Price Increase for Silver Spirits Package and Gratuities?

[Clay Clayton]

7 hours ago, seaway.dells_0 said:

Let’s say we are planning on late dinners after 8pm, would we be able to go to the buffet at 5 for a snack and included wine then too?

Yep! We almost always have a pre-appetizer of cold seafood and sushi from the WC while sitting on the Aquavit Terrace. 

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

Yep! We almost always have a pre-appetizer of cold seafood and sushi from the WC while sitting on the Aquavit Terrace. 

Clay - you’d have a hard time doing that on our Iceland cruise!  It was quite windy and cold most evenings! At least little rain.  Hope your trip is good weather!!

[CurlerRob]

Just now, CCWineLover said:

Clay - you’d have a hard time doing that on our Iceland cruise!  It was quite windy and cold most evenings! At least little rain.  Hope your trip is good weather!!

You beat me to the post - but the silver lining is that the seafood will not be at risk of spoiling in the heat (especially in Svalbard). 🍺🥌

[Clay Clayton]

3 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Clay - you’d have a hard time doing that on our Iceland cruise!  It was quite windy and cold most evenings! At least little rain.  Hope your trip is good weather!!

Thanks!  Hope so too, unless I’m mistaken that picture of the Aquavit was from Iceland in July 2021 so maybe we will get lucky again🤞 but if now isn’t that why we are bringing puffy coats, gloves, scarves, and hats?😂

Edited June 23, 2023 by Clay Clayton

[Vineyard View]

16 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Likewise.  The wine quality by the glass has gone downhill from the first years we were on Viking Oceab 2018-19.  Just got off Saturn.  Disappointed in the choices.  Won’t be doing it again.  It’s probably best for hard liquor fans, not wine drinkers

We have always upgraded on Viking for the greater selection of wines. The included were often dicey. Are you saying SSP wines are downhill as well? 

[CurlerRob]

31 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

We have always upgraded on Viking for the greater selection of wines. The included were often dicey. Are you saying SSP wines are downhill as well? 

VV, not sure I understand your comment regarding "greater selection". SSBP is just a different way to pay for your beverages - all wine choices are available to everyone should you choose to pay for them by the glass/bottle. Of course, this has no relevance to the quality of wines onboard! 🍺🥌

[Vineyard View]

During our previous sailings with Viking, the wines available without SSB were limited. Only what were offer nightly, or ‘possibly a few  others’ if you asked. With SSB we had a list of wines we could choose from that were additional to the included wines. At every meal. Those additional options may have been available by the glass, but there was a an expanded number of  wines included on SSB ( I honestly never compared them to purchased by the glass). It provided us with options maybe available without SSB, but  without thinking about the cost per glass associated with them. For us,  We found it worthwhile. And then if we wanted a cocktail or pre or post dinner, we for the most part found it to be also covered under SSB. 
 

Edited June 23, 2023 by Vineyard View

[Azulann]

2 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

We have always upgraded on Viking for the greater selection of wines. The included were often dicey. Are you saying SSP wines are downhill as well? 

I was just off  Viking Jupiter yesterday. I thought the wines were very good. I like white wine. I found a nice Italian white  in Manfredi's and a San Julla , Chardonnay from Argentina that I drank in the Restaurant and bar. I also love that they have added Cava wine to their sparkling wine list. I prefer  Cava to champagne.

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, Vineyard View said:

During our previous sailings with Viking, the wines available without SSB were limited. Only what were offer nightly, or ‘possibly a few  others’ if you asked. With SSB we had a list of wines we could choose from that were additional to the included wines. At every meal. Those additional options may have been available by the glass, but there was a an expanded number of  wines included on SSB ( I honestly never compared them to purchased by the glass). It provided us with options maybe available without SSB, but  without thinking about the cost per glass associated with them. For us,  We found it worthwhile. And then if we wanted a cocktail or pre or post dinner, we for the most part found it to be also covered under SSB. 
 

Yes, it’s just another way to pay. There are no “expanded options” with SSBP.

[CCWineLover]

On the wine menu, there were simply much fewer choices of wines that you could purchase if you didn't have SSP (or included in your SSBP).

I'm not "Wine Expert", but living in Wine Region of California, I have indeed tasted my share of different wines.  I always say, drink what you enjoy, not necessarily what others say you should enjoy.

 

Again - they now break out the wines by region, and there were usually 1 or two in a region (sometimes more), but much less than earlier years.  In addition many wines that used to be on the wine menu as by the glass, have now been moved to purchase by bottle only.

I also thought the included wines (one white, one red, one sparkling) each day were a much lesser quality than before  Searching them on the Wine App I have, you can find them at around 4.99 to 8.99 a bottle.  Doesn't make them bad, but not necessarily my taste.

 

Still again - everyone has a different opinion on wine - just enjoy what you find!

