RCI Listen! Wine lovers want fair options!

[marska]

Dear RCI,

My husband and I enjoy wine. We very much want to bring our favorites on board to enjoy as we wish; certainly this would enhance our cruise experience. We think of wine as a food choice, rather than as an alcoholic beverage. No insult intended, but your choice of wines is....well, shall we say, limited. Please forgive my saying so, but your rules regarding "Wine and Dine", "Wine Cellar", corkage fees, etc. puzzles us greatly. We do not wish to smuggle our favorites onto your lovely ship and of course we shall not do so out of respect for your rules and our desire to avoid any chance of public humiliation. We do note however, that there are other cruise lines that invite their guests to indulge their pleasures while aboard their ships.

There is much to consider when choosing how and with whom to spend our cruise dollars, and admittedly wine is a relatively minor issue. Again a puzzlement; as this is a fairly minor issue, why is it that my dear Royal has made it so...major?

My Best,

A Puzzled Passenger

[cruisegirl06]

I agree, the fact that RCL does not allow any wine to be brought aboard is a bit of an issue (and it will certainly be a consideration as I look to booking my next cruise). Princess, HAL, Celebrity, and other lines allow wine to be brought aboard, which enables wine lovers to bring wine they really like, instead of having to pick from a quite-limited list!

 

From what I have read, RCL seems to be getting a little too keen on the nickel-and-diming (alcohol policy, room service fee, chops steak, etc.)... I haven't sailed RCL in over 5 years, but unless service is vastly improved on my upcoming Voyager sailing, I will be sticking to other lines in the future. RCL does get kudos though for having incredible ships, which is why I am giving them another chance (hopefully they will win me over this time).

[whirlybird3]

I agree! My husband & I enjoy a great glass of wine with our meals. And we have several special bottles of wine in our cellar for those special occasions. Every 5 years we would take a big special cruise on our wedding anniversary and look forward to the next one in 2010. We would love to take a few special bottles of wine from our cellar on this cruise. The last anniversary cruise was to the Baltic on Holland America which allowed us to take a few bottles of wine. How sweet it was to toast our anniversary with a special bottle wine that you can only purchase from one of the wineries from Napa.

 

RCCL, please allow us to take onboard a couple of bottles of wine. ;)

[honeywell]

Graciously said by OP and I totally agree!

[alwayshappytocruise]

Beautifully written!! DH and I are in full agreement with you.

Cheers, Lynda

[MomtoCCC]

I wholeheartedly agree!!!!!

 

On our first cruise on RCCL (celebrating anniversary) we were able to bring a bottle of champagne (left over from our wedding) and a bottle of wine - it was so nice! I was so disappointed to learn that 3 years later I couldn't do this anymore...

 

I really wish RCCL would change their minds on this or at least upgrade their wine list!!!

[Cindy]

BRAVO! Very well stated, & I agree wholeheartedly!

[Bruinboy]

Add me to list of those who agree. We've done this on other cruise lines. I wish we could do it here.

[dutchess43]

From our wine lips to RCI's ears.

[aloha43]

On a positive side of things, you guys are lucky here, as at least you get a wine list, you are able order ahead, and you are able to have it waiting for you in your room.

 

For non wine drinkers, we don't have any of those options. :mad:

 

Unless it is smuggled, and I would be too chicken to do that. :D

 

Not that I don't agree with your point here, as I do.

[weegl]

Our choice of wine goes a long way in helping us enjoy our vacation. RCI really fails us in this area.

[mpbmark]

I certainly agree with the OP. It would also be greatly appreciated if the quality of the wine list was upgraded.

 

It would be my suggestion, however, that a letter or e-mail be sent to customer relations expressing the above sentiment. I very much doubt that anyone with decision-making authority is going to react to a thread on Cruise Critic.

[julia]

COULD NOT AGREE MORE!!!

 

We have not sailed RCI for several years now, and currently have a Grand Suite booked on the Jewel. I will definitely be in "comparison mode" on many items to determine if this is a cruise line we'll want to continue sailing with. We have carried on wine on each of our Princess cruises, and it definitely adds to our cruising enjoyment.

 

As for RCI's wine list selections, I have studied it online, and it is very meager to say the least!

 

Thanks to the OP for stating the obvious!

[critterchick]

As for RCI's wine list selections, I have studied it online, and it is very meager to say the least!

 

Have you studied the full wine list? What they show on their website is a very small selection of what is available. You can see the full list in the link in my signature.

 

Having said, that, I would still like to be able to bring my own wine onboard. There are some decent offerings at a fair price (but you have to be willing to spend $40+ in order to avoid a 4-5x markup), but there are so many good wines out there, I hate to be constrained. And both Celebrity and Azamara, sister lines to RCI, allow you to bring wine onboard, so it's even more annoying that RCI doesn't.

