Edge 7/17 Review - Tons of Spoiled Wine

[jlowe420]

The ship had so much spoiled wine it was quite a disappointment.  They also pretended like you are drunk or dont know what vinegar tastes like when you complain.  I had to on one occasion go up to the retreat to get a fresh glass of wine and bring it down to the casino and ask the bartender to smell both of them side by side.  I would have expected higher quality - never once have I had a bad bottle of wine on NCL, but I get it... they are trying to use up the stock they sat on for a year.

They also had expired "past the best by date" juices and cocktail mixes out on the retreat bar right in plain view of the guests.  They really need to put those into other containers so it's not as obvious they are using up old stuff.

[davekathy]

Just now, jlowe420 said:

The ship had so much spoiled wine it was quite a disappointment.  They also pretended like you are drunk or dont know what vinegar tastes like when you complain.  I had to on one occasion go up to the retreat to get a fresh glass of wine and bring it down to the casino and ask the bartender to smell both of them side by side.  I would have expected higher quality - never once have I had a bad bottle of wine on NCL, but I get it... they are trying to use up the stock they sat on for a year.

They also had expired "past the best by date" juices and cocktail mixes out on the retreat bar right in plain view of the guests.  They really need to put those into other containers so it's not as obvious they are using up old stuff.

Thanks for the morning laugh. 🤣

[jlowe420]

It's not all that funny when you pay $7000 for that trip, but i'm glad you got a kick out of it!

[davekathy]

You're on a roll! 🤣

[C-Dragons]

11 minutes ago, jlowe420 said:

It's not all that funny when you pay $7000 for that trip, but i'm glad you got a kick out of it!

We were on the July 17 Edge sailing and in the Retreat also. We were never served a bad bottle of wine in Luminae. I was drinking Scotch in the Retreat, so no problems there. Sorry to hear you had a very different experience.

Edited August 4, 2021 by C-Dragons

[jlowe420]

6 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

We were on the July 17 Edge sailing and in the Retreat also. We were never served a bad bottle of wine in Luminae. I was drinking Scotch in the Retreat, so no problems there. Sorry to hear you had a very different experience.

Yea it didn't happen in The Retreat or Luminae!  It was just at the martini bar or the casino bar.  I ended up just getting wine from Ann Marie in the retreat most of the time and that was fine.  I just thought it funny that they were trying their best to use that wine up.

 

Other than the wine fiasco things were great.  I loved the reduced capacity.

 

I believe NCL Haven may be a better "ship within a ship" experience, but overall I enjoyed the vibe on the Edge more.

[AbbyCruiser45]

We were on 7/17 as well and never had bad wine in the MDR, Eden, or Cafe al Bacio, but we were pretty limited in our range (pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, and chardonnay, all premium package). The worst wine I had was a pinot grigio on the Magic Carpet, but I think it was just a bad choice on my end. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by AbbyCruiser45
clarity

[scanditaly]

Dear Jlowe420;

 

first, may I say that I totally believe you that you were served a “bad” bottle. It happens even in the best of cellars. Or, that the bottle (if being served by the glass) had been open too long, or not vacuumed properly. 

Second; I would like to hypothesize that most of the other wine was better for being allowed to age the extra year. It has been our personal experience that most wine served aboard any cruise line has been a bit young. That being said, I realize wine does not last as long aboard a ship because of the constant resonance of the ship's engines as well as the usual rocking and rolling of the Sea. 
 

finally, I have met very few true sommeliers who really know their business; they get training via the major wine manufacturers. 
 

Scanditaly 

 

[Moby Jones]

35 minutes ago, scanditaly said:

 

finally, I have met very few true sommeliers who really know their business; they get training via the major wine manufacturers. 
 

 

 

The sommeliers on Celebrity ships are not real sommeliers at all but ex waiters and waitresses who've under taken a short in  house training course. But I suspect passengers all figure that out very quickly once onboard. 

