Current Lists of Wine on Board (2022/23)

[Grandma Cruising]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

Thanks, do they actually have all these wines onboard.  That looks like the list they circulated in July but then did not actually have some of the wines onboard.  It looks a much more extensive list than Onward

In a group of 10 of us, so far the Merlot was not available, but everything else we’ve asked for was available.

[Grandma Cruising]

56 minutes ago, Riocca said:

My take on this for what it’s worth is that the Ultimate Package is more about spirits than wine. Especially with the Atlas cocktails at $17.95 and specialty cocktails at $14.95 the $23.95, discounted substantially with loyalty, looks extremely reasonable. The wines by the glass and beer selection are really just an addition, if wine is your thing then the wine packages probably provide better value. 
We upgrade because of our spirits preferences and take the wine by the glass as a bonus.

I think I’d agree with you. If it’s better wines you want, then it’s probably better to buy a wine package. Certainly we have enjoyed the cocktails and the sprits. It’s interesting that on Quest each bar has a different list of special cocktails. I’m trying as many of the gin & vodka based ones as I can - all very nice so far.

[uktog]

13 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

 It’s interesting that on Quest each bar has a different list of special cocktails. I’m trying as many of the gin & vodka based ones as I can - all very nice so far.

They had that feature on Journey as well and I really enjoyed it together with the special menu in the Den where what I call the faffing offerings (smoke etc) were offered.  This variety really neatly combined socialising at different venues with enjoying a range of cocktails without impacting on the choices of the non cocktail drinkers.  I am not sure if the Den in Quest has the ex Atlas menu but if it does, I thoroughly recommend the smoked Negroni is you are a white spirit drinker.  Although it is a little sweet Hearts of Azamara is also lovely

[kool kruiser]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

They had that feature on Journey as well and I really enjoyed it together with the special menu in the Den where what I call the faffing offerings (smoke etc) were offered.  This variety really neatly combined socialising at different venues with enjoying a range of cocktails without impacting on the choices of the non cocktail drinkers.  I am not sure if the Den in Quest has the ex Atlas menu but if it does, I thoroughly recommend the smoked Negroni is you are a white spirit drinker.  Although it is a little sweet Hearts of Azamara is also lovely

Hearts of Azamara is an Atlas bar offering on Onward, so I suspect this is the case. Onward also had several special cocktails in every bar.

[uktog]

5 minutes ago, kool kruiser said:

Hearts of Azamara is an Atlas bar offering on Onward, so I suspect this is the case. Onward also had several special cocktails in every bar.

Yes I knew it was from the Atlas Bar menu which they are testing in the Den on Journey.  

 

The other special cocktails on Onward are they Ultimate Package priced or just the included or Premium Package ones?  If they are of the "specials" calibre on Journey (ie those that were Ultimate Package but not from the Atlas Bar) that will be our ideal compromise on Onward as we prefer live music in the background pre dinner and post dinner tend to stay on Deck 5 or the Living Room so was struggling to work out how I would get "special cocktails" other than in the Atlas Bar whilst others would want music or disco.  We might have a solution!!!

[federalexpress]

5 hours ago, Riocca said:

My take on this for what it’s worth is that the Ultimate Package is more about spirits than wine. Especially with the Atlas cocktails at $17.95 and specialty cocktails at $14.95 the $23.95, discounted substantially with loyalty, looks extremely reasonable. The wines by the glass and beer selection are really just an addition, if wine is your thing then the wine packages probably provide better value. 
We upgrade because of our spirits preferences and take the wine by the glass as a bonus.

I agree and have a feeling that I am therefore likely  in a minority versus a majority of cocktail and/or spirit drinkers. Maybe that's why they do what they do on wine, too few notice much so they can get away with it. Shame really because I'd prefer a drinks package that included decent wine because a) I prefer the concept of fully inclusive and b) I want to buy a package that includes ultimate but has no allowance for bottle packages.

 

Oh well, I'm sure I'll still enjoy my cruise and I'll bring on at least one decent red to pay corkage on. Seems daft/unnecessary to me to go that way, and it will obviously cost more, but I guess that's life.

[luv2travel90266]

Can anyone on board please possibly provide a copy of the "by the bottle" wine list with prices (at least a few pages of the cabs & pinots)? With that info it would help in deciding whether to purchase a multi-bottle wine package or bring bottles onboard and pay corkage.

 

As a second question I don't know the turnover of the premium by the bottle wines and how they have been stored onboard . Can anyone please post their experiences?

