TA Wine Gift

[clogaltocruise]

On our most recent Noordam cruise she sent a bottle of wine, a Pinnacle dinner & a gift card for a photo. All of these were waiting for us in the cabin upon boarding - total surprises & completely unexpected. We had no idea they would be there. Kind of made the gifts even more special. :)

 

Upon our return we sent her a thank you note with a pic of us that John snapped in Tortola, with Noordam & Zuiderdam behind us.

 

We use a real-person TA at a brick & mortar office. We go to visit her to book the trip & stop by the office once in a while with questions, so there is a personal, not just an electronic relationship. Perhaps that makes a difference?

 

Our TA also generously provides wine, Pinnacle dinner and gift card for photo. It is very much appreciated but, more so, is her professionalism and thoroughness.

Kathy

[ekerr19]

In the days of gracious cruising, people always expected to share wine with their tablemates. It would rotate around the table night to night and one person (couple) then the next would order the wine and all would share. It was a nice tradition that was almost de rigueur.

 

We still do this. It's fun! :)

[Gsel]

We have done that, but we usually travel with another couple and they don't drink it either so it is wasted on all of us. We have brought it home, but don't do that anymore due to the travel restrictions. (No, I won't put it in my suitcase!) We will try to trade it in on something else and see what happens.

[Sunshine91]

We don't open champagne because only my sister and I drink and can't finish a bottle. Last cruise Ibrought it home and shared it with friends at holliday. Reading threads I found out a nice trick...take it to dinner and share it with table mates (if you like them). It kills the bottle and makes one feel generous!

 

Even if not sharing your wine with tablemates - or perhaps they have their own - your wine steward will re-cork it for you & will save it for another night. No need to feel like you must finish it all the night the bottle is opened.

[CruiseLiz]

We've had wine put in the room as part of a promotion from the TA. This was with an internet TA who let us know about the wine perk, but be sure to ask if anything else is included in your booking as this is the case with this large internet TA and probably others as well.

 

We booked as a party of 4 w/ 2 cabins and one cabin had the wine and the other didn't. This was some kind of mixup w/ the cabin steward, but make sure that if it's part of your package it ends up in your room. If we hadn't have known we never would have received those bottles.

 

As for bringing it to the dining room, we brought in all of our bottles on the first night and asked if they could keep them for us. They said yes, but there was some confusion finding the bottles on subsequent evenings. I would suggest bringing the bottles in one at a time - a pain I know, but it is also a pain when they can't find your wine ;)

 

We were never charged a corkage for these bottles and the wine steward offered to exchange them for other wine brands, but we aren't particular so we took what we were given.

[BILLP1]

We are getting five bottles of wine from our agent. To be honest I could care less if it comes from their comission .

I don't think that do this as a hobby and I am sure that they are making money on my bookings...

[SDHALFAN]

In the days of gracious cruising, people always expected to share wine with their tablemates. It would rotate around the table night to night and one person (couple) then the next would order the wine and all would share. It was a nice tradition that was almost de rigueur.

 

On my 45-day Fort Lauderdale to Hong Kong cruise (half of this year's GWV) I celebrated my birthday and what would have been our wedding anniversary.

 

I was seated at a table with two couples and another widow. We were a pretty congenial group. My fellow widow did not drink and one of the couples had the 'one glass of wine each a night package'. The other couple, however, being more of the alcohol aficionados (somewhat like myself ;) ) must have bought a package whereby they had a new bottle of wine almost every night and they were very gracious in frequently offering me a glass of their wine. Sometimes I accepted gratefully and other times I declined gracefully. Sooo, my birthday rolls around and my wonderful brother and sister-in-law sent me a bottle of a very nice Champagne. I am not a big Champagne fan but this was a nice (and not inexpensive) one, and I thought how neat it would be to share it in celebration. Everybody accepted a glass and toasted to my health. Then, "the missus" starts talking about her favourite Champagnes - unfortunately my gift was not one of them. Oh well, I notice that she had no trouble finishing her glass and everyone else seemed to enjoy my offering.

 

Later in the cruise I got an unexpected bottle of wine from my travel agency (not my travel agent you notice - but that's a long involved story and the bottle of wine was from the travel agency who were trying to woo me back - didn't work;) ). I brought this to the table also to share and everyone seemed to really enjoy it (even "the missus").

 

It really is fun to share a bottle of wine, or Champagne, with your tablemates. The couple that had the "one glass of wine a night" package, and who partook of my meager Champagne and Chardonnay offerings invited me to join them in the Ocean Bar one night for pre-dinner cocktails. I did, and I really enjoyed the experience.

 

Anyway,to address some of what has been said before: both the Champagne and the Chardonnay were ordered through HAL and the Wine Steward had no problem whatsoever recognizing that fact and the only question I was asked was "is this chilled enough or do you want me to bring another bottle that is sufficiently chilled?"

 

Valerie:)

[WillieF]

:) We can pretty well guess the price of the wine was included in the price we paid for the cruise, I imagine. ;)

 

 

OH! come on S7S!!! As a well seasoned cruiser, how can you make that statement? I do hope you are joking!

 

Travel Agencies make their living from commission - based on the cruise cost - taxes, port charges, etc. all excluded and pay their Counselors from it - a gift of wine or anything else to a client reduces the Counselor's commission. - a.k.a. that gal/guy's earnings - their bottom line, take home pay, whatever you choose to call it.

