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Do all ships offer free wine in specialty restaurants

S.S.Oceanlover

By S.S.Oceanlover,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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S.S.Oceanlover

S.S.Oceanlover

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They did on the Jewel two weeks ago

 

DSCN4791-vi.jpg

 

good to know.

 

We had 8 in our group so we got multiple bottles each night we ate in the specialty restaurants.

 

We mostly had the white but tried the Merlot and it wasn't bad.

 

I am not a wine drinker but found I liked their wine.

 

Bill

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sdmike

sdmike

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good to know.

 

We had 8 in our group so we got multiple bottles each night we ate in the specialty restaurants.

 

We mostly had the white but tried the Merlot and it wasn't bad.

 

I am not a wine drinker but found I liked their wine.

 

Bill

 

I found it to be ok as well. We had a group of 14, including kids. We got 5 bottles at Moderno (one for each couple)

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sdmike

sdmike

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Is this only for early bird dining? Do they offer the same deal if dining later than the crowds...like at 8:30 or 9:00? There is no way we could eat dinner at 5:30, just waaaay too early for us.

 

Seatings 6pm or earlier

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S.S.Oceanlover

S.S.Oceanlover

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Is this only for early bird dining? Do they offer the same deal if dining later than the crowds...like at 8:30 or 9:00? There is no way we could eat dinner at 5:30, just waaaay too early for us.

 

That's what one of waiters said when he asked us what kind of wine we wanted and we told him we didn't order any wine.

 

probably a lot of people don't like to eat that early so the wine offer is probably to entice people toeat early so the restaurant isn't half empty.

 

We eat at about 6pm at home so it's not a big deal to us.

 

Bill

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OceanDreaming2

OceanDreaming2

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We had the same offer on the Jewel last week. Only for the 5:30 and 6:00 seatings. The offer was only in the Freestyle Daily one time but the offer was for the week.

 

Interesting that since we're Platinum, we received a comped bottle of wine and they wanted to give us the other bottle too. Even the last night, we received a gift of the of merlot along with chocolate covered strawberries. We brought it to dinner but then they gave us the complimentary wine list so we chose our favorite and politely returned the bottle of Tisdale.

 

They also have the Facebook coupon - also for early dining - a complimentary bottle of house wine. So I wondered if you had that coupon, had a 5:30 or 6:00 reservation and used the Platinum dinner voucher - would you end up with 3 bottles of wine? :p

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jdvmd

jdvmd

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Is this only for early bird dining? Do they offer the same deal if dining later than the crowds...like at 8:30 or 9:00? There is no way we could eat dinner at 5:30, just waaaay too early for us.

Only for 5:30 and 6 p.m. seatings. Two adult cover charges receive one bottle of wine - Tisdale Chardonnay or Tisdale Merlot.

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cruise pup

cruise pup

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As a platinum member I received a bottle of wine in a fruit basket in my cabin. I also got 2 bottles with the 2 comped specialty restaurant dinners. Fortunately, I was able to have the unused wine stored for another meal. But I remember having wine with lunch on the final day and still didn't finish all of the wine. I don't remember what wines they were but they were all drinkable. This was on the NCL Star in June.

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bigwally

bigwally

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Another NCL policy I can wholeheartedly embrace! We typically eat between 5:30 and 6pm too, so this will be a nice treat. And may be all the encouragement we need to try more specialty dining than we would have otherwise. We've never been wine snobs and usually more than happy with table wines we find in the under $5 price category.

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jdvmd

jdvmd

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Another NCL policy I can wholeheartedly embrace! We typically eat between 5:30 and 6pm too, so this will be a nice treat. And may be all the encouragement we need to try more specialty dining than we would have otherwise. We've never been wine snobs and usually more than happy with table wines we find in the under $5 price category.

Agree that it is such a nice gesture on NCL's part, and quite generous. If you were to buy the bottle onboard, it would cost $28 + 15 percent automatic gratuity.

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VideoTech

VideoTech

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On the Pearl two weeks ago, the offer was made for a bottle of wine, but when we said we didn't want it, we were told we could have one cocktail per person or one bottle of beer per person instead. We went that route.

 

BTW, the offer of the free wine was made by the hostess when we were seated, but we had to remind the waitress about it. It must be a new thing.

 

IMO, the Tisdale wine that NCL uses on its giveaways is awful. Had one of the bottles of Chardonnay and couldn't drink much of it. But then, I don't care for Chardonnay much to begin with.

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jdvmd

jdvmd

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I didn't care for the Chardonnay either but like you, I do not care for it. It was too sweet and didn't resemble a Chardonnay at all.

 

On the Dawn, if we didn't want the free Tisdale bottle, we could take 20 percent off any other bottle from the wine list.

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bigwally

bigwally

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Well, with all "cheap" wines there are sure to be some hits and misses. Our favorite cheap table wine is the Douglass Hill Cab. It's from Bronco, who are best known for bringing us "Two Buck Chuck" at Trader Joe's, but can be found in many supermarkets. Anyway, while we love the Cab, and drink it pretty much nightly as a dinner accompaniment, we can only drink the Merlot (which should technically be less bold than the Cab...but really isn't) if completely desperate. ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...
bigwally

bigwally

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I chanced across the Tisdale wine the other day, and thought I'd sample it so I could offer a review. Kindly remember though - I am neither a wine expert or a "wine snob". I simply likes what I likes and drinks it as I will.

 

So with that said, my review is going to be of the Tisdale Cabernet Sauvignon, since Cabs are the wines I have the most experience "enjoying".

 

I guess the best that can be said of the Tisdale Cab is that is inoffensive. It is medium sweet (though a bit too sweet for a Cab in my opinion) with more than a hint of strawberry in the flavor. It is definitely what I'd consider a medium body wine, and as someone who prefers my wines to be full bodied it would get a mark-down on this alone from me. It also lacks any of the oak toastiness I'm used to experiencing with good Cabs.

 

On the label they describe it as a wine with "an impressive finish". Well, I suppose that if you find a non-existent finish "impressive", then this is your wine - for me there was no noticeable change in texture or flavor throughout the whole tasting experience.

 

If I had to score this wine out of 10, it would probably only be a 2 or 3. So I'd personally have to suggest taking the one of the alternative offers, which I've seen posted on this board as being either a beer or cocktail for each cover in your party, or a 20% discount off any wine on the regular wine list.

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sdmike

sdmike

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Well, I drink a fair amount of wine, and I prefer the smoother blends like a merlot (yes, you heard me right, the beer snob isn't snobbish about wine. lol). I would give this merlot around a 5. We had no issues drinking it, especially for free. In fact, we quite enjoyed it. It's on the fruit side of things (mostly cherry & currant), very smooth and a short finish. Not peppery but with a little oak and tannins. Very drinkable with a meal.

 

The "best" dirt cheap merlot we've found is Alice White from Australia. About the same price as this too. I actually had it on the Epic, I believe. They were selling it by the pool the first day in little 8oz bottles for a few dollars

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  • 7 months later...

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