Wines and corkage and bars, Oh my! (Signature Beverage Pkg, Beverage Cards & Corkage)

Oh, I am now intrigued. There is some follow on research to be done! This is an experiment that I will conduct and report back on the results!

That's the kind of quest for knowledge that we can get behind!

Oh, I am now intrigued. There is some follow on research to be done! This is an experiment that I will conduct and report back on the results!

That's the kind of quest for knowledge that we can get behind!

Absolutely - I might very well try this experiment as well!

Oh my! Send it back! A piece of the red-onion is on the wrong side of the plate.

LOL!

Thanks so much for this most entertaining...and informative...reporting! (Especially useful is the tip about where to purchase the bottled water, pellegrinop, etc as we would otherwise have thought it possible to use Explore4 at the gangway water stations.)

The BB King drinks do sound delicious, but quite caloric. Happily with Explore 4, I intend to order all of them and just take a sip of each!!!:)

Thanks so much for this most entertaining...and informative...reporting! (Especially useful is the tip about where to purchase the bottled water, pellegrinop, etc as we would otherwise have thought it possible to use Explore4 at the gangway water stations.)

 

The BB King drinks do sound delicious, but quite caloric. Happily with Explore 4, I intend to order all of them and just take a sip of each!!!:)

You're welcome. We learned about the bottled water the hard way. That is, by not getting any. Once we learned that lesson, we just made it a point to pick one up in the Lido or Ocean bar before we went down to the gangway.

We have crunched the numbers, performed countless regression analyses and are now able to share our (Ta-Da!) research conclusions. Here is what we found about the new corkage policy, along with some general recommendations for anyone interested in wining & dining.

The wine check in process went very smoothly for us. We were checking in two cases, or 24 bottles of wine. Our party was 4 adults in 2 separate staterooms. Each person carried on 6 bottles. There were two beverage stewards checking in wine, so they each took one stateroom's worth of wine to check in. We planned to consume all of our wine at dinner, so we presented everything for corkage stickers.

Wine check in took place after the carry on bag security scanner but before we received our room keys. The wine check in beverage steward (WCIBS - Take that acronym lovers!) gets your cabin number from your paperwork and writes a paper ticket for the corkage charge. Each bottle on which corkage is paid gets a sticker. If you have been on a HAL ship before, the corkage charge is handled in much the same as gangway bottled water or Half Moon Cay drinks. The charge is recorded on paper. You sign your name. The charge is posted to your folio later. The corkage charge is $18.00 per bottle. (If you didn't know that, you are probably not ready for this advanced coursework. Please return to the first post in this series and begin your remedial reading.)

If you were taking advantage of your "free" allotment of one 750ml bottle per adult, no sticker was applied. (Our researchers noted a problem with this. Some sneaky persons, lacking our integrity and dedication to scientific inquiry, did indeed scoot by the wine check in station. What's worse, they would brag about it on board. Just so you are aware, we know who you are and we have shared your name with Santa Claus. When you get coal in your stocking this Christmas, you will have no one to blame but yourself.)

Our research recommendation would be to have one color sticker for corkage-paid wines and one for "free allotment" wines. We realize, however, that this might slow down the check in process, so we can certainly understand why HAL decided that the folks with just one bottle per person can bypass the line.

We tipped the two check in guys $5.00 each. I know this sounds counter-productive since they're just going to bill us $432.00 for corkage. We felt bad for them because some people were treating them less than nice, even though they were perfectly pleasant and just doing their jobs. They thanked us and remembered us later when we saw them in their respective lounges. When you are embarking on a voyage of scientific discovery, it's important to show your appreciation to your research assistants. (Note to the tipping scolds: This gratuity was given after a service was performed. There was no expectation of future "special treatment" to the "detriment of other passengers." We just wanted to show that we were a stupendous and indomitable team of crack research scientists. Also, we had National Science Foundation grant money burning a hole in our pockets. :D)

We completed room check in and proceeded to our rooms so that we could drop our carry on bags, stash our wine, and head to the Mariner's Lunch.

EQUIPMENT LIST INTERMISSION:

Wine Transport Vehicles:

Our party of intrepid scientists came from all over the country (or Fort Lauderdale and New Jersey, but that doesn't quite have the same ring to it.) DSIL and DBIL carried their wine aboard using Total Wine's $1.99, 6 bottle totes. These are woven poly, much like the reusable grocery bags you often see. They have six divider pockets to keep your wine upright and prevent bottles from banging together. There are also additional compartments wherein you can store your corkscrew, a baguette, tiny wheel of Brie, or anything else you want to put in the bag. All in all, these are a great value. They are located in the "green" section of FLL Total Wine in Aisle 1. Another poster noted that the same type of bag is available free with a four bottle purchase at the Publix Supermarket located in the same Harbor Shops shopping center as Total Wine.