 

If corkage is still  $10 on my next sailing in March bringing six bottles on at a time might be the way to go. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

My experience when you get the Connoisseurs Wine Package is that the entire stock of wine is made available to you — far beyond even the ‘by the bottle’ list.  And at the end of the first meal, they have a gizmo that sucks out the air from the bottle so it will stay fresh until you finish it. 

[laurieb]

5 hours ago, federalexpress said:

I agree and have a feeling that I am therefore likely  in a minority versus a majority of cocktail and/or spirit drinkers. Maybe that's why they do what they do on wine, too few notice much so they can get away with it. Shame really because I'd prefer a drinks package that included decent wine because a) I prefer the concept of fully inclusive and b) I want to buy a package that includes ultimate but has no allowance for bottle packages.

 

Oh well, I'm sure I'll still enjoy my cruise and I'll bring on at least one decent red to pay corkage on. Seems daft/unnecessary to me to go that way, and it will obviously cost more, but I guess that's life.

We typically bring a case onboard, or buy in port and bring on.  This way we know that we’ll have the caliber of wine for dinner that we prefer.  

[takemewithyou]

24 minutes ago, laurieb said:

We typically bring a case onboard, or buy in port and bring on.  This way we know that we’ll have the caliber of wine for dinner that we prefer.  

Do you bring it onboard yourselves ?  Or just tag it and send it along with your luggage?

[Riocca]

12 hours ago, uktog said:

Yes I knew it was from the Atlas Bar menu which they are testing in the Den on Journey.  

 

The other special cocktails on Onward are they Ultimate Package priced or just the included or Premium Package ones?  If they are of the "specials" calibre on Journey (ie those that were Ultimate Package but not from the Atlas Bar) that will be our ideal compromise on Onward as we prefer live music in the background pre dinner and post dinner tend to stay on Deck 5 or the Living Room so was struggling to work out how I would get "special cocktails" other than in the Atlas Bar whilst others would want music or disco.  We might have a solution!!!

Yes there’s a Special Cocktail menu in each bar venue onboard Onward and included in the Ultimate Package, looks the same as was available on Quest in September. Cost at $14.95 is the same, of course the Atlas drinks are only available in the Atlas Bar and there’s no Sunset Bar.

Have to say most nights pre dinner the Atlas bar has been very busy, there’s a much higher proportion of passengers with the Ultimate Package than there was on Quest but this may be due to the fact it’s a shorter cruise and there was generous OBC available at one time.

[kool kruiser]

18 hours ago, uktog said:

Yes I knew it was from the Atlas Bar menu which they are testing in the Den on Journey.  

 

The other special cocktails on Onward are they Ultimate Package priced or just the included or Premium Package ones?  If they are of the "specials" calibre on Journey (ie those that were Ultimate Package but not from the Atlas Bar) that will be our ideal compromise on Onward as we prefer live music in the background pre dinner and post dinner tend to stay on Deck 5 or the Living Room so was struggling to work out how I would get "special cocktails" other than in the Atlas Bar whilst others would want music or disco.  We might have a solution!!!

I can confirm all that Riocca says. We too tend to be in the Den after the show. I fully understand your comments regarding live music. We tried the Atlas bar as an experiment on our first night on our recent cruise. We were blown away by the superiority of everything in that venue and this became our venue pre-dinner for the remainder of the cruise. Why not do likewise and give it one try ? 

I also generally had the Den cocktails only available without charge to those on the ultimate package. The bar menus throughout the ship are very clear as to what packages are needed for each drink to be ordered without charge

[uktog]

11 minutes ago, kool kruiser said:

I can confirm all that Riocca says. We too tend to be in the Den after the show. I fully understand your comments regarding live music. We tried the Atlas bar as an experiment on our first night on our recent cruise. We were blown away by the superiority of everything in that venue and this became our venue pre-dinner for the remainder of the cruise. Why not do likewise and give it one try ? 

I also generally had the Den cocktails only available without charge to those on the ultimate package. The bar menus throughout the ship are very clear as to what packages are needed for each drink to be ordered without charge

That is indeed our plan we will certainly give it a try and see if it fits both the ambience of what we are looking for and also if the selection of non cocktails works.  I think our issue might be that one of use will have a package and the other might not as we realised on our last trip how little value one of us got from the package.  

Funnily enough for us it will be the availability and quality of wines that will determine if we have one or two packages and that will then I think determine where we drink each night.  On night 1 we will go without a package as we often do as we gauge things and then make our decisions on Day 2.

