Captain and Commodore Wine Packages

[Megabear2]

We've not had one of these since our last staycation but a very grateful client has very generously given an unexpected bonus to us as a thanks for working on our last holiday.  We though it would be nice to treat ourselves to a wine package as a result but I am unable to find either an upto date menu or the included bottles or the current price.

 

Does anyone have any idea where I can find this information?  I can see a telephone number but don't really want to call until I can see which wines are on offer.

 

Thank you.

[Mike Senior]

Leaflet-Wine-Packages-23-(POC) (4).pdf

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, Mike Senior said:

Leaflet-Wine-Packages-23-(POC) (4).pdf 1.29 MB · 11 downloads

Thank you very much.  Have you by any chance bought one recently and if so how was the availability of the wines onboard? We are looking at the Commodore but the only review I've seen mentioning it I'd dated 18 months ago and suggests there were shortages with cheaper substitutes.

[purplesea]

I took the Captain's wine package when we were on Britannia  in September and it worked out cheaper than buying the bottles individually.  

There didn't seem to be any problems with availablity.

Prices on alcohol had gone up between our cruise in May on Arvia and Britannia cruise.

 

[mercury7289]

1 hour ago, Mike Senior said:

Leaflet-Wine-Packages-23-(POC) (4).pdf 1.29 MB · 17 downloads

Mike, is this wine package list current please?

[Selbourne]

9 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Thank you very much.  Have you by any chance bought one recently and if so how was the availability of the wines onboard? We are looking at the Commodore but the only review I've seen mentioning it I'd dated 18 months ago and suggests there were shortages with cheaper substitutes.

I had wondered if they’d done away with them, as I’ve not seen them promoted on any ship this year. Just a thought, but we bought a wine package once and decided that we wouldn’t again. The discount wasn’t huge and you have to choose from a restricted selection. Also, now that P&O has done way away with the ability to keep unfinished bottles in the MDRs (with a few minor exceptions) they have far more choice of wines by the glass and the prices of the 250ml glasses are no more than one-third of the price of the 750ml bottle. I think that P&O have shot themselves in the foot with this policy change as the result, in our case, has been that we have spent much less on wine during each cruise than we did previously when we always had a bottle of red and a bottle of white on the go!

[purplesea]

19 minutes ago, mercury7289 said:

Mike, is this wine package list current please?

Yes, that is the one I had on Britannia.

[Megabear2]

23 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I had wondered if they’d done away with them, as I’ve not seen them promoted on any ship this year. Just a thought, but we bought a wine package once and decided that we wouldn’t again. The discount wasn’t huge and you have to choose from a restricted selection. Also, now that P&O has done way away with the ability to keep unfinished bottles in the MDRs (with a few minor exceptions) they have far more choice of wines by the glass and the prices of the 250ml glasses are no more than one-third of the price of the 750ml bottle. I think that P&O have shot themselves in the foot with this policy change as the result, in our case, has been that we have spent much less on wine during each cruise than we did previously when we always had a bottle of red and a bottle of white on the go!

Normally we don't buy that much wine apart from Cloudy Bay Sauvignon as a treat when we go to the Limelight Club.  However as we have been given a £500 unexpected gift we thought a dozen bottles pre ordered would be a nice thing to spend it on (particularly as the client told us to "have a drink on him".  We only drink white wine so no problem with having two on the go! The Commodore appeals because we can have a bottle of port and my OH has one every night.  We can always take it with us as required and also can have a bottle in the room if we want.  I'm pretty confident we can finish a bottle a day between us. 

 

Looking at the wine lists on offer elsewhere a lot of the wines are approaching £14 for the better quality ones so as non wine buffs there are a few we know on the list that we'd be happy with. We recognise quite a few on the list so that's a benefit.

Edited November 21, 2023 by Megabear2

[Cathygh]

I've been drinking Picpoul from the wine package and no problems so far🤞

[Megabear2]

23 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

I've been drinking Picpoul from the wine package and no problems so far🤞

Excellent... which package as I can't see it on the list!

 

Leaflet-Wine-Packages-23-(POC) (4)-2.pdf

[Mike Senior]

La Viste Picpoul de Pinet Côteaux du Languedoc, Captain's collection

[Megabear2]

48 minutes ago, Mike Senior said:

La Viste Picpoul de Pinet Côteaux du Languedoc, Captain's collection

Told you we knew nothing about wine ..

[Chrisstew007]

We are on the xmas G340 cruise on Iona. We have decided against the drinks package as we get a lot of free drinks in the casino. I thought 24 bottles through the wine package would make sense over 14 days and concerned about actually getting served through the normal waiter and tablet.  I have struggled to get through on the phone to order and discuss how it works. Do we get a choice? Can we have them all delivered to the suite at the outset? Any adv8ce would be appreciated.

