Dom Perignon?

[katmigordon]

Is Dom available by the glass on board or only by the bottle?

[reedprincess]

By the bottle, IME. 

[Guardsy]

On the Caribbean Princess last fall, it was only by the bottle.  I know because the 90-something year-old French lady next to me at Crooners one evening asked the bartender is she had any left.  He replied no and snapped his fingers.  In 3-4 minutes he was handed a fresh, cold bottle which he opened and poured.  I asked if they offered it by the glass and he replied no.  Then he mentioned that she had an open bottle at most of the bars around the ship.  Turns out she was Jacque Cousteu's diving partner on his show for years.  As she said, "Now I enjoy traveling in style".  No kidding.  It was a 14-day cruise!

 

[Lucky TGO]

2 hours ago, katmigordon said:

Is Dom available by the glass on board or only by the bottle?

Hi Katmigordon,

Don’t bother purchasing Dom Perignon try your luck at trivia or one of the other games on the ship and you may win a bottle of the great champagne that the boys make every Tuesday in the boiler room on the cruise ship 😀😀😀🥂

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony

[PacnGoNow]

9 hours ago, katmigordon said:

Is Dom available by the glass on board or only by the bottle?

I’ve only seen it sold by the bottle.

[Esprit]

7 hours ago, Lucky TGO said:

you may win a bottle of the great champagne that the boys make every Tuesday in the boiler room on the cruise ship 😀😀😀🥂

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony

The crew nickname that fizzy water Chateau de Gangway 😂

[caribsun]

What does a bottle of Dom Perignon cost? 

[c-boy]

1 hour ago, caribsun said:

What does a bottle of Dom Perignon cost? 

right now about 225 + 18% 

Edited September 26, 2023 by c-boy

[reedprincess]

2 hours ago, caribsun said:

What does a bottle of Dom Perignon cost? 

From late spring 2023.

Add 18% gratuity. 

[NavyVeteran]

Don't forget the 25% off if you have Plus or Premier. That's worth $50 per bottle.

[XBGuy]

12 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

Don't forget the 25% off if you have Plus or Premier. That's worth $50 per bottle.

 

Yes, that's right.

 

As a person who buys wine by the bottle, I could not justify the extra expense of the Plus/Premier packages.  It might be fun, though, to go ahead and splurge and then order Dom with every meal.  Maybe, even, have room service deliver a bottle in the afternoon a few days.

 

Do they still have that $5200 Petrus?

 

😉

[NavyVeteran]

2 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

Yes, that's right.

 

As a person who buys wine by the bottle, I could not justify the extra expense of the Plus/Premier packages.  It might be fun, though, to go ahead and splurge and then order Dom with every meal.  Maybe, even, have room service deliver a bottle in the afternoon a few days.

 

Do they still have that $5200 Petrus?

 

😉

If you plan to purchase the $5,200 bottle of Petrus, then it definitely pays to plus. You would save $1,300 on each bottle.😀

[XBGuy]

2 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

If you plan to purchase the $5,200 bottle of Petrus, then it definitely pays to plus. You would save $1,300 on each bottle.😀

 

If I buy two bottles, then I'll save $2600. 

 

Hmm.  If I buy a few more, that would cover the price of my cabin.  I'd be cruising for free.

 

Shhh.  Don't tell Princess.  I don't want them to realize that I have outsmarted them.

 

🤣🤣🤣

[jwattle]

5 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

If I buy two bottles, then I'll save $2600. 

 

Hmm.  If I buy a few more, that would cover the price of my cabin.  I'd be cruising for free.

 

Shhh.  Don't tell Princess.  I don't want them to realize that I have outsmarted them.

 

🤣🤣🤣

Shhhh. Don't tell @c-boy . He'll be riding that FEMA math to the barn!😂

Edited September 28, 2023 by jwattle

[Steelers36]

On 9/26/2023 at 12:06 PM, reedprincess said:

From late spring 2023.

Add 18% gratuity. 

Are you sure about the above photo?  It appears to be quite old.  I have PCL wine prices that are not 2023 (2022) and they are considerable higher per bottle for the ones shown.  Dom should be at least $222 now.  The Rothschild is $185.  The Gloria Ferrer is $65.  And so forth.