[Laganlady02]

2 hours ago, uktog said:

That is indeed our plan we will certainly give it a try and see if it fits both the ambience of what we are looking for and also if the selection of non cocktails works.  I think our issue might be that one of use will have a package and the other might not as we realised on our last trip how little value one of us got from the package.  

Funnily enough for us it will be the availability and quality of wines that will determine if we have one or two packages and that will then I think determine where we drink each night.  On night 1 we will go without a package as we often do as we gauge things and then make our decisions on Day 2.

The person who does not have the ultimate package can pay for their drink in the Atlas Bar as they do in any of the bars. No included drinks are served in the Atlas Bar.

[uktog]

4 minutes ago, Laganlady02 said:

The person who does not have the ultimate package can pay for their drink in the Atlas Bar as they do in any of the bars. No included drinks are served in the Atlas Bar.

Yes I was aware of that and that is the issue - they would probably drink the included drinks only and would feel it was a waste to buy an uncharged version just to be in another venue.  Thats why the fact that there are some additional offerings across all the ship is possibly a great compromise for us.  I understand the concept whether it works on a personal level we will go and see.

Edited November 4, 2022 by uktog

[lisiamc]

1 hour ago, Laganlady02 said:

The person who does not have the ultimate package can pay for their drink in the Atlas Bar as they do in any of the bars. No included drinks are served in the Atlas Bar.

Although I will say that they serve nice variations of the included drinks in the Atlas bar. I like champagne, G&T, Bourbon, or Canadian Whisky. I can’t drink the fancy signature cocktails, but they will pour me a lovely Hendricks and tonic.

[uktog]

48 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

Although I will say that they serve nice variations of the included drinks in the Atlas bar. I like champagne, G&T, Bourbon, or Canadian Whisky. I can’t drink the fancy signature cocktails, but they will pour me a lovely Hendricks and tonic.

Its the lager drinker that is the challenge

[lisiamc]

51 minutes ago, uktog said:

Its the lager drinker that is the challenge

Yes, that will be a challenge, I think. I don’t remember seeing anything beer-like in the Atlas Bar, but I’m not a beer drinker, so I didn’t look for it, either. There’s no beer on the Ultimate package, is there?

Edited November 4, 2022 by lisiamc

[uktog]

38 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

Yes, that will be a challenge, I think. I don’t remember seeing anything beer-like in the Atlas Bar, but I’m not a beer drinker, so I didn’t look for it, either. There’s no beer on the Ultimate package, is there?

No I think the upgraded lagers are coming via the premium package which of course ultimate gets

[Laganlady02]

18 hours ago, lisiamc said:

Although I will say that they serve nice variations of the included drinks in the Atlas bar. I like champagne, G&T, Bourbon, or Canadian Whisky. I can’t drink the fancy signature cocktails, but they will pour me a lovely Hendricks and tonic.

Yes the drinks in the Ultimate package.

[tonyl1956]

This has been a very enlightening thread over the last couple of days, one which is likely to cost me money. In the past (not cruised since late 2019), we've been OK with the included drinks but it would appear that the wines have gone downhill and cocktails made with included spirits never quite seemed to cut it for me. OK thinks I, I'll still manage, having a beer at lunchtime and a G&T before dinner. Now there's the carrot of enhanced cocktails being dangled in front of me, so I will be very tempted to go down the Ultimate route if that's what they are doing on Quest in January when we get there. Add to that the fact that I do like a glass of port with cheese and biscuits and I've virtually persuaded myself that it's actually decent value for money, certainly for me. The only off-putting bit will be producing a cabin card with every order - thought we'd moved beyond that!

[uktog]

11 minutes ago, tonyl1956 said:

The only off-putting bit will be producing a cabin card with every order - thought we'd moved beyond that!

Honestly after a day or so, never needed to show the card.  You can also "validate" yourself as a package holder by giving them your room number

[Grandma Cruising]

23 minutes ago, uktog said:

Honestly after a day or so, never needed to show the card.  You can also "validate" yourself as a package holder by giving them your room number

Yes, they tend to ask for stateroom number more.

[lisiamc]

15 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Yes, they tend to ask for stateroom number more.

I can only guess what it says about us that after a day or two, our favourite waiters and bartenders only smile and gently refuse when asked if they need our cards or cabin number! 😄

[norn iron]

On 11/3/2022 at 11:34 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

My experience when you get the Connoisseurs Wine Package is that the entire stock of wine is made available to you — far beyond even the ‘by the bottle’ list.  And at the end of the first meal, they have a gizmo that sucks out the air from the bottle so it will stay fresh until you finish it. 

I’ve never had a bottle that wasn’t finished!