DW & I used a 6 bottle shipping box from Spririted Shipper (www.spiritedshipper.com) - These bad boys are designed for sending your fine wines via common carrier, so they're fairly indestructible. We reserve these for the "good bottles." The "good bottles" are defined as whichever ones happen to cost the most in whatever collection of wine we're schlepping around at the moment.

We also carried 6 bottles in what I like to call "The Wine Tote of Awesomeness." It's real name is the ZEBag® Ultimate Wine Carrying Case. They're available in Gray, Red, Black, and Khaki. They fold flat when empty and they add that certain je ne sais quoi and panache to your wine transportation regimen. (Scientific fact: Your wine transportation regimen benefits greatly from added French adjectives.)

It's a deal at only $15.00 at Amazon and you can read more about it here:

http://amzn.to/1gwAAyp

Temperature Control:

One of the toughest things to get right on a Caribbean cruise is your wine temperature. Our delicate experiments required precise control of all variables. Stateroom temperatures are often too warm for red wines, and the old dunk-your-white-wine-in-a-bucket-of-ice-and-keep-there-all-during-dinner trick has a tendency to leave your whites so cold that the character of the wine is lost.

We employed a two part solution. We cleared out some space in our mini-fridge to cool the reds. We found that placing the wine in the fridge after lunch and pulling it about 60-90 minutes before serving yielded red wines in the proper temperature range of 60°-65°F. You'll need to experiment to get the right warming interval. Our work was done in the Caribbean. If you are performing these or similar experimentations in Alaska, the Anarctic, or off the coast of Liechtenstein, you will have to make adjustments. (I'm kinda counting on some world cruisers to point out the fact that the Principality of Liechtenstein is land-locked. ;) Either that, or somebody who has access to an atlas.)

We suggest that you pull the wines before you get dressed for dinner and take them to pre-dinner cocktails with you. You may need to adjust the length of your pre-dinner cocktail session so that you get the correct temperature by the time you reach dinner.

For white and sparkling wines, we used the Ice Bag Collapsible Wine Cooler Bag. Be aware of knock-offs. The real Ice Bags are durable and quite sturdy. They're available in clear and four additional festive colors. (We chose clear so as not to degrade the results of our instruments.) These bags are taller than the HAL wine chiller buckets which means they do a better job of cooling the necks of your bottles. This is nice for your white wines and pretty darn important for your Champagnes. (If you've ever had a Champagne cork go flying, there's a decent chance it was because you had a warm bottle neck. If this happens to you often, it's time to consult a professional. Just send your Champagne bottles to us and we'll take care of them. :rolleyes:)

Use a mixture of ice and water for fastest cooling. The water provides greater cooling over the entire bottle surface. As the ice melts, you may have to add more to keep the solution cold and full. A given volume of ice will decrease to approximately 91.659% of its original volume as it melts. From a scientific standpoint, this means, "Check the Ice Bag every once in a while, you may have to add some ice." Plan on about 30 minutes to bring your whites and Champagnes to temp. In the Caribbean, you may want to cool them a little longer if you are have pre-dinner drinks. We also found that the nice research associates in Ocean bar were willing to refrigerate our whites and sparklers while we checked on the results of our pre-dinner R&D efforts.

Learn more here: http://amzn.to/1d8G0VV

END OF EQUIPMENT LIST INTERMISSION. Please return to your seats.

Laboratory Preparation:

We made a point of telling our wine steward to set our table with red & white glasses every night, and red, white and champagne glasses for formal nights. We always tell our MDR dining stewards and wine stewards in advance if we are planning to dine in an alternative venue. We know that they will miss us and worry that our experiments may have gone awry. (Also, it's the courteous thing to do.)

Tipping on Wine Service:

Prior to posting about tipping just recently, the only comment I ever heard regarding our tipping habits (a.k.a. procedures and methodologies) was that we were generous or appreciative. Apparently, there are those people here who take issue with tipping as you go. We certainly cannot let them repress our valuable research reporting. So, Luddtes be darned, here's how we handled it.

We discreetly tipped our wine steward at the end of each evening. (Palm down handshake method if you are taking notes.) We always said thank you and we tipped more on formal nights because we had red, white and champagne. We also gave the wine steward a heartfelt, handwritten thank you note with the tip on our last night in the MDR.

