Princess Plus wines

[pppatpc2]

Last time we were on a ship in August, they were going through growing pains with the Plus vs. Premiere packages and what wines were available.  I know that generic varietals were listed on the menu and each bar had different offerings for each type depending on availability.  We had to search but eventually found decent brands, Ferrari Carrano, Ancient Peaks Renegade, etc.

 

Can any of you wine drinkers on board report back on what you are getting these days on the Plus package? 

[memoak]

Decent but not great. The Pinot Grigio is drinkable but most of the reds are extremely mediocre in my opinion

[loge23]

If you have some onboard credits or extra cash you may want to just upgrade your drink to the Premier level and pay the difference. You pay the difference (usually a few dollars, plus tip) from the $12 allowance. That is, of course, if the ship has better wines in stock which unfortunately isn't a sure thing these days.  

[CineGraphic]

If quality is important to you, you're better off bringing your own wines.

The shortage of wine on board is Princess' fault. There is no shortage of wine on land.

[Arizona Wildcat]

2 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

If quality is important to you, you're better off bringing your own wines.

The shortage of wine on board is Princess' fault. There is no shortage of wine on land.

Am in the wholesale wine trade.  The problem for Princess obtaining better wines is a very difficult distribution system.  They cannot simply buy from the winery or a wholesaler, but must buy from  wholesalers where they will take delivery.  Thus Florida has different suppliers in Miami vs Tampa and NJ/NY again different.   As for overseas, the winery must sell to an importer who then in turn sells to the cruiselines. 

Production is down due to both weather and a shortage of pickers.  Lots of good to great wine being machine harvested and  being packaged by "Chateau Cardboard " aka Black or Bota Box.

Thus if you are say a Napa vineyard that has 10K cases of a $20 wholesale CabSav would you rather sell it to some 30 wholesalers and importers OR simply sell it to Total Wine or Kroger who have set up their own wholesaler?

[pppatpc2]

We have no interest in the Premiere package, since they are not stocking the upscale wines anyway.  I do understand about the distribution system.  Crown princess was just in drydock in Oregon, conveniently located to several outstanding wine regions and our cruise will be leaving out of LA, again

wine central.  I do not need a Stag's Leap Napa, I am hopeful for some decent mass produced pours. 

 

Also, it was heartbreaking on the last cruise that the bartenders were not using the vacuum sealers properly and when you could find a good bottle on the Plus package at one of the bars that was not traditionally used by wine drinkers, the bottle was spoiled.  There were four very good bottles all spoiled at the indoor pool bar on the Island. 

[CineGraphic]

20 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Am in the wholesale wine trade.  The problem for Princess obtaining better wines is a very difficult distribution system. 

 

I was in the wholesale biz in Miami/Palm Beach in the 80s. I know the game.

There is plenty of wine to be had. Especially in the "plonk" price range known as "Princess Plus". 

Princess is either not working hard enough to secure it, or they don't have the money to buy it.

[c-boy]

30 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Am in the wholesale wine trade.  The problem for Princess obtaining better wines is a very difficult distribution system.  They cannot simply buy from the winery or a wholesaler, but must buy from  wholesalers where they will take delivery.  Thus Florida has different suppliers in Miami vs Tampa and NJ/NY again different.   As for overseas, the winery must sell to an importer who then in turn sells to the cruiselines. 

Production is down due to both weather and a shortage of pickers.  Lots of good to great wine being machine harvested and  being packaged by "Chateau Cardboard " aka Black or Bota Box.

Thus if you are say a Napa vineyard that has 10K cases of a $20 wholesale CabSav would you rather sell it to some 30 wholesalers and importers OR simply sell it to Total Wine or Kroger who have set up their own wholesaler?

 and shortage of supplies, I actually gave a passing thought of going to a bib packaging. 

[pppatpc2]

I understand shortages, distribution issues, corporations trying to squeeze a buck, all I’m asking is, is there someone on board a ship that can report what wine brands they are pouring on the Plus package currently.  Thanks.

