DINNER WINE PACKAGE

[suzyed]

We frequently purchase the Dinner Wine Package, but the last few times we did so they were out of many of the red wines that we like.  At one point supposedly they were phasing out the old wines and putting a new wine selection in place.  Six months later we were still getting the same excuse.
Anyway....what is the current situation with the wine list and the Dinner Wine Package?  Are most of the wines available now?

[Guest arowe6]

I suppose it depends a lot on the ship and where you are traveling.

 

In December of 2018 we were on the Regal and Vines was out of most wines. We were told they were phasing out the wine list for the new wine list. Then, in April of 2019 we were on the Regal again and were told they were phasing out the wine list AGAIN in preparation for a new list once it did the Atlantic crossing. Both explanations seem plausible, whether or not they were true.

 

I ended up enjoying Meiomi most nights until the end when they ran out of that too. My partner got some cheap cab since the cab he wanted was never available.

 

Suffice to say Vines was a disappointment both times. I truly don't understand the point of having a wine bar when at least 50% of the wines weren't available. We are on the Regal again in December and hoping things have gotten better.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Andrew 🙂  

 

 

[Colo Cruiser]

1 minute ago, arowe6 said:

I suppose it depends a lot on the ship and where you are traveling.

 

In December of 2018 we were on the Regal and Vines was out of most wines. We were told they were phasing out the wine list for the new wine list. Then, in April of 2019 we were on the Regal again and were told they were phasing out the wine list AGAIN in preparation for a new list once it did the Atlantic crossing. Both explanations seem plausible, whether or not they were true.

 

I ended up enjoying Meiomi most nights until the end when they ran out of that too. My partner got some cheap cab since the cab he wanted was never available.

 

Suffice to say Vines was a disappointment both times. I truly don't understand the point of having a wine bar when at least 50% of the wines weren't available. We are on the Regal again in December and hoping things have gotten better.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Andrew 🙂  

 

 

Hey Andrew!

There have been some recent posts indicating that the wine blunders/shortages continue.  

This to me is totally unacceptable!   🙁

[Guest arowe6]

Just now, Colo Cruiser said:

Hey Andrew!

There have been some recent posts indicating that the wine blunders/shortages continue.  

This to me is totally unacceptable!   🙁

Hi friend!!! 🙂

 

In the defense of Princess, they are probably too busy getting rid of water bottles, straws and balloons instead of focusing on wine inventory levels...................... 

[louden]

9 hours ago, suzyed said:

We frequently purchase the Dinner Wine Package, but the last few times we did so they were out of many of the red wines that we like.  At one point supposedly they were phasing out the old wines and putting a new wine selection in place.  Six months later we were still getting the same excuse.
Anyway....what is the current situation with the wine list and the Dinner Wine Package?  Are most of the wines available now?

Good question.  Thank you everyone for any updates.

 

Louden

[XBGuy]

In my last three Princess cruises (2 X Ruby Princess and 1 X Royal Princess) over the last 10 months I have had pretty good luck getting the wines that I ordered in all the various Princess venues--specifically, in Vines and in the various specialty restaurants.

 

Now, there was one incident that I am about to relate that is something of an exception to the above statement.

 

Most recently we were on the Royal Princess departing September 17 from Los Angeles on 12-day roundtrip Alaska cruise.  Many Cruise Critic readers are aware that a collection of circumstances delayed the arrival of the ship from a 3-day cruise from Vancouver BC.  Instead of docking in San Pedro at 6:30 am, she docked at 2:30 pm--eight hours late.  Well everybody knows that it is a thrash to turn around a ship, and losing eight hours is pretty significant.  Our scheduled departure was 4:00 pm, but. as I recall, we did not, actually, leave until well after 9:00 pm.

 

On the the second evening of the cruise we had a reservation to dine in Sabatini's.  My wife is, almost exclusively, a white wine drinker.  We'd brought one of her favorite Sonoma Chardonnays to enjoy, that evening.  My plan was to pick a red wine off the Sabatini's wine list.  The headwaiter opened my wife's Chardonnay and had her taste it.  I ordered a Tignanello off the wine list.  He gave me a funny look, and I was pretty sure I know what that meant, but off he went.  Sure enough, he came back empty-handed, but I think his story was a hoot.  Keep in mind that the turnaround in Los Angeles was frantic.  That caused the glitch.  They had, in fact, taken delivery of a resupply of Tignanello, but they had not had the time or resources to find what pallet it was on and move it to the Sabatini's storage.

