What's up with the Wine & Dine Package?

[plowboy920]

I still can't find the Wine & Dine on my Reservation, BUT it showed up when I looked at a post of Oasis Main Dinning Roon menus here on CC :confused:

[suzyluvs2cruise]

Currently on Quantum and can confirm that there is no Wine and Dine pkg available. :mad:

[Josie2]

That's bad news but thanks for confirming. Any kind of wine specials - ie wine of the day etc?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[LovesCruising]

I was able to buy a 7 bottle pkg for our 12/27 Explorer cruise - If its discontinued in the future - we will miss it

[cruisebirdie]

Currently on Quantum and can confirm that there is no Wine and Dine pkg available. :mad:

Out of curiosity, are you buying by the glass, bottle or both?

[suzyluvs2cruise]

No wine specials. We're buying by the bottle. Each restaurant has a different wine list.

[cruisebirdie]

No wine specials. We're buying by the bottle. Each restaurant has a different wine list.

Thank-you for the info.

[Mary Louise]

Just off the Vision. Purchased the five bottle wine package for $190. Some of the wines listed on the package menu they did not even have. It was very disappointing. We were informed that they were making some changes and that is the reason the wines were not available.

 

ML

[derbygirl520]

What a bummer! I was considering doing this, as I don't feel the need to spend $100 a day (with two people), and feel that pressure to "drink" enough to break even.

 

How much is a mid-range bottle of wine?

 

I was discussing this with my husband...with the different receptions (welcome aboard, returning, premium member), and with bringing two bottles of wine on board...I think maybe just buying a couple of bottles in the dining room may be the way to go.

[Clarea]

...How much is a mid-range bottle of wine?...

MDR wine list starts at post #637:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1992376&page=32

[plowboy920]

We liked the convenience of having a 7 night package and knowing the cost up front more so than the savings. I can live with buying a bottle each night off the wine list however the current list I found on RCL's website was nothing like I have seen on a ship before, only cheap ($6 a bottle wines at home) for $30 or a better wine for $50 per bottle and up. Don't know what we're going to do yet in Jan. :confused:

[plowboy920]

MDR wine list starts at post #637:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1992376&page=32

 

This is the same menu I mentioned I liked, However it looks like they have changed everything and raised the prices considerably.

[Zelda911]

I'm booked next wk and selected the wine and beer pkg at 30 something day. I remember a pinot grigio, salvingon blanc not sure of brands I'm sure less expensive. I think Merlot, white zinfindel. sorry killing the spelling. You can call and they will tell you. I like the first 2 so remembered them. Also includes soft drinks, juices a good selection of beers

[Josie2]

I'm still hoping they make further changes before our cruise in February. We like a bottle of wine or two each night. Not glasses. Or a bottle in the room. And a small discount/incentive to purchase a number up front.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[buck7]

My 8 night Indy cruise in March 2015 only offers a 10 bottle package.

 

My 7 night Oasis cruise in June 2015 is not offering any wine and dine packages.

 

My 5 night Brilliance cruise in December 2015 is offering a choice of 5, 7, 10, or 12 bottle packages.

 

The only consistent thing about Royal is that they are always inconsistent!!!:confused:

[plowboy920]

My 8 night Indy cruise in March 2015 only offers a 10 bottle package.

 

My 7 night Oasis cruise in June 2015 is not offering any wine and dine packages.

 

My 5 night Brilliance cruise in December 2015 is offering a choice of 5, 7, 10, or 12 bottle packages.

 

The only consistent thing about Royal is that they are always inconsistent!!!:confused:

 

I agree it's like now you see it now you don't! :rolleyes:

[Dori Saltzman]

We reached out to Royal Caribbean to see if we could find out the answer to this and here's what we were told:

 

"The Wine & Dine packages will be discontinued as of 12/31, they will be replaced by a 20 percent off bottles of wine discount when purchasing an all-inclusive beverage package."

[Clarea]

We reached out to Royal Caribbean to see if we could find out the answer to this and here's what we were told:

 

"The Wine & Dine packages will be discontinued as of 12/31, they will be replaced by a 20 percent off bottles of wine discount when purchasing an all-inclusive beverage package."

That 20% off thing already exists. Doesn't make much sense to me.

