Wine Question--Equinox

[cvicknola]

We're going on our first Celebrity cruise next week.  I was looking at the "Taste of the Vineyards" premium wine package.  However, I can't find ANY info on what wines are avail with this.  I called Celebrity and got nowhere.  Does anyone have any experience with this package or know what wines are available?  Any guidance would be appreciated! 

[canderson]

With all of the supply issues, there's no telling what will actually in stock by the time you sail, which you don't specify.

 

If I were considering this option now, I'd board, look at what is actually available and book the package aboard if it looks like the selections make sense.  Nice spiff goes to the sommelier selling it to you as well, which will be appreciated.

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2022 by canderson
typoz

[cvicknola]

Thanks--purchasing it on board and the gratuity going to someone makes sense. I had assumed it would be 'a deal' pre-purchasing. 

We sail next week, the 26th.  

[Fuzzy55]

We are also on next week’s sailing of the Equinox and wondering about the available wines. Since we are only a three hour drive to the port, bringing the allowed 4 bottles of wine with us. Celebrity recently changed from two bottles per cabin to two bottles per person allowed to carry on and no corkage fee charged at the restaurants if you have one if the beverage packages. One of the threads has a solo traveler from St. Louis on this week’s sailing of the Equinox. Hoping she will report about the wines.

[cangelmd]

1 hour ago, Fuzzy55 said:

We are also on next week’s sailing of the Equinox and wondering about the available wines. Since we are only a three hour drive to the port, bringing the allowed 4 bottles of wine with us. Celebrity recently changed from two bottles per cabin to two bottles per person allowed to carry on and no corkage fee charged at the restaurants if you have one if the beverage packages. One of the threads has a solo traveler from St. Louis on this week’s sailing of the Equinox. Hoping she will report about the wines.

If I was driving and I really cared about wines, I would bring my 4 bottles onboard. Worst case you will drive back home with them.  Think the supply issues will slowly get better, and frankly may not be as bad on Equinox because it’s in the US and doing 7 day cruises, right?

[kearney]

What is the corkage fee on bottles you bring

[canderson]

30 minutes ago, kearney said:

What is the corkage fee on bottles you bring

Zero if you have AI or bought a beverage package.  Rules changed.

[twoflyers]

2 hours ago, cvicknola said:

We're going on our first Celebrity cruise next week.  I was looking at the "Taste of the Vineyards" premium wine package.  However, I can't find ANY info on what wines are avail with this.  I called Celebrity and got nowhere.  Does anyone have any experience with this package or know what wines are available?  Any guidance would be appreciated! 

We were on the June 4th sailing of the Equinox and had pre-purchased the premium wine package (5 bottles).  We found they had a nice selection of reds and whites and each wine we ordered they had in stock.  Some examples, Wolf Blass Shiraz, Matanzas Creek Merlot, Louis Jadot Pouilly Fuisse and Cakebread Chardonnay.  It appeared as though some of the wines had been onboard since before the pandemic.  For example, the Wolf Blass Shiraz was a 2014.  That said, none of the wines were spoiled or corked.  Also, the sommeliers were great about tagging them if we did not finish and we were able to request they be poured for lunch the next day in the dining room, or even in Sushi on Five. 

Hope this helps.

[kearney]

24 minutes ago, canderson said:

Zero if you have AI or bought a beverage package.  Rules changed.

Good to know... I thought there was a charge in the dining room.... but wasn't sure..in past I brought a cork screw to open in the cabin... any idea when that changed? 

[canderson]

5 minutes ago, kearney said:

Good to know... I thought there was a charge in the dining room.... but wasn't sure..in past I brought a cork screw to open in the cabin... any idea when that changed? 

I expect they finally figured out that, on average, they were saving money on the AI package if people brought their own wine instead of drinking Celebrity's stock!

 

[kearney]

3 minutes ago, canderson said:

I expect they finally figured out that, on average, they were saving money on the AI package if people brought their own wine instead of drinking Celebrity's stock!

 

Now that does make sense...   As a side note... seeing the supply issues..which only appear to get worse..now might not be the best time to spend extra for premium package

[cvicknola]

56 minutes ago, twoflyers said:

We were on the June 4th sailing of the Equinox and had pre-purchased the premium wine package (5 bottles).  We found they had a nice selection of reds and whites and each wine we ordered they had in stock.  Some examples, Wolf Blass Shiraz, Matanzas Creek Merlot, Louis Jadot Pouilly Fuisse and Cakebread Chardonnay.  It appeared as though some of the wines had been onboard since before the pandemic.  For example, the Wolf Blass Shiraz was a 2014.  That said, none of the wines were spoiled or corked.  Also, the sommeliers were great about tagging them if we did not finish and we were able to request they be poured for lunch the next day in the dining room, or even in Sushi on Five. 

Hope this helps.

Thank you very much! Any chance you recall if there was a selection of champagne or sparkling wines? 

[canderson]

1 hour ago, kearney said:

Now that does make sense...   As a side note... seeing the supply issues..which only appear to get worse..now might not be the best time to spend extra for premium package

Hard to say.  There's a thread around here somewhere where someone was suggesting X should refund some of their premium package $ due to lack of any by-the-glass premium wines aboard.

[twoflyers]

55 minutes ago, cvicknola said:

Thank you very much! Any chance you recall if there was a selection of champagne or sparkling wines? 

Sorry, I don't.  Enjoy your cruise!

[drakes2]

17 hours ago, canderson said:

Zero if you have AI or bought a beverage package.  Rules changed.

In all the years I have cruises only had 2 beverages packages and both have been in the last six months. I prefer to bring my own wine from home sometimes to drink on the balcony before dinner then top up to bring to dining room.  No corkage fee has ever been charged. 

[Mark_T]

1 hour ago, drakes2 said:

 I prefer to bring my own wine from home sometimes to drink on the balcony before dinner then top up to bring to dining room.  No corkage fee has ever been charged. 

it would only have been charged if you had brought your bottle to the dining room.

[kearney]

On 6/19/2022 at 10:18 AM, Mark_T said:

it would only have been charged if you had brought your bottle to the dining room.

I thought the corkage fee...at one time was something like $25... in the main dining room... which is why we only brought wine to have in our cabin. Alas our cellar is now bare ... we found we drank faster than we collected 🙂  Nice to hear that this is gone....

[Mark_T]

23 minutes ago, kearney said:

I thought the corkage fee...at one time was something like $25... in the main dining room... which is why we only brought wine to have in our cabin. Alas our cellar is now bare ... we found we drank faster than we collected 🙂  Nice to hear that this is gone....

Gone as long as you have a drinks package, but otherwise still there...