 

I thought that was hilarious and had a good laugh.  At that point I asked the headwaiter for guidance on a similar wine on their list that I should order.  He suggested the Le Serre Nuove dell'Ornellaia,    It was very good.  For those who are familiar with Ornellaia, this "second wine" is about half the price of the premier bottling.

 

Over the course of the evening, we became pretty good friends with the headwaiter, Franco.  He is, originally, from Sardinia, is quite animated and is very proud of Sardinian wines.  Since I'd been focusing on Super Tuscan wines on their menu, he asked if we would be interested in attending a Super Tuscan wine dinner towards the end of the cruise.  Absolutely.  I mention this because they, obviously, found the pallet with the Tigs, because it was one of the wines offered at that dinner.

[suzyed]

11 hours ago, arowe6 said:

I suppose it depends a lot on the ship and where you are traveling.

 

In December of 2018 we were on the Regal and Vines was out of most wines. We were told they were phasing out the wine list for the new wine list. Then, in April of 2019 we were on the Regal again and were told they were phasing out the wine list AGAIN in preparation for a new list once it did the Atlantic crossing. Both explanations seem plausible, whether or not they were true.

 

I ended up enjoying Meiomi most nights until the end when they ran out of that too. My partner got some cheap cab since the cab he wanted was never available.

 

Suffice to say Vines was a disappointment both times. I truly don't understand the point of having a wine bar when at least 50% of the wines weren't available. We are on the Regal again in December and hoping things have gotten better.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Andrew 🙂  

 

 

Agree...although we had better luck at Vines than in the MDR.  They seemed to be out of everything we liked.
Our cruise in two weeks so we will see how it goes. 
Thanks Andrew.

[suzyed]

11 hours ago, arowe6 said:

Hi friend!!! 🙂

 

In the defense of Princess, they are probably too busy getting rid of water bottles, straws and balloons instead of focusing on wine inventory levels...................... 

LOL!
You would think they would be excited to get the wine list straightened out!  It's a money maker for them but they don't seem to understand that.

[suzyed]

7 hours ago, XBGuy said:

In my last three Princess cruises (2 X Ruby Princess and 1 X Royal Princess) over the last 10 months I have had pretty good luck getting the wines that I ordered in all the various Princess venues--specifically, in Vines and in the various specialty restaurants.

 

Now, there was one incident that I am about to relate that is something of an exception to the above statement.

 

Most recently we were on the Royal Princess departing September 17 from Los Angeles on 12-day roundtrip Alaska cruise.  Many Cruise Critic readers are aware that a collection of circumstances delayed the arrival of the ship from a 3-day cruise from Vancouver BC.  Instead of docking in San Pedro at 6:30 am, she docked at 2:30 pm--eight hours late.  Well everybody knows that it is a thrash to turn around a ship, and losing eight hours is pretty significant.  Our scheduled departure was 4:00 pm, but. as I recall, we did not, actually, leave until well after 9:00 pm.

 

On the the second evening of the cruise we had a reservation to dine in Sabatini's.  My wife is, almost exclusively, a white wine drinker.  We'd brought one of her favorite Sonoma Chardonnays to enjoy, that evening.  My plan was to pick a red wine off the Sabatini's wine list.  The headwaiter opened my wife's Chardonnay and had her taste it.  I ordered a Tignanello off the wine list.  He gave me a funny look, and I was pretty sure I know what that meant, but off he went.  Sure enough, he came back empty-handed, but I think his story was a hoot.  Keep in mind that the turnaround in Los Angeles was frantic.  That caused the glitch.  They had, in fact, taken delivery of a resupply of Tignanello, but they had not had the time or resources to find what pallet it was on and move it to the Sabatini's storage.

 

I thought that was hilarious and had a good laugh.  At that point I asked the headwaiter for guidance on a similar wine on their list that I should order.  He suggested the Le Serre Nuove dell'Ornellaia,    It was very good.  For those who are familiar with Ornellaia, this "second wine" is about half the price of the premier bottling.