This is just how we handled it. You can do whatever you want. Tip. Don't tip. Note, no note. It's your call. I don't judge others on this - unless they judge us. I would recommend against "making it rain." (Google it.) It would make for some awkward moments in the dining room.

Wine Service Notes:

Our MDR (upper level fixed seating) was short one wine steward during our voyage. They're stretched pretty thin as it is and they try to get around as fast as possible. Bringing your own wine, preordering a wine package, or at least knowing what you want before dinner will really help to speed things up for everyone. It also makes you a good citizen. HAL cruise ships - and cruise ships in general - don't have a squad of trained sommeliers to help you pair your wines with your meals. They have a handful of harried wine stewards trying to get to everyone in a timely fashion. Be nice and respect that.

Our wine steward was very good. She was trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. No wait, that's a Boy Scout. She was definitely trustworthy, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, cheerful, and clean, though. I'd even add "brave" because it's not like just any old wine steward could engage in our formidable work.

Still to come... Explore 4 $50 Beverage Cards, The Signature Beverage Package, Final Conclusions and areas for further study.

Cheers!

So glad you are posting again/still, so entertaining!

BTW- you should get commission for your product endorsements. I purchased the Wine Tote of Awesomeness the first day you posted about it and LOVE it! Since then I have bought two more to have on hand as gifts!

I truly appreciate your research conclusions. Looking forward to your next session.

So glad you are posting again/still, so entertaining!

BTW- you should get commission for your product endorsements. I purchased the Wine Tote of Awesomeness the first day you posted about it and LOVE it! Since then I have bought two more to have on hand as gifts!

Thanks for the encouragement. Glad you like the wine tote. We're here to help!

When I first ordered it, I was skeptical. The Amazon reviews were all so good, that I thought, "There's no way this lives up to expectations." Boy was I wrong! I just couldn't believe something that cool is only $15. I only regret that I didn't also buy a red one - for red wine, naturally. :)

I truly appreciate your research conclusions. Looking forward to your next session.

Thanks, OVgirl! While we do our work for the benefit of all humanity, the accolades of our peers in the scientific community really mean a lot to us. :thumbup:

Just realized that all my thumbup smilies aren't getting encoded on CC's version of vBulettin. They look fine on my phone using Tapatalk/Adnroid or on DW's iPhone using the CC app. Hmmm... Interesting. Not the kind of thing that deserves further study, but just a "Hmmm."

The Nobel Committee awaits the final conclusions.

Personal thanks for your time and effort.

Alan

Thanks so much for sharing your scientific conclusions. Looking forward to reading about the rest of your experiments. I enjoy your humor as well as tales of your wine tasting. I plan to check out Amazon. Thanks for the tips.

POA1 - as others I Appreciate all your postings!

Please forgive me if you mentioned this already ( Idid read all 15 pages): does Holland American offer draft beer or just bottles? If so do you happen to know what is on draft?

Awaiting your report on the SBP with baited breath.

POA1 - as others I Appreciate all your postings!

 

Please forgive me if you mentioned this already ( Idid read all 15 pages): does Holland American offer draft beer or just bottles? If so do you happen to know what is on draft?

They offer draft beer on some ships, particularly if they have a Mix bar setup. It's been a couple of years since we were on the Maasdam, and I don't remember what was on draft.

I feel like I've left you down. :( You may want to post your ship name along with the draft beer question. I'm sure someone will know the answer. You'll probably have the best luck if you post a new thread. Sorry we failed you. (Pretend that there is a little H"anging My Head In Shame" emoticon here.)

They offer draft beer on some ships, particularly if they have a Mix bar setup. It's been a couple of years since we were on the Maasdam, and I don't remember what was on draft.

 

I feel like I've left you down. :( You may want to post your ship name along with the draft beer question. I'm sure someone will know the answer. You'll probably have the best luck if you post a new thread. Sorry we failed you. (Pretend that there is a little H"anging My Head In Shame" emoticon here.)

On Maasdam in 2012 and just recently on Ryndam, the beers on tap were:

- Stella Artois

- Beck's

- Bass Ale

- Boddington's Ale

Dave

On Maasdam in 2012 and just recently on Ryndam, the beers on tap were:

 

- Stella Artois

- Beck's

- Bass Ale

- Boddington's Ale

 

Dave

Thanks Dave. I couldn't remember what was on tap on the Maasdam and I don't recall any draft beer on the Noordam. Our research footnotes will credit you with the assist.

