Buying champagne and saving for later

[zitsky]

I know Viking lets you bring wine onboard and have it when you want.  Are they good about sealing champagne bottles in case you want to finish it a few days later?  I'm thinking of either something you bring on board or buy from the wine list.

[eylarson]

Buy your own stopper.  Cilio 18/10 Stainless Steel Champagne Sealer or other brand.  Cheap, small, and good for memories at home.  

[Peregrina651]

Someone gifted us a bottle of champagne on board. We invited friends from our roll call to share the bottle and dinner with us. It was a lovely evening -- and no leftovers.

[SrCruizer]

I love sparkling wine but my husband only drinks it on occasion. I always travel with a champagne bottle stopper. There are a number of brands out there. It works great & my wine is just as bubbly the next day. FYI, I found the mini bar refrigerator cool but not terribly cold. Either ask your stateroom attendant for ice or take your ice bucket to the World Cafe and use the ice machine there. That is what I typically did.

[zitsky]

Thanks for the advice.  Have tried one bottle stopper.  Not happy with the results.  Need to try another one.

 

I can drink a whole bottle of Veuve Clicquot in one sitting but do I want to do that in front of Dr. Zitsky?  He's seen me do it at home.  I have no shame.  He says nothing when I buy it at Costco or the local wine store.

 

I may have to finish in one sitting as I ordered some Taittinger and strawberries for sail away.  Tried to get this swapped with Veuve Clicquot but Viking wouldn't change it.  I could bring a bottle stopper from home and save it for day 2.

[Heidi13]

We also always travel with a bubbly cork, but when travelling with DIL's mum, we learned a new trick. She uses a teaspoon, with the handle placed into the neck of the bottle. Didn't believe it and can't rationalise the science, but sure enough it still had had bubbles the next day.

 

While we have seen it, we still bring a cork.🙂

[zitsky]

7 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

We also always travel with a bubbly cork, but when travelling with DIL's mum, we learned a new trick. She uses a teaspoon, with the handle placed into the neck of the bottle. Didn't believe it and can't rationalise the science, but sure enough it still had had bubbles the next day.

 

While we have seen it, we still bring a cork.🙂

 

Do you take a wine cork or a metal stopper you bought somewhere?  Thanks.

 

At home I vacuum seal with a rubber stopper.  Not perfect but wine still has some effervescence for a day or two.

[Heidi13]

45 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

Do you take a wine cork or a metal stopper you bought somewhere?  Thanks.

 

At home I vacuum seal with a rubber stopper.  Not perfect but wine still has some effervescence for a day or two.

We take both a regular wine bottle cork stopper and for champagne the metal one you push onto the top of the bottle with sides that fold-in. Works well.

 

 

Edited August 2, 2019 by Heidi13

[DavidTheWonderer]

Funny, but I've never experienced left-overs from an open bottle of champagne. 😋

[jagsfan]

2 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

We take both a regular wine bottle cork stopper and for champagne the metal one you push onto the top of the bottle with sides that fold-in. Works well.

 

 

I bought one not expecting much. 

The champagne was still like just opened fiur days later. 

[zitsky]

13 minutes ago, DavidTheWonderer said:

Funny, but I've never experienced left-overs from an open bottle of champagne. 😋

 

Amazon will go out of business because of people like you.  On the other hand, the champagne houses will do well, so that's something.

[Segmentersfloattheboat]

2 hours ago, jagsfan said:

I bought one not expecting much. 

The champagne was still like just opened fiur days later. 

Thats exactly the type they (the sommelier's)  have on board.  It didn't have the 4 day test though, next day it was perfect! 

[broker1217]

Zitsky--check out the champagne offerings on the Explorer's Lounge menu or Restaurant menu. You might get a much better value by perhaps ordering only the strawberries on the gift order form. Maybe order a bottle other than Taittanger NV (not that I don't love Taittinger!) from the Restaurant. Seems like they are sort of nicking you on the Taittinger pricing on the gift form. I think that is perhaps a $30-40 bottle? Maybe I am misinformed.

 

An example---last cruise they had Louis Roederer Cristal (2008 or 2009 if I remember) for $175. With 15% discount with SSBP discount it was less than $150 (includes tip). Our local Costco sells for well north of $200. Our local discount liquor store sells it for $275.

It is expensive but if you are looking for a splurge it is an excellent value.

[zitsky]

I do see that ordering in advance is more expensive than ordering on the ship.  Thanks for the advice.