Wines

[lhsail]

Looking for current feedback on the wines being offered onboard. We have a cruise coming up on the Ruby, have the Plus package. We have to admit to kind of being wine snobs. We didn’t upgrade to the Premium package, as we initially thought we’d be money ahead to just pay the difference per drink. Any copies of the current wines being offered?  Experiences with wines on the Plus package?  We’re doubting our decision to stay with the Plus package. Also have the option to convert some credit cart points to OBC if we’re going to be upgrading most of our drinks. Help! Thank you. 

[LACruiser88]

We are currently on the Regal and very much into wine.  At home, we maintain 2,500 bottles in our cellar.

 

We have the Plus pkg and have been very happy with the wines being offered at Vines within our pkg.

 

The dining room is a different story.  They have been offering the wine only by the varietal.

 

We have countered this by bringing our own bottle of wine to the MDR.  Being in Europe, it has been very easy to purchase wine in the ports we are visiting and bringing them back onboard.

 

No one has questioned the wines as we return to the ship.  This is not always the case on every ship.  We have sailed on ships where they have been very strict regarding collecting corkage fees as you return to the ship.

 

We happily pay the corkage to enjoy good wines at dinner.  I hope this helps.

[VibeGuy]

Ugh, that is a substantial downgrade to the Plus package - while not all of the Vines selections were available by the glass in the MDR, enough of them were to find something tasty to accompany any course.   I tend to default to the Conundrum as all-purpose drinkable white and the various Rhone varietals for red, and had nothing to complain about.  

 

[buckeye7]

4 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

No one has questioned the wines as we return to the ship.  This is not always the case on every ship.  We have sailed on ships where they have been very strict regarding collecting corkage fees as you return to the ship.

Can you clarify if you could bring one bottle per person at every port without corkage fee? Or is that only at embarkation? Thank you!

[LACruiser88]

38 minutes ago, buckeye7 said:

Can you clarify if you could bring one bottle per person at every port without corkage fee? Or is that only at embarkation? Thank you!

We have been bringing on 2 to 3 bottles per port, no questions asked. 

[Asquare]

We were recently on the Enchanted (there is no Vines) and only had wine with our dinner.  In a departure from previous cruises we had to ask for the wine list.  We had no problem with the “generic” selection (decent everyday wine) but wanted a nicer pour one night;  the list of wine by the glass is neatly presented in a separate section;  every glass was above the plus level of $12;  you are only charged for the amount over $12 (+18%) our OBC covered the difference which was $5.40 a glass.

 

In my opinion it’s not so much that the generic wine offered is “bad” but that you have no say so in the choice.  Take Chardonnay;  the taste can be all over the place because of maker, region or style…also Pinot Noir; it really depends on the region grown & year.  By going the mass market generic route you take the enjoyment of discovering a new wine or region out of play & and thus reduces the enjoyment for true wine lovers.

[Steelers36]

7 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

We are currently on the Regal and very much into wine.  At home, we maintain 2,500 bottles in our cellar.

 

We have the Plus pkg and have been very happy with the wines being offered at Vines within our pkg.

 

The dining room is a different story.  They have been offering the wine only by the varietal.

 

We have countered this by bringing our own bottle of wine to the MDR.  Being in Europe, it has been very easy to purchase wine in the ports we are visiting and bringing them back onboard.

 

No one has questioned the wines as we return to the ship.  This is not always the case on every ship.  We have sailed on ships where they have been very strict regarding collecting corkage fees as you return to the ship.

 

We happily pay the corkage to enjoy good wines at dinner.  I hope this helps.

 

I would say be prepared to pay corkage and be pleasantly mildly surprised to not pay.  

 

For two voyages in Med this Fall, never saw a wine table staffed when checking in early in Civitavecchia (10am).  I carry a corkscrew and open wine in the cabin normally.  An open bottle never seems to attract attention.  I have been charged one corkage fee in over 4 weeks of cruising this fall.  I might say one bottle normally lasts us 2-3 days as we don't drink a lot at once.

 

I highly recommend BYOW, especially since the PLUS wine offerings are rather a MINUS, IMHO.

[LACruiser88]

3 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

I would say be prepared to pay corkage and be pleasantly mildly surprised to not pay.  

 

For two voyages in Med this Fall, never saw a wine table staffed when checking in early in Civitavecchia (10am).  I carry a corkscrew and open wine in the cabin normally.  An open bottle never seems to attract attention.  I have been charged one corkage fee in over 4 weeks of cruising this fall.  I might say one bottle normally lasts us 2-3 days as we don't drink a lot at once.

 

I highly recommend BYOW, especially since the PLUS wine offerings are rather a MINUS, IMHO.

We have yet to incur a corkage fee on this cruise.  It is up to the individual server to charge for corkage and as @Steelers36 stated, be prepared for the charge.  It is nice when they "forget" it.  😉

 

We definitely make up for it at the end of the cruise with a nice gratuity.

