Regent Voyager included "Fine Wines"

[chaunceyb]

We just returned from a very nice 10 day cruise on the Voyager. Everything was great, especially the very large staterooms.

 

One area that was a bit lacking was the included wines which Regent advertises as "Fine". There were only a couple of decent wines - a very nice St. Francis Chardonnay and a California Pinot Noir from an obscure winery. The other offerings were acceptable grocery shelf wines, but the biggest negative was that they were offering white wines that were way beyond their prime, ie. a 2016 Sebastiani North Coast Chardonnay that was definitely corked and a deep yellow color - sorry but a $12.00 bottle of wine is not one to age gracefully! Also we were given a 2018 Pinot Grigio for our stateroom that was flat.

 

We think that Regent was just trying to unload all of their older bottles of wine as a result of the pandemic shut down - which is a bit shocking from a cruise line that sells itself as a luxury brand.

 

Also, the many "sommeliers" in the Compass Rose did not really seem to know what they were serving.

[FengShui@Sea]

We had the same issue with the Sebastiani Chardonnay (2016) on the Splendor in April.  That they would even pour it really surprised me.  

 

We also found that some bottles of their standard sparkling wine (champagne ?) were corked.  Thinking it was just not to my taste I poured the bottle provided in our suite on embarkation down the sink.  A day or two later another guest was telling the pool bartender that the sparkling wine he just poured her was off.   I assumed they must have had several bad bottles, and let the bartender know.  However, after summing up the courage to try it again later on I found that other bottles of the same wine tasted perfectly fine.

 

[RetiredandTravel]

3 hours ago, chaunceyb said:

We just returned from a very nice 10 day cruise on the Voyager. Everything was great, especially the very large staterooms.

 

One area that was a bit lacking was the included wines which Regent advertises as "Fine". There were only a couple of decent wines - a very nice St. Francis Chardonnay and a California Pinot Noir from an obscure winery. The other offerings were acceptable grocery shelf wines, but the biggest negative was that they were offering white wines that were way beyond their prime, ie. a 2016 Sebastiani North Coast Chardonnay that was definitely corked and a deep yellow color - sorry but a $12.00 bottle of wine is not one to age gracefully! Also we were given a 2018 Pinot Grigio for our stateroom that was flat.

 

We think that Regent was just trying to unload all of their older bottles of wine as a result of the pandemic shut down - which is a bit shocking from a cruise line that sells itself as a luxury brand.

 

Also, the many "sommeliers" in the Compass Rose did not really seem to know what they were serving.

 

 

I don't think Regent is "unloading" their older bottles of wine its just that the complimentary wine list isn't so great.   IMO none of the "luxury" lines included wines are impressive but I'm of the opinion that Regent's included wines maybe be at the bottom.  You are correct in that we can buy them at our local supermarket.  Regent usually has a decent French Burgundy Chardonnay which you have to ask for & we think the best.  Most of the people pouring the wines, although very nice, definitely aren't sommeliers they just pour the wine.  There is a qualified (maybe one per venue?) sommelier that is very knowledgeable and can help you.  Here is a recent Regent complimentary list.

 

, 

 

[chaunceyb]

15 hours ago, FengShui@Sea said:

We had the same issue with the Sebastiani Chardonnay (2016) on the Splendor in April.  That they would even pour it really surprised me.  

 

We also found that some bottles of their standard sparkling wine (champagne ?) were corked.  Thinking it was just not to my taste I poured the bottle provided in our suite on embarkation down the sink.  A day or two later another guest was telling the pool bartender that the sparkling wine he just poured her was off.   I assumed they must have had several bad bottles, and let the bartender know.  However, after summing up the courage to try it again later on I found that other bottles of the same wine tasted perfectly fine.

 

Again most everything about the Voyager was wonderful but they need to up their game in the included "Fine Wines" department. Our only conclusion is that some of these older wines were held over from pre-pandemic, but would hate to think they were "unloading" them on us!

