Wine Packages

I am booked on the Zaandam next April. I have been looking at the wine packages that you can pre-purchase for your cabin or dining room. Can anyone advise me if these are worth purchasing as against buying individual bottles of wine onboard the ship

I am booked on the Zaandam next April. I have been looking at the wine packages that you can pre-purchase for your cabin or dining room. Can anyone advise me if these are worth purchasing as against buying individual bottles of wine onboard the ship

We're booked on Volendam next November (one year to wait!). I'm interested in responses to this question and pose another.....why is the wine package better than purchasing wine at some of the ports and bringing it onboard to enjoy in your cabin?

Thanks!

If you are drinking in your cabin, it is much better to purchase off the ship. If you are

drinking it at dinner you will be paying an $18.00 corkage. Do the math and see if it

is a better deal for the type of wine you want to drink.

I purchase 1.5 lt bottles for the dining room and carry them on the ship.

Greg

If you are drinking in your cabin, it is much better to purchase off the ship. If you are

drinking it at dinner you will be paying an $18.00 corkage. Do the math and see if it

is a better deal for the type of wine you want to drink.

 

I purchase 1.5 lt bottles for the dining room and carry them on the ship.

 

Greg

I agree with the above, but if you do purchase a wine package the Admiral's Package usually has decent selections. HAL's house wines and those in the Navigator's Package are of debatable worth, all at high cost. Just my opinion!

We bought the Admiral's package on the Rotterdam in Sept and didn't think the picks were all that good, but just OK. There are better ones for the same average price on the regular wine list in the MDR.

We would not do the package again.

There really is no real advantage to purchasing a wine package in advance. You can easily do it once you are onboard and look at the wine list (and all your options) and you can also easily do it when you are at dinner by just asking your waiter (its as easy to purchase a package as a single bottle).

Hank

Volendam (Ak'09)we carried on a box of our favourite in Vancouver, but also purchased the Navigator package in the dining room the first evening. This offerred us a variety of wines that we might not ususally enjoy. I can't say if there was a cost savings, but we plan to repeat this on our Baltic cruise this fall.

Marilyn

There can be a savings if you are a three or star mariner. Three stars and you get 25% off, four star and you get 50% off. Can make a difference.

depending on what ports you are going to, you could find some more intriguing wines in port which would justify the $18 corkage fee.

Normally, we bring wine on board for the room and order the admiral's package for the dining room.

I agree with the above, but if you do purchase a wine package the Admiral's Package usually has decent selections. HAL's house wines and those in the Navigator's Package are of debatable worth, all at high cost. Just my opinion!

What I have done in the past is pour my glass of wine in my stateroom and carry it to the dining room with me. The maitre d always carries it to the table for me.

We did the Admiral's Wine Package once, were not at all impressed by the quality of the wines, and decided not to do it again. We typically bring 6 of our own bottles on-board for a 7 night cruise. That way we can have a $20 bottle, pay the $18 corkage, and have wine of a similar quality that HAL would charge $80 or more for.

(My mother once called me a "wino".)

We did the Admiral's Wine Package once, were not at all impressed by the quality of the wines, and decided not to do it again. We typically bring 6 of our own bottles on-board for a 7 night cruise. That way we can have a $20 bottle, pay the $18 corkage, and have wine of a similar quality that HAL would charge $80 or more for.

 

(My mother once called me a "wino".)

One of our very wise cruisers who is a bit of a wine afficionado recently advised that wines to not like to be bounced around. so she advised against getting the older wines (which is the Admiral package) and instead to look at the younger ones. Truth be told, (probably depends upon each ship and what they have in stock) last time, when the wine package ran out, we did go to a younger one and it was just fine.

We found three out of the Admiral's pack that we would drink and just used them over. The Navigators pack (depends upon the ship) has a very nice couple of wines worth exploring - I usually order before we go, but I think this time I will wait until we get on board to see the selection.

and yes, there can be savings in these packages, assuming you like the wines. :):) for the dining room of course, we bring our wine on board to try in the room

We find the wine packages to be a great deal and convenient. We also like to bring onboard a few bottles of special wine that the ship doesn't have.

If you are a 3 or 4 star Mariner, it's hard to beat the price.

Wait til you are on-board to purchase and go to the wine tasting and see if you like them before you buy.