Type & Quality of Wine in X-1 Package

[j2ink]

I've read a huge number of posts about the X-1 package on this website, but I haven't seen anyone indicate the type or quality of the house wines included in the package. From what I can gather from the posts on this site, there is only one red, white, and rose wine available. I assume the quality is mediocre, somewhere in the US$25 to US$30 per bottle range. But what is the type of wine included in the package? Is it dry Italian wine? My wife and I really dislike sweet wines, and I certainly wouldn't want to pay all this money for two packages and dislike the only wines available.

 

Also, does the price of the package include gratuities, or is some amount added to your account each time a drink is ordered?

[fatcat04]

We are wine drinkers. We usually drink a bottle with lunch and another at dinner when on a cruise. Our 2 experiences with Costa X1 have been very nice. Both whites have been Italian whites. The first was a Bianco di Custoza. The second was a Soave. Both were fruity with a hint of minerality, both dry. They both went well with lighter fair and did a good job of cutting the fat in creamy dishes too. I can't remember the red on our first cruise but the second red was a Sicilian Syrah, think earthy cherry flavor with a dry finish. Went well with red meats, red sauces, and chocolatey things. It was very smooth and medium bodied. Nice all around red.

 

They did run out of the original white on our first cruise but substituted with another Italian white. I am a big fan of old world wines and Italian whites are an especial favorite of mine to begin with so I loved it.

 

The X1 seems to be very popular. We would generally have the bottles just left at the table for us to serve ourselves as we please for lunch. We were seated with a lovely German couple for lunch about 5 times on our last cruise. Got to be friends with them. They also had the X1 and the waiters gave up trying to do the pouring. They just dropped off 2 bottles of white and one of red at the table when we sat down. Had we needed more, we would have been able to get more but I think we never needed more than that. :D:p

 

In the evening our wait staff were able to keep up since we were the only ones at the table with the X1 but more than once we were sent back to our room with a bottle of wine we had only partially drunk, with a wink from our waiter. Shhhh.. don't tell. ;)

 

Your mileage may vary and one ship may be different than another (we were on the Costa Mediterranea both times) but all in all, I thought it was a steal as you would easily pay $20-30 a bottle for wines of this type on a cruise ship. This on top of the Carlsburg beer which we enjoyed as well and the bottled water provided for us every meal and we were allowed to take the remainers of that with us after the meal too. I wouldn't get on a Costa boat without the X1 as long as it is available.

 

Gratuities are included but warning in the Lido.. hand a one to the wait staff here and there when you request your beverage, be it wine, beer, coke, or bottled water (probably was about $10 in ones for the whole cruise). Helps smooth the process we found. On our first Costa cruise (when we didn't know this little tip) it was much harder to get drink staff to wait on us in the Lido. And if I ate in the Lido I usually stuck with beer, coke or water as the wine comes in plastic cups like everything in the Lido and I just have a hard time drinking wine from a plastic glass. :p

 

For the dining room staff, we tipped our evening waiters extra but that had nothing to do with the X1. There is no extra billed gratuity added to your X1 drinks anywhere when you have the X1, just what you might want to add yourself. And of course it can only be used in the dinning room, Lido or lido pool area bars during lunch or dinner times.

 

Bottoms up!! :D

[j2ink]

Great! Thanks for your detailed response. It's exactly what I needed to know. Based on what you wrote, I believe I'll try the X-1 package.

[sea-explorer]

And of course it can only be used in the dinning room, Lido or lido pool area bars during lunch or dinner times.

 

Bottoms up!! :D

 

Can you just clarify that for me fatcat04 please.

 

Are you saying, if we are on first sitting for dinner, we will be able to go along to the pool area bars for a drink (using X1) until second sitting starts..or maybe even finishes? Or does the pool bar close in the evenings?

[fatcat04]

Can you just clarify that for me fatcat04 please.

 

Are you saying, if we are on first sitting for dinner, we will be able to go along to the pool area bars for a drink (using X1) until second sitting starts..or maybe even finishes? Or does the pool bar close in the evenings?

 

From what we experienced (our last experience being about a year ago) we were able to get the X1 drinks either from the bar staff or Lido drink servers any time the Lido was serving lunch or dinner.

 

For instance, dh and I would go eat lunch in the dining room as soon as it opened. We would then pick up kiddo from the kids club and head to the Lido for his lunch. We would all get drinks, usually cokes using the X1 in the Lido and then dh and I would pick up a beer on our way out of the Lido to enjoy as we walked around or went back to the room for the necessary post lunch nap :D. So for lunch the X1 would get us a bottle of wine in the dining room, bottled water in the dr, 3+ cokes in the Lido (they don't bring you the whole can so you have to ask them for refills), and a couple of beers from the Lido bar. Dinner we always had early seating so a bottle of wine and bottled water there plus a coke of the kid. Then we might waddle up to the Lido before dinner was officailly over for 2nd dessert, have a soft drink or maybe another beer from the Lido servers. I think the actual Lido pool bar is closed in the evening (I'll check my daily cruise papers from our first cruise and see if they list lido pool bar times) but if it is on the X1 and it is dinner time in the Lido you can get anything on the X1 package from the Lido drink servers. Add all that up and well.. you get the idea. Just watch your timing (check the daily paper for dining times as they change in the Lido from day to day) as they are very strict in the Lido/Lido pool bar about when you can and can not order from the X1.

