How good (or bad) is the wine in the package we get with the "Always Included" fares?

[islandwoman]

I see that because we have a wine package included with our fare,  that we also are each allowed to bring 2 bottles of wine onboard without a corkage fee.  My question is, is the wine available in the package good enough that it would be a waste of money and effort to bring our own onboard?  Another consideration is that we intend to order room service for some or all of our meals and I see that our wine package does not include wine ordered through room service.  Can we go to the bar and bring back wine to drink in our stateroom? Would it be worth the trouble, or would it be better just to bring our own wine onboard and "throw away" the included wine by the glass? 

[WestLakeGirl]

4 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

I see that because we have a wine package included with our fare,  that we also are each allowed to bring 2 bottles of wine onboard without a corkage fee.  My question is, is the wine available in the package good enough that it would be a waste of money and effort to bring our own onboard? 
 

hard to say what you consider good enough

 

Another consideration is that we intend to order room service for some or all of our meals and I see that our wine package does not include wine ordered through room service.  Can we go to the bar and bring back wine to drink in our stateroom?
 

yes you can do that

 

Would it be worth the trouble, or would it be better just to bring our own wine onboard and "throw away" the included wine by the glass?

What do you mean, throw away?  I don’t understand what you are asking

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

You would need to be the judge as everyone has different taste in wine.  For example we recently bought a Portuguese Red at Costco for $5 that was wonderful and a Chardonnay for $25 they my DW poured out.

You also do not indicate which wine package you have or where or when you are cruising.  All make a difference as today there are shortages of "imported" wines worldwide, but on a European cruise you might find excellent wines from Europe not available in the US.

The only question I can answer is you certainly can go to any bar, get a glass of wine and take it to your cabin or pretty much anywhere except pool areas.  In the olden days we would during the happy hour stockpile a couple glasses in our cabin before the show and have one with dinner and a second later.

Last, you are allowed 2 bottles per cabin and ask your cabin attendant for a couple glasses if you like.  There is certainly lots of wine on board fit for drinking and supplies are rapidly improving.

Edited July 1, 2022 by Arizona Wildcat

[markeb]

That's an impossible question to answer. What wine would you bring onboard? What wines do you normally drink? There are menus posted with various wines by the glass that "should" be available. They're generally $10-12/bottle wines. Drinkable, but nothing spectacular. But they could be what you like.

 

If you're driving to the port and looking to bring a $75-100/bottle retail wine onboard, then bring it. But unfortunately no one can really answer your question.

[jelayne]

You can now bring 2 bottles each ( 4 per cabin) on at embarkation.  
It is hard to say how bad or good the wine on the Classic packages is as some find wines they like others don’t.  We always have the premium package but we have found some wines covered by the Classic package that we enjoy and order.
 

If you check the app for your sailing and look under dining you will see the wine lists for the various venues.  Not all are available on every sailing

 

Yes you can get a glass of wine at a bar and take it to your room.

[Redtravel]

Try the wines. Some are bad. Some are ok. I liked the Malbec. The rose was ok. The merlot was terrible. 

[asnaleah]

We had good choices by the glass (premium package) on Silhouette in January. I would still bring some bottles on if you plan on eating in your room. It’s a pain to keep going back to the bar for a wine refill!

[islandwoman]

1 hour ago, markeb said:

That's an impossible question to answer. What wine would you bring onboard? What wines do you normally drink? There are menus posted with various wines by the glass that "should" be available. They're generally $10-12/bottle wines. Drinkable, but nothing spectacular. But they could be what you like.

 

If you're driving to the port and looking to bring a $75-100/bottle retail wine onboard, then bring it. But unfortunately no one can really answer your question.

I didn't mean to ask for a recommendation to match my taste.  I only meant to ask for your opinion as to whether the wines offered in the "Always Included" package are good enough to forego bringing your own bottles onboard. (according to your taste)

[islandwoman]

1 hour ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

You would need to be the judge as everyone has different taste in wine.  For example we recently bought a Portuguese Red at Costco for $5 that was wonderful and a Chardonnay for $25 they my DW poured out.

You also do not indicate which wine package you have or where or when you are cruising.  All make a difference as today there are shortages of "imported" wines worldwide, but on a European cruise you might find excellent wines from Europe not available in the US.

The only question I can answer is you certainly can go to any bar, get a glass of wine and take it to your cabin or pretty much anywhere except pool areas.  In the olden days we would during the happy hour stockpile a couple glasses in our cabin before the show and have one with dinner and a second later.

Last, you are allowed 2 bottles per cabin and ask your cabin attendant for a couple glasses if you like.  There is certainly lots of wine on board fit for drinking and supplies are rapidly improving.