[Mike Senior]

My understanding is that you are given a voucher per bottle which you present when ordering a bottle. You choose from the relevant purchased package which wine you want to use the voucher on. The package can be bought onboard ship at the same base rate as shown on the pdf. Whether you get any Peninsular club discount (whether buying online or onboard) I do not know

 

Mike

Edited November 24, 2023 by Mike Senior
hopefully clarification!

[purplesea]

I bought the Captain's package a couple of times and last time when arriving in our cabin there was a voucher which I took to the dining room with me. This was exchanged for a booklet for the number of bottles purchased. For each bottle of wine required you filled out one of the pages in the booklet and handed it to the wine waiter.

I only used ours in the main dining room, but I believe it can be used at any bar, but I'm not certain of that fact.

I purchased it in advance by phoning, but didn't get Penisular discount.

I hope this helps.

[Cathygh]

On 11/23/2023 at 4:58 PM, Megabear2 said:

Excellent... which package as I can't see it on the list!

 

Leaflet-Wine-Packages-23-(POC) (4)-2.pdf 1.29 MB · 16 downloads

It's the Captains package 

Sorry for the late reply no signal most of the time!

[Megabear2]

Just now, Cathygh said:

It's the Captains package 

Sorry for the late reply no signal most of the time!

Thank you.  I managed to purchase today. I was the operator's last customer before he leaves P&O.  No doubt the wait will be worthwhile.

 

Hope your holiday is going well.

[kayelbee]

I understand the Captain's Wine Package is £230 for 12 bottles but I cannot see the wines listed on the package as being available to buy a la carte. 

I take it there is good availability of the wines included in the package, I quite like a Gavi and I can only see it on the Captain's package, would this generally be available, I don't want to buy the package only to find there is a very limited selection actually available.

Also are the wines on the Captain's package generally of a reasonable quality (I appreciate it's matter of taste but in general terms)

Thanks 

[kalos]

 

[AlanCruise]

We had the Captain's package on Ariva earlier this year.  We found a sample of the wines on the Al a Carte menu and in general we saved £2 or £3 per bottle. We had no problems with availability.
You can buy the package on board from the waiters and will get a book of vouchers which you fill when you want to order one of the bottles.
If you have status with P&O you will get your discount on the purchase.

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, AlanCruise said:

We had the Captain's package on Ariva earlier this year.  We found a sample of the wines on the Al a Carte menu and in general we saved £2 or £3 per bottle. We had no problems with availability.
You can buy the package on board from the waiters and will get a book of vouchers which you fill when you want to order one of the bottles.
If you have status with P&O you will get your discount on the purchase.

No discount I'm afraid. Bought mine on Friday - Commodore.

[terrierjohn]

5 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

No discount I'm afraid. Bought mine on Friday - Commodore.

Why no Peninsular discount? Surely you would get it if you bought onboard, always assuming you had spent all your OBC?

[lebreos]

3 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Why no Peninsular discount? Surely you would get it if you bought onboard, always assuming you had spent all your OBC?

if you have no OBC then i think the discount would be applied. weve always bought at start of cruise and its used OBC. We had it on Arviva in august- used in MDR, Sindu, and diner and show club - senior moment of name. with no issues and availability of all the bottles we asked for - mostly whites.

[Megabear2]

4 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Why no Peninsular discount? Surely you would get it if you bought onboard, always assuming you had spent all your OBC?

I've no idea why not.  I asked was there a Peninsular discount and was told no as the wine is already discounted by around 20%. I have checked my bank account just to make sure and was charged £334. 

 

Before asking my question here I did some quick searches on CC and found some old 2017 posts which mentioned no discount on packages for wine having been recently introduced to t&Cs so I assumed still in place.

 

There was talk back then about getting discount onboard once obc used up but as we have substantial amount of £780 we wouldn't get it on the wine package at that point either.

 

From 2017:

 

"

The P&O Advice web page still shows the following:

 

 

Wine Packages

 

Various wine packages are available. Wine packages can be consumed either in the restaurant or in your cabin. Please note loyalty discount will not be applied when purchasing wine packages.

 

 

Please note that these packages are non-refundable and may not be exchanged for another item, or for on board credit".

Edited November 28, 2023 by Megabear2

[Selbourne]

6 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

I asked was there a Peninsular discount and was told no as the wine is already discounted by around 20%.

Yet with the Black Friday offers (also 20%) you could still get your loyalty discount deducted 🤔

 

Given that these packages restrict your choice and, for higher loyalty tier customers the discount would effectively only be 10%, I can’t imagine that they sell too many of them?