No Vines Wine Bar on Enchanted?!? Where to find "good" wine?

[flwinejunkie]

Hello,

 

DH and I are booked on Enchanted Princess in December.  When I looked at the deck plan, realized the Vines Wine bar was missing.  OH NO!  

 

Do any of the other bars on Enchanted offer "good" wine similar to Vines Wine bar? 

 

Any experiences to share on $12 limit or a couple $ above for the Premier Plus package?  I know Princess has begun raising their wine prices, so curious what others have seen.  

 

Thanks for your help!

Mary 

[lx200gps]

11 minutes ago, flwinejunkie said:

Hello,

 

DH and I are booked on Enchanted Princess in December.  When I looked at the deck plan, realized the Vines Wine bar was missing.  OH NO!  

 

Do any of the other bars on Enchanted offer "good" wine similar to Vines Wine bar? 

 

Any experiences to share on $12 limit or a couple $ above for the Premier Plus package?  I know Princess has begun raising their wine prices, so curious what others have seen.  

 

Thanks for your help!

Mary 

There's been a good bit of discussion of late here on CC on the Premier package and its relative worth, particularly as it relates to the Enchanted. We were on her last month, on her maiden NA voyage after it spent the summer in Europe, and we had decided to try the Premier package. There were MANY wines on their lists which were not available, or which were initially available and became unavailable, or which were initially unavailable and became available. The wine lists were shortened,  the crew seemed lost in trying to identify what they actually had on board, though I can't say now whether that has improved on recent sailings.  Most of the time when we asked for one of the better wines, we came up empty and had to "settle" for something else. Of course we always found something acceptable, but the Premier package was an utter waste. Based on this, we definitely won't be buying the Premier package again,  just relying on paying the delta beyond the $12 for the better wines. If they have them.  We'll have another data point in a few weeks when we board the Sky, though unfortunately, again, this her first NA after a summer in Europe.

 

[loge23]

Ditto to the previous post. Some of the premium restaurants will offer "better" wines (if they have them in stock, big if) but the curious absence of The Vines on the new ships is a big minus to the line. 

[flwinejunkie]

Thanks lx200gps and loge23 for your feedback!  Sounds like my worst fears will be confirmed once I board the Enchanted.  I definitely won't be booking any more cruises on Enchanted, Dicovery and any other ships without Vines. 

 

I've already been on Regal numerous times and enjoy their Vines Wine Bar.  Yesterday I booked her for January, so I'll find out the impact of recent changes to the Princess plus package.  I can live with paying the delta difference for some wines, but hope to find some still under $12.

 

 

[Kay S]

It looks like the trend is to replace Vines with the Gastropub.  Wine drinkers yield to beer drinkers.

[c-boy]

4 minutes ago, Kay S said:

It looks like the trend is to replace Vines with the Gastropub.  Wine drinkers yield to beer drinkers.

 

 

 

....

 

 

 

....

 

 

 

....

 

 

 

[dreaminofcruisin]

21 minutes ago, Kay S said:

It looks like the trend is to replace Vines with the Gastropub.  Wine drinkers yield to beer drinkers.

 

Since there is also a lack of draft beer onboard, not too sure beer drinkers are very happy either.....

One would think a "Gastropub" would have some good draft beers.....haven't been on a ship with one yet....maybe it does? (But I doubt it...)

Even if the Enchanted had Vines, right now the ships I have been on with Vines have no more good wine available in Vines than in the MDR....at least for white wine...pathetic...

[charlie murphy]

Corrections and retractions: 

"Even if the Enchanted had Vines, right now the ships I have been on with Vines have no more good wine available in Vines than in the MDR....at least for white wine...pathetic..."

 

Even if the Enchanted had Vines, right now the ships I have been (PLEASE STRIKE "THAT I HAVE BEEN ON" AND REPLACE WITH, 'general consensus  is'})  on with Vines have no more good ( please strike good)  wine available in Vines than in the MDR....at least for white ( please strike AT LEAST FOR WHITE )  wine...pathetic...

 

Even if the Enchanted had Vines, right now the ships general consensus is Vines has no more wine available than in the MDR.... wine...pathetic...

 

dreaminofcruisin for sure!  i would just like to do it with a good wine. Good beer call me : dream-onofcruisin

[skynight]

Is it that good wines are in short supply, or is it that Princess does not have the credit to purchase a complete supply of wines for their inventory including the finer wines?

[Thrak]

When we sailed Royal Princess in May I gave up on Vines. It took a good 5-8 minutes to be acknowledged - even though there was someone clearing a table right next to us. I ordered a glass of wine and after almost 20  minutes I quit waiting and left. The place wasn't really very busy but I think the waiters were busy running around the ship delivering stuff. Whatever the issue it was way too long to just sit there waiting for my glass of wine.

[voljeep]

Looks like Princess is phasing out being a wine centric cruise line ... will have a couple of very basic wines aboard and a couple of 'better' wines - and not a specific 'wine bar'.

