tuckerboxbill

Loyalty is a huge deal to cruise lines. Keeping people hooked on cruising is key to long-term repeat customers. The Elite perks have an amount of "lock in" that attempts to prevent or limit customers "straying" to competitor cruise lines.

It was not on the wine list at Vines on the Ruby, no. They had the Penfolds Bin 311 for 18, Shafer Red Shoulder Ranch for 20 and Stags Leap 'Hands of Time" for 18, so NO Chardonnay available in Vines on the Plus package limit. The only whites under the Plus limit were Crios Torrontes for 11 and Chareau Ste Michele Eroica Riesling for 13. A joke.

Yeah, totally agree, just got off the Ruby and Vines is terrible now. On several occasions, 90% of seats were taken by Piazza overflow and I had to order wines and stand the whole time. The Captain walked past and I told him what I thought 🙂 I would also add that the wine selection is really reduced. I find it ridiculous that THE WINE BAR on the ship has less options than the dining rooms. We had to go to the bar in the Crown Grill to get our favorite wine (Cloudy Bay SB) and take it back to Vines. They used to have it in Vines but no more. They are definitely playing games with prices and the packages, we tried the Premier Package and half the wines in that price limit were out of stock on Day 1 of the cruise.

Yeah yeah, 1st world problem, but I'd like to vent! 🙂 Non-Vines customers taking up the window seats in Vines for hours on end, sleeping etc basically camping out and stopping actual Vines customers from using the seats. GRRRR It's not the Piazza people. OK, bring the hate! 😁

You can also travel solo and get double credits. "Someone I know" 😉 did this a couple of times , including the 1 night special from Vancouver to Seattle for 2 cruise credits 🙂