What's up with the Wine & Dine Package?

[Folk Singer]

Thank You for the input, Only a few days until we leave, I will try my best to post Pics and Info on the wine lists. BTW I booked the wine tasting event as well. :D

 

 

keep us posted and have a fun Cruise.

[kftw]

We're on the April Vision TA. We were able to purchase the wine/dine package last week. Made final payment this week and now the option to buy isn't showing up. Is it gone because we have already purchased the package or gone because no longer offered. So now I'm wondering if we do have the package or if not, how will they refund our money? We only drink wine so none of the other packages would work for us.

[Clarea]

We're on the April Vision TA. We were able to purchase the wine/dine package last week. Made final payment this week and now the option to buy isn't showing up. Is it gone because we have already purchased the package or gone because no longer offered. So now I'm wondering if we do have the package or if not, how will they refund our money? We only drink wine so none of the other packages would work for us.

If they cancel the package, they will refund the money to the credit card you used to purchase it.

[kftw]

If they cancel the package, they will refund the money to the credit card you used to purchase it.

 

Thanks. Just didn't want to be forced into a drink package.

[cruisebirdie]

Just off the Oasis of the Seas on a back to back (i.e. 2 weeks). IMHO, I am glad I was not able to buy a wine & dine package, as I would have had too much wine (if that is possible). I do enjoy my wine and was not interested in buying a drink package. On my previous cruises, I always purchased the wine & dine package. For this B2B, I was able to bring 4 bottles on-board and this was my first cruise as Diamond (which gives me 3 drinks per happy hour/day). I did buy a few bottles of wine for dinner, but not nearly as many as I would have purchased through the wine & dine package. I would have had wine bottles left over and no room in my luggage to pack or want to carry it back. I'm not sure I would feel the same, if I hadn't been Diamond.

 

Note: I was able to purchase wines that were available on the "old" wine & dine package, at a "reasonable" price range.

[plowboy920]

Just to let everyone know the Wine & Dine is GONE for now. Heard from crew members there is more people intrested in it than they thought! We had a bottle of wine 6 out of 7 nights and really didn't spend any more than the package. Good wine in the $30 range, Great wine in the $50 range. The last 7 bottle package I saw was $280 + 15% so $40 per bottle average. Overall I think it worked out better for us but I would prefer the prepaid package. We do have pictures of the wine list on the first day but it changed every other day by availablity :confused:

[Josie2]

Thanks for reporting back on this. I have devised a way for a DIY wine package. DH is getting a drink package which gets us 20% off bottles of wine so I'll get extra bottles that way and keep them in the room to enjoy during the afternoon. Better than nothing at all.

 

 

 

 

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[Folk Singer]

Thanks. Just didn't want to be forced into a drink package.

 

 

Understand that.

[plowboy920]

Thanks for reporting back on this. I have devised a way for a DIY wine package. DH is getting a drink package which gets us 20% off bottles of wine so I'll get extra bottles that way and keep them in the room to enjoy during the afternoon. Better than nothing at all.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

You can carry 2 bottles of wine on the ship on day 1. We saw people carrying bottles around, some were half full others were half empty. ;):D

[suzyluvs2cruise]

Thanks for reporting back on this. I have devised a way for a DIY wine package. DH is getting a drink package which gets us 20% off bottles of wine so I'll get extra bottles that way and keep them in the room to enjoy during the afternoon. Better than nothing at all.

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Happy that works for you. A drink package doesn't work for us. We've always bought the Wine Package as we enjoy a good glass (or 2) of wine with our dinner and felt the Wine Package was a good deal for us.

[2beachlovers]

You can carry 2 bottles of wine on the ship on day 1. We saw people carrying bottles around, some were half full others were half empty. ;):D

 

LOL! Mine wants to be half FULL!

[scottrn7]

Well, we will have to curb our wine intake on our future cruises. I wish RC would listen to their customers and what they want. The ones benefiting from the drink packages are the ones who want to drink from wake till sleep. Just not our style. So, we will use our diamond vouchers or visit the lounge for our free drinks. :(

[Rachipooh7]

sorry newbie here... we are cruising Oct 2015 and I was able to click on the wine and dine package hit add to cart and then it brought me down to select the guests and what package...

 

my question is... do both guest have to purchase the package? or can just one person and then share the bottle at the table? I don't want to assume anything as I know the beverage packages each person is supposed to order their own....

 

thanks in advance! :) still undecided if we are going to do it...

[Clarea]

sorry newbie here... we are cruising Oct 2015 and I was able to click on the wine and dine package hit add to cart and then it brought me down to select the guests and what package...

 

my question is... do both guest have to purchase the package? or can just one person and then share the bottle at the table? I don't want to assume anything as I know the beverage packages each person is supposed to order their own....

 

thanks in advance! :) still undecided if we are going to do it...

The Wine & Dine package was not an unlimited package, so they didn't care if one person bought it and shared. However, from reading other posts, it appears that the Wine & Dine package has been discontinued. If you have it on your booking, it will probably disappear at some point and a refund issued.

Edited January 21, 2015 by clarea

[Rachipooh7]

Thank you for your quick response! :) such a bummer that they have gotten rid of this package!!

