FYI about Wine by the Glass on Riviera

[pinotlover]

James;

 

Cruise Lines have special licensing that allows them to buy direct from the wineries. Costco does not. Most all States have very restrictive three tier alcohol distribution systems and companies are not allowed to hold both wholesale and retail licenses. Costco sells to the public ( its members) therefore is a retailer and would have to buy its wine from an authorized State wholesaler, not from the winery direct.

 

Cruise Lines are able to procure their wines, on large bulk orders, at prices that would amaze most readers! Those wines people see in retail outlets at ~$15/ bottle cost the cruise Lines about $3, which means about $0.60 per glass poured. It costs them about the same amount to move the wines around the world to their distribution points. To minimize those costs is the reason you see a lot of European wines on the list on European cruises, and more American wines on their US based tours.

[GillB17]

Not quite wine related but does anyone know if Riviera offers any beer/ale or n draft or just in bottles? Many thanks

Gill :)

[LHT28]

BTW, complementary mock tails are no longer shown on any menus. They are available.

they are on the menu for the GRAND BAR

 

i will check some of the other bars tonight

[Cruseforme]

Not quite wine related but does anyone know if Riviera offers any beer/ale or n draft or just in bottles? Many thanks

Gill :)

No drafts onboard any O ship.

[pinotlover]

Only seen draft beer one time , for part of one day, on an O ship. We were in Rostock and came back from a tour a bit early. They were selling a special local German beer , on draft, at the pool bar only. One had to pay for the beer, even if on the Premium Package. I had one beer and it was great.

 

At all aboard time, they shut it all down and took the remaining beer and tap equipment off the ship before sailing time. Never seen that done before or since that July day in 2013.

[Mura]

I've never seen draft beer on board either. And it seems to me (as unknowledgeable as I am) that it would be very difficult for a ship sailing as far as they do to have draft beer on board.

 

I always assumed it would be impossible. Am I wrong? I mean, when we took our first Renaissance cruise the itinerary was Lisbon to Barcelona. In those days they reversed the route -- from Barcelona they returned to Lisbon. So in that case I would think they COULD have had draft beer available. But a few months later they started doing itineraries that would do the Med and then go north ... and then elsewhere.

 

I'd love to see draft beer on the O ships but I'm not counting on that happening.

 

Mura

[travelingTW]

I've never seen draft beer on board either. And it seems to me (as unknowledgeable as I am) that it would be very difficult for a ship sailing as far as they do to have draft beer on board.

 

I always assumed it would be impossible. Am I wrong? I mean, when we took our first Renaissance cruise the itinerary was Lisbon to Barcelona. In those days they reversed the route -- from Barcelona they returned to Lisbon. So in that case I would think they COULD have had draft beer available. But a few months later they started doing itineraries that would do the Med and then go north ... and then elsewhere.

 

I'd love to see draft beer on the O ships but I'm not counting on that happening.

 

Mura

 

I believe it's a choice, Celebrity has draft beer on all their ships.

 

Another thing that's changed on the Marina is on the Sparkling Wine menu there is no longer a choice of Schramsberg as a by the glass choice. There is a Mountadon, A Prosecco(forget the brand, some Italian) and a House Sparkling wine.

[janecambridge]

Carnival Vista has its own brewery onboard.

3 draft beers.

[BDL9999]

We have seen more than one person on a package order a glass of wine and leave most of it because they were going to dinner or moving out to round the pool from the Terrace etc, had they "paid" in hard cash they would have tackled the arduous task of walking a few hundred yards with their glass in hand.

 

Are you saying that you cannot take your drink with you from place to place on the ship? That seems odd.

[pinotlover]

What he’s saying is that some cruisers, on the Premium Package, choose not to carry a drink from location to location, while those that are paying by the drink do.

 

Personally, I carried what remains of my before dinner glass of bubbly from Horizons ( top front of ship), To the GDR ( lower aft) on many occasions. That’s just to heavy lifting for some people ;p!

[njhorseman]

Are you saying that you cannot take your drink with you from place to place on the ship? That seems odd.

 

That's not at all what the poster is saying. They're saying they saw people who have a beverage package being too lazy to carry their glass to the next place they were going knowing that they could just get a fresh drink at their next stop. Those who are paying by the drink wouldn't do that because leaving their current drink behind and getting another drink at their next stop would cost them more money.

[JimandStan]

Are you saying that you cannot take your drink with you from place to place on the ship? That seems odd.

 

He's not saying that you may not take drinks from place to place but rather that people sometimes don't bother transporting them when they are on an all inclusive package and the next cocktail will be free.

[azam71209]

On our Italy cruise, I wanted a chianti that was on the wine by the glass list and they were out of it!

 

Can't be a problem of the location of the ship. Most days we brought on wines that we found in port but the last night we didn't want to start a new bottle. We were in Venice for an overnight so they had all day to replenish their stocks if they had wanted to.

 

Mary

[JimandStan]

We were in Venice for an overnight so they had all day to replenish their stocks if they had wanted to.

 

 

Venice is the last place that anyone would take on supplies, everything has to be imported and it costs a fortune.

[Aulanis]

It is the same for both packages - the only difference is you can get wines on the list at any time - rather than only lunch and dinner. Plus other mixed drinks on the Prestige package.

Can I ask how they define lunch and dinner times

and can you get a glass of wine or beer and take it away when you leave.

