Any Winos Sail Viking?

[LindaS272]

On our trip where DH (above) got tipsy at 11,000 feet in Cusco while eating cuy, we had just been downtown during the Solstice festival & parade. The parade was packed with people streaming along behind religious icons being carried high above their heads—and bands playing noisily. Afterwards, the festival got going with several city blocks set up with tents for local families and their food. On display outside each tent were enormous bushels of roasted cuy piled high. Not surprised that it was the meal of choice since the nearby cathedral has a giant painting inside of the Last Supper with a roast cuy in front of Jesus!

[oskidunker]

17 hours ago, Goosebear Mum said:

Do Americans have a less derogatory meaning of wino? In the UK it’s used to describe those who are habitually drunk on the cheapest stuff, and are usually homeless people.  Certainly not something I’d ever wish to describe someone on a cruise as…. 

same in the US. A more apt description might be wine connoisseur

 

 

 

[wine-wine-wine]

17 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

 

I don’t think I have heard the term wino used in the US other than playfully in more than 30 years. Apart from judgmental, teetotaling relatives that is! 🤣

[CCWineLover]

33 minutes ago, wine-wine-wine said:

I don’t think I have heard the term wino used in the US other than playfully in more than 30 years. Apart from judgmental, teetotaling relatives that is! 🤣

Totally agree!  "Playfully" is the perfect word.

I can relate.  Wine connoisseur might be more true, but to me that phrase has the true negative connotations - a polite way of saying "wine snob".

This post did draw out all the California "people who enjoy wine", didn't it.

[RobEsson]

14 minutes ago, wine-wine-wine said:

I don’t think I have heard the term wino used in the US other than playfully in more than 30 years. Apart from judgmental, teetotaling relatives that is! 🤣

But with a screen name like yours, I'm guessing you're one of the teetotalers, eh?

I was thinking about my only trip so far on Viking which was Ancient Adriatic Treasures 13 months ago. Did I see anyone drunk? No. Did I see any people who were clearly enjoying themselves without being obnoxious? Yep, lots, including, I hope (meaning not obnoxious) myself. Would I dream of driving a car or something similar after my dinner drinks and perhaps an after dinner liqueur? Good grief - NO! I will happily navigate the halls to my cabin after having enjoyed myself ...

[notjaded]

23 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Totally agree!  "Playfully" is the perfect word.

I can relate.  Wine connoisseur might be more true, but to me that phrase has the true negative connotations - a polite way of saying "wine snob".

This post did draw out all the California "people who enjoy wine", didn't it.

OP here. “Wino” sure got a lot of attention, and great information from the group. Glad that most knew I was using the term in an endearing manner. 

[RobEsson]

5 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

the nearby cathedral has a giant painting inside of the Last Supper with a roast cuy in front of Jesus!

... and the Lord looks remarkably ... Quechuan (South American Indiginous)! [In fairness of course the painters back then had very little to go on, not that perhaps we in the West have necessarily been lots better ...]

[notjaded]

OP here. Love all the information presented here. Was surprised to read here that, like Seabourn and Silversea, Viking allows one to bring their own alcohol aboard.

 

So, I Googled alcohol import allowance for Great Britain, where we are picking up our cruise, and found:

---------------------------------

Alcohol allowance

How much you can bring depends on the type of alcohol. You can bring in:

• beer - 42 litres
• wine (still) - 18 litres

You can also bring in either:

• spirits and other liquors over 22% alcohol - 4 litres
• sparkling wine, fortified wine (for example port, sherry) and other alcoholic drinks up to 22% alcohol (not including beer or still wine) - 9 litres

You can split this last allowance, for example you could bring 4.5 litres of fortified wine and 2 litres of spirits (both half of your allowance).

---------------------------------------

 

Looks like we can easily bring a case of a favorite wine with us and my favorite Wino will be pleased.

 

Thanks again for your help with this pressing problem! 🙃

[Hockeyump]

You can buy wine in the UK so no need to pack a case 🤣

[KBs mum]

3 hours ago, notjaded said:

OP here. Love all the information presented here. Was surprised to read here that, like Seabourn and Silversea, Viking allows one to bring their own alcohol aboard.

 

So, I Googled alcohol import allowance for Great Britain, where we are picking up our cruise, and found:

---------------------------------

Alcohol allowance

How much you can bring depends on the type of alcohol. You can bring in:

• beer - 42 litres
• wine (still) - 18 litres

You can also bring in either:

• spirits and other liquors over 22% alcohol - 4 litres
• sparkling wine, fortified wine (for example port, sherry) and other alcoholic drinks up to 22% alcohol (not including beer or still wine) - 9 litres

You can split this last allowance, for example you could bring 4.5 litres of fortified wine and 2 litres of spirits (both half of your allowance).

