is crazy to begin with. I just do any drinking when in port (if any). I refuse to be fleeced. It's not that important to me.

 

If I can score a decent price on the DBP, I will grab it. But I need to feel like it's reasonable. 

[publicpersona]

Early on in our cruising days, I tried to convince myself that the La Terre(ible) that they offered in the Concierge Lounge and Captain’s reception was fine wine. Just couldn’t do it. 

Edited April 25, 2022 by publicpersona

[baelor]

11 minutes ago, binro01 said:

If I can score a decent price on the DBP, I will grab it. But I need to feel like it's reasonable. 

Out of curiosity, what do you find reasonable?  I bought the DBP for my first ever cruise in August, and it was $73 per day (not including gratuity).  But since cocktails are $13 and I can easily drink 6 or more a day (plus other included beverages like fresh juice), I will come out ahead.  My friend, however, found the price outrageous and is planning to try to smuggle hard liquor in wine bottles (shhh!).

 

Do you decide mainly based on how many drinks you drink or based on some hard ceiling of price you are willing to pay?

[Sms1973]

2 hours ago, binro01 said:

Just so you know, a "good" bottle of wine from your local store that would cost 40.00 for the bottle will be around 120.00-160.00 on board if it's on the list. (take a look at any of the menus you can find on the internet) so that 20% discount on a bottle > $100.00 is really no discount at all.

 

The pricing for alcohol is crazy to begin with. I just do any drinking when in port (if any). I refuse to be fleeced. It's not that important to me.

 

If I can score a decent price on the DBP, I will grab it. But I need to feel like it's reasonable. 

That’s not entirely accurate.. the decent wines on the ship seem to be at a 1.5 markup over retail, which isn’t bad.  Take the Belle Glos Las Aluras.  Decent bottle, widely available, $50 at total wine by us, $80 on the boat. Opus, $368 on the boat, $350 most anywhere else, Dickhorn Merlot (not the recent Three pals, wine of the year, but the Napa, 54 in the store, 91 on the boat. (Not my thing, the Opus, but easy to compare).  
 

actually, now that I’ve spent a little time with it, I think I see the pricing game, they don’t do a markup, per se, but it seems like they have a certain dollar amount per bottle, regardless of the price point.  The $13 bottle have outragrpeous markup, with the 50 dollar bottles see 50-70% added on, and that Opus was pretty much where retail has it.

 

that was a fun investigation, thanks for challenging that.

 

 

[renji]

53 minutes ago, Sms1973 said:

That’s not entirely accurate.. the decent wines on the ship seem to be at a 1.5 markup over retail, which isn’t bad.  Take the Belle Glos Las Aluras.  Decent bottle, widely available, $50 at total wine by us, $80 on the boat. Opus, $368 on the boat, $350 most anywhere else, Dickhorn Merlot (not the recent Three pals, wine of the year, but the Napa, 54 in the store, 91 on the boat. (Not my thing, the Opus, but easy to compare).  
 

actually, now that I’ve spent a little time with it, I think I see the pricing game, they don’t do a markup, per se, but it seems like they have a certain dollar amount per bottle, regardless of the price point.  The $13 bottle have outragrpeous markup, with the 50 dollar bottles see 50-70% added on, and that Opus was pretty much where retail has it.

 

that was a fun investigation, thanks for challenging that.

 

 

The problem is that they sell the basic for the store price of the reserve, and don’t have many on the higher end.  For example, there’s a ($50-60 store price) Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Bolgheri for $125 on the Vintages list.  I would rather bring the $60 wine and one $180 Superiore on board for $240–less than the cost of 2 of what they are selling 🙂. 

[binro01]

3 hours ago, baelor said:

Do you decide mainly based on how many drinks you drink or based on some hard ceiling of price you are willing to pay?

It’s a hard ceiling. I look for low 60s.

[renji]

4 minutes ago, binro01 said:

It’s a hard ceiling. I look for low 60s.

I might do it for that too. It’s $73 on my 7 day and that’s a $50 spread above refreshments…

[Guest TopoChico]

I’m a certified sommelier by trade. My recent sailing on the Explorer definitely did not have an adequate supply of fine wines that I would consider worthy of the extra expenditure for a beverage package.  However, that being said, I was able to switch gears and had quite a nice time experimenting with martinis and other beverages that more than made up for it.
 

 

[Sms1973]

11 minutes ago, TopoChico said:

I’m a certified sommelier by trade. My recent sailing on the Explorer definitely did not have an adequate supply of fine wines that I would consider worthy of the extra expenditure for a beverage package.  However, that being said, I was able to switch gears and had quite a nice time experimenting with martinis and other beverages that more than made up for it.
 

 

Yeah, you’re not going to find anything inspiring on the ship list… all mass market stuff, no boutiques.  But I’m sure you’ve learned by now that sometimes you need to grin an bear an uninteresting glass…

 

curious do you have a region or style  you gravitate towards?

