House Wines

[HARLEYBOYPUG]

I found the different kinds of wines Holland America has as their house wines, but did not find any brands. Also I noticed where you could purchase different massages and such at the spa, but I noticed someone had mentioned purchasing a day pass for the spa for the hydropool? Do you purchase that before leaving or once you are on board? Thanks!

[HARLEYBOYPUG]

I'm sorry I didn't search first. I found they use "Arunda" brands of wines and also found of info on the hydropool.

[SakeDad]

As long as this was started.....:rolleyes:.....I like oaky Chardonnays and mellow Cabernets...how do the house wines stack up? I will say I love pricey wines but when it comes to my daily "sustanance" I am just fine with Trader Joe's 2-buck-chuck and rarely have problems with most house wines.

Can anyone give a "non-snobby" review of HAL's house wines??

THANKS:)

[grannynurse]

I, personally would not drink the house wines on HAL. We were given some by table mates and IMO it was awful. Their "brand" packages are good however, and it's not offerred as "red or white" like the house wine....YUK! This is not snobby, the wines were either too dry or too sweet(white) and we didn't care for them. They lacked qualities that we prefer, but we did not try the house chardonnay. The wine steward will work with you and you can go to a tasting before you buy.

GN

[Krazy Kruizers]

Tried the house wines -- the red is very bitter tasting.

[Denn33]

If you're ok with 2-buck chuck, you should probably be ok with whatever they throw at you :) I think I remember someone saying once that their house chardonnay was yellow tail, and yellow tail chardonnay, while not very good, is considerably better than charles shaw chardonnay.

[Lolis1]

Just got back from a 16-day South American with HAL. While we were able purchase and bring onboard some of the wonderful wine from the area, we did purchase the occasional bottle of house wine at dinner. If you like oaky Chardonnay, the house wine is quite aceptable and so is the Merlot. We personally did not find them sweet at all. Not sure, but it might be possible that different ships serve different house wines.

[Chivalrygirl]

If you're ok with 2-buck chuck, you should probably be ok with whatever they throw at you :) I think I remember someone saying once that their house chardonnay was yellow tail, and yellow tail chardonnay, while not very good, is considerably better than charles shaw chardonnay.

 

From a wine drinker of very cheap costing but very satisfying NZ and Australian chardonnays I can only tell you that Yellow Tail is a the very bottom of the pit. It is ghastly stuff. The onboard house chardonnay is a cheap Australian wine and bottled under its own label, but I can't now remember the name of it. Sadly, Hals prices for its wines is hideously expensive and way over the top. For examble they have a NZ Monkey Bay chardonnay listed at $US39, selling in NZ for about $NZ14. The markup for HAL on a very average wine is quite mind blowing!

Of course to make the wine taste even better the vast majority of our wines are now screw top, so less chance of the wine even deteriorating also. :D

[DrTee]

I was noticing that on hard liquor the markup is about 300%. About the same for the wines I checked out.

[SakeDad]

From a wine drinker of very cheap costing but very satisfying NZ and Australian chardonnays I can only tell you that Yellow Tail is a the very bottom of the pit. It is ghastly stuff. :D

 

At the risk of Chivalrygirl never speaking to me again....I'm drinking YellowTail Chardonnay right now:eek: I'm on the road in Cleveland Ohio for 2 weeks and the nearby grocery store is very limited in choices...probably much more so than HAL...so I chose a LARGE bottle of YellowTail to get me through. Guess I can safely assume the wine card wine won't kill me:p :rolleyes: At least I have a fridge and microwave in the hotel:D

[Chivalrygirl]

At the risk of Chivalrygirl never speaking to me again....I'm drinking YellowTail Chardonnay right now:eek: I'm on the road in Cleveland Ohio for 2 weeks and the nearby grocery store is very limited in choices...probably much more so than HAL...so I chose a LARGE bottle of YellowTail to get me through. Guess I can safely assume the wine card wine won't kill me:p :rolleyes: At least I have a fridge and microwave in the hotel:D

 

LOL SakeDad. I aint gonna fall out with you cause all you can find is Yellow Tail. I will tell you a secret, we bought a couple of bottles in Kona on the way home, that was all they seemed to sell, it was Yellow Tail or nothing. Choke, choke, still alive and kicking :D