[lhsail]

Appreciate the feedback. Since this is a 16-day cruise with lots of seas days, paid for mostly with bonus FCC and enough OBC to cover shore excursions, etc., we’ve taken the jump and upgraded to Premium. Seems our cabin must have had a price drop as the upgrade didn’t cost us the full amount. 

[wowzz]

Can I assume that if we were to take our own bottle to the buffet, there would be very little chance of having to pay corkage ?

[LACruiser88]

2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Can I assume that if we were to take our own bottle to the buffet, there would be very little chance of having to pay corkage ?

Your assumption would be correct!  🙂

[Plato123]

We will be on our first Princess cruise next spring and have booked a suite and the premium package.  We also enjoy better wines and am curious as to whether they are actually available in the MDRs at all based on what I have read here.  Having paid for the premium package I would not be impressed if all that was available with dinner were "generic" varietals. We are cruising the Mexican Riviera and there will be many days at sea so I would not be in a position to BMOW, even though there are some very good Mexican wines available in ports. We have previously cruised mainly with Celebrity in suites and the wines available while dining have generally been top notch and good variety.

[Steelers36]

14 minutes ago, Plato123 said:

We will be on our first Princess cruise next spring and have booked a suite and the premium package.  We also enjoy better wines and am curious as to whether they are actually available in the MDRs at all based on what I have read here.  Having paid for the premium package I would not be impressed if all that was available with dinner were "generic" varietals. We are cruising the Mexican Riviera and there will be many days at sea so I would not be in a position to BMOW, even though there are some very good Mexican wines available in ports. We have previously cruised mainly with Celebrity in suites and the wines available while dining have generally been top notch and good variety.

I think people are indicating you are only offered run-of-the-mill generic wines when on the Plus package.

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

We have yet to incur a corkage fee on this cruise.  It is up to the individual server to charge for corkage and as @Steelers36 stated, be prepared for the charge.  It is nice when they "forget" it.  😉

 

We definitely make up for it at the end of the cruise with a nice gratuity.

Same here on last point.   And the only reason I was charged is because it was night one and I had forgot to pack a corkscrew and didn't have one yet.  Didn't mind one charge.

[lhsail]

40 minutes ago, Plato123 said:

We will be on our first Princess cruise next spring and have booked a suite and the premium package.  We also enjoy better wines and am curious as to whether they are actually available in the MDRs at all based on what I have read here.  Having paid for the premium package I would not be impressed if all that was available with dinner were "generic" varietals. We are cruising the Mexican Riviera and there will be many days at sea so I would not be in a position to BMOW, even though there are some very good Mexican wines available in ports. We have previously cruised mainly with Celebrity in suites and the wines available while dining have generally been top notch and good variety.

We have been on several Celebrity cruises in the last year and feel, overall, their wine offerings are a bit better than Princess. But, we have run into availability issues. Generally, they have found us an alternative. If we have that issue on Princess after upgrading we certainly won’t be happy. 

[1emerald1]

I just got off the Discovery, and due to the negative comments about the lack of wine variety on the Plus Package, I brought my own.  I was in Club Class and took two bottles into the dining room at embarkation lunch and asked the Dining Room Manager if he could store them for me.  He said no, as he would not have any control and they would probably be used by someone else.  He inquired further with the Bar Manager and got the same answer, someone would take them.

 

He then suggested giving me two very large glasses that I could take to my room and fill it up before I came in to eat.  Worked out perfectly.

 

The first night I ate at the Crown Grill and ordered a glass of the plus Chardonnay, garbage.  Could not drink it, so I upgraded to a premium wine and paid the difference.

 

 

[Steelers36]

14 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

At home, we maintain 2,500 bottles in our cellar.

Wow, that sounds like an entire basement.  I have to ask a bit as to how long it took to grow to that size and if you ever expect to drink nearly all of it.  When I began collecting wine, I wondered about building a cellar room and I got to over 200 bottles in a large fridge and I realized it was more than we could use and I always wanted more, or something new and it was just too much.  So, I unloaded some and let it reduce in size, and now keep around 75 - 100 max and it seems like a lot. 

 

Wish I could see it as I am sure it would be interesting.  I just have a hard time fathoming what to do with that much wine - unless it's about investing and re-selling in future.  That isn't something even very possible in Ontario other than by quietly selling small quantities privately.

[memoak]

11 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Wow, that sounds like an entire basement.  I have to ask a bit as to how long it took to grow to that size and if you ever expect to drink nearly all of it.  When I began collecting wine, I wondered about building a cellar room and I got to over 200 bottles in a large fridge and I realized it was more than we could use and I always wanted more, or something new and it was just too much.  So, I unloaded some and let it reduce in size, and now keep around 75 - 100 max and it seems like a lot. 

 

Wish I could see it as I am sure it would be interesting.  I just have a hard time fathoming what to do with that much wine - unless it's about investing and re-selling in future.  That isn't something even very possible in Ontario other than by quietly selling small quantities privately.

