Wine survey

[brianvdb]

Just curious on how different people enjoy wine onboard. Thanks for responding.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

We do the wine package for dinner and bring our own to enjoy on the veranda.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I bring a bottle or two onboard to enjoy in my stateroom and then purchase an individual glass at dinner on some nights.

 

[MillauFr]

I like to bring my own wine. We like Oregon Pinot Noir and Disney doesn't have a good selection. I don't think they have any well aged bottles.

 

[DCLObsessed]

Brought my own for the first time on our B2B #6 and #7 cruise - planning on doing it from now on. It was nice to have it in our own room while relaxing/getting ready for the evening.

 

[tvguy]

When we were younger, we drank wine. Now that we are older we savor our wine. A glass with dinner is enough.
We are just off a 7 day cruise (Celebrity). Bought two bottles of wine that covered 4 days, the three other days we bought wine by the glass.

 

[lklgoodman]

Sometimes I'll have a glass of wine at dinner, other times I'll have a cocktail at dinner. I just buy it by the glass because I don't always know what I'll want.

 

[Calantha]

We brought wine to share in our rooms (seven adults) and then I would sometimes get a cocktail on deck and I got one on CC, too.

 

[knewton64]

two weeks ago, brought two bottles of French wine onboard the Dream & pre-ordered a bottle of Skywalker Reisling wine -



overall - put me down for "bring your own"



T.T.F.N.
&
CHEERS Y'ALL

 

[tvguy]

We kept our Sommelier hopping. They had a master list of wines on board and my wife picked two bottles from the list. We selected the bottles 24 hours in advance. Apparently the main dining room and each of the 3 specialty restaurants has their own wine inventory. The list didn't indicate where those wines were, just that they were on board. The two bottles my wife selected were the last of each, and each were in the last place he looked. He liked our selections and he was amused that we managed to find two hard to find bottles. He was a great guy.,

He also mentioned that they had found a bottle of wine that had apparently been on board since 2009. He said a ship is a perfect place to store wine, controlled temperature and almost constant rocking keep the corks moist. But the lady that ordered it rejected,....after it had been opened,.. because the label was coming off. Celebrity's policy is you are not charged if you reject a bottle. And the Sommelier's are good with that too, because THEY get to consume rejected wine. He said is was in perfect shape other than the label.

 

[starvenger]

I think that if you enjoy drinking wine you should take advantage of the carry-on allowance, since it allows you to have a wider range of choices and you aren't subject to the usual markup (only the retail one). Yes, you are subject to a corking fee (if the waiter decides to charge you), but the bottle + corking fee is usually going to cost you less than the cost of a similar bottle of wine onboard. And of course, you can skip that issue entirely by just uncorking it in your cabin.

Onboard, I've purchased the wine package. I don't think any of the listed bottles were over $15 retail, but still, they were good wines, and represented good value versus the marked up price.

 

[brianvdb]

We kept our Sommelier hopping. They had a master list of wines on board and my wife picked two bottles from the list. We selected the bottles 24 hours in advance. Apparently the main dining room and each of the 3 specialty restaurants has their own wine inventory. The list didn't indicate where those wines were, just that they were on board. The two bottles my wife selected were the last of each, and each were in the last place he looked. He liked our selections and he was amused that we managed to find two hard to find bottles. He was a great guy.,

He also mentioned that they had found a bottle of wine that had apparently been on board since 2009. He said a ship is a perfect place to store wine, controlled temperature and almost constant rocking keep the corks moist. But the lady that ordered it rejected,....after it had been opened,.. because the label was coming off. Celebrity's policy is you are not charged if you reject a bottle. And the Sommelier's are good with that too, because THEY get to consume rejected wine. He said is was in perfect shape other than the label.

When you order a bottle of wine in the MDR, is it delivered by a Sommelier (like in Palo)? Or do you have to specifically request his/her services?

The master wine list you referred to... was that on DCL?

Good info from all the posts so far, thanks everyone!

 

[brianvdb]

I think that if you enjoy drinking wine you should take advantage of the carry-on allowance, since it allows you to have a wider range of choices and you aren't subject to the usual markup (only the retail one). Yes, you are subject to a corking fee (if the waiter decides to charge you), but the bottle + corking fee is usually going to cost you less than the cost of a similar bottle of wine onboard. And of course, you can skip that issue entirely by just uncorking it in your cabin.