[chaunceyb]

11 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

 

I don't think Regent is "unloading" their older bottles of wine its just that the complimentary wine list isn't so great.   IMO none of the "luxury" lines included wines are impressive but I'm of the opinion that Regent's included wines maybe be at the bottom.  You are correct in that we can buy them at our local supermarket.  Regent usually has a decent French Burgundy Chardonnay which you have to ask for & we think the best.  Most of the people pouring the wines, although very nice, definitely aren't sommeliers they just pour the wine.  There is a qualified (maybe one per venue?) sommelier that is very knowledgeable and can help you.  Here is a recent Regent complimentary list.

 

, Thanks!

 

 

[lincslady]

As someone who has cruised Regent, Silversea and Seabourn in recent years, all of whom I believe advertise their 'fine wines' included - none of them live up to this claim; all are providing essentially fairly standard supermarket type wines, at around £6 to £8 UK a bottle.  It is strange, as they all provide fairly high end spirits.  

 

I find it annoying, but you just have to get used to it or pay extra.

[Sunprince]

On the Mariner in April, we had the same problem with a few bad bottles of wine that were corked.  It’s not that they were “old” but we were told they had not been stored properly during the pandemic. This is why the crew always insisted that you taste any new bottle opened before they poured the wine.  

[RetiredandTravel]

6 hours ago, lincslady said:

As someone who has cruised Regent, Silversea and Seabourn in recent years, all of whom I believe advertise their 'fine wines' included - none of them live up to this claim; all are providing essentially fairly standard supermarket type wines, at around £6 to £8 UK a bottle.  It is strange, as they all provide fairly high end spirits.  

 

I find it annoying, but you just have to get used to it or pay extra.

 

 

We're fine with the white wines at lunch or afternoon cocktail, the real shortcoming for us is at dinner.  You are correct you can have an $10 wine or buy one for at least $70.  We would gladly pay extra for the cruise if dinner included some wines in the $30-40 range.   I know its so "mass market" but at least have a wine package that can be purchased for dinner where they serve better wines.  On our last cruise IMO the best red was the  Raymond "R" Cabernet, it was on sale at Costco last week for $7.50, just not acceptable.  At this point we've come to the conclusion that we should just budget buying wines for dinner, the list is quite reasonable.

 

 

[ChatKat in Ca.]

If you bring your own wine to the dining room is there a corkage fee now?

I may have to bring a case of wine to the port. 

[Eno-Bob]

There is no corkage fee in the Regent dining rooms — you can bring as much as you would like.  The Connoisseurs Wine list has some very good wines at reasonable prices, reasonable being defined as high end retail prices and not the usual restaurant markup.  

[Gpilon]

5 hours ago, Eno-Bob said:

There is no corkage fee in the Regent dining rooms — you can bring as much as you would like.  The Connoisseurs Wine list has some very good wines at reasonable prices, reasonable being defined as high end retail prices and not the usual restaurant markup.  

Agree....on our Splendor cruise in May we ordered off the Connoisseurs list every evening and found those to be reasonably priced.

 

[UUNetBill]

We used to use any OBC we had for laundry and maybe an excursion upgrade or two...but now that laundry is included, OBC goes for wine tastings or wine upgrades.

 

We can usually find some 'pleasant' wines in the included selections, but I feel that the overall quality of included wines has slipped a bit since we started sailing with Regent (2009).  I agree that I'd rather see the cruise fare climb a few hundred dollars and have better included wines, and that's saying a lot as I'm usually more of a scotch/bourbon drinker.

 

Maybe after things equalize a bit more post-pandemic?

 

PS - I'm not a fan of offering a 'wine package' - one of the things we love about Regent is not having to scan keycards or sign for things on board - the thought of having to somehow identify myself every time I wanted a better glass of wine kind of makes me cringe.  Just bump the fare and give us better wines...

[2012_Alaska_bound]

@UUNetBill

 

Absolutely agree with your post above! One of the reasons I sail with Regent is because I only need my keycard to get into my room and onto the ship in port!

Sincerely hope we sail together someday!

Martha