Wine packages are back.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

My apologies if there’s already been a thread started on this. I’m on vacation on the Sapphire heading to Antarctica and prefer not to spend a lot of time online.
 

The Sapphire is now offering wine packages. She has 5 sommeliers onboard. One of them did mention that he would prefer a white package separate from a red package. Hopefully this program will expand.
 

The selection of wines has been excellent so far. Very good to excellent reds of course have a bigger selection than whites. But there are 3 different premier level champagnes on board which is making this girl very happy. 
 

I am not a huge fan of the Plus or Premier packages but given the length of this sailing (34 days) & the remoteness of our itinerary  it was just too much work to bring my wine with me. 
 

If I had known about this wine package it might have changed the math significantly for me. 
 

As it is I’ll be using the Premier package for the first leg. Now I might use this wine package instead of buying the Premier for the second leg. Jury is still out on that. 
 

On a side note my friends who bought this sailing as a single booking were unsuccessful in buying Plus package for the first leg only. They talked to bar managers and guest services and while they wanted to help, try as they might the charge kept coming up for all 34 days and they could not override it. 
 

It would be great if folks currently onboard would post if the ship they are on had wine packages as well. 

[GonzoWCS]

Good news!

 

Cheers

[PacnGoNow]

32 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

My apologies if there’s already been a thread started on this. I’m on vacation on the Sapphire heading to Antarctica and prefer not to spend a lot of time online.
 

The Sapphire is now offering wine packages. She has 5 sommeliers onboard. One of them did mention that he would prefer a white package separate from a red package. Hopefully this program will expand.
 

The selection of wines has been excellent so far. Very good to excellent reds of course have a bigger selection than whites. But there are 3 different premier level champagnes on board which is making this girl very happy. 
 

I am not a huge fan of the Plus or Premier packages but given the length of this sailing (34 days) & the remoteness of our itinerary  it was just too much work to bring my wine with me. 
 

If I had known about this wine package it might have changed the math significantly for me. 
 

As it is I’ll be using the Premier package for the first leg. Now I might use this wine package instead of buying the Premier for the second leg. Jury is still out on that. 
 

On a side note my friends who bought this sailing as a single booking were unsuccessful in buying Plus package for the first leg only. They talked to bar managers and guest services and while they wanted to help, try as they might the charge kept coming up for all 34 days and they could not override it. 
 

It would be great if folks currently onboard would post if the ship they are on had wine packages as well. 

The food and beverage manager is Habib from Turkey.  He walks around constantly in the piazza area.  Ask to talk with him, if you have problems or questions regarding the wine packages.

 

He’s a great guy, just sailed on there for 47 days.  We got off Dec 1st.

[PacnGoNow]

6 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

The food and beverage manager is Habib from Turkey.  He walks around constantly in the piazza area.  Ask to talk with him, if you have problems or questions regarding the wine packages.

 

He’s a great guy, just sailed on there for 47 days.  We got off Dec 1st.

They did not offer this while we were OB.  Could this be a special offer due to a holiday sailing?  Xmas and New Years.

 

There are also IT guys OB.  
 

They should offer a red package and a white package.  Habib may help with that.

 

Let me know how it works out.  You will get a first impression card in your cabin very soon. Fill it out.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

13 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

The food and beverage manager is Habib from Turkey.  He walks around constantly in the piazza area.  Ask to talk with him, if you have problems or questions regarding the wine packages.

 

He’s a great guy, just sailed on there for 47 days.  We got off Dec 1st.

Yes I’ve already met Habib and totally agree. 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

3 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

They did not offer this while we were OB.  Could this be a special offer due to a holiday sailing?  Xmas and New Years.

 

There are also IT guys OB.  
 

They should offer a red package and a white package.  Habib may help with that.

 

Let me know how it works out.  You will get a first impression card in your cabin very soon. Fill it out.

That is definitely on my radar. 
on a side note the elite lounge was in Skywalkers when I sailed this ship last April and November. Now it’s if club fusion. Where was when you were on board?
 

I'm so bad I’m side tracking my own thread.  Jeez 

[PacnGoNow]

1 minute ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

That is definitely on my radar. 
on a side note the elite lounge was in Skywalkers when I sailed this ship last April and November. Now it’s if club fusion. Where was when you were on board?
 

I'm so bad I’m side tracking my own thread.  Jeez 

Okay to side track on your own thread! Lol

 

It was Skywalker’s. Participation will be better in Club Fusion, I bet.

[sad549s]

Pro tip.  If you are only purchasing the package for a the first leg of the trip and do not max out your 15 drinks for the day ….when you retire to your cabin for the evening order the remainder of your drinks for the day to be delivered to your room to “stock up” for the remaining legs of the trip. I believe that you can order 4 of any of the drinks to be delivered at once.  

[Cruise Raider]

@HaveDogWillTravel, thank you for posting this great news.  I may rethink the packages as well now the bottle packages are available.  
 

As for the packages, if you purchase them ahead of time on the website prior to your B2B cruises, you can purchase for each leg separately.  Once you are onboard, your B2B is combined under your app.  
The caveat being that if you also purchase the Princess Vacation Protection, purchasing it ahead of time will raise the cost of your insurance.  That’s no small price on longer sailings.  
 

