Wine drinker...plus package warning.

[LRCruzr]

Will be on the Star princess Sept 2024 for the TA. Is the Vines wine bar gone..heard it was just trying to Confirm...Thanks

[JimmyVWine]

3 minutes ago, LRCruzr said:

Sorry BUT EMPIRE liquors is NEW YORK. Does not work for us Floridians.

https://atozbev.com/products/canyon-road-cabernet-sauvignon-750ml

 

Fleming Island FL.

Plus, there are literally dozens of wine shops that sell it that ship to FL.  It's not as if the wine you buy has to come from a local store.  Here's one.  

https://www.stirlingfinewine.com/products/14280709/canyon-road-cabernet-sauvignon

 

Your earlier comment that the wine is not available to the public and is a restaurant/bar wine only is just categorically false.  

[LRCruzr]

Trying to Confirm is VINES wine bar still open on the Star Princess??

 

[LRCruzr]

When you Buy wines from NY or NJ or any Northeast Coast Liquor store you Post..It is Cost prohibitive to buy a bottle...  3 bottles or a case. At $5.99 a bottle a Case is $70+  add in shipping it is the same or more than ordering from a Local Distributor.  

Show me some FLORIDA Stores that have and sell Canyon Road Wines!??

[LRCruzr]

9 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

https://atozbev.com/products/canyon-road-cabernet-sauvignon-750ml

 

Fleming Island FL.

Plus, there are literally dozens of wine shops that sell it that ship to FL.  It's not as if the wine you buy has to come from a local store.  Here's one.  

https://www.stirlingfinewine.com/products/14280709/canyon-road-cabernet-sauvignon

 

Your earlier comment that the wine is not available to the public and is a restaurant/bar wine only is just categorically false.  

Categorically TRUE for my Geographic Location. You quote New York or New Jersey Locations...I live in Florida..As it seems So Do You. So go buy some Retail Canyon Road in YOUR Location

[XBGuy]

23 minutes ago, LRCruzr said:

Trying to Confirm is VINES wine bar still open on the Star Princess??

 

 

 

Since the Star Princess has not been launched, yet, I don't think you can get an absolute "Yes or No" answer from anybody.  It appears that the Star Princess' maiden voyage is scheduled for October 2025.

 

However, there is evidence that there will not be a Vines wine bar on the Star Princess.

 

If you go to the Princess web site where they discuss the features of the Star Princess, there is a page on Restaurants and Bars.  Vines is not listed,

 

There have been a couple "Live From" reports from Cruise Critic contributors on the Sun Princess which is the sister ship to the Star Princess.  It seems to me, and, if my memory is incorrect, you have my apology, that at least one correspondent reported that there is no Vines on the Sun Princess.

 

I can tell you that there is no Vines on the Discovery Princess.  I can't speak authoritatively, but I don't think Vines has been removed from any of the other ships.

[lhsail]

No Vines on Enchanted, sadly. 

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, LRCruzr said:

You quote New York or New Jersey Locations...I live in Florida.

And one of the stores I linked is in FL.  So I don't understand what the issue is.  And shipping a case of wine from a retailer costs around $40 or $3.33 per bottle.  Well worth the price to get exactly what you want.  And no, I do not live in either NY or NJ.  But those states have the best retail stores that ship nationwide.  So I buy a lot of wine from that area and have it shipped to me.   

[Shaver John]

We had Flowers wine on our cruise and all 4 of us enjoyed it. In the lounge they served some great wines at happy hour, and we always took a glass to dinner. I never did get the name of the wine, but it was really tasty. We do have premiere package so it covers the cost of most anything we need to drink. I will admit, if I order a drink and do not like it, well it just gets left. I know it is a waste, but it is a way I can try different things without paying $20 a glass.

[lhsail]

11 minutes ago, Shaver John said:

We had Flowers wine on our cruise and all 4 of us enjoyed it. In the lounge they served some great wines at happy hour, and we always took a glass to dinner. I never did get the name of the wine, but it was really tasty. We do have premiere package so it covers the cost of most anything we need to drink. I will admit, if I order a drink and do not like it, well it just gets left. I know it is a waste, but it is a way I can try different things without paying $20 a glass.

Unfortunately, I just do not like Flowers, too tart for me. We like many of the premier package reds, but not so much on the whites. Anything available by the glass they should be able and willing to give you a taste of. I try to do this whenever possible. I have occasionally ordered one wine and had them bring me something different. In that case I don’t hesitate to have them take it back. 

[Mabel67]

Can anybody share what the Plus offerings for red wine currently on the Regal British Isles cruises?

