Wine Tasting Events

[Oceanview77]

Boarding Reflection in two weeks was thinking of doing some of the wine tastings. Never done one before on Celebrity and was curious to get some feedback from those who have. Which was your favorite? Did they include food pairings? Did you feel they were worth the cost to participate? Thanks in advance!!

[bayonnejoe]

Boarding Reflection in two weeks was thinking of doing some of the wine tastings. Never done one before on Celebrity and was curious to get some feedback from those who have. Which was your favorite? Did they include food pairings? Did you feel they were worth the cost to participate? Thanks in advance!!

 

Around the world tasting is well worth the money. IMHO. The Riedel tasting can be very informative even if you are a wine aficionado. Don't buy the glasses. Just pay the fee for the class which is about $15.

[4774Papa]

We haven't done the Riedel tasting, but we have done many.

Celebrity does one wine tasting that we have done more than once where they set up tables with flags of the countries (usually in Cellar Masters or the area that includes the Martini BAr) were the wine comes from. You have cheese and crackers to go with the tasting. You rotate around for about an hour and just keep rotating until they run out of wine. It is a lot of fun.

 

We have done another where you sit at tables and you have five or six types of wine that you sample with cheese and crackers. You get a briefing on the qualities of the wine, etc.

[tnfcruise]

Don't know if these pics uploaded properly, but if so, they're from a really nice wine and food pairing event on the Infinity during Panama Canal cruise at sea day a couple years ago...well worth the $25 or so. The wine samples look a little skimpy but they'd pour more of any of them that you liked. Also, the wines were available on the cruise but could only be purchased by the bottle, not the glass.

Edited March 1, 2015 by tnfcruise

[vtcruising]

Here are the wine events from a recent 7 night Reflection cruise. We have done all the scheduled wine events on the left. We have also done the food and wine pairing on another cruise, which had tidbits to nibble.

 

The Riedel comparison is a favorite for us, though the World Wine Tour is always fun (12 wines - 6 red, 6 white and some are quite nice).

 

Captain's Club does a Wine Tasting 101 that is good for beginning wine tasting.

 

Cheers!

[ChiGal1962]

Boarding Reflection in two weeks was thinking of doing some of the wine tastings. Never done one before on Celebrity and was curious to get some feedback from those who have. Which was your favorite? Did they include food pairings? Did you feel they were worth the cost to participate? Thanks in advance!!

 

Only one I've done is the Riedel seminar. I found it really interesting, althouth that one is less about the wine and more about the glasses (and why there are different glasses for different wines). I still love drinking out of the glasses :)

[Oceanview77]

Thank you all very much for the great info.

[Wine-O]

We did the Riedel wine tasting seminar on a TA in 2011 without buying the glasses -- that was because they did not have enough glasses on board. Subsequent sailings you had to purchase the glasses -- it was around $87 + gratuity.

 

Food & wine pairing was excellent as well as the Around the World wine tasting. Just fine one you like and hover around that station.

[GOLDENBONNY]

Boarding Reflection in two weeks was thinking of doing some of the wine tastings. Never done one before on Celebrity and was curious to get some feedback from those who have. Which was your favorite? Did they include food pairings? Did you feel they were worth the cost to participate? Thanks in advance!!

 

 

WE did $25.00 one . don't know the name. It was nothing like regular wine and food pairing . They give you only one glass and you have to go around by yourself to try wine from different tables . there is water jars and you have to clean same glass in order to try other wine :rolleyes: They have some appetizers as well . Wine they offer is very cheap wine . We love to go wine tasting but this time we did not like it at all.

[patty1955]

On our last cruise, one of our fellow cruisers (bighairtexan) set up a wine tasting for a bunch of us. The wine was very good and I learned a lot.

[deelastcre]

I normally attend 2-4 events depending on the length of the cruises. The Basic one is a good start. I've enjoyed Riedel, Champagne, Around The World, Food and Wine Parings, and the wine pairing luncheons. They were worth the small fee charged. I missed the Basic one on the last cruise. The wines are usually not that great.

[Oceanview77]

I will definately try the tastings with the food pairings. Never seen a luncheon. That sounds great too.