Edited December 2, 2014 by clarea

[ccotting]

That would penalize those of us who are Diamond and above.... We don't buy the beverage package since we get our cocktails in the lounge but we do buy a wine package to have with our dinner. If this change is final that would really make me feel they don't want to encourage us repeat customers!

[cruisebirdie]

That 20% off thing already exists. Doesn't make much sense to me.

Agree! Also, why would a person who just enjoys a decent bottle or two of wine spend $35 - $55/day on a drink package, just to get 20% off a bottle of wine? For some of us, that response (formula) doesn't work.

 

BTW - From what I have noticed, it's always cheaper on the cruise to buy the bottle, instead of buying by the glass.

[Clarea]

Agree! Also, why would a person who just enjoys a decent bottle or two of wine spend $35 - $55/day on a drink package, just to get 20% off a bottle of wine? For some of us, that response (formula) doesn't work.

 

BTW - From what I have noticed, it's always cheaper on the cruise to buy the bottle, instead of buying by the glass.

Only thing that comes to mind is that maybe the wine package is not selling very well anymore, since they allow us to being bottles of wine onboard, and consume them anywhere without corkage fees.

[foxgoodrich]

Interesting move by Royal to eliminate wine packages, but I wonder if they won't see a drop in revenue because of it. That seems to be the case with us.

 

We are D+, so we have access to drinks in the DL and CL in the evenings. We've never bought drink packages, and never will, since by my math you'd have to consume 6-8 drinks daily to make that worth what you pay. We just don't drink that much, esp on port days! I do buy a drink in the afternoon on sea days. DH enjoys a couple of beers. Sometimes we have a nightcap, so we do purchase drinks onboard, but never more than 2 or at most 3 on a day, per person.

 

And, until recently, we have always bought a wine package in order to have wine with dinner in the MDR. Our last two 7 night cruises (in May and Aug) for some reason did not offer the 5 bottle package as an option. That's the one that works for us on a 7 night cruise. The choices were a 7 bottle or 10 bottle package on those cruises, so we didn't buy a package.

 

What an interesting discovery we made on the May cruise! We still had wine with dinner, just ordering by the bottle in the MDR. But we made it through the 7 night cruise ordering only 3 bottles in the MDR. Why? We found that we utilized the DL more for drinks before dinner and then only had one or 1 1/2 glasses at dinner, so we only drank part of a bottle each night and saved the remainder for the next night. We also had brought on 2 bottles of wine which were in the cabin. Toward the end of the week, we'd carry a glass of that with us to dinner in order to use it up before the end of the cruise. The net result was that we still had wine with dinner but saved about $60-70 just buying by the bottle and not getting the 5 bottle package. So we did the same thing on the Aug cruise, and the net result was about the same.

 

The irony is this: had we still had the choice to buy the 5 bottle package, we would still have bought it. (Old habits die hard.;)) By not offering it, Royal lost that $60-70 bucks and we gained it. I'm betting there are others like us…so this seems to be a revenue losing move to me.

 

Judy

Edited December 2, 2014 by foxgoodrich

[plowboy920]

We reached out to Royal Caribbean to see if we could find out the answer to this and here's what we were told:

 

"The Wine & Dine packages will be discontinued as of 12/31, they will be replaced by a 20 percent off bottles of wine discount when purchasing an all-inclusive beverage package."

 

Thank You for looking into this. I didn't expect this question to draw this much interest. We are Diamond also and don't need a beverage package, I tried to book the Wine & Dine and now it has disappeared! I'm perfectly happy buying by the bottle from the list Bob posted a link to, but what I can find on the RCL website is quite different & pricey. We need an Oasis report from last week with a wine list :D

[Acadia2]

My husband and I were just looking for the wine package and this thread explains why. We're fairly new to cruising and have stayed with Royal Caribbean because we found something that we liked .. and we like a bottle of wine with dinner. It may seem like something little but it is enough for me to look at other cruise lines. I just checked Celebrity and they list wine packages. Has anyone sailed on Celebrity?

Edited December 4, 2014 by Acadia2

[Acadia2]

Disappointed. We've only sailed with Royal Caribbean but will look at other lines now. Could anyone recommend other lines that they have enjoyed?

Thanks in advance.