[dreaminofcruisin]

4 hours ago, pppatpc2 said:

I understand shortages, distribution issues, corporations trying to squeeze a buck, all I’m asking is, is there someone on board a ship that can report what wine brands they are pouring on the Plus package currently.  Thanks.

 

This thread might help:

 

[symui]

On 10/17/2022 at 10:50 AM, pppatpc2 said:

I understand shortages, distribution issues, corporations trying to squeeze a buck, all I’m asking is, is there someone on board a ship that can report what wine brands they are pouring on the Plus package currently.  Thanks.

 

I was on the Ruby from 9/17 to 9/23 and the only decent red <$12 was the Decoy Merlot.  Most bars had it but not all.   I'm on the Royal on 10/30 and sure hope they have Decoy Merlot as it was my goto Red. I'll bring two bottles of decent wine - just in case. 

 

I did't try the white wines but didn't meet anyone who was happy with the selection under $12 but maybe some white wine drinkers can chime in.

[Thrak]

We don't have sophisticated wine palates. On our most recent cruise in May (which was also our first cruise since the shutdown) we ended up drinking Meiomi Pinot Noir. We found it acceptable and it fit within the limits of Princess Plus pricing. We used to drink Spellbound Petite Sirah but Princess stopped offering it by the glass. On our last cruise before the shutdown we did find it by the bottle in MDR and it was overwhelmingly chosen by the room as the top wine for the (free to Elite) wine tasting.

 

I'm sure some here would sneer at these wines but they are fine for our plebeian tastes.

[MamaFej]

18 minutes ago, Thrak said:

We don't have sophisticated wine palates. On our most recent cruise in May (which was also our first cruise since the shutdown) we ended up drinking Meiomi Pinot Noir. We found it acceptable and it fit within the limits of Princess Plus pricing. We used to drink Spellbound Petite Sirah but Princess stopped offering it by the glass. On our last cruise before the shutdown we did find it by the bottle in MDR and it was overwhelmingly chosen by the room as the top wine for the (free to Elite) wine tasting.

 

I'm sure some here would sneer at these wines but they are fine for our plebeian tastes.

Count me among the plebes. I rather enjoy the Meiomi Pinot Noir. 

[san diego spartan]

I was on the Discovery princess in mid September Seattle to vancouver. I am a Wine Drinker and I found the selection extremely disappointing so much so that I would be hesitant to take another Princess Cruise. I have taken one other Cruise during the pandemic on Holland America and I found their wine to be acceptable. I mainly prefer white wines and prefer sauvignon blanc which they only had a Chilean wine which sometimes is okay but theirs was just really mediocre to less than mediocre. I'm not a Chardonnay fan. We did try some red wines and there were a couple that were decent but some that were not. Overall I was very disappointed. When I asked about the premium wine selection as I was certainly willing to pay the upgrade difference I was told they were pretty much out of everything that they had on the list. I don't know if this was because it was the end of the Alaskan season and so the ship was repositioning to Los Angeles to do the Mexican riviera. Not sure but I was very disappointed.

[JimmyVWine]

Recently off Regal. We had the Plus Package but used OBC to pay for the overage. Between the three of us in our group, we ordered one Plus wine, (a Rose that was printed by name on a list.)  Almost all of the other Plus wines were sold as generic blind guesses and we don't play that game.  But we found plenty of good wines in the $14-$16 range, so our total bill at the end of the trip (paid for by OBC) was modest.  Bottom line is that there really has not been any improvement over what the OP reported in the opening post, but circumventing generic wines is easy and not all that costly.  And almost all liquor-based drinks fall within the Plus Package limits.  There were some premium liquors that we wanted to audition to see of they should find space on our home bar, so we splurged now and again on sipping alcohols (mostly Scotch, Rum and Gin) and those came in around $18.  But we could easily have avoided those surcharges had we wanted to.  But I figured the extra $6 was worth the cost to see if a $70 bottle would be worth buying.