[Kathamo]

I have done "Sabering at Sea" (champagne) which was nice and worth the small fee. I also found that since Cellar Masters is "dead" most of the time, the sommelier on staff was happy to give me a personal wine lesson with any of the flights or wines by the glass available, free of charge except what I would pay for the wine anyway.

 

 

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[Wine-O]

I have done "Sabering at Sea" (champagne) which was nice and worth the small fee. I also found that since Cellar Masters is "dead" most of the time, the sommelier on staff was happy to give me a personal wine lesson with any of the flights or wines by the glass available, free of charge except what I would pay for the wine anyway.

 

 

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I saw the sabering demonstration a few years back, and I was told that they stopped doing it for safety concerns.

[tpbf]

September will be our first Celebrity experience. (14 days) My board reading tells me that Celebrity's offerings for wine tasting are similar to other lines, one sort they promote, but will offer several others as entertainment. We commonly attend all as wine is an interest we share.

 

Initially my understanding of Cellar Masters was that you could buy a card ($100 it seems) and self serve 1 or 2.5 oz. tastings (5oz would be a full glass). While not "instructed" we figured the wine server probably knows what he is talking about (or, enough for us - simple folk that we are). Seemed like a good alternative to a formal tasting as snack food was often offered (or breads or something).

 

Now I am hearing that these small taste servings have been discontinued. In fact one reviewer reported the enomatic (may not be the exact name) system had been discontinued meaning those small servings were also a thing of the past.

 

Anyone know the status of Cellar Masters? While we really enjoy themed or otherwise organized group tastings, even the opportunity for a personal tasting choice seemed nice.

 

BTW, we are wine drinkers only (DH with an occasional beer) and have purchased the "taste of the vineyards" package. Go for the full bottle I say!!

[smtcan]

Captain's Club does a Wine Tasting 101 that is good for beginning wine tasting.

 

Cheers!

 

We have enjoyed the Captain's Club wine tasting on several cruises. It is usually fairly basic, but includes some wines in the moderate price range that we have subsequently enjoyed with dinner.

 

However, on our Constellation cruise in January, the wine tasting was over in just under ten minutes, the sommelier was almost inaudible so we didn't hear the names of the wines and weren't sure which glass he was describing. We were disappointed. I hope this was a glitch, and not the new standard.

 

Sheila

[Melissa at Mohair Meadows]

In the Equinox, I believe Cellar Masters has been replaced with the Gastropub. That said, a few years ago one of our rollcall organized a wine tasting for the ladies on our rollcall. I believe the cost was $15 each. It was held in Cellar Masters and was a lot of fun. They could probably find another venue to hold this in if Gastropub was unavailable -- but maybe Gastropub could use the clientelle.

 

Maybe they could do a beer tasting. ?

[Caribbean Chris]

We have enjoyed the Captain's Club wine tasting on several cruises. It is usually fairly basic, but includes some wines in the moderate price range that we have subsequently enjoyed with dinner.

 

However, on our Constellation cruise in January, the wine tasting was over in just under ten minutes, the sommelier was almost inaudible so we didn't hear the names of the wines and weren't sure which glass he was describing. We were disappointed. I hope this was a glitch, and not the new standard.

 

Sheila

 

We had same experience in December on Constellation and the wines were below average. Part of the brief demo we could see but not hear involved our whole room full of people simultaneously tilting the wine glasses at an angle, a maneuver designed to observe color variations, I think.

 

So now for fun we tilt our glasses and study the colors for our box wine at home sometimes.

[Caribbean Chris]

In 2013 on a Century Hawaii cruise with lots of sea days, we loved the two events.

 

Probably one was the World Wines event for $25 others have mentioned - a dozen or so stations to visit. There were excellent wines ($80 - $100 range) and less expensive ones. A small buffet with olives, cheeses, bread, breadsticks etc.

 

The second was the champagne saber party. I really hope they haven't discontinued it. The staffer who wielded the sword did it perfectly - so dramatic! - and then they poured it into our glasses to taste. The other champagnes at varying prices were all good. One of my most enjoyable shipboard events in years, lots of fun.