Wine package delivered to stateroom option? What exactly is this???

[FlorenceItaly]

On the last cruise I pre-ordered a wine package delivered to dining room.  We were cruising with friends and knew we would be in dining room nightly.

On our upcoming 11 night cruise we will do Tamarind first night, probably Pinnacle lunch next two days(skip dinner) and other venues.  In other words, rarely in dining room.  What exactly does "delivered to stateroom mean".....is it the sticker to stick on my card???  Thank you.

[POA1]

They deliver the wine to your room. That is our default option. We're big on proper wine temperatures. If you want to to drink your reds at 65 degrees Fahrenheit, you have to cool them a bit. They'll come back up to temp in the glass.

 

 

[wdw1972]

The wine package will be linked to your room key - wherever you happen to be dining, just tell the steward you'd like a bottle from your wine package & give him your card.  If you want to take a bottle or bottles to have in your stateroom, just say so.  I've never done that so I'm not sure if they'll bring you the requested bottles and you carry them to your stateroom or they arrange to have them delivered.  You can enjoy your bottles in the specialty restaurants, and just like in the MDR if there's wine leftover at any meal you can either leave it to be stored until the next time you want that bottle or you can take it with you (for your room fridge).

 

Sue/WDW1972

Edited July 30, 2023 by wdw1972
correct info

[Cruising-along]

We always choose this option so we'll have wine in our cabin.  They will deliver the bottles to your cabin, after you have let them know what choices you want.  

[FlorenceItaly]

4 minutes ago, POA1 said:

They deliver the wine to your room. That is our default option. We're big on proper wine temperatures. If you want to to drink your reds at 65 degrees Fahrenheit, you have to cool them a bit. They'll come back up to temp in the glass.

 

 

There are various wine selections in the package.  Do they just make a guess and put the number of bottles from your package in your room?  What happens if they are not to my liking?

Edited July 30, 2023 by FlorenceItaly

[FlorenceItaly]

2 minutes ago, wdw1972 said:

It really doesn't mean anything.  The wine package will be linked to your room key - wherever you happen to be dining, just tell the steward you'd like a bottle from your wine package & give him your card.  If you want to take a bottle or bottles to have in your stateroom, just say so.  I've never done that so I'm not sure if they'll bring you the requested bottles and you carry them to your stateroom or they arrange to have them delivered.  You can enjoy your bottles in the specialty restaurants, and just like in the MDR if there's wine leftover at any meal you can either leave it to be stored until the next time you want that bottle or you can take it with you (for your room fridge).

 

Sue/WDW1972

For this scenario would I choose dining room when pre-ordering online?  What you describe is my preferred scenario.  Thank you.

[Cruising-along]

22 minutes ago, FlorenceItaly said:

There are various wine selections in the package.  Do they just make a guess and put the number of bottles from your package in your room?  What happens if they are not to my liking?

I'm not POA, and sorry I wasn't more clear in my post, but they bring your choices (let them know once you board).  They never would just guess.  Make your choices once onboard because we never know before the cruise what wines they'll have onboard for your cruise.  Many times we've been disappointed, other times happy with the substitutions.  

[FlorenceItaly]

1 minute ago, Cruising-along said:

I'm not POA, and sorry I wasn't more clear in my post, but they bring your choices (let them know once you board).  They never would just guess.  Make your choices once onboard because we never know before the cruise what wines they'll have onboard for your cruise.  Many times we've been disappointed, other times happy with the substitutions.  

Thank you!  In May we were on the Zuiderdam and the wines in package #1 were sufficient.  But, yes, you never really know until you get on board what the selection is.  For our cruise in December it is our first cruise being 4 star so very excited about the discount.

[Mary229]

@FlorenceItaly  thanks for bringing this up. My sister was asking about this option recently.   Can you choose a wine in the MDR then have the other bottles delivered to the stateroom?

[FlorenceItaly]

THANK YOU, ALL.  With @wdw1972 explanation and my experience in May I believe it is tied to your card and ultimately it does not matter if you choose deliver to stateroom or dining room.  One evening we even ordered one of our bottles at the Pinnacle BAR.  While in the DR they did put a sticker on the card.  Perhaps they do this at whatever venue your order your first bottle from.  From here, the staff marks an X through the bottle number when you order.  I am mainly interested in pre-ordering in case prices rise.

[Cruising-along]

15 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

@FlorenceItaly  thanks for bringing this up. My sister was asking about this option recently.   Can you choose a wine in the MDR then have the other bottles delivered to the stateroom?

Yes, no problem. We've done that too.  

[Mosaic]

Also keep in mind that if you have open bottles of wine at a particular restaurant, they have to go fetch them AND it can take them quite a while for them to show up at a different restaurant!  Don't hesitate to take the remainder back to your room. Or, for that matter, to carry one back into a restaurant...

[wdw1972]

2 hours ago, FlorenceItaly said:

For this scenario would I choose dining room when pre-ordering online?  What you describe is my preferred scenario.  Thank you.

That's what I've always done.  I only drink white wine so I'd never want my wine delivered to my stateroom for me to bring to dinner.  It would be too warm for my taste.  

 

Sue/WDW1972

[Sherry H]

I order my wine package when I get on board.  I choose my wine (8 bottles) and have 4 sent to my room and 4 to the Main dining room.  If we eat at a specialty restaurant I just order a glass of wine with my dinner.

[POA1]

3 hours ago, FlorenceItaly said:

There are various wine selections in the package.  Do they just make a guess and put the number of bottles from your package in your room?  What happens if they are not to my liking?