 

Also... everything in the Lido X1 comes in plastic glasses/cups, no cans or bottles but we always got the draft beer (Carlsberg on our cruises, better than Budweiser imo) and it was good. Only agrivating thing was that they didn't give you the coke can so your server would have to get those refills... which is where the extra $ones$ slipped to them here and there come in handy. ;)

 

And again, this was a year ago so things do change but all in all it was an excellent deal for us as we enjoy beverages on cruises.:D;)

[sea-explorer]

Thank you so much fatcat04. That has helped a great deal. :)

 

We will be in Europe so maybe the hours will be different, but the tip about checking the Lido dining times in the daily paper should help sort everything out.

:)

[fatcat04]

I checked our Costa Todays from the first cruise... I have them on webshots along with menus and other stuff HERE. I can't remember which bar is the Lido pool bar as they all have fancy names but you can take a look at the ship schedules and menus at my link. I never got pics of the full wine list on either cruise.. :( but I did get some pics of the menu from the wine bar.

 

HERE are our pics from our first Costa cruise... I am such a lazy bum I never got the second ones posted... but same ship so not much new to see.

[sea-explorer]

I checked our Costa Todays from the first cruise... I have them on webshots along with menus and other stuff HERE. I can't remember which bar is the Lido pool bar as they all have fancy names but you can take a look at the ship schedules and menus at my link. I never got pics of the full wine list on either cruise.. :( but I did get some pics of the menu from the wine bar.

 

HERE are our pics from our first Costa cruise... I am such a lazy bum I never got the second ones posted... but same ship so not much new to see.

 

Thank you so much. Those webshots are great & very helpful. :)

[westcoastman]

Served La Terre from California under the X1 package. Terrible wine retails for up to $5.99 per bottle. I would rather have a cheap European wine around the same price but waitstaff was forced to serve this wine.

At lunch the first beer was Carlsberg draft but after that they switched to cans of Milwaukee's Best and cans Sputen which tastes terrible.

Took OK from management in order to get additional Carlsberg drafts.

IMO X1 is not worth it because the quality is worse than two buck chuck.

[j2ink]

Westcoastman,

 

Which itinerary were you on? I don't believe I've ever seen American beer on Costa, but I've only been on European cruises. I would think it would cost too much to "import" crappy American beer to use on European ships.

[Tipsy252]

j2ink, we got Bud and Miller light on Costa in the Caribbean, but we didn't get the X1 for those cruises. Looking forward to X1 on Costa in the Med in 5 weeks time!!:D

[j2ink]

I can understand Costa serving American beer in the Caribbean, since it would be the most readily available and the cheapest. But I would be surprised if you saw it in the Mediterranean. I'm booked on an Asian cruise in June, and I'm wondering what beer they will have on that ship.

[westcoastman]

I can assure you that this was a Med. cruise around Italy. It was the first of the season so maybe they had leftovers from the Caribbean but the beer was MUCH worse than Miller and Bud and I really don't like Miller or Bud. So we would be at lunch with nice meal and white table clothes and after the first beer they would plop an unopened can of Milwaukee's Best in front of us. Happened over and over and the waitstaff flatly refused to do anything different until the Maitre D' physically signed off on us to get Carlsberg draft again.

This did not happen to any of the Italians around us but I am not sure if any where under X1. One time we were sitting with some Swiss at the table and the were very offended by the actions of the staff and were glad we kept protesting until management took over.

So many good things I can say about Costa but it was ruined by this. Everyone in our party purchased X1 so I am not sure if they were punishing us for other people's abuse but I am pretty certain similar reports will follow.

[j2ink]

westcoastman,

 

I think your theory about having the American beer left over from the Caribbean must be true. I can't imagine Costa importing cheap American beer to Europe to serve on a Mediterranean cruise ship. I've been on four Costa cruises in Europe, and I believe the only beer I've ever had was Carlsberg and Heineken. I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to try the X-1 package in June.

[DaDivaMom]

In Feb in the Caribbean on the Fortuna we were served Carlsburg or Heinies in the DR but at the lido buffet they also offered us bottles of bud or Miller lite. The wines for our cruise were all Itallian no domestics and they were great in my opinion, I primarily stuck to red.

 

Our dinner waiters each night would have the guys beers waiting, two bottles of red, one white, sodas and 6 bottles of water for the 8 of us. it was a terrific money saver for us!