I’ve seen wine on the wine list as low as $26 per bottle about 2 years ago; the lowest price I saw last year was $28 per bottle. However, they add 18% gratuity to the price, so you’re really looking at around $35. I compared a bottle of Louis Jadot Beaujolais Villages that sells in our local supermarket for about $12; it was $34 plus gratuity, or about $40, on Oceania. It probably sells for about $14 at a non-discount wine shop, so that’s an indication that prices are set by taking the approximate retail value of the wine and adding the $20 corkage fee, then adding the gratuity. I also remember Greg Norman Shiraz on the ship’s list that seemed to fit about the same pricing policy.
I don’t know the price of a bottle of house red or white; it could be a bit less. I have traded our welcome bottle of champagne for a bottle of house red, two different times. One time it was a decent wine; the other time we did not care for it. I forget the brands of the house reds. I can’t compare whites; we favor reds almost all the time.
Here’s a tip—the most economical way to drink wine at dinner is to purchase your own in port, take it to dinner and pay the $20 corkage fee. Why? Because they don’t charge the 18% gratuity on the corkage fee! Having said that, it’s just something I figured out, have not done it. It’s a bit too much trouble in my opinion, and I save our take-aboard wine for drinking in the cabin. We do that more often than ordering wine at dinner, but it’s not quite as nice as enjoying the wine with the food.