They offer draft beer on some ships, particularly if they have a Mix bar setup. It's been a couple of years since we were on the Maasdam, and I don't remember what was on draft.

 

I feel like I've left you down. :( You may want to post your ship name along with the draft beer question. I'm sure someone will know the answer. You'll probably have the best luck if you post a new thread. Sorry we failed you. (Pretend that there is a little H"anging My Head In Shame" emoticon here.)

You will just Have to go again and find out! I was wondering about the Nieuw Amsterdam in particular :)

On Maasdam in 2012 and just recently on Ryndam, the beers on tap were:

 

- Stella Artois

- Beck's

- Bass Ale

- Boddington's Ale

 

Dave

Thanks my wife was just asking me last night if I thought they would have Stella Artois on draft!

You will just Have to go again and find out! I was wondering about the Nieuw Amsterdam in particular :)

I don't think Nieuw Amsterdam has any draft beers.:(:(

I don't think Nieuw Amsterdam has any draft beers.:(:(

I believe the only ships that have draft beer as a routine item (not a special celebration or something) are those S-class ships with the Mix. I've never seen them on the Vistas or Signature class ships. I've not been on an R-class, but have the Amsterdam booked in August -- the deck plan does not show a Mix area, but I don't know if they have any draft beers.

Dave

As trusted Lab Fellow #3 of this motley crew of dedicated scientists (no doubt you know that DBIL POA1 was our lead and distinguished scientist ... his nomination for the Nobel Prize is a hot contender in this year's race, as rumor would have it), and since there was a bit of a scuttlebutt on another thread about the "tip as you go" methodology we employed while stress-testing the SBP, I would like to add my own first hand experience:

We never waited more than a minute for a drink. Ever. Even during the craziest of happy hours. Staying hydrated was important to our thesis, so it just seemed expeditious.

Besides, tipping means more to a server than it does to us, so we just did it. That's just how we roll. I loved tipping one particular bartender because he would always give me a huge smile and say, "Ahhhh, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!" We giggled every time.

Another bartender shared with us that she was saving her tips because her father back home really wanted a pair of Ray Bans. We were happy to contribute to the cause.

Also, I would like to add that in undertaking such a significant scientific feat (where you run with the big dogs, or go home with your tail between your legs), breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Which is why I typically opted for the Bloody Mary Bar. Adding premium vodka (I just used Absolut) cost an extra buck, but this is irrelevant because even with the premium vodka, the drink fell within normal drink price parameters (6.95$), making it an essential part of the SBP. I like mine spicy and with lots of goodies. I was able to choose from the Bloody Mary Bar optimum ingredients with which to enhance that spiciness: horseradish, jalapenos, red peppers, green peppers, onions, and some mild shrimp. Some call this a problem. I called it breakfast. The only thing about that Bloody Mary Bar that would've made me even happier? Bleu cheese stuffed olives. Then I probably could claim that drink for lunch as well. A clear highlight of the SPB for me. Not many cruise ships carry horseradish, and a bloody Mary just isn't quite right without it.

:D

Also a big shout out to my DBIL who provided me with wine inventory, pricing, and tasting notes. I simply provided a budget and found myself with a personal wine shopper, replete with ratings and rankings per Wine Spectator. I'm quite sure if DBIL ever tires of his current income source, there is a market to be branded and optimized for personal wine shopping services. He is responsible for all the purchased wines so I wouldn't have to drag them from Jersey. He even gift bagged then for me in the super kewl Total Wine totes, and gave us corkscrews, etc. I'm sensing a great opportunity for a new business venture...

Another business opportunity we identified was to determine the color sticker of the day. That is, a simple round green sticker that the wine stewards stick on your bottle to indicate corkage has been paid. Think of the opportunity if you only obtained a few sheets of the stickers and scalped them at the port for 5$ each? That would save people about 72.5% on corkage. © imagine the possibilities!® <trademark>

Kidding of course, but most of us trusty scientists do have an entrepreneurial spirit!

Our particular Explore 4 Promotion included two $50 Explore 4 Beverage Card per stateroom. (I am unsure if it was one card per stateroom - up to two passengers, or if it was two cards per cabin. I do know that this is probably something that one of our peers in the solo traveler fact-finding community can inform us about.) Of all of the variables in our research project, the $50 Explore 4 Beverage Card is the simplest to explain.

