La Reserve

[Baz-t]

Question from the uninitiated.

Have just booked the restaurant La Reserve for our upcoming cruise on Riviera. The cost is $95 per person (+ gratuity).  I believe this is a wine pairing. Is the wine included in the price or is it an extra? If an extra cost, can I use my beverage package to settle the cost of the wines?

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 minutes ago, Baz-t said:

Question from the uninitiated.

Have just booked the restaurant La Reserve for our upcoming cruise on Riviera. The cost is $95 per person (+ gratuity).  I believe this is a wine pairing. Is the wine included in the price or is it an extra? If an extra cost, can I use my beverage package to settle the cost of the wines?

The paired wines are included in the LaReserve price.

BTW, The package wines are "by-the-glass" from a limited menu.

Edited January 2, 2020 by Flatbush Flyer

[rloke]

IIRC, if you have the Premium beverage package, you also get a 20% discount. Not sure if that is still applicable nowadays though.

[Baz-t]

Thanks for both replies, much appreciated.

[Clutj]

For what it's worth, we found the La Reserve dinner well worth it.  Excellent food with engaging explanations from a couple chefs, who made brief presentations, very nice room, nice service.  I recall them being generous with extra pours of the wines.  The wines were top notch, but not overwhelming.  I'd say very solid $75 to $125 retail.  Onshore, I could see some places charging it out as a $175 winery/distributor meal w/ pairings. 

 

Oceania is thus far resisting (ignoring) my request to email me the complete Premium Package rules for my upcoming cruise,  but I also think the 20% discount still applies.  

[rloke]

Well...from the revamped Oceania's website...looks like 20% discount with either the Prestige or House-select package...

 

[Hawaiidan]

2 hours ago, Baz-t said:

Question from the uninitiated.

Have just booked the restaurant La Reserve for our upcoming cruise on Riviera. The cost is $95 per person (+ gratuity).  I believe this is a wine pairing. Is the wine included in the price or is it an extra? If an extra cost, can I use my beverage package to settle the cost of the wines?

Well  close......you can get a 20% discount off the La Reserve if you have  the top package...  The wine is included.   Gratuity?   your paying a daily rate that includes that..   I have never seen anyone tip as the price of the experience I think includes it...Comprise oui !  Ask at  reception to adjust your bill     The wine parings are very basic,,,  no Pertus or Cherval Blanc...    Like the cooking classes  this is a fun group meal with tasting portions and ok wines.... not bad but not premier.    Come  for the communal  enjoyment of sharing a slow pace fun evening.    Oh   show up 30-40 min early and they will be pouring a nice cham. before you go in..      

Edited January 2, 2020 by Hawaiidan

[ORV]

You need to buy the package pre cruise to get the discount. Taking the basic package as an O life perk and upgrading once on board won't get you the 20% discount. 

[Clutj]

43 minutes ago, ORV said:

You need to buy the package pre cruise to get the discount. Taking the basic package as an O life perk and upgrading once on board won't get you the 20% discount. 

 The page above says there is a discount with both packages.  I think there is variation in how O applies or denies the discount, but there does seem to be some risk that electing a "perk"  is not "purchasing."  One of Oceania's dark side policy decisions...

[Mura]

I think Clutj is right here ... just going on what I have read here at CC.  If you take the lower package as a perk and upgrade, it seems to me that you DO get the discount at La Reserve.  But I'm not at all sure that you get that discount if you just took the "lower" perk.  Since we've never taken the perk at all, we wouldn't know ...

 

 

[pinotlover]

Process people, process! We often book our La Reserve dinners as soon as they come available. PPPPPP. We pay the full price.

 

OLife gives one the option to lock in on their perks until about 14 days precruise. So, read slowly for those thus impaired, if you keep the basic package or upgrade to the Premium package once aboard, you will receive a credit on your bill for the 20% discount.

 

In all honesty, I don’t know if you book aboard whether the 20% is taken off immediately or on the final bill. As a entrepreneur, I might ponder that since La Reserve is a partnership between Wine Spectator and Oceania the full charge might be applied . Therefore, WS gets their take on the gross revenue and Oceania takes the hit on the discount. However, I have no evidence to support this supposition. It would be interesting to hear someone that has actually booked the event aboard, and how the restaurant booking was administered.

[Hoyaheel]

I just did this last week and this was my experience: 

1. We booked the cruise with the Olife benefit of a basic drink package

2. We booked La Reserve online and paid months before the cruise

3. When we embarked, we upgraded to the Premium drink package 

4. We went to reception and asked about the 20% discount and clerk looked it up and said because we had the Olife perk, it wasn't applicable for us.

5. We attended and loved our La Reserve dinner. Lovely food and wine pairings and a fun table (3 tables of 8 ppl each our night)

6. The next day (or 2?) the 20% discount for each of us was removed from our onboard account ($19 each)

 

Lesson? Who knows!

 

We disembark tomorrow 😞 First Oceania cruise - have thoroughly enjoyed.

 

[ORV]

4 hours ago, Hoyaheel said:

I just did this last week and this was my experience: 

1. We booked the cruise with the Olife benefit of a basic drink package

2. We booked La Reserve online and paid months before the cruise

3. When we embarked, we upgraded to the Premium drink package 

4. We went to reception and asked about the 20% discount and clerk looked it up and said because we had the Olife perk, it wasn't applicable for us.

5. We attended and loved our La Reserve dinner. Lovely food and wine pairings and a fun table (3 tables of 8 ppl each our night)

6. The next day (or 2?) the 20% discount for each of us was removed from our onboard account ($19 each)

 

Lesson? Who knows!

 

We disembark tomorrow 😞 First Oceania cruise - have thoroughly enjoyed.

 

So on #6 you are saying that you actually got the 20% discount, not that the discount you had previously received was removed? It's not clear there. 

[janecambridge]

We had basic drinks package and upgraded to premium.We did not get the discount.It is written in very small print that the discount does not apply to upgraded packages.

[Shawnino]

5 minutes ago, janecambridge said:

We had basic drinks package and upgraded to premium.We did not get the discount.It is written in very small print that the discount does not apply to upgraded packages.

 

Same with us.

[Hoyaheel]

18 hours ago, ORV said:

So on #6 you are saying that you actually got the 20% discount, not that the discount you had previously received was removed? It's not clear there. 

We received the 20% discount we had been told we were not eligible for. To be clear, when we were told we were not eligible, we said "thank you for checking" and accepted the response. We did not challenge the decision or speak to anyone else about it. I was quite surprised to see the discount appear on our account.

[pinotlover]

Haven’t been on the Marina since last February. We took the basic package and upgraded to Premium. We received the 20% discount on our final bill summary for each of the La Reserve meals including the Dom P dinner. Did not show up until final bill. It will not show up on your account until then.