We kept our Sommelier hopping. They had a master list of wines on board and my wife picked two bottles from the list. We selected the bottles 24 hours in advance. Apparently the main dining room and each of the 3 specialty restaurants has their own wine inventory. The list didn't indicate where those wines were, just that they were on board. The two bottles my wife selected were the last of each, and each were in the last place he looked. He liked our selections and he was amused that we managed to find two hard to find bottles. He was a great guy.,
He also mentioned that they had found a bottle of wine that had apparently been on board since 2009. He said a ship is a perfect place to store wine, controlled temperature and almost constant rocking keep the corks moist. But the lady that ordered it rejected,....after it had been opened,.. because the label was coming off. Celebrity's policy is you are not charged if you reject a bottle. And the Sommelier's are good with that too, because THEY get to consume rejected wine. He said is was in perfect shape other than the label.
I think that if you enjoy drinking wine you should take advantage of the carry-on allowance, since it allows you to have a wider range of choices and you aren't subject to the usual markup (only the retail one). Yes, you are subject to a corking fee (if the waiter decides to charge you), but the bottle + corking fee is usually going to cost you less than the cost of a similar bottle of wine onboard. And of course, you can skip that issue entirely by just uncorking it in your cabin.
Onboard, I've purchased the wine package. I don't think any of the listed bottles were over $15 retail, but still, they were good wines, and represented good value versus the marked up price.
When we were on Disney in the MDR the Sommelier brought the bottle, poured it, and stored it if there was wine left. They stopped by the table the first night to ask if we would be requiring their services, but your server can ask them to come by. I don't recall if there was a master wine list on DCL, but I have to believe there is one. My comments were about Celebrity.When you order a bottle of wine in the MDR, is it delivered by a Sommelier (like in Palo)? Or do you have to specifically request his/her services?
The master wine list you referred to... was that on DCL?
Good info from all the posts so far, thanks everyone!
I bring it from home. I reuse the Styrofoam shippers and check them on the airplane. We have free bags on Alaska airlinesDo you typically bring the wine all the way from home (i.e., pack it in your airplane checked luggage)? Or do you buy it locally in your port of embarkation?
To be honest, since I live in Canada I haven't tried bringing it from home yet. It's mostly because I'd have to declare the wine at customs, and don't want to spend more time in the pre-clearance area than I need to. I did buy a couple of those wine traveler pouches though for when I buy alcohol to bring home. I think there's a bit of a placebo effect with regards to them, but they haven't failed me, so I suppose that I can't really complain.Do you typically bring the wine all the way from home (i.e., pack it in your airplane checked luggage)? Or do you buy it locally in your port of embarkation?
To be honest, since I live in Canada I haven't tried bringing it from home yet. It's mostly because I'd have to declare the wine at customs, and don't want to spend more time in the pre-clearance area than I need to.
It's less about the duties and more about getting delayed in the border preclearance zone (we have US immigration officers at most major Canadian airports) and missing your flight because CBP wants to be nitpicky about something.The Canadian customs are probably similar to the US. We visit wineries in BC and buy when we are there. US customs never has cared that we exceed our duty free limit of alcohol. I am fully prepared to pay the 21 cents per bottle in duties but I'm sure the officers don't want to bother filling out a bunch of forms to collect $5 in duties.