Experience with Wine Package

Just back from June 9th cruise on Riviera where we sailed with 4 couples. In the past we have chosen the House Select wine and beer package but decided to try the new 7 bottle wine purchase. The selections were not great but well enough to enjoy with our meals. The biggest complaint we all had, was the confusion on finding our purchased bottle. I took 35 minutes one evening to get our wine poured. We are of the opinion, a "Drink Order" first, then we will give our food order. If you didn't finish your bottle and wanted it saved for another meal, they had to go down below and find your cabin number on the saved bottle. As with the other beverage packages, preference seems to be given to those who are ordering off the wine list and I'm sure purchasing more expensive wines. The service in this department is very poor!

Cirus, thank you for this update. I am so sad to hear this. I just printed out the sample wine list for my husband so that we can decide about purchasing the wine from the package. I suppose no matter what bottle you purchase, storing is an issue. We usually run an open bottle of red and a bottle of white over the course of 2 days.

Wonder if this is a one off problem. We always splut a bottle over a couple of days. Havent been on O for a while but will be in a couple of months.

We just came off Marina- 3 weeks total, NYC to Lisbon and Lisbon to London.

I brought a total of 15 bottles of wine on board from various ports. Paid the $25 corkage fee for all but 2 bottles. Had no problem what so ever with retrieving the leftovers on later nights- sometimes had 3 bottles in the opened bottle storage system. The first thing I do upon being seated is ask for the wine steward to retrieve the bottles and wine is usually poured prior to ordering our food.

The 7 bottle package has been discussed before on this site, but most people agree that you can do better bringing your own wine on board. Most of the wines on the package list at retail in US wine stores for less than $10, you pay $47.50 per bottle for the package. So...buy a better quality wine for $15-25 per bottle, pay the $25 corkage, and your final price is $40-$50. Enjoy!

Love the idea of bringing wine on board but we are cruising in Tahiti and that option is less than ideal. Will keep an eye on this post. Thanks for the feedback though. May just buy from the main wine list instead of the package.

I have ordered from the wine list more than I have brought on my own wine, but since I'm drinking alone it's par for the course that I will not finish the bottle in one evening. I think in all the times they located the bottle for me, even in different restaurants, only once was there a delay.

Maybe OP was just "lucky".

Mura

If you are eating in a specialty restaurant , it is , the sommelier responsibility to have your wine available for consumption.. If you are in the terrace then the wine has to be relocated for you to drink. In the dining room that could be a reason to ask your cabin number.

Love the idea of bringing wine on board but we are cruising in Tahiti and that option is less than ideal. Will keep an eye on this post. Thanks for the feedback though. May just buy from the main wine list instead of the package.

Actually, in Tahiti, we found some good prices on French wines.

If you are eating in a specialty restaurant , it is , the sommelier responsibility to have your wine available for consumption.. If you are in the terrace then the wine has to be relocated for you to drink. In the dining room that could be a reason to ask your cabin number.

Whenever Passenger wine is stored by Oceania. whether it was purchased onboard or imported from ashore by the passenger, it is arranged in their Cellar based on storage requirements and then shelved numerically by cabin number.

With hundreds, perhaps thousands of bottles being shifted during each Wine service, there are bound to be a few untoward delays, but given the logistics I think that a half an hour average from initial summons to seeing the bottle at the table is not unreasonable.

As soon as I'm seated, I ask the waiter to send the Sommelier over, explaine which wines to retrieve; then take my time about ordering dinner.

Nine times out of ten, the wine arrives before I've had a chance to miss it being there.

Last cruise on O we had the 7 bottle package.

There was not a significant delay in bringing any bottle from the previous evening's meal, except on one occasion when the waiter came back to the table and said there were no more bottles of that particular wine in the cellar.

