Free Sparkling Wine on Arrival – Alternative

[D&N]

17 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

Of course this didn't really require a response but I couldn't resist. It will likely be a tight fit, but your strategy just might work without having to remove the bottle. Here's a photo of the ice bucket with the "Welcome Aboard" Pol Acker and one of the flutes provided at embarkation in a QM2 Britannia balcony cabin in 2019.

 

Thank you bluemarble, as always you are an excellent source of information. That will do just fine!

[3rdGenCunarder]

21 hours ago, Soptim said:

Thank you for all the replies and discussions. I am pregnant and would like to toast the cruise with my partner, but not with alcohol. 
We'll see - maybe we'll ask our cabin steward. 

 

Congratulations! I suggest taking a nice bottle of sparkling nonalcoholic cider with you for a toast. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

21 hours ago, techteach said:

For me it is a matter of quantity. I am diabetic so I limit what I drink. I am going to choose what I drink for instance avoiding sweetened drinks and even orange juice. I appreciate Cunard providing a sail away bottle.  No pretensions, no snobbish behavior, but I’ll have a nice glass of wine of my choice. I just think it is funny how many in this group make fun of Pol Acker, and look forward to a sip or two so I can have context and choose to agree or disagree with you.  Almost noon here in Vegas, so time for a glass of rose.

 

Pol Acker jokes have been around this board for a long time, going back to the days of QE2. The quality varies greatly, probably due to how the bottle is handled/stored. Toward the end of QE2's days, they must have been hauling out cases from the very back of storage. A "glass of champagne while you shop" promotion was so bad that it would have been better used in salad dressing.

 

I usually give it a try. If it's drinkable (and sometimes it is), I toast my voyage and save the rest in the fridge for mimosas (I always have a champagne stopper with me). If it isn't, it goes directly into the fridge. I've never had a PA so bad that it couldn't be used for a mimosa.  

 

[naturelovergirl]

 

I also take a champagne stopper for the complimentary Pol Acker... I make mimosas in my stateroom from it. Works perfectly well for that. My husband does not drink sparkling wine... so the bottle is, honestly, mine to nurse along with my mimosas.

 

There are plenty of lovely drinks on board to purchase besides the wine, champagnes, and cocktails... there are so many tasty mocktails, specialty coffees, hot chocolates, sodas, and such... 

 

But

If you want to make sure that you have some bubbly without the alcohol to toast each other on your sailaway, bring what you like from home. That way you know you have something festive. 🙂

[elmsliebev]

On 2/24/2022 at 7:36 PM, Soptim said:

Hello we are going on a short trip with the QM2. I know that there is a bottle of sparkling wine in the cabin on arrival. Is there a possibility to get a non-alcoholic alternative? If so, can I order this in advance or should I inform our cabin steward of my wish? Thank you very much for your answers.
Soptim 

I noticed that the Gin and Fizz drinks menu has an alcohol free fizz (Cordoniu zero). Maybe you could ask if that could be substituted? I'll be trying it out before we go as I don't drink but I do like fizz, and many of the AF ones are very good now. 

[barriedavis]

Great how a siimple question can lead to the haters and wine snobs telling us that something is awful.  I like cheap wine, especially free stuff.  I drink craft beer with dinners on board.  When I was in finance, I had the fortune to lend a mortgage to one of the top 40 sommeliers in the world.  I asked him what was the correct wine to drink with what meal.  He replied, "Whatever you enjoy drinking - any wine waiter/butler/sommelier who looks down on you for doing so doesn't know their job".  He also told me that Champagne (it has to be grown in France to use the name) is an inferior product as the French do not have the right weather to mature the grapes efficiently.  Cava, Prosecco and  English sparkling wine are excellent products, the grapes being grown in more advantageous locations.

 

[D&N]

2 hours ago, barriedavis said:

He also told me that Champagne (it has to be grown in France to use the name)............

