a couple of questions

[dfishner]

I know from our past cruises on RCL and X there are some benefits to booking your next cruise while on board ship does Azamara anything like that and if so what?

 

In looking at the Aqualina menu standard and tasting and wine pairing that the menu offerings are the same if I am not mistaken and with Azamara all ready offering wine with dinner can anyone tell me what is the difference between the two. I all ready fiqured that you are probably offered more varieties of wine throughout the dinner and another course. I do think the cost of the the tasting menu is reasonable just trying to fiqure out what are the differences.

[jcrandle]

While I have not been to an Aqualina pairing, and therefore can't comment on that, I can attest that the included wines with lunch and dinner were very satisfactory to us. We were offered a choice of red or white (and could switch if the first glass didn't please our taste). The wines chosen were rotated during our 12 night cruise, and often we had different choices offered for lunch vs dinner. I felt that all of the wines offered were good representations of the grape variety. We only observed one instance where our neighbors at an adjacent table found their bottle to be "corky". It was immediately replaced with another bottle of the same, and they were very happy with the replacement.

 

Since we were pleased with the included choices, we did not investigate any possible pairings offerings. Other cruisers may have more knowledge of this.

[maryann ns]

The wine pairing meal on the menu is some of the offerings on the regular menu paired up with wines to complement each course. We have never taken this option. We found the daily included wines on our March cruise to be very good and, except for the dinner mentioned below, that is all we drank.

 

However, there is at least one special wine connoisseur dinner during each cruise. Here the food offerings are not from the regular menu. We paid $60 each for this on both our cruises and enjoyed them very much. Each course of food is paired with a very good wine, and all are introduced and explained by the sommelier and the host. I believe that if you are staying in a suite, you will be invited to partake in these. But anyone can ask to be included which is what we did. Upon boarding, we went to Aqualina to book our specialty restaurant meals and to ask about the wine connoisseur dinner. We also heard about the latter when the sommelier came to our table in Discoveries.

[suec12]

Last Oct. you could get a discount for a future on board booking - amount depended on length of cruise and cabin category.

 

As to the observation about the wine pairing dinner - I had the same thoughts as the OP - since the menu seemed to be the same, and house wine was included, I am not enough of a wine connessieur to pay $50 more per person.

[dfishner]

The wine pairing meal on the menu is some of the offerings on the regular menu paired up with wines to complement each course. We have never taken this option. We found the daily included wines on our March cruise to be very good and, except for the dinner mentioned below, that is all we drank.

 

However, there is at least one special wine connoisseur dinner during each cruise. Here the food offerings are not from the regular menu. We paid $60 each for this on both our cruises and enjoyed them very much. Each course of food is paired with a very good wine, and all are introduced and explained by the sommelier and the host. I believe that if you are staying in a suite, you will be invited to partake in these. But anyone can ask to be included which is what we did. Upon boarding, we went to Aqualina to book our specialty restaurant meals and to ask about the wine connoisseur dinner. We also heard about the latter when the sommelier came to our table in Discoveries.

 

Thank you for the information about the wine connoisseur dinner I did not realize Azamara did that it is not mentioned anywhere that one I would do so I will check when we board the ship.