We plan to bring our own bottles on board next cruises.

[uktog]

8 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

Yes, it’s just another way to pay. There are no “expanded options” with SSBP.

But it feels different if SSBP was included as a booking promotion 

[LindaS272]

7 minutes ago, uktog said:

But it feels different if SSBP was included as a booking promotion 

Then there marketing works—such a deal! 😆😋🥂

[stephenandrew]

4 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

 

 

Still again - everyone has a different opinion on wine - just enjoy what you find!

We plan to bring our own bottles on board next cruises.

I’m not much of a drinker, but if one is able to transport their own wine, this sounds like a pretty sensible thing to do.  Select and drink your preferred wines….even if Viking has them available (or others that you might enjoy), bringing your own has to be a more economical way to go.  Sounds like this might even make more sense if folks are noticing a reduction in the quality and/or breadth of Viking’s offerings.

[deec]

But for a 14-21 day cruise that is a lot of wine to get to the ship!  Kent, how are you going to transport it?

[purpleally]

14 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

VV, not sure I understand your comment regarding "greater selection". SSBP is just a different way to pay for your beverages - all wine choices are available to everyone should you choose to pay for them by the glass/bottle. Of course, this has no relevance to the quality of wines onboard! 🍺🥌

Greater selection in reference to the one choice for those not on SS?

[CurlerRob]

5 minutes ago, purpleally said:

Greater selection in reference to the one choice for those not on SS?

 

Unless Viking has made a radical change, SS is just an advance payment mechanism - it does not offer  choices that are denied to others. Pax can request the full beverage list at any time and choose to forego the "included" beverage in favour of anything on the list. The only difference is that without SS, they are charged at the time they order.

 

Put simply, if I don't want the "included" wine at dinner, I'm free to ask for the full wine list, order a glass from it and pay for it. There's nothing on the "SS list" that is not available to me. Cheers! 🍺🥌

[SJD117]

2 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

 

Unless Viking has made a radical change, SS is just an advance payment mechanism - it does not offer  choices that are denied to others. Pax can request the full beverage list at any time and choose to forego the "included" beverage in favour of anything on the list. The only difference is that without SS, they are charged at the time they order.

 

Put simply, if I don't want the "included" wine at dinner, I'm free to ask for the full wine list, order a glass from it and pay for it. There's nothing on the "SS list" that is not available to me. Cheers! 🍺🥌

That’s always been our understanding, too. But as you say, it’s possible that Viking made a change, perhaps in conjunction with and to justify the recent increase in SSP prices.

 

Whatever the case, it doesn’t really matter to us. We’ve never purchased the package and don’t intend to do so. As before, we’ll buy the occasional glass of wine off the menu. That satisfies us.

[purpleally]

22 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

 

Unless Viking has made a radical change, SS is just an advance payment mechanism - it does not offer  choices that are denied to others. Pax can request the full beverage list at any time and choose to forego the "included" beverage in favour of anything on the list. The only difference is that without SS, they are charged at the time they order.

 

Put simply, if I don't want the "included" wine at dinner, I'm free to ask for the full wine list, order a glass from it and pay for it. There's nothing on the "SS list" that is not available to me. Cheers! 🍺🥌

True

[CDNPolar]

1 hour ago, CurlerRob said:

 

Unless Viking has made a radical change, SS is just an advance payment mechanism - it does not offer  choices that are denied to others. Pax can request the full beverage list at any time and choose to forego the "included" beverage in favour of anything on the list. The only difference is that without SS, they are charged at the time they order.

 

Put simply, if I don't want the "included" wine at dinner, I'm free to ask for the full wine list, order a glass from it and pay for it. There's nothing on the "SS list" that is not available to me. Cheers! 🍺🥌

 

True... this has always been the case... but now we will drink the included wines and beers with meals and pay for a wine of choice in the evening rather than buy the SS package.  I think one of the cruises that we just recently booked it worked out to $80 per day for both of us - perhaps more - I know I was shocked at the cost when in the past it was $15 or $18 per day pp.  We would not drink that much to get value from it.

[deec]

57 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

True... this has always been the case... but now we will drink the included wines and beers with meals and pay for a wine of choice in the evening rather than buy the SS package.  I think one of the cruises that we just recently booked it worked out to $80 per day for both of us - perhaps more - I know I was shocked at the cost when in the past it was $15 or $18 per day pp.  We would not drink that much to get value from it.

what was $80/day...what you spent?  the SSP is $25/night

[janetcbl]

We are on a cruise where the SS package was part of the deal. With the amount we don’t drink, I wish we had been given OBCs instead. First world problem……

[Stickman1990]

23 minutes ago, deec said:

what was $80/day...what you spent?  the SSP is $25/night

US$50 (for 2) is currently CDN$66 - I have no idea where they’re from but remember there are other countries and exchange rates to factor in