 

Just an update on that. It legally (EU & France) needs to be grown in the Champagne Region, which amounts to a bit over 6% of France. When it's grown in other areas it is generally sold as "Crémant". It's made in exactly same way but prices start from around 5€/bottle. You generally find Crémant de Loire, Bourgogne, Alsace, Bordeaux etc, but sometimes a more specific area. There's an own label Crémant de Limoux in our local hypermarket that we particularly like.

[3rdGenCunarder]

5 minutes ago, D&N said:

Just an update on that. It legally (EU & France) needs to be grown in the Champagne Region, which amounts to a bit over 6% of France. When it's grown in other areas it is generally sold as "Crémant". It's made in exactly same way but prices start from around 5€/bottle. You generally find Crémant de Loire, Bourgogne, Alsace, Bordeaux etc, but sometimes a more specific area. There's an own label Crémant de Limoux in our local hypermarket that we particularly like.

 

I discovered Cremants about 10 years ago when I happened upon one from Alsace when i was shopping for fizz. My great-grandmother came from Alsace, so I tried it. I've been buying Cremants ever since. 

[exlondoner]

2 hours ago, barriedavis said:

Great how a siimple question can lead to the haters and wine snobs telling us that something is awful.  I like cheap wine, especially free stuff.  I drink craft beer with dinners on board.  When I was in finance, I had the fortune to lend a mortgage to one of the top 40 sommeliers in the world.  I asked him what was the correct wine to drink with what meal.  He replied, "Whatever you enjoy drinking - any wine waiter/butler/sommelier who looks down on you for doing so doesn't know their job".  He also told me that Champagne (it has to be grown in France to use the name) is an inferior product as the French do not have the right weather to mature the grapes efficiently.  Cava, Prosecco and  English sparkling wine are excellent products, the grapes being grown in more advantageous locations.

 

English sparkling wine is often very nice and very Champagne like, but it seems highly unlikely they have more suitable weather for maturing grapes in Sussex, say, than in the Champagne area itself. 

And, while dislike of PA may be a sign of snobbery, often it is simply a sign of dislike of PA.  

[D&N]

2 hours ago, exlondoner said:

English sparkling wine is often very nice and very Champagne like, but it seems highly unlikely they have more suitable weather for maturing grapes in Sussex, say, than in the Champagne area itself. 

I'm no expert in the matter but my understanding is that the climate in parts of southern England may be similar to what it was in the Champagne Region 40 or 50 years ago. The latter may in turn have become warmer and drier. I imagine English wine producers can't have too many complaints about climate change!

[exlondoner]

27 minutes ago, D&N said:

I'm no expert in the matter but my understanding is that the climate in parts of southern England may be similar to what it was in the Champagne Region 40 or 50 years ago. The latter may in turn have become warmer and drier. I imagine English wine producers can't have too many complaints about climate change!

 

If that is the case, it must leave Cava and Prosecco in an even worse position.

[navybankerteacher]

5 hours ago, D&N said:

I'm no expert in the matter but my understanding is that the climate in parts of southern England may be similar to what it was in the Champagne Region 40 or 50 years ago. The latter may in turn have become warmer and drier. I imagine English wine producers can't have too many complaints about climate change!

Yes - the way things are going, (climatewise) Dom Perignon may soon have to start competing with Asti Spumante for shelf space.

 

It''s an ill wind which fails to blow anybody any good.

Edited March 5, 2022 by navybankerteacher

[jimbo1683]

On 2/25/2022 at 3:19 PM, ExArkie said:

A local wine store (Charlotte, NC) runs a "taste test" every year, doing a blind comparison between some $15 - $20 cabernets and some $75+, all from California. Pretty routinely, one of the lower priced ones comes in first or second in the customers' preferences. Price is most definitely not a reliable indicator of quality.

I doubt that that the local wine store blind tasters are a reliable indicator of quality either - they'll surely be more accustomed to the $15-$20 cabernets. But who cares, drink it if you like it and don't drink it if you don't like it.

[Mudhen]

On 2/25/2022 at 4:42 PM, D&N said:

Assuming we finally get to our cabin on QM2 at end of May, just about the first thing I'll do is place the flutes upside down in the ice bucket. If there's no space, the P.A. will go into the fridge. I'm confident it'll taste just fine in the chilled glasses.