We are sailing on the Celebrity Infinity, Western Caribbean, July 16. 

We have the wine package that comes with the "Always Included Fare".  Our confirmation doesn't give it a name, but I guess it's the Classic.

As I mentioned in response to a different post, I'm only asking for your opinion.

[RichYak]

The CBP covers wine up to $9 per glass. Maybe you'll find something at that price that satisfies you, maybe you won't. On the plus side, there is nothing stopping you from ordering something above $9 and paying only the difference.

[islandwoman]

1 hour ago, WestLakeGirl said:

My question is, is the wine available in the package good enough that it would be a waste of money and effort to bring our own onboard? 
 

hard to say what you consider good enough

Would you consider the wines available in the package "good enough" that it would be a waste of money and effort to bring your own onboard?  I'm only asking for your opinion.

 

By "throw away the included wine" I just meant that even though we have already paid for a wine package by purchasing the "Always Included" fare, we wouldn't drink it.  

[jelayne]

1 minute ago, islandwoman said:

Would you consider the wines available in the package "good enough" that it would be a waste of money and effort to bring your own onboard?  I'm only asking for your opinion.

 

By "throw away the included wine" I just meant that even though we have already paid for a wine package by purchasing the "Always Included" fare, we wouldn't drink it.  

The included beverage packages includes more than just wine.  It also includes liquor, specialty coffees and teas, bottled water, soda and juices.  
If we were going to have dinner in our cabin then we would probably bring a bottle or 2 of wine on board as it would be a hassle to go to a bar to get a refill on our wine during dinner.

[Cajuntraveler]

16 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

Would you consider the wines available in the package "good enough" that it would be a waste of money and effort to bring your own onboard?  I'm only asking for your opinion.

Prior to cruising with "Have it all" I have always carried my wine on board. (Mostly HAL cruises) On our last X cruise in May, I didn't bring a bottle on board and was able to enjoy the selections offered in the Classic package.   All but one of the wines I tried were fine.  I enjoyed trying different wines.  If I had brought my own, I wouldn't have experimented with other wines.   As someone else noted - the package also includes other beverages. 

Enjoy your cruise.

[graham2213]

We love the Premium package.  Try Decoy wine (google for details if you want more info).  It is absolutely deelish!

[jelayne]

3 minutes ago, graham2213 said:

We love the Premium package.  Try Decoy wine (google for details if you want more info).  It is absolutely deelish!

Supply chain issues so no Decoy or our recent sailing.

[SHIP TRAVELER]

I think it is good to bring a couple of bottles of good wine that I know I will enjoy on board.  I like to have a glass while I am getting ready for dinner (a before happy hour glass) and I like to have a chilled bottle so that I can have a glass on the veranda when I get back on board after a long shore excursion.  Others may enjoy having all their drinks at a bar,  in a lounge, or other public venue.  I think it is just a personal preference.  I definitely don't like to carry around a glass of wine in elevators.  With a drink package those days are long gone.

[WestLakeGirl]

I don’t drink tea but I don’t think I am throwing the tea away just because I don’t order the tea that’s included in my package.  I guess that’s an interesting way of looking at it but I can’t say that I understand it

[Bo1953]

3 hours ago, islandwoman said:

Would you consider the wines available in the package "good enough" that it would be a waste of money and effort to bring your own onboard?  I'm only asking for your opinion.

 

By "throw away the included wine" I just meant that even though we have already paid for a wine package by purchasing the "Always Included" fare, we wouldn't drink it.  

I suggest you bring at least one (1) bottle each aboard just in case you get stumped as to what to order and/or you want to enjoy a glass before/after dinner.

 

If you consider what you enjoy to be premium, it may well be worth bringing it to the dining room and paying the corkage fee to enjoy with your dinner.

 

I did this on our recent Bermuda sailing and it worked out well.

 

Cheers, enjoy your sailing and bon voyage

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, islandwoman said:

I didn't mean to ask for a recommendation to match my taste.  I only meant to ask for your opinion as to whether the wines offered in the "Always Included" package are good enough to forego bringing your own bottles onboard. (according to your taste)

I would suggest going to the App and select a ship and cruise currently sailing.   Select Main dining room, Blu or Luminae -  Click on Wine and scroll down where they will list which wines are available by the glass by Classic and Premium Packages.      They will list they type of wine and Vineyard. 

 

While they may  not all be available it will give you a good idea of what types of wine are available and if they meet your taste and package.   You can also pay the difference between you package maximum and any wine by the glass as an option -   by knowing how many glasses you drink a night it can help determine if it makes sense to bring wine or just pay the adder or whether it makes sense to upgrade.