No, you just tell them exactly what you want. There have been times that they ran out of a particular selection. Having the wine delivered to you in your room means that you get what you want. If it turns out that the new selection is more to your liking, they will let you you swap it out.

[POA1]

21 minutes ago, wdw1972 said:

That's what I've always done.  I only drink white wine so I'd never want my wine delivered to my stateroom for me to bring to dinner.  It would be too warm for my taste.  

 

Sue/WDW1972

We chill the whites, sparkling & dessert wines in an ice & water bucket. Our room steward brings us a wine bucket an fills it in addition to the little ice bucket. I used to bring all my wine with me but stopped once we started getting the Elite Beverage Package. Now I might bring some Champagne or a special bottle or two.

 

Here is your chilling chart. We have a little thermometer we carry, but that's not at strictly necessary.

 

 

[POA1]

1 hour ago, Mosaic said:

Also keep in mind that if you have open bottles of wine at a particular restaurant, they have to go fetch them AND it can take them quite a while for them to show up at a different restaurant!  Don't hesitate to take the remainder back to your room. Or, for that matter, to carry one back into a restaurant...

What is this leftover wine of which you speak? 🤔 (In all seriousness, I would have sworn that we never had any. But I found a photo of a tagged, leftover bottle in an old photo. It was from the Zuiderdam in 2003.)

[cccole]

5 minutes ago, POA1 said:

What is this leftover wine of which you speak? 🤔 (In all seriousness, I would have sworn that we never had any. But I found a photo of a tagged, leftover bottle in an old photo. It was from the Zuiderdam in 2003.)

On my 70th birthday the t-shirt said "corks are for loosers."  I always take corks just in case.  Cherie

[USN59-79]

As you are now 4 star, you are entitled to a 50% discount on your wine package.  Be careful as it doesn't always happen.  On our last Westerdam cruise (42 days) we ordered the 8-bottle number 2 package.  I noticed when on board that they had hit my credit card for the full price.  Went to guest services three times to have them fix it, even gave them a screen shot of my credit card statement.  They promised to take care of it, but never did.  Still owe me about $150, but I am tired of asking for it.

Ray

[FlorenceItaly]

Just now, USN59-79 said:

As you are now 4 star, you are entitled to a 50% discount on your wine package.  Be careful as it doesn't always happen.  On our last Westerdam cruise (42 days) we ordered the 8-bottle number 2 package.  I noticed when on board that they had hit my credit card for the full price.  Went to guest services three times to have them fix it, even gave them a screen shot of my credit card statement.  They promised to take care of it, but never did.  Still owe me about $150, but I am tired of asking for it.

Ray

I am very sorry to hear this.  There is NO excuse..NONE.  While on the Zuiderdam I was pleasantly surprised when my 25% discount was credited to my on board account without asking.  I ordered the wine package online prior to the cruise.   I am hoping for the same on Koningsdam.

[Mary229]

11 minutes ago, USN59-79 said:

As you are now 4 star, you are entitled to a 50% discount on your wine package.  Be careful as it doesn't always happen.  On our last Westerdam cruise (42 days) we ordered the 8-bottle number 2 package.  I noticed when on board that they had hit my credit card for the full price.  Went to guest services three times to have them fix it, even gave them a screen shot of my credit card statement.  They promised to take care of it, but never did.  Still owe me about $150, but I am tired of asking for it.

Ray

A good waiter can take care of that for you too.  

[cccole]

If you are not a 4 or 5* Mariner with a discount it may be less expensive to bring bottles of wine on board when you embark or in ports and pay the $20 corkage fee.  This is for wines enjoyed in the cabin or a restaurant.  I think that's what we will do for some bottles on our 21 day cruise.  With the cost of the wines listed in the packages we would rather pay $20 per bottle and bring our own.  JMO. Cherie  

[Haljo1935]

3 hours ago, cccole said:

If you are not a 4 or 5* Mariner with a discount it may be less expensive to bring bottles of wine on board when you embark or in ports and pay the $20 corkage fee.  This is for wines enjoyed in the cabin or a restaurant.  I think that's what we will do for some bottles on our 21 day cruise.  With the cost of the wines listed in the packages we would rather pay $20 per bottle and bring our own.  JMO. Cherie  

That's exactly what we do. Have never had an issue and no worries about our selection being out of stock.

[cccole]

Haljo1935, do you bring wine when embarking and in ports?  We are on a South America/Antarctica cruise in January and love Chilean and Argentinean wines.  Do you pack them in anything special or just bubble wrap or clothes?  Thank you,  Cherie

[Haljo1935]

45 minutes ago, cccole said:

Haljo1935, do you bring wine when embarking and in ports?  We are on a South America/Antarctica cruise in January and love Chilean and Argentinean wines.  Do you pack them in anything special or just bubble wrap or clothes?  Thank you,  Cherie

Hey Cherie - I do what I would tell others NOT to do - I use bubble wrap (1 layer) then wrap in my clothes; I don't use special packaging. I do make sure there's something at the bottom and all the way around, so the wine is in the middle of the suitcase. For AK cruises, I do the bubble wrap only (no clothes) then insert into my boots, which then get wrapped in clothes. I would tell anyone else to protect their valuables with special packing (do as I say, not as I do, lol), but I have not ever had an issue.

This is for checked luggage on a plane. Then it has to be transferred to your carry on for boarding, but at that point I just move the clothes bundles into my carry on. Carryon gets scanned in the terminal.

Back when we drove to ports, it was easier