Real Wine Glasses with Lunch & Dinner, or Not?

[garycarla]

This thread had a few people saying they serve the "house wine" in tumblers, not wine glasses with stems. There seems to be varied comments.

 

So, those that drink the house wine with lunch and dinner - what are they served in?

 

I am guessing they are at least glass, but still. I stemless wine glasses. One of the reasons for the stems to is to keep your hands from warming up the wine.

 

And, what do they serve when you buy wine at the bar?

 

(decided to not hijack that thread)

[Sherry7641]

This thread had a few people saying they serve the "house wine" in tumblers, not wine glasses with stems. There seems to be varied comments.

 

So, those that drink the house wine with lunch and dinner - what are they served in?

 

I am guessing they are at least glass, but still. I stemless wine glasses. One of the reasons for the stems to is to keep your hands from warming up the wine.

 

And, what do they serve when you buy wine at the bar?

 

(decided to not hijack that thread)

 

We were on the Viking VE for the 15 day Grand European River cruise and always had wine glasses with stems and yes they were glass.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Later posts in the earlier thread clarified that these are Riedel stemless wine glasses -- a far cry from "tumblers." I have switched to these at home because they eliminate the risk of spillage [and that would be even more important on a ship, if the seas were unsettled :)]

 

[beachmudhut]

This thread had a few people saying they serve the "house wine" in tumblers, not wine glasses with stems. There seems to be varied comments.

 

So, those that drink the house wine with lunch and dinner - what are they served in?

 

I am guessing they are at least glass, but still. I stemless wine glasses. One of the reasons for the stems to is to keep your hands from warming up the wine.

 

And, what do they serve when you buy wine at the bar?

 

(decided to not hijack that thread)

 

We were on Viking Star at Xmas.

 

I can assure you that the "free" wine was served in GLASS tumblers in all venues at lunch and dinner. No finesse, just red or white, no showing of labels or explaining about the wine.

 

In the MDR, at shared tables some had tumblers and those who had paid for the drinks package had stemmed.

 

From another post, apparently stemless glasses are now trendy for serving wine. I didn't look at the label to see if it was a Riedel glass but to my untrained eye it was just a tumbler.

 

If you buy wine at the bar it will be served in a stemmed glass.

 

I did not drink much of the "free wine" partly because the few I tried were not to my taste, however we shared tables with others many times and the same wine glass discussion came up over and over!

 

On certain occasions such as embarkation, captains night etc, champagne and wine was served on trays and then it was in a stemmed glass.

 

Hope this helps.

[beachmudhut]

If tumblers - oops sorry - stemless glasses are so on-trend, and if spillage is the issue, why didn't they serve the 'paid for' wines in the same type of glass?

[Jay23]

Well I will reserve judgement, but no stems does not seem "right" to me. It may be just OK for red wine, but for white wine not really acceptable as it is supposed to be kept cold in the glass. Thanks for the photo, clearly, that is a tumbler.

At the moment we do not intend to buy a wine package. J

 

PS Why is it called a "tumbler" when the plan is for it not to tumble??? :confused:

Edited January 15, 2017 by Jay23

[photopro2]

I must admit to have been rather taken aback at first by the idea of using tumblers for the “table” wine. However, having given it further thought, my wife and I have decided that it is not a serious issue for us even though we do enjoy and take an interest in wine.

 

The first thing that swung our opinion was the fact that we already happily drink quite good wine from these sort of glasses whenever we fly. Air New Zealand serves excellent wine (both white and red) in this sort of glass, to give just one example

 

It does not seem unreasonable for VOC to differentiate between those who have taken the Silver Spirits beverage package and those who have not by providing more “basic” glasses for the more “basic” included wine. This is also helpful to wait staff who can clearly see who has opted for the premium wine selection.

 

As it happens we have not gone for the Silver Spirits package but intend to bring a couple of our favorite vintages and also do the available ad hock “upgrades” in the alternative restaurants and at the bar as the mood takes us.

 

For us the fact that VOC will allow us to bring our own favorite wine on board and will serve it without a corkage charge more than counterbalances the slight glass issue.

