Wine Tasting Experiences on board of Princess ships

[Ramblergirl]

What is the difference between two experiences offered by Princess?  First one is "Princess Fine Wine Tasting" and the second one "Grapevine Wine Tasting", which is the double of the price of the first one. Can someone please recommend which one to take if you take only one ? 

 

[tuckerboxbill]

My advice? Get the drink package and go to Vines and try all of them 🙂  The wine tasting on the ship is meh. Grab the Vivino app and look up *real* reviews from people on the wine available at Vines.

[Mike45LC]

I might not be the one to answer this thread. 

 

I have been to two Princess wine tastings.  Both of them were free for Elites.  I am not a wine drinker, but there was nothing else I wanted to do at that time, and they were free for me.  So what the heck?

 

I was hoping that the wine tasting might introduce me to a wine that I could enjoy, but it did not.  As a non-wine drinker, none of the offerings pleased my uneducated/unsophisticated palate.  All were unpleasant.  But some of the people at the table enjoyed them, and I was very polite, taking a small sip of each offering and withholding my thoughts!  

 

After the wine tasting, I went to the nearest bar and grabbed a Coke -- sweet, syrupy and perfect!

[Cuedon]

One of them is six or so of their cheaper wines, and a bit of showmanship about how to properly handle wine. If you know nothing about wines, it may act as an entertaining primer, but that's about it. I want to say it's the Grapevine Wine Tasting, and costs 9.95? for non-elites, but doesn't mesh with it being twice the price of the other one. They're mostly unremarkable reds and tending towards the dry side for my taste.

 

(And if you like sweet and syrupy, you may enjoy the... Errazuriz? that shows up on the dessert menu. With the exception of the port, all of the bin 900 wines are botrytis wines, which are generally as sweet as grape juice, if not more so, yet have the depth of flavor and complexity of wines. I have a Tokaji [not from Princess] with so much sugar that it crystalized in the bottle.)

[cruzin4us]

I agree with the "meh"!    I would do differently, I'd pack my own wine and pay the corkage.  You still come out ahead and won't end up with a headache 🙂

 

[Astro Flyer]

Even though the Princess Grapevine is a free elite level benefit we have not gone for many years. Our 5 small pours takes about an hour & rarely changes. I prefer the $25 fine wine tasting if going to a wine tasting. 🍷

 

Edited May 7, 2022 by Astro Flyer

[cr8tiv1]

I finally gave up on the free Elite wine tasting.  I've been slowly weaning myself away.  I was pulled in because of the free glass at the end.  When they did away with that, I would drink the white wine and give away all of the reds.  The sessions took too much time out of my busy "do nothing" day. 

 

On my last cruise, I had the beverage package and Dewa was more than happy to pour me sips as i tried different white wines at Vines.

[rj59]

I went for a free one as an Elite, and was fortunate to get at a table full of friendly people, whereas other tables around me were quiet. It was mostly 5 sips of wine and some cheese with dining room staff blathering about wine, most of it obvious, and most of it difficult to understand through thick Indonesian, Serbian, and Filipino accents. To me it's not a good idea now, since you're seated close to a large group of strangers for extended period of time without any ability to distance. As with many of the other protocols, safety and distancing and masking aren't practiced when there's an opportunity to raise money from passengers, the goal being to hook you on wine, to make you feel sophisticated so you'll order wine at meals. To me it felt like a timeshare presentation for wine. 

[cr8tiv1]

@rj59I agree with all of your observations.  Let me add one more.  Princess has decided that those individual plates of cheese and crackers should now be share amongst the table mates.  What are they thinking?  I won't touch them now.  

[caribill]

4 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

Even though the Princess Grapevine is a free elite level benefit we have not gone for many years. Our 5 small pours takes about an hour & rarely changes. I prefer the $25 fine wine tasting if going to a wine tasting. 🍷

 

 

I have never attended the $25 "Fine Wine Tasting" but comments I have read in the past say it is definitely a cut above the Grapevine $9.95 tasting that is free for Elites.

 

3 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I finally gave up on the free Elite wine tasting.  I've been slowly weaning myself away.  I was pulled in because of the free glass at the end.  When they did away with that, I would drink the white wine and give away all of the reds.  The sessions took too much time out of my busy "do nothing" day. 

 

 

We also enjoyed the "free" wine glasses that were used for the sweet dessert wine at the Grapevine tasting, but have not attended in a while. The wines never change. Also, the pace is so slow that attendees tend to start talking more and more among themselves during the presentation and do it loudly enough that the presenter cannot be heard by those actually wanting to hear what is being said.

[INeedAMaiTai]

15 hours ago, tuckerboxbill said:

My advice? Get the drink package and go to Vines and try all of them 🙂  The wine tasting on the ship is meh. Grab the Vivino app and look up *real* reviews from people on the wine available at Vines.

I agree.  I have done so many in the past, and I don't know why I always feel the need to go.  I rarely enjoy myself and usually get shushed because of trying to have a good time.  And the snacks are terrible.  Definitely go to vines and try those rather than either of the tastings.

[voljeep]

yep, just do the wine 'flights' at Vines - they'll bring you a little cheese/bread/walnut thingy from ICafe

[Ombud]

Had a great time at my last one bc of the other 7 at the table. Only sampled 2 of the selections after the others didn't pass the smell test. We talked & chuckled the whole time

[c-boy]

17 hours ago, Ramblergirl said:

What is the difference between two experiences offered by Princess?  First one is "Princess Fine Wine Tasting" and the second one "Grapevine Wine Tasting", which is the double of the price of the first one. Can someone please recommend which one to take if you take only one ? 

 

the better experience, in my experience, would be the more expensive one. Australia, wonderful country. Spent two weeks in Koonwarra last fall visiting family and talking business. Toured vineyards and ate lot of meat pies .. turns out every one has their own special " recipe  ". 

Edited May 7, 2022 by c-boy

[JF - retired RRT]

17 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

I might not be the one to answer this thread. 

 

I have been to two Princess wine tastings.  Both of them were free for Elites.  I am not a wine drinker, but there was nothing else I wanted to do at that time, and they were free for me.  So what the heck?

 

I was hoping that the wine tasting might introduce me to a wine that I could enjoy, but it did not.  As a non-wine drinker, none of the offerings pleased my uneducated/unsophisticated palate.  All were unpleasant.  But some of the people at the table enjoyed them, and I was very polite, taking a small sip of each offering and withholding my thoughts!  

Same here. I ate the cheese & crackers. 😋

Edited May 7, 2022 by JF - retired RRT

[Eglesbrech]

The more expensive one is better but not great for the price. The samples of wine we got were barely a sip, hardly enough to even taste properly before and then with the matching snacks.

 

The presentation was really entertaining and engaging for the first half. The second presenter for the reds was not so good.

 

I enjoyed it as a one off but won’t pay for it again.

[mark213]

Looking at doing the fine wine one early next year on an Australian cruise.

- Any one know how much they are in AUD?

- Do you have to pre-book and how/ when do you do so?

- Do they only do them on sea days?