"Live" Emerald Princess, 16-Day Hawaii, July 6th to July 22nd

[Robkat]

13 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

We have the Princess Plus Package.  With wines within the Plus limits you can usually get a full bottle and they will "charge" your Package a total of 5 drinks (split between the 2 of us, 3 towards my limit and 2 towards my DW's).  You have to have a good Vines bartender that will do this for you.  🍷

 

Thanks @LACruiser88 for the quick reply.  We also have the PP package and had read that the wine choices available on that package were, shall we say, limited.  But your choices have looked nice.

Can you bring the bottle into the dining room with you?  And, from what you said, does this mean that Vines is the only bar that will "potentially" do this? 🤞

[Thrak]

20 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

Tonight's quaff, Spellbound Petite Sirah.

 

 

On our last cruise Spellbound wasn't listed on the menu in Vines. My wife asked if they had it and they did so that's what we mostly drank for the rest of the cruise. We don't have snazzy sophisticated wine palates so we tend to just drink what we like that is very expensive. Spellbound Petite Sirah fits the bill nicely. Sadly, nobody here in our town sells it. I could likely order it and will maybe see about ordering a case one of these days. I've bought it by the case at Total Wine in Roseville but that's a good 85 miles away.

[Thrak]

4 hours ago, voljeep said:

love a good screw  top wine!

 

Petite Sirah is meant to be drank young. Bottling with a cork and trying to let it age is a waste of time. Screw tops make the most sense for wines of that type. Love the Spellbound.

[Thrak]

27 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

We have the Princess Plus Package.  With wines within the Plus limits you can usually get a full bottle and they will "charge" your Package a total of 5 drinks (split between the 2 of us, 3 towards my limit and 2 towards my DW's).  You have to have a good Vines bartender that will do this for you.  🍷

 

I will definitely keep this in mind. Being able to get the bottle to take to dinner with us would be great. It would definitely beat having to buy the bottle with the 25% discount from the package. Hopefully we will get a wine steward who will do this for us on our upcoming 32 days on Grand Princess.

[LACruiser88]

14 minutes ago, Robkat said:

 

Thanks @LACruiser88 for the quick reply.  We also have the PP package and had read that the wine choices available on that package were, shall we say, limited.  But your choices have looked nice.

Can you bring the bottle into the dining room with you?  And, from what you said, does this mean that Vines is the only bar that will "potentially" do this? 🤞

Yes, Vines is the only venue where we have found this to be possible.  We always finish the bottle at Vines, I know we are such big wino's!

 

 On this voyage we have found the wine selections to be much, much better than what we have recently seen on the ship's.  Perhaps they finally paid their suppliers, as there is no shortage of wines on the open market.

 

Tonight we will try something different!  🍷🍷🍷

 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by LACruiser88

[Robkat]

15 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Yes, Vines is the only venue where we have found this to be possible.  We always finish the bottle at Vines, I know we are such big wino's!

 

 On this voyage we have found the wine selections to be much, much better than what we have recently seen on the ship's.  Perhaps they finally paid their suppliers, as there is no shortage of wines on the open market.

 

Tonight we will try something different!  🍷🍷🍷

 

 

 

 

👍👍. Thanks ... enjoy!

[XBGuy]

24 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Petite Sirah is meant to be drank young. Bottling with a cork and trying to let it age is a waste of time. Screw tops make the most sense for wines of that type. Love the Spellbound.

 

@Thrak over the years you and I have had a few conversations here on Cruise Critic.  I always look forward to your posts, and I would love to meet you some day.

 

However, generalizations are dangerous.  I disagree with the idea that PS "is meant to be drunk young."  I personally have multiple bottles of PS in my inventory that are approaching ten years since the grapes were harvested, and I don't plan to open them up anytime soon.

 

That being said, I would not for even a millisecond discourage anybody from opening up whatever wine they want whenever the mood strikes them,  I am a kind of wine cheerleader.  I want it to be easy for anybody to enjoy wine,  I can't think of a single wine "rule" that can't be broken.

 

[LACruiser88]

7 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

 

@Thrak over the years you and I have had a few conversations here on Cruise Critic.  I always look forward to your posts, and I would love to meet you some day.

 

However, generalizations are dangerous.  I disagree with the idea that PS "is meant to be drunk young."  I personally have multiple bottles of PS in my inventory that are approaching ten years since the grapes were harvested, and I don't plan to open them up anytime soon.

 

That being said, I would not for even a millisecond discourage anybody from opening up whatever wine they want whenever the mood strikes them,  I am a kind of wine cheerleader.  I want it to be easy for anybody to enjoy wine,  I can't think of a single wine "rule" that can't be broken.

