Diamond / NO WINE Package - bummer

Just got onboard here in Sydney - Beautiful ship - was told No Wine pacages??? Heard several reasons??? Bottom line NO

Very disapointed - i will live, lol

Also first time elite - learned swaping out alcohol package = one bottle of wine (max value $40) or 2 coffee cards - swap spirt bottle for beer - no swap pn soda , except for diet

Total value = $74 but does Not Trade for equal value

Sydney harbor Beautiful and Ausie people very friendly

Is the above info on bar set up same on all other ships?

No Wine Packages on cruises less than 10 days. Also, packages just aren't offered in Australia :( You should be able to get any combination of soft drinks/water you want although I haven't tried getting all Perrier. You should be able to get any combination of mini bottles you want or exchange for beer which is what we do. I haven't tried exchanging the beer for mini bottles.

The exchange for two coffee cards is a reasonable but not even exchange. Getting only one bottle of wine is a bad deal and it should be two bottles. We did get one bottle of wine on the second leg of a B2B because we still had plenty of beer and water left over from the first leg and we were running low on wine. That bottle can be brought to the DR with no corkage charge.

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This is a 12 day, was told no Wine package because the ship was low on some of the ausie wines???

This is a 12 day, was told no Wine package because the ship was low on some of the ausie wines???

I don't understand Princess' management of the wine package. :confused:

The wine package is a way to increase income from selling wine but Princess cannot always offer it because of insufficient inventory! :eek: Lost profits due to a lack of inventory...wow. :rolleyes:

This is a 12 day, was told no Wine package because the ship was low on some of the ausie wines???

no wine package on any ship sailing around australian waters as its a Carnival AU policy

We spent 27 days on the Diamond last spring on 3 9 day B2B cruises but booked as one cruise. Princess HQ rep assured wine packages would be available since we were on for 27 days........not so, of course.

So, we did without wine with our dinners, very uncommon for us!!

We spent 27 days on the Diamond last spring on 3 9 day B2B cruises but booked as one cruise. Princess HQ rep assured wine packages would be available since we were on for 27 days........not so, of course.

 

So, we did without wine with our dinners, very uncommon for us!!

Couldn't you've just ordered a bottle or glass of wine as needed with dinner? Apparently wine packages weren't available, but wine by the glass or bottle without a package should not have been a problem.

Couldn't you've just ordered a bottle or glass of wine as needed with dinner? Apparently wine packages weren't available, but wine by the glass or bottle without a package should not have been a problem.

But, since we had been assured :rolleyes: packages would be available, it was just a matter of principle for us. You may not have reacted the same way, and that's OK too!! :D

I don't understand Princess' management of the wine package. :confused:

 

The wine package is a way to increase income from selling wine but Princess cannot always offer it because of insufficient inventory! :eek: Lost profits due to a lack of inventory...wow. :rolleyes:

...and even when it is offered probably a third of the wines** on the wine list are not available. I have a hard time believing they cannot print current wine lists for each sailing if inventories change radically. Using the same one regardless of if any of it is actually in the hold is ridiculous.

**Unscientific anecdotal evidence here. It took at least 3-4 attempts each night at selecting a wine from the wine list during our recent TA before they would tell us they actually had it. We definitely tried to mix it up and select different wines so this was repeated every night.

...and even when it is offered probably a third of the wines** on the wine list are not available. I have a hard time believing they cannot print current wine lists for each sailing if inventories change radically. Using the same one regardless of if any of it is actually in the hold is ridiculous.

 

**Unscientific anecdotal evidence here. It took at least 3-4 attempts each night at selecting a wine from the wine list during our recent TA before they would tell us they actually had it. We definitely tried to mix it up and select different wines so this was repeated every night.

Did you get the Silver or Gold package? We got the Gold (up to $45) on a 31 day (14 & 17 days b2b Buenos Aires to LA) and 10 days (NYC to FLL) and only had a couple of our requests "out of stock". Somehow one of our "unavailable" bottles of wine on the 10 day became "available" & I'm skeptical they replenished during our Caribbean stops. If not, they found our preferred wine somewhere on the ship so apparently inventory control was inefficient. :(

I realize that supplying a ship is more difficult than a land based restaurant & there can be issues. When the wine package was originally implemented too often on my 10+ day cruises it wasn't offered nor promoted when available. More recent experiences are that it's available & promoted and hopefully their inventory issues will improve to make it a more viable option.

