Open Bar & Wine

My wife and I have just booked our first SD vacation. We are both in the Wine industry and have always taken special wines on cruises. Can some tell me what type of wine and spirits are typically served complimentary? This is not a make or break situation although we would prefer not to have to bring any wine with us.

Thanks in Advance

Randy

You don't need to do that on the SeaDream!

Randy:

Each evening there are a red and a white featured. They have always been good in our opinion (not wine experts) and are usually somewhat local if possible. There are other wines available and they have a pretty good list of extra charge very good wines. Trouble is, after a martoony or two, who can tell.

all the best,

Jim.

So is wine and chapagne only avalable in the evening? Are pretty much all spirits avalable all day, and what brands would you typicaly see?

Thanks

I see you want further clarification. Here goes. You can drink yourself silly all day and all night long on name brand spirits. (..and start in the morning if you wish...the bar is always open...). This is a 5 star all inclusive experience. You can't indulge as much and as often as SeaDream would provide, although some guests have been know to give it a whirl.

As far as specific wines, I went back through my notes and menus and here is better feedback. The white house wine that I like was a Sauvigan Blanc ....here is information from their website

http://www.frederickwildman.com/wildmansite/wmphp/archivepress.php3?type=1&item=47806

Pascal Jolivet Attitude Sauvignon Blanc 2005 July 18, 2007

‘White Wine is a Toast to Summer'

“As summer temperatures rise, its time to focus on the cool, refreshing flavors of tasty white wines ..." etc

I generally drink the available housewines and spirits during the day, and indulge in a special cellar wine during dinner as a treat. It is not necessary to upgrade the meal wine though; that is a personal choice.

You are handed a sparkling wine or champagne upon boarding, and that sets the tone.

Cellar wines are available to purchase from the Sommelier, and the prices are comparable to Costco pricing. Here are examples of some last year prices from old menus:

1. INSIGNIA 2000 under $140

2. White Puligny-Montrachet, Olivier Leglaive, Burgunday France 1999 $57

3.Cortoncharlemagne, Grand Cru, Dubreuil-Fontaine France 2001 $66

4. Corton-Pougets, Grand Cru, Louis Jadot France 1997 $65

5. Tignanello, Antinori Italy 2001 $110

I hope this was more detail that you were looking for.

You will be pleased and should have no worries. All that having been said, what cruise did you book?

french champagne is available 24 hrs per day - the never empty glass.

frequent traveler

We have sailed on SD several times, on both ships which are virtually identical and have more cruises booked next year. We are very keen on good wine and usually have the free red and whites at lunchtime, rather basic wine but quite drinkable. A range including Australian and NZ, Argentinian, Italian, US etc. At night we often select from the premium winelist which seems comparable to restaurant prices we see in US. We usually take a bottle of our good Australian wine to give to the Sommellier, and some very good wine ( 5 bottles of serious red ) to share at dinner during the cruise with any passengers showing an interest in Australian or just good wine. The Sommellier usually can advise us here. Sometimes we get a group together who pick their own selection from the premium wine list, and the Sommellier decants and masks the wine to get the opinions. We usually win out easily because we take such older vintages as 1990 or 1996. SD allows wine to be brought on board, no trouble, and do not charge corkage. Free good French champagne, often Mumms, is freely available all day around the ship as is also all cocktails and surprisingly good range of free spirits and liquers, including cognac and single malts. Premium spirits are chargeable, but the free range is very good.

Perfect, that is what I was looking for! My wife and I have booked a March 16th trip on the Seadream II. It is a round trip from Antigua, we are very excited about the program. We had a representative from Seadream do a program at our country club and we thought is was perfect.

Thanks for all the great information!

Just incase you were wondering, my wife and I don't drink that much. Although she realy likes French Champagne before our evening meal. We both enjoy a good bottle of wine with our evening meal. We are not big spirits drinkers although we like to have a martini or two after a great meal. I understand the food is great and we just wanted to make sure we had wine that would compliment the wonderful food. We are both in the wine industry and we have access to some top notch wines, we don't mind paying for anything, although why pay for it if we can bring it for free.

Thanks Again....

Raingage -- Looks like we'll be on the same RT from Antigua with you! You will love SD -- and the wines are quite good -- as is the Baileys after dinner;)

Will look forward to meeting you!

Vandrefalk

Look forward to meeting you, do you have any idea's about the ports. What they are known for, etc.. We have not been to anything of the ports before!

Sorry;

We have not been to any of these ports before!