 

We have a decent size cellar consisting of most varietals, approximately 2,000 750 ml's, 300 1.5 L's.  When it comes to Petite Sirah's (P.S.), we are now drinking our 2012 P.S.'s from Carlisle in Sonoma.  They are just now coming into their own and will have at least 10 more years before they peak.

 

Not all wines are of the same quality and the Spellbound P.S. is definitely one specific wine that should be consumed when young.

[PacnGoNow]

6 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

We have a decent size cellar consisting of most varietals, approximately 2,000 750 ml's, 300 1.5 L's.  When it comes to Petite Sirah's (P.S.), we are now drinking our 2012 P.S.'s from Carlisle in Sonoma.  They are just now coming into their own and will have at least 10 more years before they peak.

 

Not all wines are of the same quality and the Spellbound P.S. is definitely one specific wine that should be consumed when young.

Well, it’s time to visit you. That’s an arsenal of wine!

I always say,“I’ll drink no wine before it’s time!”

IT’S TIME!

[XBGuy]

8 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

We have a decent size cellar consisting of most varietals, approximately 2,000 750 ml's, 300 1.5 L's.  When it comes to Petite Sirah's (P.S.), we are now drinking our 2012 P.S.'s from Carlisle in Sonoma.  They are just now coming into their own and will have at least 10 more years before they peak.

 

Not all wines are of the same quality and the Spellbound P.S. is definitely one specific wine that should be consumed when young.

 

I tried to say that, but did not want to get more wordy than I already  had.

 

Your collection blows mine away.  Carlisle is a terrific winery, and Mike Officer is an AWESOME winemaker.  I have a couple Carlisle Palisades Vineyard Petites, but they are both mere babes.  I love comparing/contrasting different wines made from grapes sourced from the same vineyard,  I have more Palisades Petites from Once & Future (Joel Peterson) and Mending Wall (Thomas Rivers Brown).

 

Also, for what it's worth,, I enjoy Girard PS, and feel no compunction about opening one of them as soon as I get it home.

[LACruiser88]

For my fellow wine aficionados below are 4 bottles that we brought from home for this voyage.

 

Btw, we have been Carlisle members for many years and Mike is a great guy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by LACruiser88

[PacnGoNow]

11 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

For my fellow wine aficionados below are 4 bottles that we brought from home for this voyage.

 

Btw, we have been Carlisle members for many years and Mike is a great guy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh my!  I’m salivating!  Wish we were on your cruise for wine tasting!  😋

[startedwithamouse]

3 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

We have the Princess Plus Package.  With wines within the Plus limits you can usually get a full bottle and they will "charge" your Package a total of 5 drinks (split between the 2 of us, 3 towards my limit and 2 towards my DW's).  You have to have a good Vines bartender that will do this for you.  🍷

And THIS is why we LOVE Vines also!!

[startedwithamouse]

Is Silverado blending back?

[LACruiser88]

9 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Is Silverado blending back?

? I have not heard it mentioned?

[dazee8]

21 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Is Silverado blending back?

I saw them setting up for it in Vines today. I was told it was $45/per person and completely booked.

[startedwithamouse]

8 minutes ago, dazee8 said:

I saw them setting up for it in Vines today. I was told it was $45/per person and completely booked.

Thank you - that's good news to us!  We've done it a few times and always great fun.

[Thrak]

I don't know much about wine. I based my "it's meant to be drunk young" on information given out during the "regular" wine tasting on Princess. We do it because it's "free" if you are Elite but it's not really the best wine tasting experience. The last time we did it (Ruby Princess, December 2022) they made a big deal out of explaining the screw top wines and how they are not meant to be aged. I really don't know squat when it comes to "real life" knowledge. I trusted the Maitre 'd who was running the wine tasting.

 

One thing I found during the last two times we've done the wine tasting is that the Spellbound Petite Sirah has been the favorite wine of the group both times. The Maitre 'd said that is pretty common for that particular wine tasting. I asked him, "If it's so popular why has it been removed from the Vines menu?". He said that he had no idea and had nothing to do with those choices so my guess was as good as his.

[LACruiser88]

 

 

 

[LACruiser88]

On our way to dinner last night...

 

 

 

[phabric]

Nice picture of all of you.

[phabric]

I am cruising to Hawaii Sept 2024 on the Ruby from San Francisco.

 

I am looking at doing one of the Princess excursions in Honolulu - Polynesian Cultural Center Luau, There are 3 different excursions offered.

 

If you heard anybody taking one of the excursions, if you can find out how they enjoy it and which one they took.

 

We don’t want to do a private tour.

 

 

[PacnGoNow]

14 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

 

 

 

What do they charge for

lei making?  I don’t remember paying for it.

 

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, LACruiser88 said:

On our way to dinner last night...

 

Nice! I am guessing that the crew are treating your granddaughter as though she is a Princess herself. So cool that you can cruise with her.

[LACruiser88]

Lunch was FANTASTIC!!!