We said that our bottle was half full and he apologised and said did not realise that we were asking for an opened bottle. He then returned almost immediately saying that opened bottles were stored in the cellar in a different area from the unopened ones. We thought we had not made our request clear enough, and subsequently were very sure to ask for an opened bottle if that was appropriate.

Rachel, was this in a grocery store or a different store. We will be in Moorea for 3 days prior but we could go the the store before we board Oceania. Thanks for the info.

What are these unfinished bottles people speak of? :p

what are these unfinished bottles people speak of? :p

Sorry tried to make laughing thingy but it didn't work. So Ha Ha Ha

When I buy a bottle of wine for dinner invariable some is left over! That's partly because I'm the only one drinking. It's also partly because I'm a tightwad so I try to limit myself to one, maybe two glasses during dinner. Left to my own devices, yes, I COULD finish that bottle ... but I prefer not to.

There are some of us out there ... :D

When I buy a bottle of wine for dinner invariable some is left over! That's partly because I'm the only one drinking. It's also partly because I'm a tightwad so I try to limit myself to one, maybe two glasses during dinner. Left to my own devices, yes, I COULD finish that bottle ... but I prefer not to.

 

There are some of us out there ... :D

Tut Tut, Mura, you are most definitely unique-

Positively EVERYONE says so ;)

There are quite a number of, shall we say, "careful" drinkers out there, but I find that very few of them bother to post about it, anymore.

Most (not all) are too busy grousing about the single supplement. :p

Was that subtle or was that subtle? :D

Extremely! ;)

Rachel, was this in a grocery store or a different store. We will be in Moorea for 3 days prior but we could go the the store before we board Oceania. Thanks for the info.

It was in a regular grocery store outside of papeete. We were staying post cruise at the intercontinental and had rented a car to drive around the island. At one stop, there was a mother dog with puppies she was nursing. (There are a lot of stray dogs in Tahiti.) Anyway, I felt sorry for her, so I made my husband go to the grocery store nearby and get a bag of dog food for her. While we were there, we picked up a couple of bottles of French wine which were good and not bad prices, certainly much more reasonable that the prices at the intercontinental.

We were on the NYC to Lisbon Cruise in May. We bought the 7 bottle package and thought it was OK. One night when we indicated which bottle we wanted, we were told they were out of it! Why did they let us buy it if they did not have it? :(

........buy a better quality wine for $15-25 per bottle, pay the $25 corkage, and your final price is $40-$50. Enjoy!

Agree with your argument did the same on HAL, but we have $800 to spend or lose it ! So the packages will be our way to go.

We just came off Marina- 3 weeks total, NYC to Lisbon and Lisbon to London.

I brought a total of 15 bottles of wine on board from various ports. Paid the $25 corkage fee for all but 2 bottles. Had no problem what so ever with retrieving the leftovers on later nights- sometimes had 3 bottles in the opened bottle storage system. The first thing I do upon being seated is ask for the wine steward to retrieve the bottles and wine is usually poured prior to ordering our food.

The 7 bottle package has been discussed before on this site, but most people agree that you can do better bringing your own wine on board. Most of the wines on the package list at retail in US wine stores for less than $10, you pay $47.50 per bottle for the package. So...buy a better quality wine for $15-25 per bottle, pay the $25 corkage, and your final price is $40-$50. Enjoy!

I read you are only allowed to bring 3 bottles of wine aboard for the duration of the cruise. Have they changed their policy ?

I read you are only allowed to bring 3 bottles of wine aboard for the duration of the cruise. Have they changed their policy ?

That is the official, written policy - rarely if ever enforced. We have taken on a case of wine regularly at embarkation. It's in a wine carrying case, clearly marked as such - no problem.

They need a written policy that can be enforced if someone creates a problem.

Only time we've experienced a difficulty in finding our wine was when we shipped a full case from our favorite winery. It got overlooked by staff who thought it was ship's stock rather than passeger's wine. On second day the cellar staff realized their error and we had it thereafter with their sincere apologies.

JMBobB