Randy;

I see fellow board members have given you the run down on the free flowing spirits. My wife and I love good wine. While there is a selected white and red wine every evening for dinner, Seadream has an excellent wine list. While it is not huge, it's big enough with a good selection of premuim wines from around the world. We ordered one or two bottles every evening. You will also be very pleased, plus the prices are extremely reasonable.:)

A couple of tips, you are more then welcome to bring a special bottle or two to drink during the trip the sommelier will store them for you and then open on the evening you request. Also if you are on one the islands with good wine shops like St. Barts or St. Marteen. Go wine shopping for dinner.

Enjoy your trip

Raingage,

We've been to Antigua, Nevis, Jost and St. Barts -- but not to the others. Most (except St. Barts) are pretty laid back -- lots of beach time or water activities. The info on the SD website will give you some good information on each of the ports.

We've always been very satisfied with the wines served at lunch and dinner (and champagne the rest of the time ;) ) -- You'll have a wonderful time!!

Vandrefalk

Raingage -- Looks like we'll be on the same RT from Antigua with you! You will love SD -- and the wines are quite good -- as is the Baileys after dinner;)

Will look forward to meeting you!

Vandrefalk

I answered my own question, we will be on the same trip. You have been to Josh, did they tender to shore the night before?

Thanks

Randy

Hi Raingage,

Interesting comments about the SeaDream wines as I have brought a couple of my finest personal reserve bottles with me on my first 2 cruises with SeaDream but will never do that again...I can thank Air France for some of my new RED cruise clothes after getting to the yacht with a cracked bottle of my finest..Thank you Air France..Lesson number 1...The yacht had some real super and very highly rated vintages that made me regret taking my own...

The prices were very very good considering that they really could have marked them up much more..It was great deal and with the service and super dinner that was served it was a perfect evening..

One point that I do remember was that I did pay a small corkage fee when I brought my own bottles with me...I think it was only about $10 or $15 dollars for them to look after and professionally serve my favorite..

You will enjoy...It really does not get much better from a service standpoint at Sea, as the Crew is all over you and never says NO...

Smile,

LUX:)

whenever we sailed seabourn, we arranged to have the bar manager do a (free) vodka tasting. we ended up getting 15/20 people, in the lounge..they covered up about 10 vodkas, gave us samples, asked us to rate them and write down what brand we thought they were.

it was always fun seeing the so-called 'experts' say:oh..i know vodka, that is definitely belvedere or level or ciroc and it often ended up smirnoff or absolut, all good vodkas as well. the snob appeal was always fun..and we would know.we're former Ny snobs, now scottsdale snobs!!!

the wne lists are always quite good.on seabourn, we did order Far Niente now and then, but these cruise lines do NOt mark up wines and cigars as one would expect.they are reasonable and fair.

My wife and I have just booked our first SD vacation. We are both in the Wine industry and have always taken special wines on cruises. Can some tell me what type of wine and spirits are typically served complimentary? This is not a make or break situation although we would prefer not to have to bring any wine with us.

The "house" wine is, IMHO, just about OK. We drink a lot better as our everyday here in the wine country (Santa Rosa, CA). The wines you can buy are from a fairly limited list by wine country standards, and are priced about at big city fancy-place prices. Considering where you are, it seemed fair. I think we had extra cost bottles at maybe 3 dinners. If you can afford SD, you can probably afford it.

We've sailed once on SD--this past March -- St Thomas to San Juan. We're booked on a June 21 week on SDII Dubrovnick - Rome this year, so we must've liked it. You'll have a great experience. It's just too bad bringing a couple of special bottles is no longer practical. Have a great week!

Thanks for all the feed back, we are starting to get excited about our trip. Anyone who has been on the yacht recently, could you tell me what was the house (yacht) champagne is currently?

Thanks a Million

Counting down.................

It seems to vary from trip to trip. I remember Perrier Jouet, Heidseck among others. All were good to my admittedly poor taste.

Jim.

On the Nov 2007 SDII, I was a bit disappointed w/the complimentary wine service. On many nights, I just didn't drink wine with dinner as I didn't like either selection. Mostly French or California, which are my least favorites. Not many So.American (if any?) were served, and those are my favorites. Some good strong Spanish. The champagne, French, which I'm not a big fan of, I really liked. Both what was served in the bars and the bottle in the room. If you like So.American wines best, you won't be happy. If you like California best, you probably will be happy.

Thanks for all the feed back, we are starting to get excited about our trip. Anyone who has been on the yacht recently, could you tell me what was the house (yacht) champagne is currently?

 

Thanks a Million

Counting down.................

In November, it was Charles Lafitte Brut. I really enjoyed it, and I'm a champagne snob.

Thanks for the information, we really like our bubbles! It's getting close and we are ready, we are in the middle of a move. I could use a vacation today. Thanks to all....

Would anyone know what the house wines are that are served on SD I?

Chardonnay and Cabernet? Do they have a few choices? California wines or locals? Just curious.

We are also on the SDII cruise from Antigua. Is anyone else arriving the day before?