[Guest TopoChico]

10 hours ago, Sms1973 said:

Yeah, you’re not going to find anything inspiring on the ship list… all mass market stuff, no boutiques.  But I’m sure you’ve learned by now that sometimes you need to grin an bear an uninteresting glass…

 

curious do you have a region or style  you gravitate towards?

This is the third time I’ve attempted to post this…😡 so I will shorten it and say that (almost) any wine can be made interesting if the right food joins the party.

l have an unwavering long-term love affair going with dry bubbles and salty potato chips.  We brought a giant bag of chips and two of the best bottles of bubbly we could find in Old San Juan on board.  The second bottle we had with extra crispy room service french fries topped with some chicken salt that I brought. They were hands-down the two best meals we had on the ship. 

Edited April 26, 2022 by TopoChico

[coaster]

Not sure if it is fleetwide, but Vintages on Serenade serves wine and everything else now.  I enjoyed not  having to get just wine there myself as Radiance class does not have the variety of bars as newer ships.

 

Looking forward to Vintages next week on Allure though. The tapas menu there is very extensive. Hope they still have it. Have not seen any posts lately about it.

Edited April 26, 2022 by coaster

[Guest TopoChico]

15 hours ago, baelor said:

Out of curiosity, what do you find reasonable?  I bought the DBP for my first ever cruise in August, and it was $73 per day (not including gratuity).  But since cocktails are $13 and I can easily drink 6 or more a day (plus other included beverages like fresh juice), I will come out ahead.  My friend, however, found the price outrageous and is planning to try to smuggle hard liquor in wine bottles (shhh!).

 

Do you decide mainly based on how many drinks you drink or based on some hard ceiling of price you are willing to pay?

Amazon has products specifically for this purpose. But unless you’re into running back to the cabin all the time to mix something up, or carrying a thermos and cups around, and  sneaking mixers on board too, it’s not worth the trouble. We went with neighbors who did it and it got ridiculous after awhile. They ended up buying the package three days in anyway. 

[not-enough-cruising]

7 minutes ago, TopoChico said:

Amazon has products specifically for this purpose. But unless you’re into running back to the cabin all the time to mix something up, or carrying a thermos and cups around, and  sneaking mixers on board too, it’s not worth the trouble. We went with neighbors who did it and it got ridiculous after awhile. They ended up buying the package three days in anyway. 

On the flip-side, its nice to have a couple cocktails on the balcony while my better half gets ready for dinner, and having supplies handy in the room is much more convenient than running to the bar.

[baelor]

1 hour ago, TopoChico said:

Amazon has products specifically for this purpose. But unless you’re into running back to the cabin all the time to mix something up, or carrying a thermos and cups around, and  sneaking mixers on board too, it’s not worth the trouble. We went with neighbors who did it and it got ridiculous after awhile. They ended up buying the package three days in anyway. 

He may carry a thermos/cup around or something.  He got the refreshment package, so I think the idea is to spike the mocktails or mixers or whatever.

[vjmatty]

1 hour ago, TopoChico said:

Amazon has products specifically for this purpose. But unless you’re into running back to the cabin all the time to mix something up, or carrying a thermos and cups around, and  sneaking mixers on board too, it’s not worth the trouble. We went with neighbors who did it and it got ridiculous after awhile. They ended up buying the package three days in anyway. 

 

Why would you need to sneak mixers on board? I thought you can bring sodas and other non-alcoholic drinks.

[Guest TopoChico]

22 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

 

Why would you need to sneak mixers on board? I thought you can bring sodas and other non-alcoholic drinks.

That’s true.
I was more thinking olives, vermouths, bitters, mint, lime juice, cherries, Campari, a shaker, etc, which is why I wouldn’t sneak booze on because I’d need my bar cart too. 
 

[vjmatty]

11 minutes ago, TopoChico said:

That’s true.
I was more thinking olives, vermouths, bitters, mint, lime juice, cherries, Campari, a shaker, etc, which is why I wouldn’t sneak booze on because I’d need my bar cart too. 
 

 

Yes I should have thought of this, having bartended all through law school 😉

[LB_NJ]

If you want a point of reference I was on Anthem and bought a glass of California Cab. that listed for $15 (had a 50% of deal so paid less).  I checked and the normal retail for the bottle at a US liquor store was around $14.

[Cometman]

I am a sommelier, and usually get the drink package. I was on the Mariner of the Sea a few months ago and not real impressed with the wine list.

There were also a lot of inconsistencies with what wines were available by the glass and where. For example a wine I could get on the package by the glass in the casino was available, but in the dining room the same wine was on the list but NOT available by the glass, only per bottle. That made no sense to me. I inquired and was told that's just the way it is.

[neverlaysup]

There are no fine wines on the beverage package. All wines served by the glass that are included are less than $30 dollar bottles of wine. If you want fine wine, bring 2 bottles with you from home and enjoy at dinner. Even the discount you get buying expensive bottles is not worth it.