RCI not allowing passengers to bring wine onboard?

[FinelyCruising]

But as an afterthought, I know why I may not be big on the bubblies, and when I tell you both I know you are going to just shake your head...

 

I do not like to drink Chardonnay cold. I like it a room temperature. Nope do not like it chilled at all, and in fact I always ask out if they have a bottle at room temperature.

 

:o

[xpcdoojk]

But as an afterthought, I know why I may not be big on the bubblies, and when I tell you both I know you are going to just shake your head...

 

I do not like to drink Chardonnay cold. I like it a room temperature. Nope do not like it chilled at all, and in fact I always ask out if they have a bottle at room temperature.

 

:o

 

OK, Champagne drinks well at cellar temperature. IE 56 degrees. I probably couldn't drink it well at 70 degrees, although at the lake in the summer I am sure I have.

 

Then you need to drink my house champagne I mentioned earlier, since you don't like Brut.

 

Schramsburg Cremant, it is bottled within 5 miles of Grgich Hills. It is Demi-sec and not Brut (they make about 5 or 6 different ones so be sure to get the Cremant). General scale of sparkling wines is sec, demi-sec, extra-dry, brut and gran brut ... The Schramsburg Cremant is very creamy and a little buttery. Plus you are buying American which is important when you are looking at French Champagnes!;) I always have a case of Schramsburg in the cellar and at least one in the fridge.

 

I think (and will defer to Island Lady on this) that in France, they do not generally serve champagne encased in ice like we do, but at cellar temperature.

 

You will not find Schamsburg at just any store, unfortunately, so you may have to look around for it. BTW it is a very lovely vineyard to visit in Napa!

 

jc

[island lady]

OK, Champagne drinks well at cellar temperature. IE 56 degrees. I probably couldn't drink it well at 70 degrees, although at the lake in the summer I am sure I have.

 

Then you need to drink my house champagne I mentioned earlier, since you don't like Brut.

 

Schramsburg Cremant, it is bottled within 5 miles of Grgich Hills. It is Demi-sec and not Brut (they make about 5 or 6 different ones so be sure to get the Cremant). General scale of sparkling wines is sec, demi-sec, extra-dry, brut and gran brut ... The Schramsburg Cremant is very creamy and a little buttery. Plus you are buying American which is important when you are looking at French Champagnes!;) I always have a case of Schramsburg in the cellar and at least one in the fridge.

 

I think (and will defer to Island Lady on this) that in France, they do not generally serve champagne encased in ice like we do, but at cellar temperature.

 

You will not find Schamsburg at just any store, unfortunately, so you may have to look around for it. BTW it is a very lovely vineyard to visit in Napa!

 

jc

 

Hmmm...are you sure you are not a wine rep? I most definately echo everything you said.

 

FC: Room temperature in the "Northern Climes" is different than room temp down here in hot 'ole Florida. But if you are talking about 65 degrees or so, I am with you. I do not like my Chard (on the rare times I drink it) ice cold either. In fact if they try to bring it out in an ice bucket at a restaurant, I will send them back with the bucket. I have had to hold the wine glass in my cupped hands just to get the frozen stuff to thaw sometimes. I think the real flavor of Chard comes out at warmer temps also. I keep my cellar at 55 degrees, and will take a Chard out and let it warm up just a tad from there.

Now my Sav Blancs, I like chilled. Brings out the crispness.

 

Ok...now for my guilty pleasure: Now don't laugh...because this is naughty on 2 levels. I like Moet's Nectar Imperial. It is sweeter than the Brut, which is a bit dry for me sometimes. But even worse, it is one of my biggest competitors bubblies. Though with the horrible climb of the Euro, I think I will go ahead and get into xpcdoojk's love of Schramsburg Cremant. That is one FINE bubbly!!

 

Cheers!

[FinelyCruising]

Terriffic. I believe there is a store close by which carries it, and this will be a stop on tommorrow's 'things to do list'. Will let you know if I locate!

 

Thanks so much. :)

[xpcdoojk]

Hmmm...are you sure you are not a wine rep? I most definately echo everything you said.

 

FC: Room temperature in the "Northern Climes" is different than room temp down here in hot 'ole Florida. But if you are talking about 65 degrees or so, I am with you. I do not like my Chard (on the rare times I drink it) ice cold either. In fact if they try to bring it out in an ice bucket at a restaurant, I will send them back with the bucket. I have had to hold the wine glass in my cupped hands just to get the frozen stuff to thaw sometimes. I think the real flavor of Chard comes out at warmer temps also. I keep my cellar at 55 degrees, and will take a Chard out and let it warm up just a tad from there.

