Question about wine on DCL...

[ANGRebel]

I enjoy wine with a nice meal, but my wife does not. I am trying to figure out the best value for purchasing wine for our cruise on the Fantasy in 2 weeks. I know Disney offers the classic wine package for $199 + gratuity. I would usually have 2 glasses with a meal, but if the meal is longer I may have more. I am trying to figure out if I would be better buying the wine package, or purchasing wine before hand and bringing it on the ship (even having to pay the $20 corkage fee). What are your opinions on how to get the best value for wine on a 7 night cruise?

Thanks in advance!

 

[DISNEYFAN3260]

I enjoy wine with a nice meal, but my wife does not. I am trying to figure out the best value for purchasing wine for our cruise on the Fantasy in 2 weeks. I know Disney offers the classic wine package for $199 + gratuity. I would usually have 2 glasses with a meal, but if the meal is longer I may have more. I am trying to figure out if I would be better buying the wine package, or purchasing wine before hand and bringing it on the ship (even having to pay the $20 corkage fee). What are your opinions on how to get the best value for wine on a 7 night cruise?

Thanks in advance!

You may want to consider getting the 3 or 4 night wine package for your 7 nt cruise if you won't finish a bottle each night. When you don't finish a bottle during dinner, they will cork it and store it for you so you can have the rest at dinner another night or take it back to your room. So maybe 3 or 4 bottles would last your whole cruise. Or just plan to order by the glass at dinner each night. I know many people BYOB so if that is convenient for you it may be less expensive, even with the corkage fees. I just don't care to hassle with it since I fly into MCO to cruise and don't rent a car to get to port.

 

[ANGRebel]

Is it possible to purchase a package less than the number of nights of your cruise? Can you purchase a 4 night package on a 7 night cruise? If so that would be great!

 

[Minniemiss]

Is it possible to purchase a package less than the number of nights of your cruise? Can you purchase a 4 night package on a 7 night cruise? If so that would be great!

Yes!

 

[DISNEYFAN3260]

Is it possible to purchase a package less than the number of nights of your cruise? Can you purchase a 4 night package on a 7 night cruise? If so that would be great!

Yes, I learned it here on the boards! My first cruise I ended up with extra wine because I didn't know you could purchase a smaller package than your number of nights. Next time I'm doing this too.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Is it possible to purchase a package less than the number of nights of your cruise? Can you purchase a 4 night package on a 7 night cruise? If so that would be great!

Absolutely! And that would likely be the best choice for you. And as the PP mentioned, you can either have your server store it or take it back to your stateroom to enjoy a glass later.

 

[ANGRebel]

That would be great! Thank yall for the information!

 

[ANGRebel]

Can you purchase the package for lesser nights on the cruise, or would you need to do that before hand?

Thanks again.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Can you purchase the package for lesser nights on the cruise, or would you need to do that before hand?

Thanks again.

You can do that once you are on the ship. If I'm remembering correctly, they have the brochures on the wine package on the table at dinner.

 

[ANGRebel]

You can do that once you are on the ship. If I'm remembering correctly, they have the brochures on the wine package on the table at dinner.

Thanks!

 

[phinz]

We tend to buy a 5-day for a 7-day cruise because we usually pre-game at Skyline.

 

[CM Dad]

If you have unopened wine bottles at the end of the cruise, you can take them with you when you disembark, subject to any duty owed to US Customs service. At least I think it must be unopened.

 

[orion2185]

We are in the same boat..no punn intended.

Wife drinks a few glasses with dinner each night.
I don't drink as im allergic

We debated and crunched the numbers hard before our cruise
We ended up buying some wine and taking it on board..and buy buy the glass

She always had 2 glasses with dinner and a few other random times
Even with buying buy the glass we ended up way ahead money wise than if we bought any type of package.

Wine we bought before boarding was hardly touched and ended up not drinking majority of it. Out thinking was the stuff we brought and kept in the room could supplement and reduce costs. But seeing as she might of had only a few glasses from the room over 7 nights. It's was not needed to buy and bring on board
Nor was it worth the effort or hassle of getting it onboard

It's hard to know and work out cost and how much your going to drink before hand. And everyone is different etc

But again for my wife...buying by the glass worked out the cheapest way
Even if we bought a couple bottles in a package..it would still have been more expensive with the package.

Prices (depending on your taste) onboard are very reasonable.
But we should not we live in Australia where prices are allot more than USA
The cheap stuff usually cost upwards of $12.00 a glass here.

 

[phinz]

If you have unopened wine bottles at the end of the cruise, you can take them with you when you disembark, subject to any duty owed to US Customs service. At least I think it must be unopened.

Only two bottles, for what it's worth.

 

[DISNEYFAN3260]

Prices (depending on your taste) onboard are very reasonable.
But we should not we live in Australia where prices are allot more than USA
The cheap stuff usually cost upwards of $12.00 a glass here.

I agree that the per glass price is reasonable on board. In the Chicago area we can easily pay as much as $12+ per glass at a decent restaurant so DCL prices were no higher than regular markup.

I do think that if you're fairly knowledgeable about particular wines and their standard markup in your area (I dabble but am no expert!), the packages aren't a bad value - if you'll finish them on board. As a PP said, it's really tough to judge that ahead of time. When we got the 7 nt package we couldn't use two bottles because some night we felt like switching to a mixed drink or just iced tea with dinner. In the future with a package I'll always purchase fewer bottles than I think we'll drink.

 

[MillauFr]

Only two bottles, for what it's worth.

You can carry off more than the duty allowance but they may charge you. I think the duty is only a few cents per bottle. The amount is so low I've heard they don't bother charging.

 

[phinz]

You can carry off more than the duty allowance but they may charge you. I think the duty is only a few cents per bottle. The amount is so low I've heard they don't bother charging.

We were told specifically by the serving staff on two different cruises that you may carry up to two bottles off of the ship. This was unequivocal. If it's different, then the staff on both the Dream and the Fantasy have been misinformed, including their head waiters.

 

[MillauFr]

We were told specifically by the serving staff on two different cruises that you may carry up to two bottles off of the ship. This was unequivocal. If it's different, then the staff on both the Dream and the Fantasy have been misinformed, including their head waiters.

US Customs has no such restriction. I don't believe the CM know what they are talking about.

 

[phinz]

I don't believe the CM know what they are talking about.

Yeah. They definitely don't do this for a living or anything.

 

[kiford]

We just buy by the glass. We usually decide to be completely lazy and not even bother to think so we just pair whatever wine they recommend with the entrée we've chosen. I figure that they've had someone who knows considerably more about wine pairings than I do so I might as well take advantage of their expertise. We also find the price by the glass to be relatively in line with what we pay at home.

If I want a second glass sometimes I'll have another glass of the same, but sometimes I might want to try something else so I'll just describe what I want or maybe ask for a glass of what DH is having. Not buying by the bottle gives me a chance to mix it up and try a lot of different ones.

We had a good assistant server last cruise who figured out early that we always take the pairings. About the fourth night I was probably talking to my table mates and he didn't want to interrupt me or I got missed or something. So he brought me the paired wine and asked if that was OK for me. I told him yes and that he could do that every night without asking, which he did. He also figured out that I always start dinner with one of the cocktails on that night's menu and that I always get the one with champagne. So he'd start out asking if I wanted the "usual" and knew what that meant. It made drink ordering very efficient and required no thinking on my part and I got to try some really nice wines. I don't think I had the same one twice (unless I had a second glass).