Does Oceana's new Drink Package include drinks at the bar

[LHT28]

Jim & Stan-

With glen & Cenia last night and they had lots of good things to say! We are with them in Asia this in March. We have a question about the beer & wine package and the room service option. My wife likes to have a couple glasses of wine while we relax & dress for dinner. Can she order 2 glasses at once? Makes more sense than ordering again. Better yet would be to give her a bottle to keep in the fridge! Saves times and effort on all. Continually calling room service for a room pour just doesn't seem a win-win for O or the passenger. Your thoughts?

The way I understand it

You can only order drinks with the Package deal WITH a meal from room service

But they do have drinks in the cabin fridge but they are not covered by the package deal.

 

Why not just bring a bottle with you for your cabin use ;)

 

check the link in message #3 above

Edited August 9, 2012 by LHT28

[JimandStan]

Jim & Stan-

With glen & Cenia last night and they had lots of good things to say! We are with them in Asia this in March. We have a question about the beer & wine package and the room service option. My wife likes to have a couple glasses of wine while we relax & dress for dinner. Can she order 2 glasses at once? Makes more sense than ordering again. Better yet would be to give her a bottle to keep in the fridge! Saves times and effort on all. Continually calling room service for a room pour just doesn't seem a win-win for O or the passenger. Your thoughts?

 

Lyn is correct, although I phrased it awkwardly earlier, the room service option on the lesser priced package is only available with meals.

 

Cenia & Glenn are great people, and more fun than they like to let on.

This is them getting "pinned" by Oceania on the Riviera maiden voyage last May:

-please send them our very best!

Jim & Stan

[PathfinderEss]

Not a "shot" in the way that we think of it in the United States, but yes, a single pour (i.e. not a double).

Thanks again. Think that is interesting that they don't dispense their booze by shots. How would you measure their pours then? More or less then a shot which would be what 1 1/2 oz.. What about Martini's?

[JimandStan]

Thanks again. Think that is interesting that they don't dispense their booze by shots. How would you measure their pours then? More or less then a shot which would be what 1 1/2 oz.. What about Martini's?

 

Cruise ship cocktails have always been more generous, and used to be significantly less expensive, than at home. Now the prices have evened out, but most ships are still pouring more than a standard shot.

 

I cannot give you an exact proportion, but I am a person who knows his way around a saloon, and they are pouring more than a shot.

 

Martini's, assuming that you are inquiring about the cocktail and not the venue are almost universally $8.00 plus the auto gratuity.

 

We even have a club!

...and I'm not just the president, I'm a member ;)

[MacZonie]

No, they are not.

 

Both Beverage packages include all of the wines that are sold by the glass in the ships bars (5 whites, 2 Blush, 11 reds), and a limited number of additional wines that are chosen by the Cellar Master on a cruise by cruise basis.

 

The key difference is that the lower cost package only covers wine or beer with meals or in your cabin; whereas the Prestige package includes everything except the very top range liquors anyplace on the ship.

Thanks for the reply. I think our approach will be to take the first couple of days of the cruise without the package and see whether the kind of drinks we like are available as part of the prestige package.

[JimandStan]

Thanks for the reply. I think our approach will be to take the first couple of days of the cruise without the package and see whether the kind of drinks we like are available as part of the prestige package.

 

It's you're call, but EVERYHING is included in the Prestige Package except the Louis XIII cognac. :D

[ORV]

It's you're call, but EVERYHING is included in the Prestige Package except the Louis XIII cognac. :D

 

Just a disclaimer, at least the way it was explained to me, If it's on the bar menu it's included. Polo has quite a few single malts that are not on the regular bar menu that are not included in the package. The Louis XIII is on the regular bar menu, or at least was on Regatta in May.

Edited August 10, 2012 by ORV

[PathfinderEss]

Cruise ship cocktails have always been more generous, and used to be significantly less expensive, than at home. Now the prices have evened out, but most ships are still pouring more than a standard shot.

 

I cannot give you an exact proportion, but I am a person who knows his way around a saloon, and they are pouring more than a shot.

 

Martini's, assuming that you are inquiring about the cocktail and not the venue are almost universally $8.00 plus the auto gratuity.

 

We even have a club!

...and I'm not just the president, I'm a member ;)

Thanks for the info, I have never traveled on

Oceania and wonder if their drinks were higher then Holland. Certainly their gratuities are.

Edited August 11, 2012 by PathfinderEss

[JimandStan]

Thanks for the info, I have never traveled on

Oceania and wonder if their drinks were higher then Holland. Certainly their gratuities are.

 

So is their Service.....we were HAL People for 20 years before discovering Oceania and I would have sworn that nobody could ever beat their Indonesian crews for service-

-but Oceania did it, and continues to do it consistently.

 

...at least it used to be good. :o

[TommyC]

To be clear, the Prestige Package covers glasses of wine but not bottles of wine during dinner? The inclusion of bottles of wine during dinner would be a plus, even with a reasonable dollar cap. We usually have wine with dinner - usually some of the nicer selections to go with the great dinner menu!

[LHT28]

To be clear, the Prestige Package covers glasses of wine but not bottles of wine during dinner?