[pppatpc2]

Just caught up with this thread and am happy this is being discussed.  We are cheap wine snobs, meaning we get very good wine for cheap prices.  Bogo at Publix helps us achieve this, but we average less than $10 bottle for wines like CS Substance, Bread and Butter, Clay Shannon, Tribute, Art of the Cooper, etc.  If we can get these wines commercially, certainly Princess can negotiate a contract for something similar.  We can regularly get New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs for under $10.

 

Before Covid Princess revamped their wine list and it was excellent, great wines for decent prices.  This is when they used to offer the Gold/ Silver wines packages, before the Plus package. I would never order a wine by the type, I always ask the bartender or waiter the vintner and they are patient with me.  
 

Tini wines are even worse than Canyon Road, you can probably get these wines 3 for $10 somewhere.  I do agree the Erraruiz Carmenere is the best of the lot, but we usually pay up a couple bucks for the Seghesio or Silverado at dinner and use our beverage package for a couple of cocktails.  It is still worth the cost considering Wi-Fi and gratuities, oh and those fitness classes we all sign up for 😉.

 

I know the days of slapping a luggage tag on a case of wine from the Total Wine near Port Everglades is a thing of the past, but Princess has left us wine drinkers in the rear view mirror.  Please make sure to express displeasure on the surveys, we have seen them change things based on our comments before. Cheers!

[JimmyVWine]

On 6/7/2024 at 7:46 PM, Mabel67 said:

Can anybody share what the Plus offerings for red wine currently on the Regal British Isles cruises?

Not really. “Plus” wines are mostly listed only as generic varietals and poured out of sight so you don’t know what you are getting. One could always ask to see the bottle of what they are getting, but it may not always be the same from lounge to lounge. The wine list just says “Pinot Noir” and when you order it, they bring you a glass of red wine that you hope tastes like Pinot Noir. Someone on board could tell you what they received last night, but there is no guarantee that you will get the same thing weeks or months later. 

[XBGuy]

2 hours ago, pppatpc2 said:

 

I know the days of slapping a luggage tag on a case of wine from the Total Wine near Port Everglades is a thing of the past, but Princess has left us wine drinkers in the rear view mirror.  Please make sure to express displeasure on the surveys, we have seen them change things based on our comments before. Cheers!

 

???

 

Are you saying that they are now requiring that passengers carry on the wine instead of having porters load it?

 

The official printed policy has always been that passengers were allowed to carry on their own wine.  However, over the years I have read multiple reports where passengers have dropped off cases of wine with luggage tags attached and the porters have loaded them.  To my knowledge there has been no change in the Princess policy limiting the number of personal wines that can be brought on board,  So, from your statement I am wondering if they are insisting that if a passenger wants to bring a case of wine on board, he cannot check it at the pier with a porter.  

 

Can you please provide some clarification?

[pppatpc2]

6 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

???

 

Are you saying that they are now requiring that passengers carry on the wine instead of having porters load it?

 

The official printed policy has always been that passengers were allowed to carry on their own wine.  However, over the years I have read multiple reports where passengers have dropped off cases of wine with luggage tags attached and the porters have loaded them.  To my knowledge there has been no change in the Princess policy limiting the number of personal wines that can be brought on board,  So, from your statement I am wondering if they are insisting that if a passenger wants to bring a case of wine on board, he cannot check it at the pier with a porter.  

 

Can you please provide some clarification?

They no longer allow you to do this, they will charge you $20/ bottle corkage, but back i

[pppatpc2]

Ugh.  Pushed the button accidentally. Back in the day, when we first cruised Princess, people would stop at Total Wine in Ft. Lauderdale and put a case on board, and there was no problem.

[XBGuy]

5 hours ago, pppatpc2 said:

They no longer allow you to do this, they will charge you $20/ bottle corkage, but back i

 

5 hours ago, pppatpc2 said:

Ugh.  Pushed the button accidentally. Back in the day, when we first cruised Princess, people would stop at Total Wine in Ft. Lauderdale and put a case on board, and there was no problem.

 

So, you are saying that you could bring wine aboard without paying a corkage fee?  That was certainly a very friendly policy for wine drinkers.  How long ago was that?  My first Princess cruise was in 2011, and it seems to me that they had a $15/bottle corkage charge when I first started.  Of course, it was raised to $20/bottle a few years ago.

[nhraformula00]

If I was planning another Princess cruise  i would have to bring food onboard as their buffet was not very good 2 weeks ago on Emerald. Dining room was much better, but very slow.

[pppatpc2]

7 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

 

So, you are saying that you could bring wine aboard without paying a corkage fee?  That was certainly a very friendly policy for wine drinkers.  How long ago was that?  My first Princess cruise was in 2011, and it seems to me that they had a $15/bottle corkage charge when I first started.  Of course, it was raised to $20/bottle a few years ago.