[cangelmd]

2 minutes ago, Moby Jones said:

The sommeliers on Celebrity ships are not real sommeliers at all but ex waiters and waitresses who've under taken a short in  house training course. But I suspect passengers all figure that out very quickly once onboard. 

The ones in Luminae tend to be the best, with some real knowledge, and there should be one supervisor on board with some ‘real” sommelier training. I miss Cellarmasters, the folks serving in there learned some things by osmosis.

[justcrusn]

2 hours ago, jlowe420 said:

ey also had expired "past the best by date" juices and cocktail mixes out on the retreat bar right in plain view of the guests.  They really need to put those into other containers so it's not as obvious they are using up old stuff.

I would hope for a better suggestion than hide expired products in a different container.

Perhaps suggest they discard expired items?

 

And I’m not a sommelier, and I didn’t stay at holiday inn, but I always thought wine improved with age? (generally) That’s not a product I would expect to have a short shelf life…..

[neverlaysup]

50 minutes ago, scanditaly said:

Dear Jlowe420;

 

first, may I say that I totally believe you that you were served a “bad” bottle. It happens even in the best of cellars. Or, that the bottle (if being served by the glass) had been open too long, or not vacuumed properly. 

Second; I would like to hypothesize that most of the other wine was better for being allowed to age the extra year. It has been our personal experience that most wine served aboard any cruise line has been a bit young. That being said, I realize wine does not last as long aboard a ship because of the constant resonance of the ship's engines as well as the usual rocking and rolling of the Sea. 
 

finally, I have met very few true sommeliers who really know their business; they get training via the major wine manufacturers. 
 

Scanditaly 

 

Not all wine is better by another year of aging. That being said, the original post says "so much spoiled wine" and that makes me laugh a bit. If this was actually the case, I would say the ships wine was left in a higher temperature during the year off and that over aged some of the bottles. Wine + heat = spoiled wine. Either that, or he was drinking wine by the glass that was improperly stored between pours or left open too long.

 

Edited August 4, 2021 by neverlaysup

[helen haywood]

White wines do not improve with age and if not kept at a cool temperature will definitely turn.  This has long been a problem buying wine in Florida grocery stores.

[Moby Jones]

7 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

The ones in Luminae tend to be the best, with some real knowledge, and there should be one supervisor on board with some ‘real” sommelier training. I miss Cellarmasters, the folks serving in there learned some things by osmosis.

I'd say many of the the best staff across the board sommeliers, waiters and maitre d' etc are placed in Luminae. We did have a lady called Maggie in Luminae on a couple of sailings who was very good. 

But Celebrity could improve their training IMHO.  :)

[Moby Jones]

8 minutes ago, justcrusn said:

I would hope for a better suggestion than hide expired products in a different container.

Perhaps suggest they discard expired items?

 

And I’m not a sommelier, and I didn’t stay at holiday inn, but I always thought wine improved with age? (generally) That’s not a product I would expect to have a short shelf life…..

It depends on the type of wine. Many reds will improve with age if stored correctly in a temperature controlled warehouse etc. 

Whites will generally have a short shelf life and can spoil easily. The staff would be keeping an eye on the dates ordinarily. But with such a high turnover rate on the ship I doubt it would be a problem. 

[Fouremco]

6 minutes ago, justcrusn said:

I would hope for a better suggestion than hide expired products in a different container.

Perhaps suggest they discard expired items?

The OP indicated that the juices had passed their best-before date, not their expiration date. Expiration dates are the last day a product is safe to consume, whereas best-before dates are about taste and not safety. Juices typically still taste good after the best-before date has passed, are still safe to drink, and there's no need to discard them.

[cruisinsusin]

11 minutes ago, Moby Jones said:

I'd say many of the the best staff across the board sommeliers, waiters and maitre d' etc are placed in Luminae. We did have a lady called Maggie in Luminae on a couple of sailings who was very good. 

But Celebrity could improve their training IMHO.  🙂

Maggie was excellent!

