Classic to Premium for wine drinkers

[NMTraveller]

What are the choices for Cabernet and Champagne in the Classic and Premium packages?  Will I want to upgrade?

[cruisestitch]

There are really too many choices to list. There are different wine lists for the dining rooms, for cellar Masters, Oceanview, all the specialties.  And there are quite a few offerings but you’re not actually on the printed wine list at all that your Sommalier can tell you about.

[Nachosdelux]

we don't know what your preferences are.  That said, the wines on the classic list (there are no champagnes on it) are barely drinkable, IMHO.  If you are planning on ordering wine, I would most definitely upgrade.

[WestLakeGirl]

But how much wine? If one glass a day at dinner, you’re probably better off just ordering the glass and paying the difference between the classic price and the premium price. If multiple glasses a day, while you can work it out.

[Josie201]

We are mostly wine drinkers.  We always upgrade to Premium simply for the variety.  Its really not possible to list what's on each list as stated above, it varies from location to location and ship to ship.  Also, they are always making substitutes.  That said, for the sheer variety we feel its worth upgrading, although I'm fine with a cheaper glass of chardonnay poolside, I prefer better wines at dinner/in the evening. 

[LizzGo]

Very interested in this topic. In the past we have upgraded solely for the better wine selection, that was before when you were not charged the difference in price if you selected a wine above your price allowance, but the entire cost. Now I believe X has changed the policy. It looks like the difference is $20/ per day/pp so $40 a day. So  if we drink just four glasses each at a $5 up cost pp, it makes the upgrade worth it.
 

But I’m wondering how the post- Covid wine selection is these days on X? We were on a HAL cruise in Jan and we upgraded. What a complete waste of money. Even with the premium package there was one red, one rose, and one sparkling we liked. The white I liked was a further $4 per glass on top of the premium upgrade. We would have been ahead of the game by just paying the difference. HAL cruisers told us the wine selection was much better before Covid. Also, not a Somm in site. We hear X still has Sommeliers in the dining rooms. 

[jelayne]

For quite awhile after the restart there were shortages of some of the more popular wines and champagne.  Over time that improved.  Our sailings in the fall and winter were pretty much back to normal and we didn’t encounter any shortages of wines.  

[George C]

We tend to drink upscale wines , best wine covered by premium is normally Decoy Cabernet. If you order something above premium limit you just pay deference plus 20 percent for tip.

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, NMTraveller said:

What are the choices for Cabernet and Champagne in the Classic and Premium packages?  Will I want to upgrade?

 

What I would recommend is that you go to the Celebrity App and take a look at the menu for the main dining room and look at the wine list.   Any wine $10 and under would be on the classic package, any wine $17 and under would be on the Premium package.  

 

You can do this for any of the restaurants that you plan to dine in but I find that the MDR wine list is the best source for what can be obtained on the classic package. 

 

Always keep in mind thought that every wine on the list may not be in stock onboard so allow for substitutions or have an alternative in mind. 

 

[Longboysfan]

Just as an FYI on this.

The ships may carry different types of the same wine on classic list at some bars.

Dining room may have a better wine than say the pool bar.

Just saying - this is what I saw last cruise.

[jelayne]

The wine lists on the app don’t contain a lot of the wines that are available, particularly for the MDR.  Our sailing next week shows only 2 red, 2 white and 2 sparkling by the glass in the MDR however there are far more available if you ask the sommelier.

[39august]

The wine menus/lists are just a guide to what may be available. As Jelayne noted above,  many wines have become available since late last year, and many more changed out. Just go as is and update on board if you feel it would be worth it for you after you can see what is actually available on board and at different venues. Cannot express enough that availability varies from venue to venue on the same ship. 

[aring75]

These are the wines available by the glass on our current Solstice sailing. According to the MDR sommelier, these are the only wines available by the glass. 
 

CLASSIC PACKAGE

 

 

 

 

I will add premium package wine options in the next post. 

[aring75]

PREMIUM WINE BY THE GLASS

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RichYak]

43 minutes ago, aring75 said:

PREMIUM WINE BY THE GLASS

...which are ALL available with the Classic Package by paying the difference above $10. There's no need to upgrade to the Premium package to have a couple glasses of Decoy Cabernet each day.

[Purplsmurf]

We just sailed on Reflection a couple of weeks ago. I am a champagne drinker and expected Cattier since that’s what they have been offering for about the last year. They no longer carry it (might still be some stray bottles on board). They now carry Eugene III. It was very good. It’s $17/glass so it’s a no brainer for me to upgrade. There was a shortage last year, but had no problem finding anything this year. 

[phoenix_dream]

As you can see from the menu posted, there are very limited options for Cabernet by the glass on either package unfortunately.  Lots more options if you want to buy a bottle, which is an additional cost of course.  Our go-to is Decoy.  Elegance is ok but not our preference.  We like the red blend Conundrum and a Zinfandel called Edmeades which they usually have onboard.  We have found that in more recent cruises there aren't as many supply issues.  That's a plus and a minus.  Back when they first restarted and supply was more limited, they often offered us the 'by the bottle' wines included with our package, as the other wines were often not available.  Got to try some really nice wines that way but those days are past.

[DaKahuna]

@phoenix_dream We have also had our Sommelier serve us glasses of wines that were normally by the bottle only or not even on any wine list.  It all depends on what we were looking to pair the wine with and / or what we had requested that was out of stock. 

 

We find ourselves with a lot of non-refundable OBC on our upcoming cruise and something tells me there will be a couple of bottles of wine ordered with that.  

 

[NMTraveller]

5 hours ago, aring75 said:

PREMIUM WINE BY THE GLASS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks.  Is there an Elevated package to get the Caymus?  Or do you just pay the difference?

[ljk76]

It was so helpful to see those wine by the glass lists….thank you! I think our strategy will be to pay the difference at least to start. For 15 nights for the 2 of us it would be $600…don’t think we will drink that much Decoy…

[NMTraveller]

So does every bar have the Elevated Red Wines?

[DaKahuna]

20 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

So does every bar have the Elevated Red Wines?

 

Not usually.  Cellar Masters is your best bet aside from the restaurants. Most of the bars are geared more toward cocktails whereas we find the restaurants are more focused on the wines. 

 

[wineoclock]

On Apex last year we ended up buying bottles as the servings by glass (premium) frankly weren’t great. 

[rotoal]

Please remember that the premium package also includes smoothies from the Aqua Spa and more expensive bottled water such as Perrier and San Pellegrino.

[garyl62]

Interesting to see this list and while it's obviously on the app so published by Celebrity, I think it still changes often. When we sailed Apex 5 weeks ago Caymus was not available by the glass but it was available by the bottle.