Aussie ships running out of alcohol

[CruiseCriticAUeditor]

Can anyone remember instances when cruises have run out of certain drinks? I'm trying to recall stories about which ships ran out of beer, sauvignon blanc etc. when Australians drank them dry!

[OzKiwiJJ]

We had problems getting the Pinot Grigio (by the glass as we had the drinks package) on Dawn Princess over the past three weeks.

 

At the beginning of the cruise they claimed to have: a) run out, b) it had been loaded but not distributed, c) it was on board but they weren't sure where. They found some for us on the third day, after I'd mentioned to the MDR head waiter of our section that I was unhappy with the wines available. Then, a few days before the end of the cruise, I ordered a glass with dinner and apparently they had run out again. However our lovely assistant waiter tracked some down for us for the rest of the cruise.

[Guest012]

Rhapsody of the Seas first Honolulu to Sydney in 2007...full to the rafters with Australians ran out of certain brands of beer and completely out of TEA!!!!.... the crews supply of teabags found it's way into the Windjammer.....obscure brand international if i remember right ....lololol.....

[Kiwi Kruzer]

They hopelessly underestimated the demand for tea. Princess were always running out when they first came to Australia .

Passengers had to bring their own tea bags :eek:

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

They hopelessly underestimated the demand for tea. Princess were always running out when they first came to Australia .

Passengers had to bring their own tea bags :eek:

 

 

I always pack a packet of my favourite tea bags when travelling, just in case. It's come in useful a number of times when the tea provided in hotels has been awful, or not provided at all. So far the packet has remained unopened on all three cruises that we have done. ;)

[CruiseCriticAUeditor]

Spirit did on it's first couple of voyages when it came to Australia.

 

What did Spirit run out of?

[CruiseCriticAUeditor]

Rhapsody of the Seas first Honolulu to Sydney in 2007...full to the rafters with Australians ran out of certain brands of beer and completely out of TEA!!!!.... the crews supply of teabags found it's way into the Windjammer.....obscure brand international if i remember right ....lololol.....

 

I hadn't heard about the tea! Do you remember which beers they ran out of?

[CruiseCriticAUeditor]

We had problems getting the Pinot Grigio (by the glass as we had the drinks package) on Dawn Princess over the past three weeks.

 

At the beginning of the cruise they claimed to have: a) run out, b) it had been loaded but not distributed, c) it was on board but they weren't sure where. They found some for us on the third day, after I'd mentioned to the MDR head waiter of our section that I was unhappy with the wines available. Then, a few days before the end of the cruise, I ordered a glass with dinner and apparently they had run out again. However our lovely assistant waiter tracked some down for us for the rest of the cruise.

 

Strange! Thanks for the info.

[VK3DQ]

Can anyone remember instances when cruises have run out of certain drinks? I'm trying to recall stories about which ships ran out of beer, sauvignon blanc etc. when Australians drank them dry!

 

The first time I recall this was regarding the Mikhail Lermontov in November 1984

London (Tilbury), Kingston, Tahiti, Auckland, Sydney.

Return voyage: Sydney. Melbourne, Fremantle, Colombo, Port Said, Athens (Piraeus), Naples, London (Tilbury).

(Two southbound voyages and one northbound voyage.)

 

They ran out of beer and the Aussies staged a near mutiny :D

 

 

Regards

 

john

[Guest012]

I hadn't heard about the tea! Do you remember which beers they ran out of?

 

 

Pretty sure it was the Australian beers.... didn't bother us we drink Bud Light;):D:D Bob aka rkmw might remember...... :)

[Wastegirl]

Our recent cruise across the top end ran out of the affordable sauvignon blanc within the first week. Then it started running out of other wines that were included in the basic drinks package. In the end those on the basic were getting better quality wines but even the Sav Blanc in those upper prices started running out. It was not that we were a ship full of party animals and drunkards, mainly 50+ as it was a longer voyage.

 

Then our Celebrity Century cruise ran out of the speciality tea bags (including English Breakfast) on about the 4th day of an 8 day local cruise. You couldn't get black tea from the cafe at all, we drunk the ship dry :) Had to make do with the generic bags in the buffet.

