Anyone back from the kirkland wine cruise yet?

[DSJ28]

Hi everyone,

 

I returned home from my 9/12 kirkland wine cruise yesterday. I'll likely post a complete trip review in the next day or two, but I wanted to post information about the kirkland wine events for this group first.

 

There were two bottles of wine awaiting us when we arrived in our stateroom (in addition to the sparkling wine from Celebrity). We received the chocolate covered strawberries a few hours later. There were a dozen, all dipped in dark chocolate. They were not decorated or presented in any special way, just on a plate as I might have had them at home. But, they were tasty.

 

As for events...there seemed to be 60 - 80 people participating in various events. No celebrity chef (or non-celebrity chef for that matter) participated in the events we attended - sommeliers led all events. I can't find my event list - so I'm working from memory regarding the times and event titles.

 

1. Meet & Greet - CellarMasters: Day 1 @ 5:30 PM. We arrived at CellarMasters on time, and were told to meet in the same location on the following day. There was no activity or actual meet & greet - so we were disappointed with this "event".

 

2. Wine Appreciation 101 - CellarMasters: Day 2 @ 11:30 AM. This event was well attended and expertly led by the master sommelier. He was engaging and made each wine seem very accessible and personal. This was strickly a wine tasting - no food was served. We enjoyed this event, which lasted about an hour.

 

3. Wine Tower Tour - MDR: Day 2 @ 2:00 PM. Guests were led in groups of 15 - 20 through the wine tour after a brief description of it's history. Be warned - the tower is very narrow, with two doorways that can't be more than 20 inches wide. However, there is plenty of space for wonderful photos in the main tower chamber. Once in the tower, this event lasted about 15 minutes. Althought this was interesting, don't worry about missing it if it happens to conflict with another event you'd like to attend.

 

4. Wine Pairing - MDR: Day 2 @ 4:00 PM. We tasted an assortment of wines with various types of foods to learn how the right wine/food pairing can enhance the flavors of both. Tasting portions were very small, but more than enough for purposes of this event. Again, this was expertly led and very informative. We greatly enjoyed this event, which lasted a little over an hour.

 

5. Walk Around the World - CellarMasters: Day 2 @ 6:00 PM. This conflicted with an Aqua Spa appointment - so we missed it.

 

5. Galley Tour: Day 6 @ 10:00 AM. A little too much partying on Day 5 made it impossible for us to get to this event :rolleyes:.

 

6. Wine Pairing luncheon - Tuscan Grille: Day 6 @ 11:30. This was a three course meal that was delectable. I intentionally selected dishes I'd tasted many times before and I tried several bites of each before enjoying the wine with each course. The pairings made foods I'd tasted before come alive. I've never been one to order wine with meals, but I'm a convert after this meal. The service was wonderful as well. This event lasted about 90 minutes and was the highlight of the kirland experience for me.

 

7. Riedel workshop - CellarMasters: Day 6 @ 1:00PM. We headed straight for this workshop after the Tuscan Grille luncheon. With three glass of wine under my belt already, I was not really looking forward to drinking more right away. However, I was won over by the sommelier. She gave a detailed history of the glassmaker and, of course, explained how the glasses work differently than any other to enhance the flavor of various type of wine. This was an eye openning experience and I was very pleased to have my own set of the glasses. [TIP: if you intend to cary off your glasses, bring along duct tape in your luggage. When you're packing up to leave the ship, wrap the tape around your box of glasses a few times leaving excess tape on the top which you can use as a handle. The boxes are about 16 inches and cube shaped with no handles, so it would be difficult to manage otherwise.]

 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the kirkland experience. I was looking forward to enomatic tasting, but this was not on our list of activities for some reason. I would certainly recommend the kirkland package to others.

 

Let me know if you have any questions - and I'll do my best to answer.

[westcoastsue]

Diane,

 

Thanks for posting this information so quickly after your return. We leave on October 17th and the anticipation is growing - in part thanks to your review! Do you remember what kind of wine was provided for the cabin?

 

Thanks again. I'm looking forward to your complete review.

 

Sue

[chamima]

Was the Riedel workshop something you did on your own or was it part of the package from Kirkland? I don't remember that being part of the package I saw.