The "$50 Explore Four Beverage Card" is a green beverage card, very similar in appearance to the normal beverage cards that you can purchase from Holland America. Please see Figure 12, below to see what a specimen would look like. The $50 Explore 5 Beverage Card is denoted by a purple highlight.

Operating the $50 Explore 4 Beverage Card - a phrase I'm getting really tired of typing - is simple.

1. Pick something you would like to drink. It can be a coffee. It can be a bottle of water. It can be a bucket of beer. It can be a bottle of wine. It can be a mixed drink. As long as your card balance will cover it, there is no limit to what you can get.
   
2. Some people were confused about this and thought that the $50 card was subject to a $7 per drink limit. Tish tosh, I say.
   
3. Make sure you are standing near a place where a beverage department staff member can use your card on a point-of-sale-system terminal. For you youngsters, it's a POS. For you older readers, it's like the cash register that Mister Higgins had down at the General Store.
   
4. Please note that you cannot use your card on the gangway for water before you go ashore as there is no POS terminal there. You will need to get your water at either a bar or in the Lido.
   
5. You cannot use your card on Half Moon Cay.
   
6. But there is electricity on Half Moon Cay. They could put a POS terminal on the island.
   
7. I know.
   
8. It's their island, for crying out loud. They have ships there almost every day.
   
9. I know.
   
10. When you're tendering in, you can see all the telecommunications dishes and antenna arrays. Surely they must have a way to set up a comm link between a couple of POS terminals and the ship's accounting computer system!
    
11. Dude, I know.
    
12. C'mon. I've been to county fairs, art shows, and concerts where they set up registers in the middle of a friggin' field and use them for one lousy afternoon's worth of business.
    
13. Seriously, dude... I'm trying to explain how the cards work. This is the simplest part of our entire research project. Will you please just pipe down so I can finish? It's late and I'm tired.
    
14. Sorry, man. Continue... :mad:
    
15. So anyway, you hand your card to the beverage department person who is in the vicinity of the POS terminal. They swipe your card and deduct the cost of whatever you're drinking - plus the 15% service charge - from your $50 card balance.
    
16. You repeat this process until your card is depleted, at which time you have a piece of green Holland America Souvenir plastic.
    
17. Wait a second!
    
18. Now what?
    
19. If they're adding a 15% surcharge onto whatever I purchase with the Explore 4 $50 Beverage Card, I'm really only getting $43.48 worth of beverages, right?
    
    
20. Exactly! Technically, you're getting $43.4782609 worth of beverages, using the 10 significant figures of precision that we use in our oh-so detailed scientific work.
    
21. I bet all the to-the-penny rounding errors favor HAL, don't they?
    
22. Probably. And tie goes to the runner. (Note to our non-North American readers: This is a lame baseball joke that follows a lame mathematics joke.)
    
23. Hey, Mr. Science Guy - They play baseball all over the globe nowadays.
    
24. You're right. Sorry about that.
    
25. Any questions?
    

• Q: Can I use my $50 Explore 4 Beverage Card to pay for corkage?
  
• A: Yes, but not when you are boarding the ship. You could use it if you wanted to bring a "free allotment" bottle of wine to the dining room one night,
  

• Q: What happens if I don't use my entire $50 before my cruise ends?
  
• A: We have heard reports that it gets credited to your account, but in our experience, you will have forfeited the remaining balance. That's what it says on the back if your card in the teeny tiny print. We were out $1.73, not that we're bitter.
  

• Q: Do I need to keep my card once I've drained all the juice from it?
  
• A: No, unless you need it for your research project. In that case, place it carefully into your instrument case so that you can scan it when you return to the University Laboratory back on land.
  

• Q: Don't you think that this section of the report had gone on long enough?
  
• A: Think??? I'm 100% certain of it. This ain't quantum mechanics.
  

• Q: In #1 above, you mention buying a coffee with the SBP Card. I though coffee was free. Is there a charge for coffee now? Where will all this nickel-and-diming end?
  
• A: Sorry, my error. I should have said "specialty coffee or Explorations Cafe fancy-pants coffee beverage.
  

• Q: What if I want to buy something that exceeds $50 or is more expensive than the balance that remains on my card?
  
• A: You can charge the difference to your on shipboard account using your stateroom key. The stateroom key is the top-most card in the Figure 12 graphic in the previous post. Some room key cards are a silver-blue color instead of the gold-brown color shown in Figure 12.
  

• Q: What's the difference between the silver room key cards and the gold key cards?
  
• A: The gold cards get double mileage. The silver cards get up to 1% cash back. What's in your little plastic card carrying thing that hangs around your neck?