[pinotlover]

Aulanis;

 

Oceania attempts to treat everyone like adults. While one is reasonably eating their meal, the wait staff will deliver beer or wine on the Package. However, parking on the patio deck at Terrace for hours, with a piece of dessert in front of you will not be deemed as eating either meal. Same as sitting at Waves and doing the same. The waiters are trained and at a certain point the drinks will go on a separate tab. Dinner in the GDR are typically 2 hour events. I’d say if you’re still there past the 2.5 Hour time frame, you might expect to get a separate bill for those latter drinks.

[Aulanis]

Thanks pinotlover

 

I understand that, not cruised O and on current offer we can have the mealtime drinks or OBC --

Just trying to get my head round mealtime only drinks Cruises so far we have had included full drinks packages or not bothered with drinks.

There is no way we would sit around drinking after a meal but did wonder if I could take an unfinished beer from there to another area.

I also recently read on CC that Mocktails used to be included in the cruise price along with coffee soft drinks and water but that they were no longer on the bar menu. As an experienced O cruiser can you advise on that?

[pinotlover]

One can take a purchased drink , including packages, from any venue to another. No problem taking your unfinished beer or wine with you.

 

Even though not on the bar menu, the bartenders will make you a Mocktail upon request. Not sure if they are free gratis now or not.

[JimandStan]

One can take a purchased drink , including packages, from any venue to another. No problem taking your unfinished beer or wine with you.

 

Occasionally, why not? But that would not be permitted on a regular basis.

Also note that unfinished is not the same as unopened (re beer).

.

[Cruseforme]

Thanks pinotlover

 

I understand that, not cruised O and on current offer we can have the mealtime drinks or OBC --

Just trying to get my head round mealtime only drinks Cruises so far we have had included full drinks packages or not bothered with drinks.

There is no way we would sit around drinking after a meal but did wonder if I could take an unfinished beer from there to another area.

I also recently read on CC that Mocktails used to be included in the cruise price along with coffee soft drinks and water but that they were no longer on the bar menu. As an experienced O cruiser can you advise on that?

As a non drinker, as of this fall, they were making non alcoholic drinks at all bars for me as complimentary. I usually ordered a virgin pina colada, but others were available (just can’t remember what ones the bartender told me he could do anymore). There were several others.

[ORV]

Only seen draft beer one time , for part of one day, on an O ship. We were in Rostock and came back from a tour a bit early. They were selling a special local German beer , on draft, at the pool bar only. One had to pay for the beer, even if on the Premium Package. I had one beer and it was great.

 

At all aboard time, they shut it all down and took the remaining beer and tap equipment off the ship before sailing time. Never seen that done before or since that July day in 2013.

 

I believe it's a choice, Celebrity has draft beer on all their ships.

 

Another thing that's changed on the Marina is on the Sparkling Wine menu there is no longer a choice of Schramsberg as a by the glass choice. There is a Mountadon, A Prosecco(forget the brand, some Italian) and a House Sparkling wine.

 

That was me above in the second quote using my wife's computer. I'm currently on Marina. There is definitely draft beer at Waves bar, I just checked yesterday. They have Newcastle and Heineken. It is not available with the lunch or dinner package, even if you are eating at Waves grill. It is of course available with the prestige package.

 

Re mocktails. I saw a small child with a chocolate martini yesterday, non alcoholic I assume.

[garycd]

I suspect Oceania is severely lacking in the analytics area. Is that task now taking on by NCL? At any rate, analysis should be able to identify relevant variables for predictive analytics to successfully project how to address wine inventories.

[robbie21]

I suspect Oceania is severely lacking in the analytics area. Is that task now taking on by NCL? At any rate, analysis should be able to identify relevant variables for predictive analytics to successfully project how to address wine inventories.

 

The operative word is "should". Obviously they either do not retain the data or they are not using it at all. This is not a new problem for Oceania. Meanwhile, simply be aware that wine availability is unreliable on Oceania.

[jamesnmphs]

It wasn't so much the choices as the fact that I was looking forward to drinking wines I had on previous cruises and except for Montaudon, all my favorites were gone. I went through all the reds on the list before I found St Jean Cabernet Sauvignon which I did enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

Still a great cruise and amazing weather. I hear the weather has turned nasty for the Dec 2nd cruise.

 

 

 

So far what I am taking away from this thread is that the original poster did not receive her favorite wines. How can Oceania be faulted for not having one persons favorite wines when there were 1200 passengers onboard? I purchased the premium beverage package and not once was I told that no wine was available. I prefer to drink different wines both at home and when I travel, so that I don't develop a "house palate" and expand my tastes in wines.

 

I really thought this site was to exchange information and make connections, not to nit pick at every little thing that is perceived as "not to my standard".

 

I may have to rethink the usefulness of this site.

 

JMO

 

James

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Mura]

I disagree that you need to re-evaluate the use of this site. But we all need to determine how much weight to put on posts that we read. It's as easy to ignore posts as it is to take them seriously. I tend to ignore the nitpickers myself. (I will admit that those people may not consider themselves to be nitpicking!)

 

As to the wine issue, this shortage of wines has not been encountered by us on any of our many cruises on O. I'm not saying that it couldn't happen, just that we haven't experienced it. And we've been on a few cruises where restocking of wines could be tricky.

 

Mura