 

Actually on all our cruises they have ran out of specific alcohol or drinks, after all they can only do an average estimate and given weather conditions, who is on board etc there could be a run on pretty well anything. What annoys me is they get into Ports and do not restock. What is wrong with a staff member running into the local supermarket and getting their entire stock of English Breakfast tea bags :D

[mr walker]

What annoys me is they get into Ports and do not restock. What is wrong with a staff member running into the local supermarket and getting their entire stock of English Breakfast tea bags :D

 

The credit card is maxed out paying for the fuel :) We too have had cruises where 'black' tea ran out. It wasn't helped by people hoarding it in the cabin!

 

On Rhapsody (Cruisin' Country co-charter) in 2011, on the last night they ran out of XXXX in the theatre- didn't affect me as I drink BEER. A guy from Far NQ then refused to drink anything else offered, so I guess he was very brand specific :)

 

On Voyager repo Singapore to Sydney in 2013, no Aussie beer was available from the get go. I spoke to our waiter in Schooner bar & several times he apologised. On about 5th sea-day out, another waiter approached & I jokingly said "I'll have an Aussie beer", to which she replied "ok, we have". I said "what, I was told there was none". She came back with an Aussie beer. I asked to speak with the 1st waiter & he approached sheepishly & said "it just arrived". I said "we have been at sea for 5 days - did you swim ashore and get it?". He then explained that it had been loaded onboard in Singapore and had been downstairs since then and only came up when thry re-stocked the bar. All good fun :D

 

As 'Wastegirl' wrote, it is to be expected that they run out of things from time to time - it happens on land to.

[madnsneaky]

On Rhapsody in March, sailing to the South Pacific, they ran out of Blantons, Wild Turkey and Makers Mark.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

The credit card is maxed out paying for the fuel :)

 

That would not surprise me. I think all the buying orders come from Head Office...and I don't mean Sydney:D

Most of the food and supplies is shipped over in containers as it has to meet US codes and regulations.

 

 

[Pushka]

Celebrity Equinox ran out of lots of good beverages on our med cruise last month. White wines - good quality NZ and French Sav Blancs - the ones left were awful and cheap. They even ran out of coke zero. English Breakfast tea bags. Celebrity seem to have perfected the art of floating tea bags that never flavoured the water.

Edited September 7, 2015 by Pushka

[GUT2407]

They hopelessly underestimated the demand for tea. Princess were always running out when they first came to Australia .

Passengers had to bring their own tea bags :eek:

 

 

 

DW complains about this from time to time.

[GUT2407]

No but I know one cruise they ran out of Diet Coke (or the Aussie stuff) and broke out the US stock, which is very very different.

[The_Big_M]

That would not surprise me. I think all the buying orders come from Head Office...and I don't mean Sydney:D

Most of the food and supplies is shipped over in containers as it has to meet US codes and regulations.

 

 

 

For the US cruise lines, i.e. excluding P&O Aust and Princess, this is spot on.

[OzKiwiJJ]

For the US cruise lines, i.e. excluding P&O Aust and Princess, this is spot on.

 

A lot of stuff on the Aussie Princess ships comes from the US but the current wine list on Dawn was predominately Australian wines. Very limited by the glass if you happen to prefer wines other than sauvignon blanc or sauvignon/semillon, thin chardonnays, and cabernet or cabernet blends. The only riesling was very sweet so not suitable with fish, and there was only one pinot grigio. There were two pinot noirs, thank goodness.

[Kinkacruiser]

Given the introduction of the AIP deals this summer, Princess might need to double their order of alcohol ;). :D

[CoopColbie]

Our Celebrity Solstice cruise last December ran out of Chandon on the 3rd day and they had to dip into their 'Christmas Bubbles' supply - it was a sparkling blush from Napa and it was very nice. They also ran out of Blue Curacao (bye bye Blue Lagoons). And I heard they had run out of other stuff too. We were told (by a friendly staff member) that some new guy was in charge of the alcohol ordering and got it terribly wrong.