 

 

[BlerkOne]

Similar but different on Regal

 

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Similar but different on Regal

 

Is this for a holiday sailing also?

 

Are you able to switch to all white 

or all reds ?

TIA

Edited December 3, 2023 by PacnGoNow

[BlerkOne]

Just now, PacnGoNow said:

Is this for a holiday sailing also?

It was on the Nov 12-19 Regal sailing, so in the vicinity of Thanksgiving, I suppose, but it wasn't marketed as such.

[PacnGoNow]

Just now, BlerkOne said:

It was on the Nov 12-19 Regal sailing, so in the vicinity of Thanksgiving, I suppose, but it wasn't marketed as such.

Thanks.  Interesting.

[kamelia]

17 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Are you able to switch to all white 

or all reds ?

That would definitely be a huge selling point for us - I do hope it's under consideration! 🤞

[XBGuy]

@HaveDogWillTravel, I read into your post that there is no discount on these packages if one signs up for the Plus or Premier pricing.  Am I correct in that, or did I misunderstand?

 

FWIW, the three-bottle Sparkling Wine package looks the most attractive to me.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

3 hours ago, XBGuy said:

@HaveDogWillTravel, I read into your post that there is no discount on these packages if one signs up for the Plus or Premier pricing.  Am I correct in that, or did I misunderstand?

 

FWIW, the three-bottle Sparkling Wine package looks the most attractive to me.

correct No further discount with plus or premier. 
 

@PacnGoNow Jatin in Vines said  the wine package was available on the last segment. I will say it’s super easy to miss. I just randomly saw this little half sheet of paper at vines. 
 

I will talk to Habib about this. I’ll let you know what he says. 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

5 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

They did not offer this while we were OB.  Could this be a special offer due to a holiday sailing?  Xmas and New Years.

I was given a priori knowledge of this last April when I was OB and was asked to keep it off social media. 
I have photos of those early proposed packages. Haven’t had time to compare. 
yet. Niners are winning, weather is perfect and the beer is ice cold. Jacqueline out! 
 

[kiwimum]

We had the same packages on last years Sapphire Antarctic cruise.   Maybe just for the holiday season.

[Astro Flyer]

32 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

correct No further discount with plus or premier. 
 

@PacnGoNow Jatin in Vines said  the wine package was available on the last segment. I will say it’s super easy to miss. I just randomly saw this little half sheet of paper at vines. 
 

I will talk to Habib about this. I’ll let you know what he says. 

Hopefully this time they’ll promote the wine package better than previously when it wasn’t often promoted.
 

I was disappointed when the wine packages ended & would consider them again as an alternative to carrying on wine particularly from more remote locations like your ports.

 

Thanks for the info & hopefully that will be an option on Discovery’s April TSE cruise. Although with the uncertainty of it’s availability and driving to the port will likely bring my own wine on that cruise.

 

[PacnGoNow]

46 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

correct No further discount with plus or premier. 
 

@PacnGoNow Jatin in Vines said  the wine package was available on the last segment. I will say it’s super easy to miss. I just randomly saw this little half sheet of paper at vines. 
 

I will talk to Habib about this. I’ll let you know what he says. 

I was on for 47 days and in Vines often.  Don’t remember a sign at all.  Strange.

 

I didn’t drink much because of so much ship movement for our last 3 weeks.  But, I’ll be asking on the next cruise. 😆

 

Thank you for the thread.

[kiwimum]

9 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

Hopefully this time they’ll promote the wine package better than previously when it wasn’t often promoted.
 

I was disappointed when the wine packages ended & would consider them again as an alternative to carrying on wine particularly from more remote locations like your ports.

 

Thanks for the info & hopefully that will be an option on Discovery’s April TSE cruise. Although with the uncertainty of it’s availability and driving to the port will likely bring my own wine on that cruise.

 

We had flyers left in our cabins promoting the wine packages.

Last year many of the wines were not available.   Hopefully sufficient stock has been loaded.

Edited December 3, 2023 by kiwimum

[HaveDogWillTravel]

On 12/3/2023 at 9:26 AM, PacnGoNow said:

The food and beverage manager is Habib from Turkey.  He walks around constantly in the piazza area.  Ask to talk with him, if you have problems or questions regarding the wine packages.

 

He’s a great guy, just sailed on there for 47 days.  We got off Dec 1st

I talked to Habib today. He said the wine packages are fleet wide and permanent. 

[PacnGoNow]

7 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

I talked to Habib today. He said the wine packages are fleet wide and permanent. 

Thank you for the feedback.  
 

Have a great cruise!

 

 

[LACruiser88]

We are currently on the Enchanted.  No mention of wine packages.  I'll ask tonight as one of the Sommeliers stops by at dinner every night.   🤷‍♂️

[Ken the cruiser]

Whelp, since I'm not seeing any Moscato or German Riesling on any of the various wine packages, I guess we will stick with the Plus Package for now. But thanks for letting us know!