Now my Sav Blancs, I like chilled. Brings out the crispness.

 

Ok...now for my guilty pleasure: Now don't laugh...because this is naughty on 2 levels. I like Moet's Nectar Imperial. It is sweeter than the Brut, which is a bit dry for me sometimes. But even worse, it is one of my biggest competitors bubblies. Though with the horrible climb of the Euro, I think I will go ahead and get into xpcdoojk's love of Schramsburg Cremant. That is one FINE bubbly!!

 

Cheers!

 

I think in all the years in this forum that was the first compliment that meant something to me. My tee-totaler mother would be appalled, but to think all of the thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars I have spent drinking wine were not completely wasted!:D :D Seriously though, the Nectar is pretty good, but not as good as the Cremant. Especially from FC's point of reference of Grgich Hills. :cool: Plus as you mentioned the Nectar is more expensive although they are in the same neighborhood at my wine store. Island lady email me sometime, I would like to ask you a question vis a vis your profession and no, I am not looking to take your job! Hey, I am such a lowlife, I will attend the C&A wine tasting although, I know much more about the wines than the somollier. I just smile and hold my glass up for more! ;)

 

jc

[wwinfl91]

You mentioned wine tasting on RCI. When do they usually occur and how well attended our they usually? We were on a HAL cruise recently and less than 10 people showed up. Luckily 7 was the minimum number so they held it anyway.

 

Princess has a good deal in that if you attend the wine tasting and order a bottle of wine at the tasting for consumption at a later dinner they refund the cost of the tasting against the cost of the wine. If a wife and a husband both attend and you order two bottles both charges are credited against your wine purchase. The people at the HAL wine tasting said they couldn't do that. Does RCI do anything like that?

 

Have a great next cruise.

[island lady]

I think in all the years in this forum that was the first compliment that meant something to me. My tee-totaler mother would be appalled, but to think all of the thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars I have spent drinking wine were not completely wasted!:D :D Seriously though, the Nectar is pretty good, but not as good as the Cremant. Especially from FC's point of reference of Grgich Hills. :cool: Plus as you mentioned the Nectar is more expensive although they are in the same neighborhood at my wine store. Island lady email me sometime, I would like to ask you a question vis a vis your profession and no, I am not looking to take your job! Hey, I am such a lowlife, I will attend the C&A wine tasting although, I know much more about the wines than the somollier. I just smile and hold my glass up for more! ;)

 

jc

 

Awww....garsh!!!

Now you make me blush!!! Mmmm...blush wines...a nice dry chilled Rose'.....ohhh...don't get me started.

 

Anyway, thanks for the compliment back!

 

Cheers!

[wwinfl91]

Anybody know any more about wine tasting on RCI? How much does it cost? How many wines do they usually try? On a 14 day cruise will they do one each week?

 

Thanks and have a great next cruise.

[ricsue]

Anybody know any more about wine tasting on RCI? How much does it cost? How many wines do they usually try? On a 14 day cruise will they do one each week?

 

Thanks and have a great next cruise.

 

We did the tastings on Celebrity, as I recall, it was 4 or 5 wines, and a champagne, probably the same on RCI.

[FinelyCruising]

jc and IL...I have it!

[island lady]

jc and IL...I have it!

 

Yeah!! Are you saving that for the cruise, or is it tonight's special treat?

 

Cheers!

[FinelyCruising]

I don't know what I am going to do with it.:D If I wait until April then you and jc will have to wait a bit longer to hear how I enjoyed it. Can you stand it that long?

[island lady]

Ahh...looking forward to that upcoming "review" posting!! :)

 

cheers!

[wwinfl91]

I think you should pop the cork tonight and let us know tomorrow how good it was. Just my opinion of course.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[xpcdoojk]

Well is the store that you bought it out convenient to your location? If it is drink the stuff that way you can try another suggestion and have your perfect choice when you need it for that special moment! Always have to have at least one bottle of the perfect champagne ready. Never know when something great like UNC winning the NCAA championship will happen. It would be a shame to have a moment like that and have to drink beer! Speaking of beer I had two at the ballpark yesterday, I think I doubled my months consumption.

 

 

jc

[island lady]

Beer has never been my thing, except on the rare times when I might drink a Becks out on the boat while fishing. And that is only if I neglect to take along a bottle of Sauv Blanc! :D Nothing like catching fresh fish for dinner with the wine that goes with it!