[WillieF]

In the days of gracious cruising, people always expected to share wine with their tablemates. It would rotate around the table night to night and one person (couple) then the next would order the wine and all would share. It was a nice tradition that was almost de rigueur.

 

Didn't read all the way through before posting earlier -

We too cruised in those 'gracious' days.

Pros and cons to the 'tradition' - I guess it could have been embarrassing to some.

As I recall, a 'single' at the table was excused. The choice of wine (red or white) was the buyer's selection.

 

Memories, memories:rolleyes:

[hammybee]

The new Any Way You Want Dining Program. :)

 

 

Like this new slogan.:)

[hammybee]

In the days of gracious cruising, people always expected to share wine with their tablemates. It would rotate around the table night to night and one person (couple) then the next would order the wine and all would share. It was a nice tradition that was almost de rigueur.

 

 

I wonder why this tradition became obsolete.

[moveup]

On the Noordam in Aug. 07 we had no problem exchanging a bottle of sparkling wine (faux champagne) our TA had sent to our cabin, for a bottle of the house wine. We simply took the sparkling wine to dinner with us and when the wine steward came over she cheerfully made the swap. We tipped her a few dollars in cash and she thanked us. . . . Likewise, we applied the gift certificate for a small photo from the ship's photographers toward the cost of printing some of our pictures from our digital camera.

[Gsel]

Thanks, Moveup! Now we know it can be done and we don't have to just leave it in the cabin!

[sail7seas]

We were once given a Spa Gift Certificate and I refuse to walk into Steiners. We were able to swap it for a shipboard credit and use it the way we wished.

 

[tommytune]

We were once given a Spa Gift Certificate and I refuse to walk into Steiners. We were able to swap it for a shipboard credit and use it the way we wished.

 

I'm just wondering why you refuse a free visit to a Steiners spa? My wife loves to go when we cruise.

[sail7seas]

OH! come on S7S!!! As a well seasoned cruiser, how can you make that statement? I do hope you are joking!

 

Travel Agencies make their living from commission - based on the cruise cost - taxes, port charges, etc. all excluded and pay their Counselors from it - a gift of wine or anything else to a client reduces the Counselor's commission. - a.k.a. that gal/guy's earnings - their bottom line, take home pay, whatever you choose to call it.

 

 

Willie...... Rather than screaming at me......:)

 

The Agency I am talking about is a small brick and mortar. There are two agents and the owner. The owner lives up the street from me.

 

Are you absolutely sure you know exactly how that agency operates and what came out of who's pocket? My pocket? The owner's pocket? One of his two agent's pocket? I'm glad you are so sure because I (who dealt with them for over 10 years) do not know.

 

Not all rules apply to all places. Not all business operate in the same way. How can you know how my agency did/does business? Frankly, they are almost a dinosaur at this point. How many of that sort are left? They don't fit the 'usual' TA business mold of today.

 

BTW...... I no longer deal with that agency!

[sail7seas]

I wonder why this tradition became obsolete.

 

 

Don't know, Hammy. Could only make some wild guesses.

[sail7seas]

I'm just wondering why you refuse a free visit to a Steiners spa? My wife loves to go when we cruise.

 

 

Tommy..... I had a horrible experience with them on Statendam 13 years ago (our 25th wedding anniversary cruise) and I swore that day I would never spend another dime in Steiners on any ship. I am true to my word. One VERY bad employee has cost them literally thousand and thousand of dollars I would have spent on the 50+ cruises we have taken since. No hair appointments, no manicures, no massages, no pedicures, no exercise classes....... No way.

 

I seriously doubt anyone wants to hear the whole long story here again. :) I've told it in the past.

[robertwcook16]

I just came off the Noordam yesterday. & had the same instance where my TA had sent us a bottle of champagne. We hate champagne. I just called up the info line from my cabin & they exchanged it for a bottle of white wine. In a matter of about 10 mins I had a lovely bottle of Chardonnay chilling in my cabin.

[lillulu]

How nice that you've all had TA's that send wine! Never had a TA do that.

 

The last cruise I did, the TA surprised me with 3 bottles of wine and dinner for 2 in the PG..I was quite shocked, but I have booked all cruises through him...

 

I brought the wine home as I am not a wine drinker and did not know you could turn them in for ship board credit for something else...but that's ok...I have served them at parties and everyone enjoyed :D

 

Now that was the first time he has done that...so will see if it ever happens again...who knows..*shrug*..but it was a nice touch.:)

 

One last note, I called the travel agent immediately after discovering this in the cabin (before we even left port)to Thank him..and he said, "Thank you so much, NO ONE has ever called and thanked me so fast"...He also seem to imply that he had never gotten a thank you, but I could of read him wrong over the phone with his voice tone.....I said well, it was quite appreciated...

[Randy H]

Our TA has given us wine, champagne, Pinnacle grill coupons, and photo coupons or combinations of the above over the years. I understood that some of the goodies were included as part of a “group” package. Apparently we were included in some sort of group program. Other times she has just sent us a gift.

 

In this case she has a primarily internet agency, 8 states away, with great prices and great service. We have even cruised with her… (She does a great Razorback yell). We moved away from a large local agency when “our” agent left, and the new agents were not up on information, and didn’t communicate well. We tried our current agent (probably 10 years ago, and at least 20 cruises later) and have never looked back.

 

We use her agency because of the service, knowledge, and pricing. The gifts are a great bonus.