Latitudes Rewards: free sparkling wine

[FLAHAM]

13 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

oh for heavens sake!! Do you have any idea how many latitude members sail on a single cruise? If they were to offer even 1/2 decent wine it would cost a few pennies.. 

Solution:  don't offer any wine at all.

[newmexicoNita]

3 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

Solution:  don't offer any wine at all.

They used to only offer it to gold and above and you could exchange it for reg wine at any bar. I think the reason they switched was to follow more in the path of lines like Celebrity. They offer a glass of bubbly to everyone upon boarding the ship, or they used to. The idea was welcome and enjoy. With NCL the idea is probably bring it to sail away and start your cruise with a champagne toast. I have to admit I miss being able to trade the bottle in, but free is still free. As latitude members we get other perks as well. Like all lines, it is fun to be rewarded for your loyalty. Princess has special benefits as does Celebrity and I am sure others. We are only frequent travelers on Princess and Celebrity and of course NCL. Because of our age and mobility problems we have, in the past few years started only cruising. We had to decide what worked best for us. We love Celebrity and HAL as well. 

[FLAHAM]

4 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

They used to only offer it to gold and above and you could exchange it for reg wine at any bar. I think the reason they switched was to follow more in the path of lines like Celebrity. They offer a glass of bubbly to everyone upon boarding the ship, or they used to. The idea was welcome and enjoy. With NCL the idea is probably bring it to sail away and start your cruise with a champagne toast. I have to admit I miss being able to trade the bottle in, but free is still free. As latitude members we get other perks as well. Like all lines, it is fun to be rewarded for your loyalty. Princess has special benefits as does Celebrity and I am sure others. We are only frequent travelers on Princess and Celebrity and of course NCL. Because of our age and mobility problems we have, in the past few years started only cruising. We had to decide what worked best for us. We love Celebrity and HAL as well. 

I enjoy the other Platinum perks.  No complaints there.  I have always enjoyed my NCL cruises.  It's just the lousy bottle of wine....

[Jldevlin]

It gives me a headache if I have more than one glass ...and since it is not the best thing on the ship I give it a pass ...

[cheersforbeers]

58 minutes ago, steveweese said:

We always give it to someone on the ship.

We don’t drink any Brand of sparkling wine and we usually ask or cabin attendant first if they drink and if they do we give it to them, since they pay for their alcohol also.  Everyone we have done this with has been appreciative IMHO

[dcipjr]

I love how people are complaining about their complimentary sparkling wine. Yeah, it isn’t very good, but come on, it’s a little bubbly for sailaway courtesy of the cruise line, and it’s better than what they used to give you—NOTHING.

 

Pop the cork and enjoy, you’re on vacation.

Edited January 4, 2019 by dcipjr

[cheersforbeers]

2 minutes ago, dcipjr said:

I love how people are complaining about their complimentary sparkling wine. Yeah, it isn’t very good, but come on, it’s a little bubbly for sailaway courtesy of the cruise line, and it’s better than what they used to give you—NOTHING.

 

Pop the cork and enjoy, you’re on vacation.

It’s just like any of the other “offers” for renewing or extending a membership, it’s not the most expensive things on the shelf they offer but it is something, IMHO

[dcipjr]

1 minute ago, cheersforbeers said:

It’s just like any of the other “offers” for renewing or extending a membership, it’s not the most expensive things on the shelf they offer but it is something, IMHO

 

Absolutely. NCL just wants you to come back, and it’s nice they give you a little something—the Platinum perks are pretty good!—but they’re in the cruise business to make money. You’re not getting bottles of Dom Perignon, sorry fellas.

[ColinIllinois]

9 minutes ago, dcipjr said:

I love how people are complaining about their complimentary sparkling wine. Yeah, it isn’t very good, but come on, it’s a little bubbly for sailaway courtesy of the cruise line, and it’s better than what they used to give you—NOTHING.

 

Pop the cork and enjoy, you’re on vacation.

 

LOL...even you admit it isn't good but tell people to enjoy it.   That doesn't make sense.  If it's bad people aren't enjoying it.  Forget the Dollar Store wine, get your own beverage, and then enjoy vacation.  😉

[dcipjr]

4 minutes ago, ColinIllinois said:

 

LOL...even you admit it isn't good but tell people to enjoy it.   That doesn't make sense.  If it's bad people aren't enjoying it.  Forget the Dollar Store wine, get your own beverage, and then enjoy vacation.  😉

 

I didn’t say it’s bad, I said “it isn’t very good”. But it’s vacation, not everything needs to be perfect. Some cheap / included booze when you’re already excited to be on vacation can get things started on a good note...at least, it has with me!

