Wine tasting -- was it worthwhile?

[papadave]

I passed on the opportunity for the wine tasting on the Westerdam last month and want to know if I missed out on much. The price seemed a bit high, but I guess they need to cover the cost of some decent wine.

If you have been to a HAL wine tasting I'd like to know about your experience.

(Please don't clutter with responses saying that you don't drink wine, also didn't attend the wine tasting, have only been to wine tastings on other ships, etc.)

[mechcc]

We went to one on the O'dam's 2 Apr cruise. At first I thought it was a bit expensive but they also served hor'dourves with it and it was interesting and informative. Only complaint was that there should of been more crackers or bread on the tables to clear the palate between wines. We sampled 6 wines from Champagne to a dessert wine. It's one of those things that we did once and glad we did but would probably forgo it next time. Then again this falls into a personal opinion area.

[wwinfl91]

There are usually two wine tasting, one which is not very expensive, less than $10, the other which can run up to around $30. We have been to the less expensive one on a number of cruises and enjoyed it. We haven't ever went to the expensive one.

Have a great next cruise.

[Bengoshi]

Attended a wine tasting on Ryndam in February, 2004, which was most interesting. I am a wine hobbyist (tracking down good wines at reasonable prices), so no novice. But this was different. The thesis was that wines taste different with food. We'd sip a wine, then have a bite or two of a food item that was distributed after we'd had the first sip. Then we'd take a second sip or two. The taste of the wine after the food was remarkably different than the taste before. If this is offerred on your cruise, I recommend it. About six wines were poured. Foods included fruits, cheese and salami, in bite-sized pieces.

[tjcox9]

The last one I attended on the Maasdam, each attendee was given a coupon which could be given to the wine steward for a price reduction on a bottle of wine. I don't know if this is standard at all tastings or not.

[wwinfl91]

The comment about the coupon after the tasting is interesting because we asked for something like it when we did the tasting last spring on the Maasdam and were told they did not give any benefits for the tasting in spite of us mentioning Princess did.

Glad to hear that HAL woke up.

Have a great next cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We used to attend all the wine tastings - only 1 on 7 and 10 day cruises - 2 on cruises of more than 14 days. Then when we were on the Westerdam in January it was announced that the wine tasting was being changed from one day to the next day and that it would be taking place in the Pinnacle Grill and the price was $28 per person - and no coupon to buy a bottle afterwards - not many attended.

On the Volendam in March the wine tasting was cancelled on our first 10 day segment - they said that they needed 18 to sign up and they got only 6 to sign up. So the next 10 day segment it was changed back to the old way - $10 per person and hled in the Frans Hls Lounge - 87 of us were there - and it was great. I wrote a review about it when we got home.

[tjcox9]

After I posted the reply about the coupon for $$ off a bottle of wine, I happened to think that it was probably not on a HAL trip last year, but rather the Princess one. Sorry for the misleading statement.

Just too many ships, too little time!

TJ

[Himself]

As my late Father would say : "It's all a matter of Taste." Too much of it though might make one a bit sleepy!

Himself