 

Dom is actually not a bad deal on the ship if going to buy it.  IDK if Dom has a lesser label nor why it would be a good value on board.  Dom costs $255 at Total Wine right now.  I believe PCL is offering the same bottle which is the basic Dom.

 

ETA:  Dom is one of only six labels on the entire wine list that comes out cheaper on board (including 18%) than buying at Total Wine and having to pay corkage.  The list would be smaller if not charged corkage - only 2 labels, one of which is DOM.

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Steelers36

[Steelers36]

21 hours ago, XBGuy said:

Do they still have that $5200 Petrus?

Yes, it is still listed, but like all of the labels, no vintage is provided.  I calculate that it is far cheaper to BYOW if wanting a bottle on the ship.  That said, if one could buy certain vintages, you could spend a lot more and perhaps reach the pricing of Princess.  The last time I checked, one could get a Petrus for about $1100 less than Princess cost.  Now, I do understand if one gets 25% off PCL menu price, that makes up the difference.  But this is a math exercise since it is probably <1% of the passenger load would consider purchasing a bottle.  

[c-boy]

17 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

If I buy two bottles, then I'll save $2600. 

 

Hmm.  If I buy a few more, that would cover the price of my cabin.  I'd be cruising for free.

 

Shhh.  Don't tell Princess.  I don't want them to realize that I have outsmarted them.

 

🤣🤣🤣

😄 that's assuming they have it on board. The numerous times my wife and I have requested a high end selection, we've been informed " I'm sorry to tell you we don't have that vintage in stock",  " We appear to be out at the moment" ,.  Or the look of shock on their face when the request was made. We  have a backup plan going down that road again. I say, If that selection isn't available I'll take bin 13. 

[XBGuy]

3 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Yes, it is still listed, but like all of the labels, no vintage is provided.  I calculate that it is far cheaper to BYOW if wanting a bottle on the ship.  That said, if one could buy certain vintages, you could spend a lot more and perhaps reach the pricing of Princess.  The last time I checked, one could get a Petrus for about $1100 less than Princess cost.  Now, I do understand if one gets 25% off PCL menu price, that makes up the difference.  But this is a math exercise since it is probably <1% of the passenger load would consider purchasing a bottle.  

 

???

 

If I bring my own, how can I get my free cruise?

 

Because of  domestic situation, I have not been able to cruise since 2020.  That situation will eventually resolve itself.  I have been regularly been monitoring this board, and it seems to me that the wine offerings on Princess have seriously declined,  I used to bring, maybe, six or seven bottles of my own wine on board, but would freely buy bottles at the various shipboard venues--i.e., specialty restaurants and Vines.  On a cruise on the Royal Princess in 2019 Sabatini's had an absolutely outstanding selection of (Surprise!) Italian wines.  Does anybody know if the specialty restaurants currently have individual wine lists?  I am thinking that when we do resume cruising, I am going to have to upgrade my wine carrying capacity.

 

Retuning to the thread topic.  One of our embarkation day traditions is to sip sparkling wine on our balcony as the ship leaves port.  Usually, it was a wine that I brought on board.  On one occasion, though, I pre-ordered a bottle of Dom Perignon, and had it delivered after we settled into our cabin.  Mrs. XBGuy was very pleased and impressed.

[XBGuy]

2 hours ago, c-boy said:

😄 that's assuming they have it on board. The numerous times my wife and I have requested a high end selection, we've been informed " I'm sorry to tell you we don't have that vintage in stock",  " We appear to be out at the moment" ,.  Or the look of shock on their face when the request was made. We  have a backup plan going down that road again. I say, If that selection isn't available I'll take bin 13. 

 

I once asked a headwaiter (I'm pretty sure it was in a Sabatini's.) if he had ever sold any of the Ch. Petrus.  He told me that there was a group (interestingly, men only) that ordered two bottles from him once.