We had a 250 bottle keeper and then decided to move to another state and a small condo.  Had to sell the keeper and give away most of the wine

[LACruiser88]

20 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Wow, that sounds like an entire basement.  I have to ask a bit as to how long it took to grow to that size and if you ever expect to drink nearly all of it.  When I began collecting wine, I wondered about building a cellar room and I got to over 200 bottles in a large fridge and I realized it was more than we could use and I always wanted more, or something new and it was just too much.  So, I unloaded some and let it reduce in size, and now keep around 75 - 100 max and it seems like a lot. 

 

Wish I could see it as I am sure it would be interesting.  I just have a hard time fathoming what to do with that much wine - unless it's about investing and re-selling in future.  That isn't something even very possible in Ontario other than by quietly selling small quantities privately.

We have been "collecting" wine since the mid 80's.  We are actively reducing our cellar by selling lots and gifting wine to our family and friends.  Our goal is to be at 750 bottles over the next few years.

 

We have stopped buying retail and cancelled most of our wine clubs.  We never intended to collect wine as an investment tool but it has provided some unexpected dividends.

[Cruise Raider]

I loved the wine choices that were available on the Plus Package prior to the introduction of the Premier Package.  Ever since the new package was introduced, I was able to just pay the difference for the wines I really liked and twice, I've upgraded to the premier package and was pretty happy with that and felt the upcharge has been worth it.  But, the supply chain issues have hit the cruiselines hard.  My DH has actually been happy with red wines that are just a dollar or two over the $12 limit.  

We were given a bottle of the Canyon Road Pinot Grigio in our cabin and it was very drinkable....and actually, such a nice gesture.   But, that brand of  chardonnay is just not good.  I could find a bar with Decoy Chardonnay once in a while.  Gone is their Mer Soleil Chardonnay and Meiomi Pinot Noir, which are a couple of my favorites.  We were able to get some decent wines on the premier package, such as Rombauer Chardonnay and Seghesio Zinfandel, though.  But, they really don't offer these to you unless you have the Premier Package.  

 

We did bring a special bottle of cabernet to share with some friends while in the Crown Grill and were not charged corkage.  I think if you upgrade to the premier package, it would be great if they didn't charge corkage on that ... and who knows, maybe they did that?   

 

Anyway, the wines used to be better but there are still some decent wines to be found, especially at Vines.  For me, it definitely was a better deal to upgrade to the premier package, especially because it also gave you photos, specialty dinners, additional devices for your WiFi and Prizes, not that I won that much ($25) but still came out a bit ahead because of the getting the wines I really liked.  

 

 

 

[Roberto256]

4 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Same here on last point.   And the only reason I was charged is because it was night one and I had forgot to pack a corkscrew and didn't have one yet.  Didn't mind one charge.

My dad now has a corkscrew with a wooden shoe handle, for the same reason...

 

[wowzz]

6 hours ago, Plato123 said:

Having paid for the premium package I would not be impressed if all that was available with dinner were "generic" varietals.

If you have a suite,  you will not be dining in the main section of the MDR. You will be eating in the suite/cc section of the MDR and getting a better level of service. I am sure that if you want a specific wine from Vines, you will be able to get it without any issue.

As I have mentioned before, we always take a glass of wine with us, so as to avoid short term dehydration! 

[c-boy]

2 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

We have been "collecting" wine since the mid 80's.  We are actively reducing our cellar by selling lots and gifting wine to our family and friends.  Our goal is to be at 750 bottles over the next few years.

 

We have stopped buying retail and cancelled most of our wine clubs.  We never intended to collect wine as an investment tool but it has provided some unexpected dividends.

hope you have the invintory insured 

[2fromaurora]

On 11/8/2022 at 12:06 AM, LACruiser88 said:

We are currently on the Regal and very much into wine.  At home, we maintain 2,500 bottles in our cellar.

 

We have the Plus pkg and have been very happy with the wines being offered at Vines within our pkg.

 

The dining room is a different story.  They have been offering the wine only by the varietal.

 

We have countered this by bringing our own bottle of wine to the MDR.  Being in Europe, it has been very easy to purchase wine in the ports we are visiting and bringing them back onboard.

 

No one has questioned the wines as we return to the ship.  This is not always the case on every ship.  We have sailed on ships where they have been very strict regarding collecting corkage fees as you return to the ship.

 

We happily pay the corkage to enjoy good wines at dinner.  I hope this helps.

Can you not just get the wine you like from  Vines and take it to dinner with you?  Is that allowed on Princess? (I know we did that on other  lines)

 

[2Long2NxtCrz]

We just got off the Discovery Princess and I was very disappointed in the wine selection on the Plus package. We're not wine snobs per se, but I do like a good dry rose, a nice Cabernet, and a light pinot grigio. Hubby was happy enough with the pinot grigio, I think it was Canyon Road? But the Charles & Charles rose I got once in Good Spirits was nigh undrinkable. They found me a better one in the MDR thank goodness!

 

I guess I was spoiled by Celebrity's wine selection, but Princess did have a much better variety of Bourbon and scotches. So it really worked out in the end.