I'm depending on having it fully available on the Regal in April on a 17 day TA when we have only Halifax to purchase wine in port during the 8 days of our North Atlantic crossing.

Did you get the Silver or Gold package? We got the Gold (up to $45) on a 31 day (14 & 17 days b2b Buenos Aires to LA) and 10 days (NYC to FLL) and only had a couple of our requests "out of stock". Somehow one of our "unavailable" bottles of wine on the 10 day became "available" & I'm skeptical they replenished during our Caribbean stops. If not, they found our preferred wine somewhere on the ship so apparently inventory control was inefficient. :(

 

We got the 12 bottle silver package. It definitely got to be a running joke at our table to see how many I could ask for before I found a "winner" they had. I really don't care what they had below deck, but come on, somebody knows that the inventory is and reusing wine lists just for the sake of having them already printed was poor form in my opinion.

We have only purchased the wine package once, a 10 bottle Silver package on a 14 day cruise on the Island in the Spring of 2013. Our friends purchased a 12 bottle Silver package on the same cruise. We ordered many of the red wines between $28 and $38 and never had a wine out of stock. When we sailed on a 10 day cruise on the Grand in the Spring of 2014 we drove to the port and brought wine from home. Our same friends purchased the 10 bottle Silver package and once again none of the reds they ordered in the $28 to $38 range were out of stock. We had an issue on the Sapphire in January of last year when wines on the wine list at the Sterling Steakhouse were out of stock. Those wines had been on the main 2013 wine list but had been dropped from the 2014 wine list and the inventory had run out. The wine list at Sterling had not been updated for the 2014 choices. I know that there have been many posts complaining about wines being out of stock but we have been lucky enough not to have that occur to us except for the one occasion above. Don't know why we have been so fortunate :)

Cruise Holland America. They let you take on all the wine you want! We are cruising on the Diamond Princess next January though because we need to go in a specific time frame. I do love Princess but hate their wine policy.

Cruise Holland America. They let you take on all the wine you want! We are cruising on the Diamond Princess next January though because we need to go in a specific time frame. I do love Princess but hate their wine policy.

I can't board Holland America - I am only 65, LOL... You can also bring all the wine you want aboard any Princess - just have to pay $15 per bottle after the first Two, lol..

Cruise Holland America. They let you take on all the wine you want! We are cruising on the Diamond Princess next January though because we need to go in a specific time frame. I do love Princess but hate their wine policy.

We can bring as much wine as we want on Princess although it's subject to a $15/pp corkage fee in excess of the 1 bottle per passenger...when charged.

HAL doesn't charge any corkage fee to bring wine on the ship? They must charge corkage to take it to a dining room, correct? I take most of our wine to dinner so we pay the $15 corkage fee even if not charged when brining it on the ship.

We used to buy wine in every port on our last Princess cruise and nothing was said but I think because that was a few years ago they might have tightened things up . We just kept saying on boarding that it was a special occasion and no one said anything. lol

Cruise Holland America. They let you take on all the wine you want!

I researched the HAL wine policy & based on what CC said in February 2014 it's worse than on Princess...HAL charges $18 corkage fee. :eek: I confirmed this information on the HAL website so apparently you haven't sailed on HAL in awhile. ;)

http://www.hollandamerica.com/assets/cruise-vacation-onboard/KBYG.pdf

Holland America Line is backtracking on its decision to limit passengers to one bottle of wine they are permitted to carry onboard. Less than six months after the line announced the new policy, slated to launch January 31, Holland America bowed to pressure from its passengers and will permit unlimited bottles of wine to be brought on for a per-bottle corkage fee.

Under the amended policy, passengers, aged 21 or older, may bring one bottle of wine or Champagne (no larger than 750 ml) onboard in their carry-on luggage at the beginning of a sailing. This bottle is not subject to a corkage fee if it is consumed in the cabin.