 

I like to go on "world tasting tours" and will take my taste buds around to New Zeeland, South Africa, Napa Valley, France, etc. for my Sauv Blancs.

I am logging a lot of "frequent tasting miles"!! ;) :D

 

Cheers!

[critterchick]

We did the wine tasting on Radiance - there were 30-40 people in attendance. I think most of us used our free coupons as Platinum/Diamond members. They let us sample 5-6 wines, I think. It was fun, and we even found a red wine that DH, a confirmed white wine man, liked - DeBoeuf Beaujelais (I mangled that spelling).

[wwinfl91]

Glad to hear that the wine tastings are well attended. The more the merrier. From the comments I assume that RCI doesn't credit the cost of the wine tasting against the cost of any wine ordered the way Princess does?

 

Have a great next cruise.

[wwinfl91]

I'm a little surprised that the poll results have gotten a little closer. 78% against RCI policy of not allowing wine to be brought on board, 3.5% agree with RCI's policy and 19% don't care one way or another.

 

I would still think that those results should make RCI at least rethink the policy that makes us sneak our wine onboard.

 

Any recent cruisers had wine confiscated?

 

Have a great next cruise regardless.

[critterchick]

I don't think RCI gives you a credit. They also don't advertise the tasting very much - I have read several posts on the Princess threads that state that there is a hard sell on to get people to attend - probably because most of those who do end up buying a bottle of wine with their credit.

 

We've never had wine confiscated. We sometimes bring a bottle or two on board in our carryon, but I've only seen a confiscation station once, in San Pedro, for a 3-day Vision cruise.

 

Somebody commented that RCI allows you to bring on wine that they don't carry - do they have somebody checking the labels against the wine list at security?:confused:

[wwinfl91]

Thanks for the reply.

 

I didn't feel like Princess did a hard sell on the regular wine tasting but they definitely did push the more expensive one both at the regular wine tasting and at dinner if they saw you drinking wine.

 

I felt applying the credit against a future purchase of a bottle of wine was a good way to both get people to attend the tasting as well as a good way to sell more wine. We didn't order any of the wines we tasted but rather a German Reisling that we had tried on a previous Princess cruise and liked.

 

We have taken wine on most of the cruises we have been on that we have driven to the cruise port to board the ship. We didn't on our last cruise because we had flown in to LA and didn't get a chance to go to a liquor store before the ship sailed. On our Maasdam cruise up the east coast to Montreal we took a box we got at a local winery that held 6 bottles and had no problem getting it onboard.

 

When I went to the RCI web site and read their new "official" bringing liquor or wine on board statement I didn't see any mention that you could bring on wines that they don't carry. It does say you can ask them for permission to bring aboard a bottle for a special occasion but it doesn't say they have to let you bring it.

 

Oh well we will probably end up doing what most people seem to be doing and that is find a way to "sneak" a few bottles onboard with us for our next cruise.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[bUU]

It isn't surprising that when consumers are given a choice between having to pay for something and not having to pay for something, a vast majority of them prefer not paying. By contrast, when the question is asked in a more comprehensive manner (such as, "Would you pay higher fares and/or cruise more often if the cruise line allowed passengers to bring their own wine with them?"), the answers are a bit different.

[xpcdoojk]

yes this and all other CC polls are unscientific and flawed.... gee that is a news flash, Bicker.;)

 

jc:D

[Merion_Mom]

It isn't surprising that when consumers are given a choice between having to pay for something and not having to pay for something, a vast majority of them prefer not paying. By contrast, when the question is asked in a more comprehensive manner (such as, "Would you pay higher fares and/or cruise more often if the cruise line allowed passengers to bring their own wine with them?"), the answers are a bit different.

Bicker, do you really find it surprising that people would rather PAY AT HOME for a reasonable price rather than pay a superlatively inflated price on board, for what is arguably an inferior product? It isn't *just* about money - it's about value for the money paid, and quality for the money paid.

 

Why wine? Why not clothing? Why not have a Royal Caribbean rule that says, We sell clothing on the ship, and you may only wear clothing purchased on our ship. One makes no more sense than the other.

 

As you say, it's their ship and their rules, but it's NOT as though there is any common sense to the rule. They ALLOW you to buy liquor on board, IF you pay their price. Until now, they let you bring your own wine on board, IF you pay their corkage fee. They NEVER offered the option of purchasing wine in the ship's store as they do liquor. It seems only reasonable that they permit you to bring wine on board, for a fee if they wish.

 

Carol

[BADBUOY]

Great topic!

Is it worth recanting the booze from the original bottle to a plastic tupperware type?

 

Buddy