 

In answer to Jay23 - the likely explanation is that the original “tumblers” had a round bottom and you could not put them on the table before the drink was finished. I also sometimes have a problem putting my glass down but not for that reason ;)

[Jay23]

Thanks Photopro! Every day there is something new to learn. J

[OnTheWater50]

On the Star right now. Stemmed glass in the MDR and Manfreddi's, stemmed plastic outside/pool, glass tumbler at Chef's table for included wines (we do not have the upgraded package).

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Jay23]

Sounds like "it depends" . We will wait and see. Only 5 weeks to wait. J

[beachmudhut]

Maybe Viking have listened to the comments. Stemless glasses were on the table in Manfredi and MDR on our sailing.

[photopro2]

We are on the Sea in 3 weeks J - I will try hard to remember to post an update to this thread for you!

[Cyber Kat]

Every now and then, I can't get the quote feature to work.

 

This is from PhotoPro2

It does not seem unreasonable for VOC to differentiate between those who have taken the Silver Spirits beverage package and those who have not by providing more “basic” glasses for the more “basic” included wine. This is also helpful to wait staff who can clearly see who has opted for the premium wine selection.

 

This is what I was thinking. On our river cruise, we had stemmed glasses at all times, but there's only the one restaurant and all 190 passengers eat dinner at the same time, so it's probably easier for them to keep track.

 

With multiple bars, dining venues, eating times and 900 passengers, it's probably easier to use different glasses - they can see at a glance.

[photopro2]

Yes Kath,

I should have said "it is probably also helpful to the wait staff" because I don't know that is the reason but, like you, I think it makes sense

[Jay23]

We are on the Sea in 3 weeks J - I will try hard to remember to post an update to this thread for you!

 

Thank you Photopro. I look forward to that. J.

[aquidneck1]

While I love the Reidel "O" glasses for convenience at home and I do not mind that the white warms up a bit faster than it should, the size of the red wine glasses are too large for my hands.

[beachmudhut]

While I love the Reidel "O" glasses for convenience at home and I do not mind that the white warms up a bit faster than it should, the size of the red wine glasses are too large for my hands.

 

On Viking at Christmas the glasses were nowhere near as tall as the one in the picture and the glass was quite thick. I can see the Reidel glasses are very beautiful and I might have felt differently of my wine had been served in one of these.

[PatriciaF]

On the Sea we had stemmed wine glasses at lunch and dinner at the buffet, MDR, Manfredi's and Chef's Table.

 

If asked, the server would show you the label of what was being poured. More details provided at Chef's table and Manfredi's.

[Vineyard View]

There are a couple threads currently discussing the wine glasses...or not. It seems that there isn't much consistency right now whether Viking is going to serve wine glasses with stems on all their cruises in all their venues (which it is clearly what most people who are participating in the threads want to see, including my self).....or are they in stemless Reidel glasses (Less desirable IMHO with fingerprints all over the bowl unless there are rough seas, then that would make some sense)or thicker glass tumbler type of glasses 👎 (Which makes no sense at all).

 

Maybe Viking could please jump in here and help to clarify? I believe that most people who really do enjoy wine care about this subject. Thanks much!

[PatriciaF]

I believe on our China river boat tour, the wine was poured into water glasses, not stemmed wine glasses--but a glass of wine in the lounges was poured in a stemmed glass.

[Viking Cruises]

Hi all,

 

We’ve followed along with this thread and appreciate your interest in the topic. In an effort to alleviate concern, and to oblige Vineyard View’s request, we wanted to take a moment to reply.

 

To confirm, stemless wine glasses are used in a few of the dining venues aboard our ocean ships. Premium wines are, however, typically served in stemmed glasses.

 

If you prefer one type of glassware over the other, please ask. We’d be happy to accommodate your request.

 

We appreciate the opportunity to respond and hope you find this information helpful. Of course, we are always happy to hear from our Cruise Critic members at TellUs@vikingcruises.com should any of you wish to discuss further.

 

Cheers!

 

Warm regards,

Viking Cruises

[garycarla]

We all appreciate the comments from Viking.

 

I am thinking they have heard us.

 

So, let's raise our glasses !

[photopro2]

Nice post from Viking and great comment from garycarla -

Cheers to you all!

 

Sent from my mobile using the CC forums app

[Vineyard View]

Thank you Viking!! I appreciate very much your taking the time to clarify this - and great response/answer! This should settle all the confusion around it!!! ☺

Edited January 25, 2017 by Vineyard View

[Jay23]

Thank you Viking. Lovely to know you are reading all this. J