 

I have not sailed on Celebrity, but Azamara has a very nice selection of wines, many more good wines, rather than just drinkable ones, IMHO, at, in most cases, a much fairer markup, even on their lower end selections. Their wine lists (the regular and the specialty restaurants) are also found in the link in my signature.

[firefly333]

The other lines that allow you to bring wine, its ONE 750 ml BOTTLE PER PAX.

 

One bottle isn't going to make your cruise that great really??

 

If you are bringing more than one bottle elsewhere you are smuggling anyway, so why the big deal here. I don't get it.

[chipho]

Just got off a 10 day Grandeur of the Seas cruise. I purchased the 10 bottle wine & dine package to have a bottle with each dinner meal. I purchased the Diamond Package (most expensive) so I would have a full option of choices. By the 5th night, they were out of some of the wines ont the list and did not offer any substitute. Each night they continued to run out of additional selections. Lots of complaining, but no offers to make the customer happy. We just had to select the lower wines and get nickel & dimed by RCL.

 

Chip

[MomtoCCC]

The other lines that allow you to bring wine, its ONE 750 ml BOTTLE PER PAX.

 

One bottle isn't going to make your cruise that great really??

 

If you are bringing more than one bottle elsewhere you are smuggling anyway, so why the big deal here. I don't get it.

 

 

At least it is a GOOD bottle of wine! If DH and I each bring a bottle - we can usually make a bottle last for 2 dinners - we will have 4 meals with GOOD wine...

[cruisegirl06]

On HAL you can bring as much as you'd like:). Also, agreeing with the PP, as long as it is a good bottle you can have very tasty wine with dinner at least one or two nights (better than none). This is especially important on special occasions. My fiance and I are toying with doing a cruise for our honeymoon, and there are a few wines that we would LOVE to bring along (and be willing to pay a reasonable corkage fee for).

[critterchick]

The other lines that allow you to bring wine, its ONE 750 ml BOTTLE PER PAX.

 

One bottle isn't going to make your cruise that great really??

 

If you are bringing more than one bottle elsewhere you are smuggling anyway, so why the big deal here. I don't get it.

 

Princess does not restrict passengers, either, at least we've never had a problem bringing on up to 6 bottles between the two of us. And although Azamara states two bottle per stateroom, they don't seem to enforce the rule. We had four bottles in our carry on, no problem.

[TravelerThom]

The other lines that allow you to bring wine, its ONE 750 ml BOTTLE PER PAX.

 

One bottle isn't going to make your cruise that great really??

 

If you are bringing more than one bottle elsewhere you are smuggling anyway, so why the big deal here. I don't get it.

I rather doubt this broad claim. I'd like to see your documentation/ references that would substantiate this claim.

[BroncosFan2010]

Myself, DH, my parents, and 2 other cruisers in our group wholeheartly agree with you! It would be so nice to be able to bring a few of our favorite local Michigan wines with us. No way is RCCL going to have them on the wine list.

Come on RCCL.... I am thinking Princess next time and ditching the RCCL Visa card as well. This would very much help keep RCCL as a top choice for cruising.

[Happy ks]

I love it, this subject has been a pet peeve of mine ever since they started disallowing wine to be brought aboard.

 

To the OP, did you happen to send this on to RCI, or are you hoping someone from the company reads it here?

[julia]

Have you studied the full wine list? What they show on their website is a very small selection of what is available. You can see the full list in the link in my signature.

 

 

Thank you Jan for linking me to the full wine list.... I stand corrected.

 

After reviewing the full list, I will definitely NOT purchase the wine and dine package as I had decided (especially after reading here that wines on that list weren't always available). It's not worth it to me to compromise on our wine choices.

[ikelmay]

I find it particularly puzzling when their sister lines (X and Azamara) do permit limited amounts on board.

[bikn4fn]

Have you studied the full wine list? What they show on their website is a very small selection of what is available. You can see the full list in the link in my signature.

 

Having said, that, I would still like to be able to bring my own wine onboard. There are some decent offerings at a fair price (but you have to be willing to spend $40+ in order to avoid a 4-5x markup), but there are so many good wines out there, I hate to be constrained. And both Celebrity and Azamara, sister lines to RCI, allow you to bring wine onboard, so it's even more annoying that RCI doesn't.

 

I have not sailed on Celebrity, but Azamara has a very nice selection of wines, many more good wines, rather than just drinkable ones, IMHO, at, in most cases, a much fairer markup, even on their lower end selections. Their wine lists (the regular and the specialty restaurants) are also found in the link in my signature.

 

Hey Jean-long time no see. I spotted your wine list and was wondering if the same list is on all the ships. With all our cruising I never really noticed. We're getting ready for Eastern Med (Egypt) on Brilliance. Some of those wines look pretty good and we might opt for single bottles instead of the W&D package this time around.

 

Have fun on you next cruise--Tom & Sue