Wine machines in Vintages (Mariner)

[CMDE]

I read in a post that when the Mariner was in dry dock in the spring, they were installing wine machines in Vintages. I did some searches but can't find info on how that works. Do you use your sea pass or buy a preloaded card?

 

Thanks for any info.

[critterchick]

Assuming that she's the same as the other ships, you insert your Seapass and select the size of glass you want - tasting pour, 2 oz or 5 oz, I think are the choices.

 

And they load a 15% gratuity into the price of the glass, for the excellent service provided by the machine.:rolleyes:

[Daghis]

Before sailing on the Freedom of the Seas in March, I was really looking forward to trying these new machines, but I ended up being disappointed with them once I got a chance to do so.

 

I found them a bit less friendly to use than I was expecting, and some of the wine offered was more expensive than I was willing to pony up to try the machines, but that's more of an artifact of Vintages' selection itself than the machines' fault.

 

I only had two problems with the machine. One was a timing issue. I'd swipe my SeaPass card to get started, but it'd time out before I had a chance to get the glass ready and press the dispensing button. That took me a couple of tries to get it to work.

 

The other was an issue of how the machine worked when it failed to dispense the full amount. I had ordered a 5 ounce pour of one of the wines. The machine dispensed about 4 ounces and then got an error (the bottle was empty). I was told that the machine wouldn't charge me for the glass unless it completed dispensing. That turned out not to be true as I was charged for the partial glass. Fortunately, though, the bartender gave me a couple 1 ounce samples of some other Chardonnays on the house to make up for the troubles I was having with the machine, so I didn't feel the need to worry about the partial fill.

 

I may try it again in October, but I think I'm more inclined to talk with the bartender, get recommendations of wines to try, and let him serve them... especially if I'm going to be paying 15% gratuity anyway.

[CMDE]

Thanks for the quick replies and the info. I will give it a try. My DH doesn't drink wine so I usually end up buying by the glass.

[BecciBoo]

 

I may try it again in October, but I think I'm more inclined to talk with the bartender, get recommendations of wines to try, and let him serve them... especially if I'm going to be paying 15% gratuity anyway.

 

Daghis: since you are on first, (we are on Freedom Nov 18) come back and let us know about the machine. I assume they are all the same machine on all the ships. Trying to decide whether to just purchase a wine package (which I may not like some of the choices) or just buy by the glass so I can really get what I like. Thanks!:D