 

Full Trip Report to come once I get my photos downloaded.  But those are my initial thoughts on the Plus Package.  

[pppatpc2]

Thank you to all for this.  I would be happy with Decoy merlot or Meiomi Pinot.  I have never been a fan of Spellbound Petite Syrah, although Petite Syrah is my favorite type of wine.  I agree about paying for the overage.  On our Iceland trip, it was pretty easy to find the “Chocolate Block” and at an extra price of $1 that was my go to.  
 

Those onboard, thanks for posting.  If there is interest, I will post here when I board the Crown Nov 9th.  It has just been through dry dock, and is taking a trip through wine country, so I hope we are well stocked for 28 days to Tahiti, I don’t think there is a Total Wine on that route and I would hate to have to buy pineapple wine.

[Steelers36]

On 10/16/2022 at 2:28 PM, pppatpc2 said:

We have no interest in the Premiere package, since they are not stocking the upscale wines anyway.  I do understand about the distribution system.  Crown princess was just in drydock in Oregon, conveniently located to several outstanding wine regions and our cruise will be leaving out of LA, again

wine central.  I do not need a Stag's Leap Napa, I am hopeful for some decent mass produced pours. 

 

Also, it was heartbreaking on the last cruise that the bartenders were not using the vacuum sealers properly and when you could find a good bottle on the Plus package at one of the bars that was not traditionally used by wine drinkers, the bottle was spoiled.  There were four very good bottles all spoiled at the indoor pool bar on the Island. 

Princess employees don't run ashore in wine producing areas and stock up on local wines.  That's what oenophile passengers do.

 

Also, using vacuum sealers for opened bottles is a poor storage method.  Better to use inert gas ot keep oxygen away from the surface.

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, pppatpc2 said:

On our Iceland trip, it was pretty easy to find the “Chocolate Block” and at an extra price of $1 that was my go to.

The Chocolate Block was available at Vines but did not appear on the MDR wine list, and I believe was a few dollars above the $1 addition.  Might have been a $16 glass.  Or $14.  But definitely not $13.  No wines were.  Our general strategy was to take our own wine glasses to Vines, get a nice wine to take into the MDR to have with our first course(s) and then order the remaining glasses from the MDR wine list.  There were no surcharge Pinots on the MDR list, so if you wanted a Pinot that was not generic, you had to go to a bar to bring it with you.  Belle Glos was the best option at Vines.  Much more on wine service and the wine experience when I get my trip report posted.  

Edited October 19, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[JimmyVWine]

48 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Princess employees don't run ashore in wine producing areas and stock up on local wines.  That's what oenophile passengers do.

 

Also, using vacuum sealers for opened bottles is a poor storage method.  Better to use inert gas ot keep oxygen away from the surface.

All good points.  Wine storage for open bottles is irrelevant on a ship with 3,500 people.  They go through way too many bottles/glasses a day to worry about storing open wine.  Any good bartender will know how to use a smooth sales pitch to pour out the back half of an open bottle after 10:00 p.m..  Or use heavy pours to drain the bottle if need be. Or make the wine available to off duty crew members in the crew lounges.  But the turnover of the bottles on the ship is so fast that spending money on Coravins or other such systems would be foolish.  I've drunk some mighty fine "last pours" around midnight with sommeliers over the years.  Including an almost full glass of '61 Petrus from Magnum that the diners who ordered it did not finish. 🍷☺️

[pppatpc2]

59 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

All good points.  Wine storage for open bottles is irrelevant on a ship with 3,500 people.  They go through way too many bottles/glasses a day to worry about storing open wine.  Any good bartender will know how to use a smooth sales pitch to pour out the back half of an open bottle after 10:00 p.m..  Or use heavy pours to drain the bottle if need be. Or make the wine available to off duty crew members in the crew lounges.  But the turnover of the bottles on the ship is so fast that spending money on Coravins or other such systems would be foolish.  I've drunk some mighty fine "last pours" around midnight with sommeliers over the years.  Including an almost full glass of '61 Petrus from Magnum that the diners who ordered it did not finish. 🍷☺️

I hear what you’re saying but there were 4 half bottles of very good wine at a pool bar on the last ship that were all spoiled, broke my heart. 
 