[plowboy920]

I think my point of the first post after our cruise may have been missed by a few people! We have always had a Wine & Dine Package, I started this thread because it disappeared. After being on the ship they did switch the wine menu according to availability, but I feel just buying by the bottle was possibly less expensive depending on your taste of wine. We like a variety, white 1 night red the next, most bottles we bought were less than the wine package would have cost. We did splurge on a bottle Mer Solie 1 night at $59 that was on the W&D package last year. Overall don't jump ship yet & just go enjoy yourself, keep in mind you have an extra $300 to spend on wine if you don't get the W&D Package :)

[CruisingTeacher19]

Does anyone have an updated wine list? With prices? Going on oasis next week

[Clarea]

Does anyone have an updated wine list? With prices? Going on oasis next week

Most recent I've seen:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1992376&page=32

 

MDR wine list starts on post #637.

[Folk Singer]

You can carry 2 bottles of wine on the ship on day 1. We saw people carrying bottles around, some were half full others were half empty. ;):D

 

 

Always the optomist. ;);)

[JsEscape2]

We were told when we got on board that the wine and dine drink package was gone from all ships. We were so disappointed. We were told something about RC not being able to get the wines listed on the old package. We were able to bring our two bottles to the table and have the wine at dinner with no corkage fee. Other nights we chose from the wine list. Several of our choices were not available, but the more expensive ones were, of course. Since the Explorer is going into dry dock in March one waiter thought they were not restocking any wine.

 

Bummer and Grrrr. :(

 

We like our wine with dinner and maybe on the balcony in the evening. We might have one or two mixed drinks per cruise. We don't drink soda. Any other drink package for us doesn't make sense.

 

Looking to book our next cruise with NCL.

[scottrn7]

Cool, so they let you bring your wine to the table and didn't charge corkage? I hope they will let us do it when we cruise in 21 days! We had drank all ours in the room on the balcony. In the past when we first started cruising we could check wine at the terminal, and they would hold it for you by your room number and open it at your table for a corkage fee of 8 dollars a bottle, then it went up to 12 dollars. Then they stopped allowing us to bring it on board at all.

 

So, things are looking up a bit from your experience but gonna miss the wine package. We got carried away on a 10 night Canadian cruise with 10 people, we went through three cases of wine during the cruise. :)

 

We were told when we got on board that the wine and dine drink package was gone from all ships. We were so disappointed. We were told something about RC not being able to get the wines listed on the old package. We were able to bring our two bottles to the table and have the wine at dinner with no corkage fee. Other nights we chose from the wine list. Several of our choices were not available, but the more expensive ones were, of course. Since the Explorer is going into dry dock in March one waiter thought they were not restocking any wine.

 

Bummer and Grrrr. :(

 

We like our wine with dinner and maybe on the balcony in the evening. We might have one or two mixed drinks per cruise. We don't drink soda. Any other drink package for us doesn't make sense.

 

Looking to book our next cruise with NCL.

[plowboy920]

Cool, so they let you bring your wine to the table and didn't charge corkage? I hope they will let us do it when we cruise in 21 days! We had drank all ours in the room on the balcony. In the past when we first started cruising we could check wine at the terminal, and they would hold it for you by your room number and open it at your table for a corkage fee of 8 dollars a bottle, then it went up to 12 dollars. Then they stopped allowing us to bring it on board at all.

 

So, things are looking up a bit from your experience but gonna miss the wine package. We got carried away on a 10 night Canadian cruise with 10 people, we went through three cases of wine during the cruise. :)

 

Just to clarify, you can only bring 2 bottles on, on day 1, not in the ports of call. There is no corkage fee and you can take a bottle with you to diner or back to your room if you only drank half of it. I personally don't leave the bottle in the dining room until the next night, completely trust RCL staff but you never know how it was handled. Just my opinion.

[Folk Singer]

Happy to hear about no corkage fee.

[EnjoyingLife!]

Looks like the "Wine & Dine Package" is available on select sailings. Anyone think it's only available on TA's or non US sailings? I didn't have time to check where each ship was sailing on a given week. :D:confused:

 

 

Not available on either according to their rep a few minutes ago. Told to buy package that is $42. a day x 2 instead. It was quite clear I was not the first to protest this! Quite disgusted. Why fix something that is clearly not broken. Will be spending significantly less on board for wine and enjoying ports more. Diamond Plus but ready to take loyalty elsewhere after this final straw. Tired of watching people spoiling their and our vacation trying to get their $ out of over priced packages. Not a healthy or ethical practice in my opinion.

Edited February 17, 2015 by EnjoyingLife!

[Royal Caribbean International]

We always prebook a Wine & Dine Package online before our cruise. Our next cruise is on the Oasis in early Jan. After final payment, when I tried to book it I would get "can't add to reservation at this time, call customer support" so I called and was told be patient there are changes happening. So my question is, now the Wine & Dine package does not show up under beverage packages when I'm logged in or in the What to Know Before You Go section like it has been in the past. Did RCL do away with it? :confused:

 

Thanks for the question! Unfortunately, we no longer offer the Wine & Dine program. However, guests can bring two bottles from home per stateroom with no corking fee.