 

Over the course of the evening, we became pretty good friends with the headwaiter, Franco.  He is, originally, from Sardinia, is quite animated and is very proud of Sardinian wines.  Since I'd been focusing on Super Tuscan wines on their menu, he asked if we would be interested in attending a Super Tuscan wine dinner towards the end of the cruise.  Absolutely.  I mention this because they, obviously, found the pallet with the Tigs, because it was one of the wines offered at that dinner.

Cool!  We love Super Tuscans....hope they have a wine tasting on one of our next two cruises.

 

[XBGuy]

I hope this is not too far off track, but while we have had success in our most recent cruises, two years ago, on the Grand Princess, on the first two nights of the cruise Sabatini's and Crown Grill were out of five different wines that we tried to order.  The funny thing is that on night 2 in Crown Grill we were able to get a wine that they could not provide the previous day in Sabatini's.  The server did mention that he had to go to one of the dining rooms to get it, and that it was the last bottle on the ship.

[AZJerry]

Have never heard of the "dinner wine package". What is it?

[suzyed]

10 hours ago, AZJerry said:

Have never heard of the "dinner wine package". What is it?

They have several sized packages...7, 12, 15 bottles...something like that.  You save on the per bottle price by choosing wines up to a certain price....$45-$49/bottle.

[Fairfield Nana]

Fortunately for us, we live in the Napa wine region and love wines. Also, never met a wine I didn't like (even some of the "2 Buck Chucks" from Trader Joes). Whenever we travel or go on a cruise, we learned it is often better to play dumb and rely on the advice of the wine steward or your waiter--subject to their initial levels of service and wine knowledge--- and try out some wines you may not have tried before. Don't hesitate jot ask for a "taste" or sample as they will usually be happy to accommodate you. found a few wonderful wines this way, as well as a few not to try again in favor of a more satisfying selection.

A cool side result of this is as an easier poster mentioned--you make a nice new friend of the waiter/wine steward/waitress, and maybe get some neat bennies like invites to specialty meals!

[suzyed]

1 hour ago, Fairfield Nana said:

Fortunately for us, we live in the Napa wine region and love wines. Also, never met a wine I didn't like (even some of the "2 Buck Chucks" from Trader Joes). Whenever we travel or go on a cruise, we learned it is often better to play dumb and rely on the advice of the wine steward or your waiter--subject to their initial levels of service and wine knowledge--- and try out some wines you may not have tried before. Don't hesitate jot ask for a "taste" or sample as they will usually be happy to accommodate you. found a few wonderful wines this way, as well as a few not to try again in favor of a more satisfying selection.

A cool side result of this is as an easier poster mentioned--you make a nice new friend of the waiter/wine steward/waitress, and maybe get some neat bennies like invites to specialty meals!

We are very happy to try new wines but sometimes we just want to go with the tried and true.   I don't think we have ever turned down a chance to try a wine tasting...always looking for something new!

[Astro Flyer]

On 10/3/2019 at 7:32 AM, AZJerry said:

Have never heard of the "dinner wine package". What is it?

 

Here are the details for the Gold wine package options (Add 18% tip to these prices) which are available any time at any dining venue.  They’ll store any remaining wine to have it another time even at a different dining location.  In the past it’s available on 10 day or longer cruises however in April we purchased it on a 7 day cruise.  I don’t know if that’s a fleetwide change or only on the Royal Princess.  The availability can also be determined based on having sufficient wine inventory.

 

Gold Package (wines up to $45 per bottle list price)

7 bottles -- $217 (average of $31 per bottle)

10 bottles -- $290 (average of $29 per bottle)

12 bottles -- $336 (average of $28 per bottle)

 

You get a punch card which can be used at any of the dining locations. 

 

You may choose any wine on on the regular wine menu. If you want to buy a wine that costs more than what the package covers so if buy a wine that costs $46 you’ll only pay an additional $1.

 

Their updated wine list which we like better than previously:

 

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/ships-and-experience/food-and-dining/beverages/Wine-Menu.pdf

 

 

Edited October 4, 2019 by Astro Flyer