Maybe I can just have them scan my medallion, if they have something good left at the end of the night. 😂

[JimmyVWine]

53 minutes ago, pppatpc2 said:

I hear what you’re saying but there were 4 half bottles of very good wine at a pool bar on the last ship that were all spoiled, broke my heart. 
 

Maybe I can just have them scan my medallion, if they have something good left at the end of the night. 😂

With the Crew Chat feature, asking the bartender to track you down if there are any nice bottles in need of finishing is never a bad idea!  Thread drift, but back in the day when the California Grill first opened at Disney World (if you are familiar with it), they had a policy (since changed) that you could order wines by the glass from almost any bottle on their list.  (They excepted out things like Harlan and Hillside Select.)  One day my wife and I arrived in town too late for dinner, but we decided to try to have dessert up at the California Grill bar.  We ended up closing the place down with the bartender (Ray. I'll never forget him.)  Once he figured out our passion for wine, it was two hours of: ""Try this!" (Peter Michael Chardonnay) and "See if you like this" (Martinelli Pinot Noir).  And on and on.  He said that these were all opened during the evening and they never try to store fine wines because, well, what's the point.  They would all be taken home by the staff if not consumed by customers.  Since most of what we had were short pours for educational purposes, at the end of the night he only charged us the equivalent of two glasses of wine when we probably had the equivalent of 5 or 6.  So he ended up with a tip that was the equivalent of the price of about 5 high-end glasses of wine.  So yes, it pays to make friends with bartenders who find themselves with a glass and a half of great wine left in a bottle. 

 

Oh. And as for the spoiled wine.  There is no guarantee that the wines spoiled due to being opened for 24 hours.  Few wines are that delicate.  How many bottles have you had that improved on day 2?  Countless.  It is entirely possible that the spoliation came during the pause when the storage conditions of wine on board ships remains a mystery.  Were these wines kept in 55 degree wine lockers?  Probably not.  90 degree storage areas in and around FLL?  Quite possibly.

Edited October 19, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[pppatpc2]

15 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

With the Crew Chat feature, asking the bartender to track you down if there are any nice bottles in need of finishing is never a bad idea!  Thread drift, but back in the day when the California Grill first opened at Disney World (if you are familiar with it), they had a policy (since changed) that you could order wines by the glass from almost any bottle on their list.  (They excepted out things like Harlan and Hillside Select.)  One day my wife and I arrived in town too late for dinner, but we decided to try to have dessert up at the California Grill bar.  We ended up closing the place down with the bartender (Ray. I'll never forget him.)  Once he figured out our passion for wine, it was two hours of: ""Try this!" (Peter Michael Chardonnay) and "See if you like this" (Martinelli Pinot Noir).  And on and on.  He said that these were all opened during the evening and they never try to store fine wines because, well, what's the point.  They would all be taken home by the staff if not consumed by customers.  Since most of what we had were short pours for educational purposes, at the end of the night he only charged us the equivalent of two glasses of wine when we probably had the equivalent of 5 or 6.  So he ended up with a tip that was the equivalent of the price of about 5 high-end glasses of wine.  So yes, it pays to make friends with bartenders who find themselves with a glass and a half of great wine left in a bottle. 

 

Oh. And as for the spoiled wine.  There is no guarantee that the wines spoiled due to being opened for 24 hours.  Few wines are that delicate.  How many bottles have you had that improved on day 2?  Countless.  It is entirely possible that the spoliation came during the pause when the storage conditions of wine on board ships remains a mystery.  Were these wines kept in 55 degree wine lockers?  Probably not.  90 degree storage areas in and around FLL?  Quite possibly.

I completely agree about befriending bartenders.  That should be another category on the thread about Captains, Cruise Directors, etc.  When they first started the wine tasting in Vines, it was only $15.  There was a bartender named Alan, who opened 8 bottles for 10 of us.  We had the best time.