Additional wine or Champagne bottles, brought on in carry-on luggage, will incur a corkage fee of $18 a bottle, irrespective of where they will be consumed. Additionally, wine and Champagne bottles bought in ports of call may be brought onboard, also for the corkage fee of $18 per bottle, or passengers can have the bottles stored onboard the ship and returned on the last evening of the cruise for no charge.

Holland America had been one of the most permissive lines for passengers who want to bring their own wine bottles on board before changing its policy.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5711

Cruise Holland America. They let you take on all the wine you want! We are cruising on the Diamond Princess next January though because we need to go in a specific time frame. I do love Princess but hate their wine policy.

But HAL changed their policy a couple of years ago, and after the first two bottles, you have to pay corkage. EM

We have purchased the package on both Princess and Celebrity and have particularly enjoyed Princess's but it does seem to be available on a hit or miss basis. I am trying rationalize why Princess allegedly only offers it on 10 day or longer cruises when so many of their cruises now seem to be 7 days in length. It would seem to me to be profitable for them to offer, say a 5 bottle package, for a 7 day voyage. I know when on the Ruby for 21 days in January there was no package available (yes, I know....three 7 day junkets) however in our case the first 14 days was sold as one cruise....I did have a pleasant chat with the F&B director about it and he was completely onside and didn't really understand why a package wasn't available. So in the end we drank less wine, consumed fewer calories and saved money; which is why of course we cruise....doesn't everyone?:)

We have purchased the package on both Princess and Celebrity and have particularly enjoyed Princess's but it does seem to be available on a hit or miss basis. I am trying rationalize why Princess allegedly only offers it on 10 day or longer cruises when so many of their cruises now seem to be 7 days in length. It would seem to me to be profitable for them to offer, say a 5 bottle package, for a 7 day voyage. I know when on the Ruby for 21 days in January there was no package available (yes, I know....three 7 day junkets) however in our case the first 14 days was sold as one cruise....I did have a pleasant chat with the F&B director about it and he was completely onside and didn't really understand why a package wasn't available. So in the end we drank less wine, consumed fewer calories and saved money; which is why of course we cruise....doesn't everyone?:)

On a RCCL cruise in 2013 they offered smaller (3-5 bottle?) wine packages during a 7 day cruise & I don't understand why Princess cannot offer it? :confused: Nor can I understand why wine packages are not promoted on their website and rarely so on the ship. :rolleyes:

I don't understand Princess' management of the wine package. :confused:

 

The wine package is a way to increase income from selling wine but Princess cannot always offer it because of insufficient inventory! :eek: Lost profits due to a lack of inventory...wow. :rolleyes:

I'm just as surprised as well.....:confused:

Bob

I researched the HAL wine policy & based on what CC said in February 2014 it's worse than on Princess...HAL charges $18 corkage fee. :eek: I confirmed this information on the HAL website so apparently you haven't sailed on HAL in awhile. ;)

 

http://www.hollandamerica.com/assets/cruise-vacation-onboard/KBYG.pdf

 

 

Holland America Line is backtracking on its decision to limit passengers to one bottle of wine they are permitted to carry onboard. Less than six months after the line announced the new policy, slated to launch January 31, Holland America bowed to pressure from its passengers and will permit unlimited bottles of wine to be brought on for a per-bottle corkage fee.

 

Under the amended policy, passengers, aged 21 or older, may bring one bottle of wine or Champagne (no larger than 750 ml) onboard in their carry-on luggage at the beginning of a sailing. This bottle is not subject to a corkage fee if it is consumed in the cabin.

 

Additional wine or Champagne bottles, brought on in carry-on luggage, will incur a corkage fee of $18 a bottle, irrespective of where they will be consumed. Additionally, wine and Champagne bottles bought in ports of call may be brought onboard, also for the corkage fee of $18 per bottle, or passengers can have the bottles stored onboard the ship and returned on the last evening of the cruise for no charge.

 

Holland America had been one of the most permissive lines for passengers who want to bring their own wine bottles on board before changing its policy.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5711

That's a shame. It was wonderful bringing all those gorgeous New Zealand wines on board after purchasing them.