Wine Quality

We just came off another all inclusive cruise line which we were sailing for the first time. We have sailed Regent a few times and always thought that there pouring wines at the meals was decent. The wines last week on this other cruise line were just plain terrible and cheap, not to mention you could not even get a glass of plain old Pinot Grigio. Out of stock for the entire cruise.

Please tell me that on our next Regent cruise that they have not gone to the bottom of the cask for their pouring wine to save money...

Last time I was on board was 10 months ago and the wines were pretty nice. Several of us will be testing this again in the next few weeks.

Care to tell us the name of the cruise line you were on?

Wendy, checked BillP1's recent posts believe he was on Silversea's Whisper.

Well for the two days we were on Voyager Oct 3, before it was cancelled I was drinking Pinot Grigio and they had Santa Margarita and another brand that I really liked, but never did get the name of. So as far as I was concerned, the wines they were pouring at the bar wer fine. I don't remember thinking anything differently at dinner, the wines in CR seemed fine to me, but we did only have one night in CR. The only other night we ate in Prime 7 and because we had a nice shipboard credit that we were going to lose, we did something we've never done before and that was order a premium red and white and both were excellent - although again, cannot remember what they were.

Actually that doesn't sound like much help does it?

Yes Outed... I was on The Whisper. My comments about the wine were not only my feelings but from many of the people that we met at meals and the lounges... Some were long time Silversea customers

I am very sorry to hear this about the Whisper. To date, the wine we have been served on Regent has been very good. We don't expect expensive wine to be offered. But we have never been disappointed. By the way, we were on Whisper two years ago and found the wine served then to be roughly equivelent to that offered by Regent.

Pat, Hoping we will be drinking some nice Aussie and Kiwi wines on the Navigator in 3 weeks!

I am hoping that the included wines will be as good as they have been on past cruises.

We were also on Oct 3rd. cancelled cruise but we did enjoy some nights on board Voyager and I must say we thought the wines were excellent. We had a very good Sancerre one night and the following night we asked for the same wine in the bar. The barman very kindly opened a bottle for us and then asked if we would like it sent to the restaurant. Now that's what I call service:). Can't wait to get back on board!

I am off to the Shadow soon, so this is disturbing seeing I primarily drink wine. We had always been told by various folks who have done Regent and Silversea that Silversea usually had better wines. We'll have to report back.

Ask the sommelier for alternatives. They always keep a drinkable Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio and a backup Australian Shiraz (Peter Lehmann got a 90 from Wine Spectator), Cab or Merlot.

BillP1

We were on Mariner in Sept 09 and thought the "offering wines” were OK - but we have since then traveled agin in Sept thru Oct 2010 and the “offering wines” were very good. Much better then last year.

Bill,

Nice to see a post from you (I don't get on here much). Glad you are getting out into the ocean! We did the Celebrity Expedition to the Galapagos in Sept.

While you were suffering through poor wine, we were up in Napa and Sonoma drinking some really good stuff. Bought cases from a half-dozen places for the "collection" (as if it will last long enough to be considered collected :rolleyes:).

Does Regent have a corkage fee these days? How about SilverSea?

Ragnar

I don't know where ridolphi was drinking Santa Margarita, as I was told there was none onboard, but the F&B manager promised to get some at the next port! Of course, we didn't get to the next port :( Other than that, I was happy, and even sampled for the first time some "paid for" wines since there was that credit to burn!

jhp - they brought a bottle of Santa Margarita to our cabin, which I only drank one or two glasses of.

 

Does Regent have a corkage fee these days? How about SilverSea?

 

No, no corkage fee. They never have had.

That's great! You could either ship some wine to the pre-cruise hotel, or have a taxi driver take you by the local discount liquor place and pick up a enough good stuff for the cruise. If the "free" wines are good (which they were on our Regent cruise), one could always leave the leftover bottles brought on board for the crew.

We've decided that we are doing this on all future cruises, as our experience with the wine on all-inclusive cruises (other than Regent) have been pretty negative.

Having easy access to the wine producing areas of California has us spoiled :D FYI, our recent trips to the Napa area and the central coast region have shown that the central coast has really caught up to Napa in many areas and surpassed it in some (at least in the price range we can afford). Haven't had a chance to taste Screaming Eagle, and probably never will :o

We did 2 sailings in the last fiscal year on the Mariner.

The pouring wine list was quite acceptable. Ask the head sommelier for the complete pouring list and you will have your choice of any wine at any time. We did hit some good reds which we continued with throughout the cruise.

Can't comment on whites since we don't drink them.

I'm a professional wine judge, honest. (see http://www.winejudging.com/bios/bob_foster.htm) I've had the Screaming Eagle, nice bottle of $30 wine. It ain't worth the $$$ they charge for it, IMHO.

We found the wines on our Regent cruises to be just fine. We occasionally take an old bottle or two from our cellar but anything more is unnecessary.

I'm a professional wine judge, honest. (see http://www.winejudging.com/bios/bob_foster.htm) I've had the Screaming Eagle, nice bottle of $30 wine. It ain't worth the $$$ they charge for it, IMHO.

 

We found the wines on our Regent cruises to be just fine. We occasionally take an old bottle or two from our cellar but anything more is unnecessary.

Yes Sir....We are generally pleased with the pouring wines on Regent. On occasion, I will also bring a bottle or 2 of one of my favorites. But only if the ship sails from Ft. Lauderdale where no airplanes are involved. Home base.

I agree. Many California wines are what I call boutique wines. They are usually overpriced as well as overhyped...but people do drink labels, don't they? ;)

Chalk me up as another person who was very disappointed in the offered wine with SS (Spirit). They were mainly from Chili and were horrid.

Chalk me up as another person who was very disappointed in the offered wine with SS (Spirit). They were mainly from Chili and were horrid.

I'm learning more about wines on Silversea here than on the SS board:) Will have to pay attention to wines on our Spirit cruise leaving in less than two weeks (in addition to checking out what it's like to be on a ship where smoking is allowed in suites and balconies). Although wine is subjective, we usually find the wine on Regent to be fine. As long as the ship makes great chocolate martini's, I'm a happy camper.

I'm learning more about wines on Silversea here than on the SS board:) Will have to pay attention to wines on our Spirit cruise leaving in less than two weeks (in addition to checking out what it's like to be on a ship where smoking is allowed in suites and balconies). Although wine is subjective, we usually find the wine on Regent to be fine. As long as the ship makes great chocolate martini's, I'm a happy camper.

I don't know about Chocolate martinis, but do about Regent Mariner's Chocolate Russion, and had to teach it (one time only =) to the bartenders on Silversea. If they don't know, just tell them and they will be delighted. We have had good wines and bad on both Regent and SilverSea, depending on the voyage. Sometimes they are well stocked, sometimes not so well. We didn't begin luxury cruising until 2006 so don't know what it was like prior to then. If we have not liked the "select wines" we have asked for alternatives and they have always been offered. Not "great wines" not $200 bottles --- I mean, really! But decent table wine. One poster on one of these boards expressed her disappointment, saying her "house wine" retailed for $80 - $100/bottle. Sorry, that isn't happening on Regent nor on Silversea. That is what the Reserve List is for. And, compared to restaurants where we live, the Reserve List is very reasonably pirced.

Chalk me up as another person who was very disappointed in the offered wine with SS (Spirit). They were mainly from Chili and were horrid.

I have never had good wine at Chili's.

I have enjoyed some good wine from Chile. :)

I have never had good wine at Chili's.

I have enjoyed some good wine from Chile. :)

Te each her own =)