[Cruise Raider]

On 10/17/2022 at 10:50 AM, pppatpc2 said:

I understand shortages, distribution issues, corporations trying to squeeze a buck, all I’m asking is, is there someone on board a ship that can report what wine brands they are pouring on the Plus package currently.  Thanks.

 

We just disembarked from the Royal a few days ago.  All that was available in terms of white wines under the plus package was Canyon Road and a Santa Helena.  The Canyon Road Chardonnay is just not good at all.  I upgraded to the premier package for the 2nd leg of our B2B and was able to get a glass of Rombauer at Vines and the Crown Grill Bar but by the last couple days of the cruise, they said they had no more.  They did offer me a Hartford Chardonnay but that comes nowhere near Rombauer, IMO.  There is also a Beringer Premium at the same price point ... seriously??  

Once in a great while, they found some Decoy for me, but only the chardonnay.  They no longer had Mer Soliel Chardonnay, Decoy Merlot or the Meomi (sp?) Pinot Noir, which were all such decent choices on the Plus Package just a few weeks prior.  

So, my DH found that he liked Substance Cabernet.  Others were Chocolate Block and Spellbound, that could be found in Vines.  I'm thinking all of these wines incurred a small charge over the Plus package price (like a dollar or two over).  He also liked the Seghesio Old Vine Zin but that was more along the lines of the Premier Package pricing.  

 

So, the answer to your question is most venues, at least on the Royal, only served that Canyon Road wine.  I understood the pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc were better than the chardonnay in the plus package.  I didn't try either of them.  

 

So, funny story, I asked the waiter from Good Spirits what kind of wine they had.  He brought me a menu.  I asked which of the wines were actually available as I saw a few that I liked.  He came back and said, 'none of them, ma'am'.  Oh boy .. they did find a Decoy Chardonnay for me after all that.  It's not my favorite but was at least drinkable.  

 

 

 

 

[pppatpc2]

14 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

We just disembarked from the Royal a few days ago.  All that was available in terms of white wines under the plus package was Canyon Road and a Santa Helena.  The Canyon Road Chardonnay is just not good at all.  I upgraded to the premier package for the 2nd leg of our B2B and was able to get a glass of Rombauer at Vines and the Crown Grill Bar but by the last couple days of the cruise, they said they had no more.  They did offer me a Hartford Chardonnay but that comes nowhere near Rombauer, IMO.  There is also a Beringer Premium at the same price point ... seriously??  

Once in a great while, they found some Decoy for me, but only the chardonnay.  They no longer had Mer Soliel Chardonnay, Decoy Merlot or the Meomi (sp?) Pinot Noir, which were all such decent choices on the Plus Package just a few weeks prior.  

So, my DH found that he liked Substance Cabernet.  Others were Chocolate Block and Spellbound, that could be found in Vines.  I'm thinking all of these wines incurred a small charge over the Plus package price (like a dollar or two over).  He also liked the Seghesio Old Vine Zin but that was more along the lines of the Premier Package pricing.  

 

So, the answer to your question is most venues, at least on the Royal, only served that Canyon Road wine.  I understood the pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc were better than the chardonnay in the plus package.  I didn't try either of them.  

 

So, funny story, I asked the waiter from Good Spirits what kind of wine they had.  He brought me a menu.  I asked which of the wines were actually available as I saw a few that I liked.  He came back and said, 'none of them, ma'am'.  Oh boy .. they did find a Decoy Chardonnay for me after all that.  It's not my favorite but was at least drinkable.  

 

 

 

 

Canyon Road,  really?!!!!  Wow.

[Cruise Raider]

Just now, pppatpc2 said:

Canyon Road,  really?!!!!  Wow.

 

There are so many decent wines at the price point in the grocery store ... why not one of those?? 

I know it has everything to do with getting it in bulk through a distributer.  I understand why they go with the deal.  But really, that wine is just not good at all, IMO.