---------------------------------------

 

Looks like we can easily bring a case of a favorite wine with us and my favorite Wino will be pleased.

 

Thanks again for your help with this pressing problem! 🙃

Look up Majestic (a chain of wine/spirit shops) to see if there is one convenient. They have wine from all over the world, can be ordered online for collection from the shop. They have somellier trained staff in each branch who can suggest alternatives if they don't have your first choice. 

Most large supermarkets also have a reasonable selection. 

 

Chile produces some very good Champagne style wines, same grape varieties and techniques, but £10-15 a bottle instead of the French inflated prices

[Mich3554]

On 11/14/2023 at 10:59 PM, notjaded said:

OP here. Love all the information presented here. Was surprised to read here that, like Seabourn and Silversea, Viking allows one to bring their own alcohol aboard.

 

So, I Googled alcohol import allowance for Great Britain, where we are picking up our cruise, and found:

---------------------------------

Alcohol allowance

How much you can bring depends on the type of alcohol. You can bring in:

• beer - 42 litres
• wine (still) - 18 litres

You can also bring in either:

• spirits and other liquors over 22% alcohol - 4 litres
• sparkling wine, fortified wine (for example port, sherry) and other alcoholic drinks up to 22% alcohol (not including beer or still wine) - 9 litres

You can split this last allowance, for example you could bring 4.5 litres of fortified wine and 2 litres of spirits (both half of your allowance).

---------------------------------------

 

Looks like we can easily bring a case of a favorite wine with us and my favorite Wino will be pleased.

 

Thanks again for your help with this pressing problem! 🙃

Oh, man!  I think that by the time we left UK, we had over a case of wine we had picked up along the way and 8 bottles of scotch that DH had picked up some in duty free shops, but most in Scotland..  We managed to get the wine drunk before we got to NYC, but the 8 bottles of scotch were safely packed away in our luggage.  We were not asked about alcohol, so we said nothing.

[Bo1331]

We got the Silver beverage package.  How are the wines on that list.

[KBs mum]

15 hours ago, Bo1331 said:

We got the Silver beverage package.  How are the wines on that list

The package is a means of paying for non included drinks. There are no items exclusive to it

[OnTheJourney]

On 11/13/2023 at 4:14 PM, notjaded said:

If one is a lover of quality red wine, would one be disappointed with Viking's complementary selections?

Not being any sort of wine connoisseur, I've been fine with whatever red or white is offered. Not fussy. One time we had complimentary silver spirits package but I didn't even think to choose from it. Most of the wines are really too dry for me anyway, but I've gotten used to drinking dry or semi-dry wine on cruises so it's all good. Otherwise I never buy anything but sweeter wine at home.

 

On our recent Mississippi cruise, one of the presentations was by the chef, explaining all about the food prep on board, etc. but it also included numbers on  how much or how many of certain items were consumed. His one comment was, "you guys drink aLOT of wine.."  😁   Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Don't drink and drive.

Edited November 20, 2023 by OnTheJourney

[gardening_diva]

On 11/19/2023 at 8:36 AM, Bo1331 said:

We got the Silver beverage package.  How are the wines on that list.

In terms of which wines by the glass are included in SSBP - we've found it very disappointing on Orion so far. We'd expected to see at least an example of each (popular) grape type available per glass, but nope! Several Italian varieties, 1 or 2 USA red & white. That's about it. When we finally chose a glass that seemed suitable for our meal they'd run out of it. 

We're on a cruise to/around Australia & there's only 1 (yes, 1) Australian wine available in the package. Now that we've made our first stop in Australia we're hoping that they've brought new Aussie stocks onboard. Remains to be seen how many of those will make it into the package though.

Plenty available by the bottle (which SSBP gets you a discount on). But we like to try different labels so by the bottle is not ideal for us.

Also, don't expect to find a sommelier to help you choose. There aren't any (or at least we haven't found any yet!)

On the plus side - the wine pairings with the Chef's Table menus have been reasonable.

[CCWineLover]

11 hours ago, gardening_diva said:

In terms of which wines by the glass are included in SSBP - we've found it very disappointing on Orion so far. We'd expected to see at least an example of each (popular) grape type available per glass, but nope! Several Italian varieties, 1 or 2 USA red & white. That's about it. When we finally chose a glass that seemed suitable for our meal they'd run out of it. 

We're on a cruise to/around Australia & there's only 1 (yes, 1) Australian wine available in the package. Now that we've made our first stop in Australia we're hoping that they've brought new Aussie stocks onboard. Remains to be seen how many of those will make it into the package though.

Plenty available by the bottle (which SSBP gets you a discount on). But we like to try different labels so by the bottle is not ideal for us.

Also, don't expect to find a sommelier to help you choose. There aren't any (or at least we haven't found any yet!)

On the plus side - the wine pairings with the Chef's Table menus have been reasonable.