 

Yes, we have often run into the diminished supply problem.  On one cruise Mrs. XBGuy ordered a white Loire Valley wine in Sabatini's.  (Yes, a French wine in an Italian restaurant.)  No luck,  Then, they were out of her second choice.  Finally, success on her third choice.  Two days later we were in Crown Grill.  Mrs. XBGuy's first entree choice at Crown Grill is always the Mussel Pot, and she ordered a Chardonnay.  Sorry, Mrs. XBGuy, no luck.  We noticed that the Crown Grill wine list had the same Loire Valley wine (I really do not remember if it was a Pouilly Fume or a Sancerre, but either one would go well with shellfish.) that was not available at Sabatini's two days prior.  I told her to go ahead and ask for it.  Off the server when to check.  Not surprisingly, he returned empty handed.  However, he had a story.  "I'm sorry, there is only one bottle of that wine left on the ship.  So, if it is alright with you, it will take me a few minutes to go to the Botticelli Dining Room and bring it back."  Thar was very OK with us.  That server did receive an enhanced tip for going a step farther than the Sabatini's server in providing customer satisfaction.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, XBGuy said:

However, he had a story.  "I'm sorry, there is only one bottle of that wine left on the ship.  So, if it is alright with you, it will take me a few minutes to go to the Botticelli Dining Room and bring it back."  Thar was very OK with us. 

Interesting.  I wonder if they have a computerized inventory, including location of every label they carry?

 

To one of your other posts, I sometimes wonder if they are selling off supplies and looking to replace/refresh the current wine list, but don't bother stroking off sold out labels.  

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, XBGuy said:

it seems to me that the wine offerings on Princess have seriously declined

It's not your imagination.  For a while there, Princess had a very credible wine program with a savvy department head stocking ships with a nice variety of wines at prices that were far better than at any shoreside restaurant.  Wines ranged from "slightly more than I pay at Total" to maybe a 1.5x markup, and there were labels like Two Hands and Rombauer that might not be household names but were welcomed by those in the know, and enjoyed by people who were trying them for the first time.  Now, the quality of the wines has decreased while the prices have increased.  Princess seems to have regressed to the mean in terms of mass market lines.  When we first started cruising as a family, Princess' wine program (both onboard selections and generous corkage policy) was a huge factor in getting us to choose the brand over its competitors.  Not 100% sure I would arrive at the same conclusion if I were starting from scratch today.  

[voljeep]

5 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

It's not your imagination.  For a while there, Princess had a very credible wine program with a savvy department head stocking ships with a nice variety of wines at prices that were far better than at any shoreside restaurant.  Wines ranged from "slightly more than I pay at Total" to maybe a 1.5x markup, and there were labels like Two Hands and Rombauer that might not be household names but were welcomed by those in the know, and enjoyed by people who were trying them for the first time.  Now, the quality of the wines has decreased while the prices have increased.  Princess seems to have regressed to the mean in terms of mass market lines.  When we first started cruising as a family, Princess' wine program (both onboard selections and generous corkage policy) was a huge factor in getting us to choose the brand over its competitors.  Not 100% sure I would arrive at the same conclusion if I were starting from scratch today.  

and no Vines on the new builds ...

[JimmyVWine]

1 minute ago, voljeep said:

and no Vines on the new builds ...

The outward and obvious physical manifestation of changes to the wine program that they probably hoped were taking place invisibly behind the scenes. 

[c-boy]

20 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

The outward and obvious physical manifestation of changes to the wine program that they probably hoped were taking place invisibly behind the scenes. 

 sales nationally have been lagging behind beer & spirits, after coming out of the covid recession.  Any business would have to be hard pressed to carry a large number of varietals in great numbers expecting to move 45-50% of the inventory in sales. 

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, c-boy said:

 sales nationally have been lagging behind beer & spirits, after coming out of the covid recession.  Any business would have to be hard pressed to carry a large number of varietals in great numbers expecting to move 45-50% of the inventory in sales. 

U.S. Wine consumption (per capita) has been on a constant curve both pre and post Covid.  No noticeable change.  Granted, that curve is a downward one, but it is a slow downward curve and has been constant, really since 2010. The drop is about .3 liters per person per year, or the equivalent of 2 fewer glasses per person...per year.  And I'm not at all sure how that translates to consumption on a cruise ship.  Do people follow the overall trend outcome when on vacation?  And how do the drink packages factor in?  When a package covers a guest for both a $15 glass of wine and a $7 beer, might they "splurge" and get the wine instead?  Paying out of pocket at a bar, one might opt for the cheaper option.  When the drinks are pre-paid, human nature is to opt for the higher priced option to maximize package value.  All of this is known to Princess and unknown to us.    

Edited September 28, 2023 by JimmyVWine