 

looks like if wine is that important to you on a cruise ship ... Princess is no longer for you ... unless you bring your own onboard.

 

Lot easier to have beer and spirits ...

[c-boy]

now hold on second people!  your rufflin' my tail feathers! Lets give it til spring and see what happens.

Til then, If ya find a wine your partial too, buy the bottle, none of this buy the glass stuff. At least you'll have the pleasure of knowing your gonna get three more glasses of that joyous fruit. I would rather hear the words " you bought the last bottle"  then hear "sorry we're out of that"

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2022 by c-boy

[Kay S]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

Looks like Princess is phasing out being a wine centric cruise line ... will have a couple of very basic wines aboard and a couple of 'better' wines - and not a specific 'wine bar'.

 

looks like if wine is that important to you on a cruise ship ... Princess is no longer for you ... unless you bring your own onboard.

 

Lot easier to have beer and spirits ...

Maybe a younger crowd prefers beer over wine?  Sounds like the new Princess attitude.

[c-boy]

20 hours ago, skynight said:

Is it that good wines are in short supply, or is it that Princess does not have the credit to purchase a complete supply of wines for their inventory including the finer wines?

Princess line is not the only cruise line experiencing this phenomenon. 

[Steelers36]

19 hours ago, c-boy said:

now hold on second people!  your rufflin' my tail feathers! Lets give it til spring and see what happens.

Til then, If ya find a wine your partial too, buy the bottle, none of this buy the glass stuff. At least you'll have the pleasure of knowing your gonna get three more glasses of that joyous fruit. I would rather hear the words " you bought the last bottle"  then hear "sorry we're out of that"

 

 

 

If the OP wants to find some good/decent wines, they should come by my cabin.  I can SHOW them, but unfortunately, they are always spoken for.

 

[CineGraphic]

The only way to ensure a 100% chance that you’ll get “good” wine is to bring your own. You can’t trust Princess to have anything these days. They’ll try to claim that it’s a supply chain issue, yet there is no shortage of fine wine in retail shops. Pre-order your faves from Total Wine, as they have a location just blocks from the port. You can pick it up before embarkation.

[c-boy]

20 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

The only way to ensure a 100% chance that you’ll get “good” wine is to bring your own. You can’t trust Princess to have anything these days. They’ll try to claim that it’s a supply chain issue, yet there is no shortage of fine wine in retail shops. Pre-order your faves from Total Wine, as they have a location just blocks from the port. You can pick it up before embarkation.

HEY ! where ya been ya pseudo Caribbean sailor? what's new and exciting ?

[Roberto256]

On 10/21/2022 at 5:50 PM, voljeep said:

Looks like Princess is phasing out being a wine centric cruise line ... will have a couple of very basic wines aboard and a couple of 'better' wines - and not a specific 'wine bar'.

 

looks like if wine is that important to you on a cruise ship ... Princess is no longer for you ... unless you bring your own onboard.

 

Lot easier to have beer and spirits ...

 

Princess was wine-centric?

 

At least 15 years ago, Princess got rid of their sommeliers in the dining rooms...

 

Edited October 23, 2022 by Roberto256

[cjpj]

I'm really hoping this wine is a temporary supply problem.

[CineGraphic]

8 minutes ago, cjpj said:

I'm really hoping this wine is a temporary supply problem.

 There is no wine shortage on land.

Its a Princess problem.

[CineGraphic]

1 hour ago, c-boy said:

HEY ! where ya been ya pseudo Caribbean sailor? what's new and exciting ?

We’ve been too busy enjoying everything on Virgin. It’s turn-around day. Only 20 of us on board!

[cjpj]

1 minute ago, CineGraphic said:

 There is no wine shortage on land.

Its a Princess problem.

Yes, agree, there is no shortage of wine, but it is more of a distribution problem - like many other things. I don't think Princess goes to the local Total Wines in ports to pick up wine. It's probably done through some consolidator or something similar.

[Kay S]

33 minutes ago, Roberto256 said:

 

 

At least 15 years ago, Princess got rid of their sommeliers in the dining rooms...

 

That was a sad day.  We met a wonderful sommelier years ago on the Pacific Princess who taught me more about wine than any of those on board wind tastings.  

[Guest ldtr]

On 10/21/2022 at 2:13 PM, skynight said:

Is it that good wines are in short supply, or is it that Princess does not have the credit to purchase a complete supply of wines for their inventory including the finer wines?

Or it might be that for most passengers the wine list is really not that important. It is for some, but how many. Most of the time it seems as if vines is more overflow seating for the piazza, than to be truly filled with wine drinkers.

[DCThunder]

27 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Or it might be that for most passengers the wine list is really not that important. It is for some, but how many. Most of the time it seems as if vines is more overflow seating for the piazza, than to be truly filled with wine drinkers.

Bingo! This also leads to the perennial question:  Who is more obnoxious?  Wine snobs or craft beer snobs?  🍷 🍻

 

Also, the Salty Dog Gastropub on Enchanted is also a waste of space, IMHO.

Edited October 23, 2022 by DCThunder