 

I’d gladly walk onboard right now and pop open a bottle of cheap bubbly, beats working! 😄

Edited January 4, 2019 by dcipjr

[david_sobe]

Lets split the difference.  Its fine as a latitudes perk.  But maybe they can afford something better for the suites?  As others mentioned, I would prefer spring water and it would be cheaper for NCL.  NCL seems to hoard spring water LOL.  You can order a $15 alcoholic drink but your drink package wont give you a $1.50 bottle of water.  Go figure!

 

While the sparking wine is not great, its not as bad as the house Merlot they sometimes give away. I can drink cheap wine (including the poor sparking wine) but not that stuff.  It burns my throat like gasoline 

Edited January 4, 2019 by david_sobe

[KeithJenner]

2 hours ago, PATRLR said:

Sure.  

 

Of course those passengers who are most loyal to NCL, those who chose to spend their $$ time and again with NCL, ought to be worth a few pennies to NCL, don't ya think?

 

To qualify for this wine you need to have cruised with NCL once before. This isn’t a benefit exclusively for those people who sail with NCL “time and again”.

 

The people who sail more often and who are at higher latitudes levels get some perks that are worth more than this bottle of wine. The one you get with one of the platinum meal for example can be quite good.

[Budget Queen]

There are no substitutes.   If you don't want it,  just leave it.   I always do.    My opinion,  is,  it's pretty  worthless and frankly,  costs a lot to NCL,   since there are thousands of latitudes members.   Doesn't matter if it's a nickel a bottle.  Time, storage and delivery also come  into  play.    Every one of those- "costs".    I'd rather see a small booking discount or obc  for the higher levels.    :)      Some people have a skewed view of loyalty.  There is none  with me,   My choice is based on price and itinerary.    Whom ever matches this best wins with me.  :)  

[c r u i s e]

A few times on NCL we have actually managed to swap it out for:

St. Regis Alcohol-Removed (something!?!?!).

I believe that is what it was called, I am sure someone will correct me if my memory failed me.

 

Thank you.

Edited January 5, 2019 by c r u i s e

[p&lcruisers]

3 hours ago, dcipjr said:

I love how people are complaining about their complimentary sparkling wine. Yeah, it isn’t very good, but come on, it’s a little bubbly for sailaway courtesy of the cruise line, and it’s better than what they used to give you—NOTHING.

 

Pop the cork and enjoy, you’re on vacation.

I agree

[riddle]

Heard you can exchange it in bars for a bottle of red or white wine.   Haven't done it as we take it home and a friend actually likes it.  

[peg013]

On our Gem cruise in Nov/Dec of 2018 a bunch of us playing LCR  on sea days got a couple pitchers of orange juice and I got a large glass of apple juice since orange isn't my favorite and we all brought our bottle of sparkling wine to the last LCR gathering.  It really actually was half decent mixed with the apple juice and we all enjoyed our sparkling wine together. We should have thought of it earlier so we didn't all have to worry about bringing drinks to LCR with us. 

 

[peg013]

1 minute ago, riddle said:

Heard you can exchange it in bars for a bottle of red or white wine.   Haven't done it as we take it home and a friend actually likes it.  

 

We couldn't even swap it out in a suite on the Gem. You used to be able to do it but they have really cracked down on it now that all latitude members receive it. 

[BirdTravels]

4 hours ago, cheersforbeers said:

We don’t drink any Brand of sparkling wine and we usually ask or cabin attendant first if they drink and if they do we give it to them, since they pay for their alcohol also.  Everyone we have done this with has been appreciative IMHO

Stewards can not keep the bottles. They just return it to storage for the next guest. 

[BirdTravels]

5 hours ago, PATRLR said:

Sure.  Of course those passengers who are most loyal to NCL, those who chose to spend their $$ time and again with NCL, ought to be worth a few pennies to NCL, don't ya think?

Use to be 9-piece and 4-piece boxes of Godiva chocolates. We liked those better. 

[pizza123]

28 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Stewards can not keep the bottles. They just return it to storage for the next guest. 

On our last behind the scenes tour (free perk). We were told (on the Star) employees are only allowed 1 drink a day and are subject to random alcohol testing.

[100th Meridian]

Has anyone by chance recently requested to substitute it with bottle of water? Would appreciate a liter of water vs. the sparkling wine.

[keep on cruisin]

We have been able to swap when in the Haven.  Hoping we will be again when in an oceanview in April.  Either way it doesn't hurt to ask room attendant. 

[Budget Queen]

5 hours ago, riddle said:

Heard you can exchange it in bars for a bottle of red or white wine.   Haven't done it as we take it home and a friend actually likes it.  

Heard?      

[Budget Queen]

3 hours ago, keep on cruisin said:

We have been able to swap when in the Haven.  Hoping we will be again when in an oceanview in April.  Either way it doesn't hurt to ask room attendant. 

When's the last time,  you did this?