Onboard, I've purchased the wine package. I don't think any of the listed bottles were over $15 retail, but still, they were good wines, and represented good value versus the marked up price.

Do you typically bring the wine all the way from home (i.e., pack it in your airplane checked luggage)? Or do you buy it locally in your port of embarkation?

 

[tvguy]

When you order a bottle of wine in the MDR, is it delivered by a Sommelier (like in Palo)? Or do you have to specifically request his/her services?

The master wine list you referred to... was that on DCL?

Good info from all the posts so far, thanks everyone!

When we were on Disney in the MDR the Sommelier brought the bottle, poured it, and stored it if there was wine left. They stopped by the table the first night to ask if we would be requiring their services, but your server can ask them to come by. I don't recall if there was a master wine list on DCL, but I have to believe there is one. My comments were about Celebrity.

 

[MillauFr]

Do you typically bring the wine all the way from home (i.e., pack it in your airplane checked luggage)? Or do you buy it locally in your port of embarkation?

I bring it from home. I reuse the Styrofoam shippers and check them on the airplane. We have free bags on Alaska airlines

 

[starvenger]

Do you typically bring the wine all the way from home (i.e., pack it in your airplane checked luggage)? Or do you buy it locally in your port of embarkation?

To be honest, since I live in Canada I haven't tried bringing it from home yet. It's mostly because I'd have to declare the wine at customs, and don't want to spend more time in the pre-clearance area than I need to. I did buy a couple of those wine traveler pouches though for when I buy alcohol to bring home. I think there's a bit of a placebo effect with regards to them, but they haven't failed me, so I suppose that I can't really complain.

Anyway, Florida has wine stores with a pretty varied selection, so realistically if I'm looking for a good but-relatively inexpensive bottle of wine I can find it.

 

[kiford]

I like to match my wine to my meal so I never know in advance what I'll want to drink. My vacation is also intended to be relatively brain-free so I just ask for a pairing with my entree and let someone who knows more than I do use their brain.

I don't typically drink wine on a cruise outside of dinner (usually cocktails instead) but if I do, then I won't know what I feel like having until I decide to have a glass so bringing our own on board doesn't really work for us.

We have purchased wine at various ports (mostly in Europe) with the intention of bringing them home but a few times they didn't go home with us and we drank them on the balcony.

I have ordered from the onboard gifts to have a bottle of wine waiting for us in the stateroom which is nice. I may or may not do that on our next one. Sometimes we like to drink it while sitting on the verandah watching the ship pull out of port. But our last cruise was on the Fantasy and we went to Meridian, got a glass of champagne and watched from there and we may do that again (sailing Fantasy again). I'm a bit torn.

In general, it's just not convenient for us to bring our own bottle and the price differential between buying by the glass when and as I feel like, with lots more selection than if I had my own, just generally isn't worth the hassle for us.

 

[MillauFr]

To be honest, since I live in Canada I haven't tried bringing it from home yet. It's mostly because I'd have to declare the wine at customs, and don't want to spend more time in the pre-clearance area than I need to.

The Canadian customs are probably similar to the US. We visit wineries in BC and buy when we are there. US customs never has cared that we exceed our duty free limit of alcohol. I am fully prepared to pay the 21 cents per bottle in duties but I'm sure the officers don't want to bother filling out a bunch of forms to collect $5 in duties.

 

[kathi]

We bring 4 bottles on board (usually champagne) and then will order a bottle each at dinner (he likes white and I like red). If we run out, we will pick up more in port to enjoy on our veranda.

 

[starvenger]

The Canadian customs are probably similar to the US. We visit wineries in BC and buy when we are there. US customs never has cared that we exceed our duty free limit of alcohol. I am fully prepared to pay the 21 cents per bottle in duties but I'm sure the officers don't want to bother filling out a bunch of forms to collect $5 in duties.

It's less about the duties and more about getting delayed in the border preclearance zone (we have US immigration officers at most major Canadian airports) and missing your flight because CBP wants to be nitpicky about something.

True story: I once barely made my flight after getting referred to secondary inspection because I did not have my physical university degree (you know, the one that gets framed and hung on the wall) to accompany my TN work visa. Waited a couple of hours to see an officer, who commented that the guy in the booth was "wasting his time" with a frivolous matter.

Good times!