We started with Princess in 2010.  I never did it myself, but I heard a few people say they did.  They had a stated corkage fee, but sometimes looked the other way.  I think it was people bragging about it on CC that put an end to it.

 

  I think it's nice that you can still bring a bottle on, some cruise lines do not allow it at all.  I can still remember snagging a bottle of Amarone at a convenience store in Livorno for 20E.

[lhsail]

4 minutes ago, pppatpc2 said:

We started with Princess in 2010.  I never did it myself, but I heard a few people say they did.  They had a stated corkage fee, but sometimes looked the other way.  I think it was people bragging about it on CC that put an end to it.

 

  I think it's nice that you can still bring a bottle on, some cruise lines do not allow it at all.  I can still remember snagging a bottle of Amarone at a convenience store in Livorno for 20E.

I believe this was the exception rather than the rule. Corkage was $15 for many years. We always took ours on board in roller bags, and yes, sometimes they wouldn’t say anything. However, if not properly tagged when we took it to the dining room we were usually charged the corkage then. Now with the packages that include other perks and the increase in corkage it’s not worth it to us to haul it on. 

[pppatpc2]

2 minutes ago, lhsail said:

I believe this was the exception rather than the rule. Corkage was $15 for many years. We always took ours on board in roller bags, and yes, sometimes they wouldn’t say anything. However, if not properly tagged when we took it to the dining room we were usually charged the corkage then. Now with the packages that include other perks and the increase in corkage it’s not worth it to us to haul it on. 

I agree. With the package we drink whatever is decent, but usually buy one bottle in port if we are in a good wine-producing region.  I just wish Princess would have more decent wines on board.  I know they are playing catch up from covid, but it is really not acceptable to be pouring generic wines, although I see lots of people ordering them without problem.

[JimmyVWine]

29 minutes ago, pppatpc2 said:

We started with Princess in 2010.  I never did it myself, but I heard a few people say they did.  They had a stated corkage fee, but sometimes looked the other way.  I think it was people bragging about it on CC that put an end to it.

It depended on the port of embarkation and it depended on how deceitful people paying thousands of dollars for a cruise wanted to be in avoiding paying another $60 to bring on 6 bottles of wine as a couple. (Two free and 4 x $15).  Yes, there were some ports where there was never a table to pre-pay the corkage.  Nothing for the guest to do in that circumstance.  Hardly makes sense to scream at the embarkation area: "Can someone PLEASE take my money??!!"  But if those unpaid bottles were taken to the public spaces like lounges and dining venues, corkage was almost always charged.  At least in my experience.  And there were ports with corkage fee collection tables.  I never sailed out of Port Everglades without seeing one.  You walked up to the table, showed them your wine, and they charged the $15 fee to your account and stamped your bottles with a Sea Witch to show that they had been paid for.  

 

And now for my public service announcement.  While it is true that corkage fee collection can often be self-policing, Princess has the most generous wine allowance policy of any cruise line in its price class.  If we want things to stay this way instead of Princess reverting to the mean, we should tip our cap to their generosity and pay the fee that they assess.  It is a small price to pay for the benefit of bringing on full cases (or more) of our own wine.   

 

 

Edited June 10 by JimmyVWine

[HaveDogWillTravel]

8 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

Princess has the most generous wine allowance policy of any cruise line in its price class

Cunard is quite generous as well. And the prices for Britannia balcony and below are comparable to Princess. 
 

[t&atravel]

Yes there was a time that Princess did not have a corkage fee and no limit to the amount brought on board.  In 2004, we did an 18 day panama canal SF to NY with my sister and BIL and we brought on 5 cases of wine and champagne between us (SF is our home port). We were on the old Regal and towards the end of the cruise we invited a bunch of folks to join us on the rear deck (it was very large) for a farewell champagne party.  We brought munchies down from the buffet and our room steward provided glasses and ice buckets.  We had family in NY to visit at the end so any left over wine we shared with them.

[JimmyVWine]

11 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

Cunard is quite generous as well. And the prices for Britannia balcony and below are comparable to Princess. 
 

Cunard's Information Page says that the limit is one bottle per adult.  And even if Cunard matched Princess' policy, the Britannia Class experience is not an upgrade from Princess. Cunard puts its efforts into the higher classes and it shows.

 

 "You may bring one bottle of wine or champagne per person on board to celebrate special occasions (no larger than 750ml). If consumed in restaurants or bars, each bottle will be subjected to a corkage fee. Guests who are under 18 years of age are not permitted to purchase or consume alcohol on board.  In U.S. waters, Cunard abides by the U.S. legal drinking age of 21 years."