Wine Recs on a cruise?

[crewsweeper]

Going on a 7 day cruise this spring. Only want to have a glass of wine with dinner. Not looking for a whole bottle. Here's the Reds bythe glass list. I enjoy Pinot and Cabs .
Any thoughts on which are worth trying? The Rex-Goliath and the Meridian seem to be reasonably priced and decent wines. What about the Black Opal Australian Siraz? I love a good Petit Sirah but haven't enjoyed the Siraz wines as much. Most likely having steak most nights. Steak and lobster at the formal dinner. May go with a fish one night. I do drink lighter reds with fish.

Red Wines
Zinfandel
Fetzer Valley Oaks, California $6.50

Pinot Noir
Rex-Goliath California $6.00
Georges Blanc Burgundy $6.75
Mirassou California $7.25

Merlot
Columbia Crest Washington $7.25
Kendall-Jackson, Vintner's Reserve California $8.75
Fetzer Valley Oaks, California $6.25

Shiraz
Black Opal Australia $6.50

Cabernet Sauvignon
Woodbridge Twin Oaks California $5.25
Meridian California $7.25
Robert Mondavi Napa Valley $11.00
Grgich Hills Napa Valley $18.00

Chateau Beaument
Haut Medoc Bordeaux $10.25

[UCLA92]

You may also want to try the wine list from the "fancy" adults-only restaurant. They usually have a much better wine list. When we cruised on Disney they were very happy to bring wine down from the formal dining room.

[chickstein]

The Columbia Crest Merlot and the Robert Mondavi Napa Cab are both a safe bet. The pinot noir and the shiraz not so much.

[twincitiesguy]

Columbia Crest Washington $7.25

This is my far the best choice. I am not a fan of US Merlot but for the price points you can't get better then Columbia Crest.

I like their Reserve Line better then Pride and Paloma.

[crewsweeper]

Just checked the full bottle list. Wines are the same as BTG. However, full bottles are only $24-$28, not an excesive mark up and assuming 6 glasses generous pour per bottle a better deal than BTG alone. Still may just BYOB.

[Bill Hunt]

The only "cruise" that we have ever been on was a "wine country" boat ride for five days. It did not take long to realize that their wine list was the same one that they used for the "masses," when the same ship did the Summer Alaskan cruises - three offerings of White Zinfandel, and about four each of the "usual suspects" per varietal. Hey, come on guys, this is supposed to be a "WINE" curise. On the second night, I hosted our table to a few bottles, that I had picked up in Napa (the town), and we enjoyed. No one complained, and no one thought to try and charge corkage. This was repeated for the rest of the "cruise." Each table occupant, or couple, would furnish themed wine each night. We ended up having our own wine tastings, and it was great fun. Now, I had expected to have much better on board, but we did not.

A real "cruise" would present some problems and obviously there are policies in place that would affect how one could enjoy BYOB I am just glad that none of these came into play in our limited case.

Good luck, and hope you can find wine, and beer, to enjoy. I've seen similar at some resorts, and they're usually quite far from a decent wine shop. Too bad that more food-service managers just do not get offering good wines to accompany the food. BTW, how do you think that the food will be?

Hunt

[Bill Hunt]

From that list, I'd opt for beer. There is nothing in their B-T-G selection that does anything for me - sorry. Maybe look to their half-bottle selections. These would give you basically 2 glasses of wine/half-bottle.

Hunt

[TonyO]

I'm "onboard" with Hunt. It looks like they took the winelist from Applebee's. I would guess they have better selections by the bottle and may even have nightly special offerings by the glass.

[c oliver]

I can't address specific wines but would like to tell you that the cruises I've been on (all Holland America) will store your wine for you so you can order a bottle if you wish and drink it over several nights. Usually that's a better deal $$$ wise. And, it wouldn't be hard to drink two bottles over seven days (well, for me that would be very easy but you sound more moderate) so you could order a lighter red and something more full bodied. It's done quite alot so you wouldn't feel out of place at all. Just an fyi.

[baron45]

I'd buy some good stuff and bring it on board. I know Princess charges $15 corkage, but it's worth it if the choices above are all you've got. As c_oliver mentioned, the waiters will store your wines so you can drink them when you arrive at your table. Just double-check on the cruise line's policy on corkage--some don't allow BYO.

[crewsweeper]

Thanks folks! Looks like Carnival let's you bring one bottle of "personal" wine per passenger and charges a $10 corkage fee if you bring it to the dining room. That may be the way to go. I'll double check with the cruise line on ordering a bottle from their wine list and drinking it over a coupel of evenings. Didn't see any 1/2 bottles. As for beer...it's all Big Beer, mostly Corona and Lite junk. But they do carry Sam Admas and Guiness (albeit I think it's the stuff brewed in Canada and canned Guiness from Canada isn't draft Guiness from Ireland. I'm thinking about slipping some Dales Pale in cans into soda cartons and bringing it on board assuming we have the minifrig in the cabin.