That is correct wine by the glass if you have either of the drink packages

[JimandStan]

To be clear, the Prestige Package covers glasses of wine but not bottles of wine during dinner? The inclusion of bottles of wine during dinner would be a plus, even with a reasonable dollar cap. We usually have wine with dinner - usually some of the nicer selections to go with the great dinner menu!

 

Bottles at Dinner would be a plus, particularly for the poor beleaguered Sommeliers in the Specialty Restaurants, who seldom had to deal with wines by the glass before. :o

[ORV]

To be clear, the Prestige Package covers glasses of wine but not bottles of wine during dinner? The inclusion of bottles of wine during dinner would be a plus, even with a reasonable dollar cap. We usually have wine with dinner - usually some of the nicer selections to go with the great dinner menu!

 

On the plus side they were more than happy to open a fresh bottle of whatever wine by the glass you wanted. They do have some very good selections on the by the glass menu.

[corpkid]

Must the drink packages be purchased for the duration of the cruise or can it be purchased day-to-day? We have a very port-intensive Baltic cruise coming up so most days, the package would not make sense I think.

 

On sea days or 1/2 port days, I can promise you we'd get our $50pp back and then some! :)

[Mura]

My understanding is that once you purchase it, it is for the duration.

 

That doesn't mean you can't buy it later on during the cruise.

 

For us, we don't feel it's worth it. But many others disagree!

 

Mura

[Bliksembe]

We have just completed a cruise on the Nautica. We were both planning, and had budgeted, to take the Premium drink package. In the end, my husband took the package and I did not, in order to see which was the most economical. We have come to the conclusion that it was not beneficial to take the package. In order to enjoy the evening's entertainment, it is necessary to eat early. Therefore we took advantage of the Happy Hour at Martinis, two for the price of one. In fact we never took advantage of the late evening Happy Hour. Other events like the Captains cocktail party and so on offer free drinks.

 

It is necessary to take the package for the remainder of the cruise from the day that you take it, but you can take it at any point in the cruise. Alcohol on the package is only included with room service when it is with food. It also only includes wine by the glass, however my husband found the wines more than acceptable. I, on the other hand, would purchase a bottle of wine, and this bottle of wine would follow me round the ship to whatever venue I was eating at.

[corpkid]

Thank you for the information! I guess what we will probably do is NOT purchase for the first day or two (we start our cruise with an overnight in Stockholm) and see how that pans out and evaluate if we should purchase after seeing how much we actually spend.

 

We love our drinks on vacation (and well, in general!) so I am just glad to have this option available either way.

 

Thanks again!

Dominic

[critics0001]

You need to compare the liquor packages with the bring your own option. Oceania has a very liberal policy that allows you bring both liquor and wine on board. If you have a port a day cruise schedule then the packages make less sense. The wine by the glass features better wines than other ships but is limited and the whole bottle wine list markups are substantial but is still focused on low to mid-range that sell for $10-20 retail. Paying the corkage on your own wine is a better deal in most cases except for lower quality wines. If you are cruising ports in Spain, France and Italy, you can buy locally very good wines at reasonable prices that you would not generally see outside that country.:)

[Paradime]

On the question of drinks, whether or not to get a wine package rather depends on the amount of wine is a 'standard' measure. This can very from about 150 ml to 250ml in bars. Anyone know what sort of wine measure O uses?

 

Thanks Peter

[roger b]

On the question of drinks, whether or not to get a wine package rather depends on the amount of wine is a 'standard' measure. This can very from about 150 ml to 250ml in bars. Anyone know what sort of wine measure O uses?

 

Thanks Peter

 

My wife and I would normally finish off a bottle a night, does this mean that the sommelier will keep pouring from the same bottle or does he have to go to the bar each time the glass is empty,would he bring two glass at once ?? as I can see I would be for ever looking to have my glass filled.

How does it work??

[Bliksembe]

Do not worry about the measures, they are large enough, and they will keep refilling if you are on a package.....

[vaitape]

Late evening Happy Hour? When is this offered? News to me.......

[JimandStan]

My wife and I would normally finish off a bottle a night, does this mean that the sommelier will keep pouring from the same bottle or does he have to go to the bar each time the glass is empty,would he bring two glass at once ?? as I can see I would be for ever looking to have my glass filled.

How does it work??

 

It works the same way as when you order wine by the glass in ANY good restaurant.

 

If you know that you are likely to drink several glasses at a meal, be sure to tell the Sommelier, and they will watch your wine levels more closely.

[roger b]

It works the same way as when you order wine by the glass in ANY good restaurant.

 

If you know that you are likely to drink several glasses at a meal, be sure to tell the Sommelier, and they will watch your wine levels more closely.

 

Many Thanks, but does this mean the sommelier has to take my drinks package card every time I want another glass ?? I can see this would become tedious.

[LHT28]

Many Thanks, but does this mean the sommelier has to take my drinks package card every time I want another glass ?? I can see this would become tedious.

I am sure after your first drink at the meal they will remember you have the drink package;)

Edited August 19, 2012 by LHT28