Very good idea! We're just off the QM2 and lo and behold, the much maligned Pol Aker in all it's glory appeared in the cabin. We found if you chill it to death, it's not really so bad. A chilly glass as well, is a great thought.

[ExArkie]

13 hours ago, jimbo1683 said:

I doubt that that the local wine store blind tasters are a reliable indicator of quality either - they'll surely be more accustomed to the $15-$20 cabernets. But who cares, drink it if you like it and don't drink it if you don't like it.

Unlike, say, the level of wine sophistication of a random group of cruise customers on a discussion board?

 

I’d say the assessment depends entirely on the wine store and their clientele. This particular store does a huge business in the high-end California Cabernets, the purchasers of which comprise the tasting group.

 

[D&N]

16 hours ago, Mudhen said:

A chilly glass as well, is a great thought.

Unfortunately not my original thought. We opted for a bottle of Moet in the Champagne Bar on Sun Princess on our Anniversary in 1998. It tasted so much better than any Moet we'd had before. We'd have preferred Bollinger or even Krug, but our budget didn't run to that level!

When asked; the bar steward, a jolly Brummie lady, explained that she chilled all the flutes in the big refrigerated cabinet that the champagne was kept in. We've done it ever since.

We don't cruise often. Our next included New Years Eve in Acapulco Bay on Arcadia. We ordered champagne in advance but our sommelier took over the order and brought it to us as we left the late sitting dinner table. He presented doubled up P&O plastic carriers filled with ice and the champagne and 2 flutes with the bowls buried in the ice.

Most of the others on deck with us watching the fireworks were moaning about their warm fizz being rotten.

 

[lissie]

14 hours ago, D&N said:

When asked; the bar steward, a jolly Brummie lady, explained that she chilled all the flutes in the big refrigerated cabinet that the champagne was kept in. We've done it ever since.

 

Is tis not standard  practice in Europe?  I'm not  a huge bubbly drinker but I would totally expect the glass to be cold! Maybe its just because  I've spent a lot of time in Australia where using a glass which is not  straight out of the fridge is a crime (and yes even for red wine in the hot parts of the country) 

[techteach]

@lissie Chilled glasses for non-sparkling wine? Not in the United States. In fact, I can’t think of a glass of sparkling served in a chilled glass either. Maybe pool-side?

[jimbo1683]

7 hours ago, lissie said:

Is tis not standard  practice in Europe? 

No its not

[D&N]

9 hours ago, lissie said:

Is tis not standard  practice in Europe?

In France you don't always get an ice bucket. It might be a terracotta or thermoplastic container. With carafes of cheap wine on a hot day you might get a glass of ice cubes!

[BklynBoy8]

Chilled Bottle not Glass.....

[Queen of the Queen]

On 2/25/2022 at 5:50 PM, bluemarble said:

 

Of course this didn't really require a response but I couldn't resist. It will likely be a tight fit, but your strategy just might work without having to remove the bottle. Here's a photo of the ice bucket with the "Welcome Aboard" Pol Acker and one of the flutes provided at embarkation in a QM2 Britannia balcony cabin in 2019.

 

Such nice memories, We were on QE2 Dec 22 and Feb 22. No Pol Aker as above. Open the cooler, 2 flutes, a much smaller bottle and no ice bucket! Times are changing!!!!

[Queen of the Queen]

Just now, Queen of the Queen said:

Such nice memories, We were on QE2 Dec 22 and Feb 22. No Pol Aker as above. Open the cooler, 2 flutes, a much smaller bottle and no ice bucket! Times are changing!!!!

Sorry, typo: QM2

[alc13]

On 3/5/2022 at 9:41 AM, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I discovered Cremants about 10 years ago when I happened upon one from Alsace when i was shopping for fizz. My great-grandmother came from Alsace, so I tried it. I've been buying Cremants ever since. 

Us, too.  Great value.  Similar in price to Prosecco, but not as sweet.  Cava is another great alternative.

[techteach]

I feel like I need to include some U.S. sparkling into this conversation. Roederer and Schramsburg take up a lot of space in our cellar.