Alcoholic drinks when dining

[Peter Lanky]

5 hours ago, Harters said:

A question for my fellow Britons, though. Do you find any UK travel agents likely to offer pre-paid gratuities as a perk, as often mentioned by North Americans? My guess is not and that the UK travel agent industry is different from the American one in this sort of respect but I'd be interested in confirmation (or not).

I've never seen it, but then I have always attempted and succeeded so far to stick with cruise lines that charge the correct price and gratuities are not brought into the equation at all, namely Azamara, Silversea and Emerald. The end product is the same but it just makes me feel better.

[SellaVee]

3 hours ago, Peter Lanky said:

I've never seen it, but then I have always attempted and succeeded so far to stick with cruise lines that charge the correct price and gratuities are not brought into the equation at all, namely Azamara, Silversea and Emerald. The end product is the same but it just makes me feel better.

So does that mean you've no plans to cruise on any of Oceania's ships?

[Peter Lanky]

7 hours ago, SellaVee said:

So does that mean you've no plans to cruise on any of Oceania's ships?

I have one booked in 18 months time, but hoping things change in the meantime. I'll deal with the problem if and when it arrives.

[EJL2023]

13 hours ago, Peter Lanky said:

I've never seen it, but then I have always attempted and succeeded so far to stick with cruise lines that charge the correct price and gratuities are not brought into the equation at all, namely Azamara, Silversea and Emerald. The end product is the same but it just makes me feel better.

But Azamara charges extra for specialty dining? So it that a true price up front for the cruise?

[Peter Lanky]

4 hours ago, EJL2023 said:

But Azamara charges extra for specialty dining? So it that a true price up front for the cruise?

The 'speciality dining' on Azamara is not compulsory, and in my opinion, the standard fare on Azamara is of sufficiently high quality as to make any need for speciality dining unnecessary. We have discussed this while on our recent first Silversea cruise, where one can also pay extra for speciality dining. We concluded that the only reason to do this would be to prove a point about showing others the extent of ones wealth in that an EXTRA $60 each is pocket money.

Edited July 10, 2023 by Peter Lanky

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Peter Lanky said:

The 'speciality dining' on Azamara is not compulsory, and in my opinion, the standard fare on Azamara is of sufficiently high quality as to make any need for speciality dining unnecessary.

Is any dining on any ship compulsory??

[Peter Lanky]

2 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Is any dining on any ship compulsory??

It certainly isn't,  but I suspect that people would get a little hungry if they didn't dine for a week or more. 😉

[LHT28]

19 minutes ago, Peter Lanky said:

It certainly isn't,  but I suspect that people would get a little hungry if they didn't dine for a week or more. 😉

They are there  for  your eating enjoyment  but not "compulsory"

 The Oceania specialty restaurants are complimentary  no extra fee required 

Some exceptions are Privee & La Reserve

[Peter Lanky]

24 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

They are there  for  your eating enjoyment  but not "compulsory"

 The Oceania specialty restaurants are complimentary  no extra fee required 

Some exceptions are Privee & La Reserve

I'm not really sure where we are heading here. This sub topic was started because someone said there was an extra charge on Azamara for speciality restaurants, and thus Azamara was NOT fully inclusive. I simply countered this by pointing out that there is no compulsion to use them therefore the claim is invalid.

 

But then you claim all speciality restaurants on Oceania are included but then give 2 exceptions, so how does this make Oceania more inclusive regarding dining options than othes?

Edited July 10, 2023 by Peter Lanky

[LHT28]

10 minutes ago, Peter Lanky said:

I

10 minutes ago, Peter Lanky said:

But then you claim all speciality restaurants on Oceania are included but then give 2 exceptions, so how does this make Oceania more inclusive regarding dining options than othes?

 

 No Oceania  is not  fully inclusive 

Will leave it  at that 

 

 

[1985rz1]

16 minutes ago, Peter Lanky said:

I'm not really sure where we are heading here. This sub topic was started because someone said there was an extra charge on Azamara for speciality restaurants, and thus Azamara was NOT fully inclusive. I simply countered this by pointing out that there is no compulsion to use them therefore the claim is invalid.

 

But then you claim all speciality restaurants on Oceania are included but then give 2 exceptions, so how does this make Oceania more inclusive regarding dining options than othes?

Privee and La Reserve are not really specialty restaurants.  They are dining experiences that can be arranged and paid for.

[1985rz1]

6 hours ago, EJL2023 said:

But Azamara charges extra for specialty dining? So it that a true price up front for the cruise?

 

2 hours ago, Peter Lanky said:

The 'speciality dining' on Azamara is not compulsory, and in my opinion, the standard fare on Azamara is of sufficiently high quality as to make any need for speciality dining unnecessary. We have discussed this while on our recent first Silversea cruise, where one can also pay extra for speciality dining. We concluded that the only reason to do this would be to prove a point about showing others the extent of ones wealth in that an EXTRA $60 each is pocket money.