[westcoastsue]

Diane,

 

Was the wine pairing luncheon the same menu as previously posted by wineluvr?

 

It sounds like one could spend the entire cruise pleasantly buzzed!

 

I'm looking forward to hearing back from you.

 

Sue

[fisherlvnv]

Hi Diane,

Welcome back! Thanks for being so kind and posting so quickly after your return. It appears most of the events are on the days at sea. Is that correct? Did you have any conflict with any days at port? What kind of wine was in your room? I look forward to your review.

[Lois R]

Hi Diane, I thought about you and hope you had a great cruise:)

(besides all the wine stuff;)) hope you enjoyed Solstice too:D

[DSJ28]

Diane,

 

Thanks for posting this information so quickly after your return. We leave on October 17th and the anticipation is growing - in part thanks to your review! Do you remember what kind of wine was provided for the cabin?

 

Thanks again. I'm looking forward to your complete review.

 

Sue

 

Hi Sue,

 

I was happy to post. I was drinking in every one of wineluvr's details as soon as he posted - so I know how you feel. I recall a bottle of Wente chardonnay and something from Peru which we drank before the first event :rolleyes: - I believe it was a merlot.

[DSJ28]

Was the Riedel workshop something you did on your own or was it part of the package from Kirkland? I don't remember that being part of the package I saw.

 

Hi Karen,

 

The Riedel workshop is not really part of the kirkland package. Participation is open to anyone on the ship. However, it is included on the list of kirkland events as an optional event at a cost of $87 per person. I noticed that most people in the Reidel workshop were NOT part of the kirkland group. There were only about 15 people are so at the Reidel workshop.

[DSJ28]

Diane,

 

Was the wine pairing luncheon the same menu as previously posted by wineluvr?

 

It sounds like one could spend the entire cruise pleasantly buzzed!

 

I'm looking forward to hearing back from you.

 

Sue

 

I'm so glad you asked - I checked wineluvr's menu and I can tell you that nothing on the Tuscan menu we had was on the one wineluvr had. Now I'm really wishing I had taken a menu. There were three courses (two choices for each course) and an amuse bouche. I recall that we had an amuse bouche of tomato and mozzarella, crostini with various toppings and proscutto wrapped breadstick (I remember that the other option was steak tartare), and sea bass (which was yummmmmmmmmm). Dessert was tiramisu (the other option was creme brule).

 

I was definitely feeling the wine that day. I'd had 7 glasses in 3 hours! That's a record for me :eek:. But it was all incredibly good. You will love it! In all, I had 18 glasses of wine as part of the kirkland events.

[DSJ28]

Hi Diane,

Welcome back! Thanks for being so kind and posting so quickly after your return. It appears most of the events are on the days at sea. Is that correct? Did you have any conflict with any days at port? What kind of wine was in your room? I look forward to your review.

 

Thanks fisherlvnv - I'm glad to be able to bring back more news - though I wish I could have done as well as wineluvr did in getting such a nicely scanned schedule and menu.

 

Yes, almost everything was scheduled for a sea day. I believe there was an exception for the Cayman Island day. We had to be back on the ship rather early (3:45 I think) and I vaguely recall an activity around 5:30, but I can't for the life of me think what it must have been. Hmmm... I will have to call my travel buddy and see if she remembers or can locate the schedule of events.

 

As for what was in the room, we had a chardonnay and a merlot.

[DSJ28]

Hi Diane, I thought about you and hope you had a great cruise:)

(besides all the wine stuff;)) hope you enjoyed Solstice too:D

 

Hi Lois,

 

I thought about you the week before - I hope you had a fantastic cruise! Did you drive to FLL? I did - it was a wonderful ride and the weather here at home has been heavenly. I had an incredible time on the trip. I'm not sure I ever need to cruise again as I have now experienced perfection and can want for nothing more....(too dramatic? :p). It was awesome.

[Lois R]

Hi Lois,

 

I thought about you the week before - I hope you had a fantastic cruise! Did you drive to FLL? I did - it was a wonderful ride and the weather here at home has been heavenly. I had an incredible time on the trip. I'm not sure I ever need to cruise again as I have now experienced perfection and can want for nothing more....(too dramatic? :p). It was awesome.