Yes, it is sad - changes have happened to SSP for wine lovers - which to me means SSP is truly now the best deal for cocktail drinkers and not wine folks.

They used to have so many wines by the glass and since COVID have cut way back on those available by the glass on the wine list - forcing people to buy a bottle if they want something different.  No longer can you use SSP (or pay) for just sampling a lot of different wines.

That being said - the fact that you can bring your own wine onboard for free does make up for it a little bit.  We now always try to get some for onboard and in ports.  Barcelona is great since there is a pretty decent little wine/spirits place just before you get on the ship (you pay a bit more but don't have to haul it very far).

 

[ARDXXX]

We are on the same Orion cruise and I would like to add a little amendment. There is a sum total of No Australian whites or reds on the SS package, there is one Austrian white, and at the moment (as of last night) No New Zealand wines, they had one white but ran out ages ago! No Chilean wines on the package and they ran out of the Italian red that I like days and days ago. Every time they reprint the list there are fewer to choose from, oh and one of the Californian whites was finished as well many days ago. We may be getting some fresh stocks soon they inform me as some arrived in Darwin apparently.

[kahuna21]

We will be new on Viking, in a penthouse jr suite. Is this correct?: we can have bottles of wine delivered to our suite at no charge? And we can take a bottle from our room to a bar, open it and drink it, no corkage, no problem? Thanks for clearing this up for us!

[millybess]

13 minutes ago, kahuna21 said:

We will be new on Viking, in a penthouse jr suite. Is this correct?: we can have bottles of wine delivered to our suite at no charge? And we can take a bottle from our room to a bar, open it and drink it, no corkage, no problem? Thanks for clearing this up for us!

In our experience in a PS, our steward would have a bottle of wine delivered to our suite everyday if we wanted it. When it became too much, we would store it in our luggage for our circuitous trip home.  Again, in our experience, the first few days we received the wine we liked which wasn't house wine -- usually a Chianti or a Merlot.  But towards the end of the cruise, we were receiving an okay house wine, which wasn't worth storing in our luggage to be honest.

 

If you are talking about room service delivering bottles of wine to your suite, we've never done that.  But I will say, that if you have the SSBP you can walk down the hall and get some nice glasses of wine from the Explorer's Lounge which is what we often do.  If you don't have the SSBP then you can put it on your bill.

 

Yes, you can take a bottle of wine wherever, whether it is something you brought on board, or something your steward left in your room, it is free corkage.

 

Enjoy!

[deec]

If you find a wine you want frequently the Bars will keep a bottle for you

[millybess]

20 hours ago, ARDXXX said:

........and they ran out of the Italian red that I like days and days ago. .......oh and one of the Californian whites was finished as well many days ago.

 

2 minutes ago, deec said:

If you find a wine you want frequently the Bars will keep a bottle for you

Depending on how you much like it because they might run out 😊

[deec]

32 minutes ago, millybess said:

 

Depending on how you much like it because they might run out 😊

that has happened more than once!!! 🙂

[millybess]

31 minutes ago, deec said:

that has happened more than once!!! 🙂

Unfortunately, yes 🥲

[Mich3554]

23 hours ago, kahuna21 said:

We will be new on Viking, in a penthouse jr suite. Is this correct?: we can have bottles of wine delivered to our suite at no charge? And we can take a bottle from our room to a bar, open it and drink it, no corkage, no problem? Thanks for clearing this up for us!

This is correct.  On our last cruise, we did whatever vineyard there was an excursion at…..and bought wine.  By the end of the cruise, we realized we needed to drink at least a bottle/day, or we were going to be hauling wine home along with the 8 bottles of scotch.  
So we brought a bottle of wine every evening we went to dinner (both WC and the Restaurant).  They open it, pour it and refill glasses as necessary.  

[MikeyB]

On 11/24/2023 at 8:56 PM, CCWineLover said:

Yes, it is sad - changes have happened to SSP for wine lovers - which to me means SSP is truly now the best deal for cocktail drinkers and not wine folks.

They used to have so many wines by the glass and since COVID have cut way back on those available by the glass on the wine list - forcing people to buy a bottle if they want something different.  No longer can you use SSP (or pay) for just sampling a lot of different wines.

That being said - the fact that you can bring your own wine onboard for free does make up for it a little bit.  We now always try to get some for onboard and in ports.  Barcelona is great since there is a pretty decent little wine/spirits place just before you get on the ship (you pay a bit more but don't have to haul it very far).

 

Hi, stop the madness.  On my current cruise there are 46 wines from all over the world that are $8 US dollars.  Reds white Chilean Australian etc.  Lots of choices. Some are $9.  My complaint is theire are not better wines selling for lets say $13 or $15.  For the average wine drinkers there are lots of choices.  I suggest bringing your favorite on board and not complain to others.