Viking Silver Spirits package

[3rdCoastFan]

Dear waterbug123,

 

It’s our pleasure to jump in and inform you that our river cruisers can expect to choose from more than 40 premium wines for purchase, for as long as they wish to! We aim to please, and our staff will be happy to attend to you until you choose to retire to your stateroom for the evening.

 

We hope you found this helpful as you finalize plans for your upcoming voyage, waterbug123, however should you or any other cruisers have additional questions as your voyage draws near, please don’t hesitate to contact us at TellUs@vikingcruises.com.

 

Best regards,

Viking Cruises

Can you clarify whether there is a list of excluded brands for Viking River Cruises or if exclusions are based on price/glass (in Euros or USD), as is the case for Viking Ocean Cruises? The sales rep I have been working with gave me conflicting information, as noted above. TIA

[peasmith]

There are no exclusions on the river cruises - everything on the menu is included whether it be a coke or a 22e glass of something special well it was on our last one in December

[LFS517]

We have had the Silver Spirits package on all 5 of our Viking river cruises. The only exclusions I can recall are a very few bottles of expensive wine and bottles of Veuve Cliquot champagne.

[3rdCoastFan]

Appreciate the confirmation from everyone. I reached out again to Viking via the 'tellus@' email address - and was again provided with details for the Viking Ocean package. Finally, though, I was told the following (echoing what everyone has said above about Viking River cruises):

For river cruises, all the drinks on the bar menu (except for a few select wines) are included in your beverage package. Although we do not have a list to provide, rest assured that excluded wines will be clearly marked on board. The bar menu, as well as all items for purchase on our European river cruises, will reflect prices in Euros.

[sawtooth]

Okay, to clarify. On river cruises, all alcoholic drinks are included all the time, not just wine and beer at lunch and dinner?

Ocean cruises, only beer and wine at lunch and dinner and all other bar drinks must be purchased as well as, beer and wine outside of meals?

I guess I was starting to get confused about this subject.

[kentchris]

Okay, to clarify. On river cruises, all alcoholic drinks are included all the time, not just wine and beer at lunch and dinner?

Ocean cruises, only beer and wine at lunch and dinner and all other bar drinks must be purchased as well as, beer and wine outside of meals?

I guess I was starting to get confused about this subject.

I think you still are: beer, wine, and soft drinks are only included at lunch and dinner on VR if you don't buy the SSBP.

[Oscar Irish Viking]

Having cruised with Viking on two river cruises, we found the Silver Spirits package is worth the cost. It is best to buy the package before your cruise date as it is then priced in dollars. If you buy the package once you are onboard, it is priced in Euros and depending on the exchange rate can easily cost you 20% more.

 

The bar menu doesn't include all wines that might be available because Viking tailors the wine list to the region you are cruising. Our cruise in Bordeaux had an extensive selection of Bordeaux wines. We recently cruised in Portugal and most of the wines were high quality wines from the Douro river valley.

 

The Silver Spirits package also included 10,20,30 and 40 year old Tawny Ports!

[Peregrina651]

Having cruised with Viking on two river cruises, we found the Silver Spirits package is worth the cost. It is best to buy the package before your cruise date as it is then priced in dollars. If you buy the package once you are onboard, it is priced in Euros and depending on the exchange rate can easily cost you 20% more.

 

The bar menu doesn't include all wines that might be available because Viking tailors the wine list to the region you are cruising. Our cruise in Bordeaux had an extensive selection of Bordeaux wines. We recently cruised in Portugal and most of the wines were high quality wines from the Douro river valley.

 

The Silver Spirits package also included 10,20,30 and 40 year old Tawny Ports!

 

Totally worth it if and only if your bar bill is $22 (18€) per person per day each and every day of your journey (based on what they charge for a two week cruise). Before you decide if the package is right for you, do the math. If you don't drink three cocktails or 4 glasses of wine or 6 sodas (outside of meal time) or some combination thereof per day, then the package might not be for you.

[kentchris]

Totally worth it if and only if your bar bill is $22 (18€) per person per day each and every day of your journey (based on what they charge for a two week cruise). Before you decide if the package is right for you, do the math. If you don't drink three cocktails or 4 glasses of wine or 6 sodas (outside of meal time) or some combination thereof per day, then the package might not be for you.

You're assuming that the included wine is acceptable. The house wine (or at least the red) on our Rhine cruise last year was a South American Malbec on all but one evening when a fairly local wine was served: perfectly gluggable but not remotely related to where the ship was. Wines from the premium list, including some from wine areas close to the Rhine, were available around €7 or €8 per glass: the maths can be very different for anyone who wants to sample wines from where the ship happens to be.

[Peregrina651]

You're assuming that the included wine is acceptable. The house wine (or at least the red) on our Rhine cruise last year was a South American Malbec on all but one evening when a fairly local wine was served: perfectly gluggable but not remotely related to where the ship was. Wines from the premium list, including some from wine areas close to the Rhine, were available around €7 or €8 per glass: the maths can be very different for anyone who wants to sample wines from where the ship happens to be.

 

Sorry, I am looking at this as a purely monetary issue; it doesn't matter what is in the glass. The package isn't for everyone. Do the math, run the numbers, know what you are buying. That is all that I am saying.

[philw1776]

Sorry, I am looking at this as a purely monetary issue; it doesn't matter what is in the glass. The package isn't for everyone. Do the math, run the numbers, know what you are buying. That is all that I am saying.

 

Precisely. Do the math.

The deal breaker can be situations like on the Rhine cruise mentioned above. All we got was a so-so Malbec. Every night. I bought my wife a couple glasses of the very reasonably priced premium wines as mentioned and left with a bar bill under $60 including 2 martinis for me. If you're both serious wine aficionados then the package could be a winner on that Rhine cruise, albeit expensive.

 

This leads to a criticism of Viking. Include a more diverse selection of inexpensive wines, changing them up during a cruise, not just one crappy Malbec. A cruise should experience food and wine from the region. Viking usually does this but that Rhine cruise Malbec 24/7 somehow seems to be an exception for more than one of us.