 

 

[jelayne]

55 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

I suggest you bring at least one (1) bottle each aboard just in case you get stumped as to what to order and/or you want to enjoy a glass before/after dinner.

 

If you consider what you enjoy to be premium, it may well be worth bringing it to the dining room and paying the corkage fee to enjoy with your dinner.

 

I did this on our recent Bermuda sailing and it worked out well.

 

Cheers, enjoy your sailing and bon voyage

Bo, If you have a beverage package there is no corkage fee any longer and you can now bring on 4 bottles.  A win win as I see it.  You can bring on a favorite wine and no corkage ( win) and  Celebrity gets fewer complaints about shortages and 1less bottle they supply.

[Bo1953]

2 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Bo, If you have a beverage package there is no corkage fee any longer and you can now bring on 4 bottles.  A win win as I see it.  You can bring on a favorite wine and no corkage ( win) and  Celebrity gets fewer complaints about shortages and 1less bottle they supply.

j - thank you, I did not realize that the corkage fee was popped from X...

 

cheers and bon voyage

[chemmo]

12 hours ago, islandwoman said:

I see that because we have a wine package included with our fare,  that we also are each allowed to bring 2 bottles of wine onboard without a corkage fee.  My question is, is the wine available in the package good enough that it would be a waste of money and effort to bring our own onboard?  Another consideration is that we intend to order room service for some or all of our meals and I see that our wine package does not include wine ordered through room service.  Can we go to the bar and bring back wine to drink in our stateroom? Would it be worth the trouble, or would it be better just to bring our own wine onboard and "throw away" the included wine by the glass? 

Some people are real wine experts and know exactly what they like…Even with the premium package they may struggle with the selection offered.

 

Then there are guests like us…We frequently try house wines in restaurants and although we usually have a premium package because it comes with our room we will often just ask for a fruity red or a refreshing white…Easy on the first few days of your cruise to both order different wines at a bar to find something you like…If you pop by a quiet bar you could ask the bar staff to pour you just a taste of one or two different reds or whites to give you an idea. Once you know what you like take a drink back to your room, order your room service then one of you pops back with both cards to get a second glass ready…

 

I suggest you do bring a few bottles on board simply for convenience if you are planning on regularly dining in suite. Your room attendant will bring you ice twice daily on request so you can chill your white. 

7 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

I would suggest going to the App and select a ship and cruise currently sailing.   Select Main dining room, Blu or Luminae -  Click on Wine and scroll down where they will list which wines are available by the glass by Classic and Premium Packages.      They will list they type of wine and Vineyard. 

 

While they may  not all be available it will give you a good idea of what types of wine are available and if they meet your taste and package.   You can also pay the difference between you package maximum and any wine by the glass as an option -   by knowing how many glasses you drink a night it can help determine if it makes sense to bring wine or just pay the adder or whether it makes sense to upgrade.

 

 

 

Great advice to give you some ideas…

 

Also

11 hours ago, jelayne said:

The included beverage packages includes more than just wine.  It also includes liquor, specialty coffees and teas, bottled water, soda and juices.  
 

We probably get as much value from our package in speciality coffee, water, soda and the odd (OK frequent) little something to end the meal with. No room is ever that far from a bar…

 

Hope you find the classic package wine enjoyable and that you have a wonderful cruise! 
 

Just as a ‘by the way’ you do know you can order your dinner from the MDR menu when it is open don’t you? You are not just restricted to the limited all day room service menu.

[TMLAalum]

If you are driving to the port, why not bring wine aboard? If you don't drink it, just bring it home! 

If flying, it may be more difficult to locate a beverage store and purchase wine before sailing, but if you do this, be sure to drink up before your return flight home!

[islandwoman]

8 hours ago, chemmo said:

Then there are guests like us…We frequently try house wines in restaurants and although we usually have a premium package because it comes with our room

 

What rooms come with the Premium package?

[islandwoman]

6 hours ago, TMLAalum said:

If you are driving to the port, why not bring wine aboard? If you don't drink it, just bring it home! 

If flying, it may be more difficult to locate a beverage store and purchase wine before sailing, but if you do this, be sure to drink up before your return flight home!

We are driving, but two problems.  First wine that gets hot in the Florida climate will not be as good as it would have been at home. Second, if we don't drink it on the ship and need to take it through customs upon our return, we wouldn't be able to bring in tequila from Mexico!  So we want to be sure that the drink package would be insufficient/unacceptable before committing to bring wine onboard.

Edited July 2, 2022 by islandwoman