[TrulyBlonde]

1 hour ago, helen haywood said:

White wines do not improve with age and if not kept at a cool temperature will definitely turn.  This has long been a problem buying wine in Florida grocery stores.

Yes, this is so true. After reading the post about bad wine, I immediately thought it was most likely a white wine. They can taste like vinegar or mildew. 

[jlowe420]

1 hour ago, justcrusn said:

I would hope for a better suggestion than hide expired products in a different container.

Perhaps suggest they discard expired items?

 

And I’m not a sommelier, and I didn’t stay at holiday inn, but I always thought wine improved with age? (generally) That’s not a product I would expect to have a short shelf life…..

Well yes, I think that's what is best, but I didn't want to get into trouble by being unreasonable.  After all I was complaining.

[cruisequeen4ever]

OP, I was literally just typing that I hoped you took pics to show Celebrity customer service, so I’m glad to see you did. That’s not ok to serve expired drinks! 

[jlowe420]

Also here's a bit more detail:  I was only drinking Cabernets.  These were the Celebrity one and Decoy.  In total I would guess about 7 glasses of bad wine.  I had tipped one of the servers in the casino after complaining to dig me up a bottle of Decoy and he did, and it was bad.  I left the table went up to the retreat, got a fresh glass and came back down and had them smell them.  They admitted it smelled bad.   

What I assume happened is that they turned the AC off in portion of the ship.  Maybe not in dry storage but maybe where wine for the casino bar was stored or something like that.  My best guess is that the wine was just stored above temp for too long.  It doesn't make sense that the bottles would be open too long - in a cruise setting i cannot image a bottle of cabernet making it more than a day at any bar.

 

The juices just show they were using up stock they had...  I don't love it, but I understand being cost conscious after all the missed revenue.  If the ship made the determination that it wasn't expired, but rather just not in the "best before" then I would hope they would put into a different container so that the guests didnt see. 

Afterall these juices were on the bar, on the side you sit on, at the retreat.  This is the bar that I would hope would have the best of everything on board.

 

I am not a wine snob, I drink Trader Joes most of the time. 

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, Moby Jones said:

I'd say many of the the best staff across the board sommeliers, waiters and maitre d' etc are placed in Luminae. We did have a lady called Maggie in Luminae on a couple of sailings who was very good. 

But Celebrity could improve their training IMHO.  🙂

We also had Maggie in Luminae and she was excellent.   Last time I saw her she was working in the MDR, they do rotate them from time to time.  We have also seen another Luminae sommelier working in Blu on the Edge.  

[canderson]

1 hour ago, helen haywood said:

White wines do not improve with age and if not kept at a cool temperature will definitely turn.  This has long been a problem buying wine in Florida grocery stores.

I guess you wouldn't appreciate my '94 Auslese.  Still have a few precious bottles of that in my cellar.  Have a number of other whites I won't be drinking for another 5-7 years.  "White wines don't age" has always been an innaccurate generalization that fits only certain white wines.

[helen haywood]

OK.  Fair point.  The white wines I drink. 😜

[Arzeena]

4 hours ago, jlowe420 said:

The ship had so much spoiled wine it was quite a disappointment.  They also pretended like you are drunk or dont know what vinegar tastes like when you complain.  I had to on one occasion go up to the retreat to get a fresh glass of wine and bring it down to the casino and ask the bartender to smell both of them side by side.  I would have expected higher quality - never once have I had a bad bottle of wine on NCL, but I get it... they are trying to use up the stock they sat on for a year.

They also had expired "past the best by date" juices and cocktail mixes out on the retreat bar right in plain view of the guests.  They really need to put those into other containers so it's not as obvious they are using up old stuff.

 

Thanks forposting  your thoughts.
I was also on the same cruise and had a really fantastic experience. I was enjoying my first post pandemic cruise too much to notice the difference or check for expiration dates. Sorry you got too bored!

 

Edited August 4, 2021 by Arzeena