Actually the specialty restaurants are included for Club Continent and above. Not for Veranda Plus and below.

[cruisinclined]

As a Oceania newbie just checking how widely the drinks package applies. We are used to getting free drinks throughout the ship with other lines.

Hoping their package can be used in all ship bars and restaurants?

[1985rz1]

5 minutes ago, cruisinclined said:

As a Oceania newbie just checking how widely the drinks package applies. We are used to getting free drinks throughout the ship with other lines.

Hoping their package can be used in all ship bars and restaurants?

Depends upon which package.  The basic Select package (whether as part of OLife or SimplyMore) covers  wine and beer (and champagne, under SimplyMore) only in restaurants during dining hours.  The Prestige package covers all alcoholic beverage (some exceptions apply) in all venues ship wide any time.

Edited July 11, 2023 by 1985rz1

[cruisinclined]

On 7/11/2023 at 6:35 PM, 1985rz1 said:

Depends upon which package.  The basic Select package (whether as part of OLife or SimplyMore) covers  wine and beer (and champagne, under SimplyMore) only in restaurants during dining hours.  The Prestige package covers all alcoholic beverage (some exceptions apply) in all venues ship wide any time.

We have the Simply More package and the wine selection looks quite good. Hoping we can choose a glass of our choice from any of the 11 reds on the bar menu?

[EJL2023]

6 minutes ago, cruisinclined said:

We have the Simply More package and the wine selection looks quite good. Hoping we can choose a glass of our choice from any of the 11 reds on the bar menu?

Yes, you can select any of the wines on the Wine By Glass list, approximately 35.  

[SATaxman]

7 minutes ago, cruisinclined said:

We have the Simply More package and the wine selection looks quite good. Hoping we can choose a glass of our choice from any of the 11 reds on the bar menu?

I used to be able to see the wine lists for all restaurants on the website. Suddenly, only the food menus are available.

[1985rz1]

9 minutes ago, cruisinclined said:

We have the Simply More package and the wine selection looks quite good. Hoping we can choose a glass of our choice from any of the 11 reds on the bar menu?

The SM package is restricted to dining venues and doesn’t include orders in any of the lounges or bars, if that was what you were thinking.  It's the same as the House Select package, but with more options on the menu.  But maybe you were referring to the wine by the glass menu in a restaurant.

[Peter Lanky]

On 7/11/2023 at 6:30 PM, cruisinclined said:

As a Oceania newbie just checking how widely the drinks package applies. We are used to getting free drinks throughout the ship with other lines.

Hoping their package can be used in all ship bars and restaurants?

We have gone for the basic package in the O-Life options, on the grounds that looking back at previous cruises, almost all our drinking has been while dining. When sharing tables and chatting to others, a 7:30 dinner can often finish after 10pm and after dinner I'm usually either at a show or too tired to be bothered with a bar, so the standard package covers 95% of what I may drink on an all included package.

[EJL2023]

2 minutes ago, SATaxman said:

I used to be able to see the wine lists for all restaurants on the website. Suddenly, only the food menus are available.

If you go the section for each ship, click on the culinary experiences.  Go to the Grand Dining Room and open it up and they have a Wine list. Perhaps under other restaurants also but I just saw it under the GDR on the three ships I checked.

[SATaxman]

1 minute ago, EJL2023 said:

If you go the section for each ship, click on the culinary experiences.  Go to the Grand Dining Room and open it up and they have a Wine list. Perhaps under other restaurants also but I just saw it under the GDR on the three ships I checked.

Not on the Marina. I checked every location.

[LHT28]

6 minutes ago, SATaxman said:

I used to be able to see the wine lists for all restaurants on the website. Suddenly, only the food menus are available.

I am seeing the wine menu

Here is for GDR

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/sites/default/files/2023-01/Oceania-Wine-list.pdf

 

[cruisinclined]

1 minute ago, Peter Lanky said:

We have gone for the basic package in the O-Life options, on the grounds that looking back at previous cruises, almost all our drinking has been while dining. When sharing tables and chatting to others, a 7:30 dinner can often finish after 10pm and after dinner I'm usually either at a show or too tired to be bothered with a bar, so the standard package covers 95% of what I may drink on an all included package.

Yes I agree and having googled a few of the reds they look fine.

[EJL2023]

1 minute ago, SATaxman said:

Not on the Marina. I checked every location.

I’m under the Marina section right now and it has a Wine option under the GDR.  I am looking at it as I type.

[SATaxman]

Just now, EJL2023 said:

I’m under the Marina section right now and it has a Wine option under the GDR.  I am looking at it as I type.

I will try again. Thanks