 

Hi Diane, glad you had such a great time:)...too dramatic? Possibly;)

To say you want for nothing more though? I would have thought you

would have said you already put a deposit down for another cruise:D

 

Yes, I had a wonderful cruise too (but I always do:)).

 

No, I did not drive down. SW flies for about 150.00 roundtriip. Much

easier and though I don't mind driving down there I have no desire

to drive back home 5 hours after a cruise.

 

Glad you had fun:)

[westcoastsue]

Diane,

 

Thanks for answering my questions. The luncheon sounds amazing! As if cruising wasn't enough fun already, to add all these great events at no additional cost is incredible. I'm traveling with a girlfriend who has never sailed Celebrity before - it sounds like she will be truly wowed. My husband & I did the Reidel Workshop a couple of years back - it's unbelievable that a glass can make such a difference to the taste of wine. We're still enjoying our set of glasses - now watch me go break one!

 

What else did you enjoy during the week? Any don't miss recommendations?

 

Thanks,

 

Sue

[DSJ28]

Diane,

 

Thanks for answering my questions. The luncheon sounds amazing! As if cruising wasn't enough fun already, to add all these great events at no additional cost is incredible. I'm traveling with a girlfriend who has never sailed Celebrity before - it sounds like she will be truly wowed. My husband & I did the Reidel Workshop a couple of years back - it's unbelievable that a glass can make such a difference to the taste of wine. We're still enjoying our set of glasses - now watch me go break one!

 

What else did you enjoy during the week? Any don't miss recommendations?

 

Thanks,

 

Sue

 

No problem - I'm happy to share. I traveled with my best friend and we left the guys at home. It was too much fun for words.

 

As for don't miss recommendations....

 

1. warm ceramic tiled loungers in the persian gardens (they get warmer as you lie on them- feels great after a long day in port)

2. if you have a veranda, order breakfast room service and have breakfast there (order waffles - they're sooo yummmm)

3. kelly broadway in the ensemble lounge - she's the best singer on the cruise

4. murano - have the ice cream filled crepe with strawberry flambay for dessert...heaven.

5. bistro on five - i'm not sure why there wasn't a line around the ship waiting for these things, but next to murano, the best food onboard is in the bistro on five...imho

6. karoke - the terrible singing is most amusing

7. relaxation lounge - try this after spending time on the ceramic loungers...this is a delightful way to just chill out while everyone else is near the pool

8. scrapbooking - it's free and you can just pick up the kit to take home if you don't want to stay

 

If you're doing the Western Caribbean itinerary I highly recommend the Celebrity Mexican Quisine cooking class in Cozumel and the private ATV tour in Costa Maya (the vendor is located just outside of the port). Also, if you are going to Costa Maya, you can take a backpack filled with school supplies to guest services and they'll deliver them to KM55 (the local primary school house). They are in need of ...well...everything...and any little bit helps. You can also contact Kevin Graham with Costa Maya Living (google him) if you'd like to visit the school. We visited for about an hour and it was a wonderful experience for us.

 

Whatever else you do - have a wonderful cruise!!! :)

[wineluvr]

Has anyone heard whether the 2011 Kirkland Wine Cruises have been announced? Rumor is that the 2011 program will be in the Mediterranean on X! I've been checking the website but haven't seen anything yet.

[curiouscat]

Dare I ask what is a Kirkland wine cruise?

 

 

CC

[fisherlvnv]

Kirkland is the Costco brand. They offered cruises with lots of added benefits and the price was the same as going through Celebrity. There are several tastings, a pairing lunch, OBC and bottles of wine in your stateroom.

[wineluvr]

Wanted to share this great Celebrity Cruises Wine Video I just found on You Tube. Can't wait for our next cruise! http://www.youtube.com/celebritycruises#p/c/3E03BE48733A885C/8/QjtQUIfrxqk

[wineluvr]

@1Pugluvr: Agree! And like this year it appears that there are no extra charges for all the wine events and winemaker luncheon in Tuscan Grill! I just checked the X website and prices for these sailings are the same as Kirkland is charging for the winemaker cruises with all the added perks and wine tasting events. Not exactly sure how they do it but I see it as a win for us!