Cellar Master Package-Double

[SecondComing]

Anyone have opinions/experience with the cellar master package offered? We have an 12 day 11 night cruise coming up, and thought this might be fun, although not sure if the price is worth it. We love wine, and I'm not sure that these wines are to our taste. We usually drink Napa/Sonoma Cabs and Merlots, not necessarily expensive, but decent, good qualilty wine, something you might pick up at a grocery store for $20-25 a bottle. Thoughts?

[ayeamcdn]

Also Interested in the answers/views of this Cellar Master's Package - Double. How many meals does it include? When it says 2 tastings on a 20 day cruise, is that 2 tastings for 2 people? What wines & how many bottles or glasses? CC answers all the questions, I'm surprised there's no answer to SecondComing's query. Here's hoping a better description of this pkg is forth coming.

Edited May 26, 2015 by ayeamcdn

[kazu]

Anyone have opinions/experience with the cellar master package offered? We have an 12 day 11 night cruise coming up, and thought this might be fun, although not sure if the price is worth it. We love wine, and I'm not sure that these wines are to our taste. We usually drink Napa/Sonoma Cabs and Merlots, not necessarily expensive, but decent, good qualilty wine, something you might pick up at a grocery store for $20-25 a bottle. Thoughts?

 

I'm not sure if the wines at the wine tasting will be to your taste either. They are from the Navigator and Admiral package. If you look at the on line purchases - beverages - wine packages, you will get a good idea of what wines are in these packages. There are a couple that are decent (for us, at least), but I think you might want to take a look at the wines as I suspect they may not be as good a quality as what you are buying.

 

 

 

Also Interested in the answers/views of this Cellar Master's Package - Double. How many meals does it include? When it says 2 tastings on a 20 day cruise, is that 2 tastings for 2 people? What wines & how many bottles or glasses? CC answers all the questions, I'm surprised there's no answer to SecondComing's query. Here's hoping a better description of this pkg is forth coming.

 

I think the OP is referring to the description - Cellar Master - double is for two people. So, yes it is two tastings for two people and two dinners for two.

 

What types of wines are mentioned above in my answer to the OP. There are normally 4 glasses of wine at each tasting - 2 white and 2 red. The glasses are filled about 1/4-1/3 of the way.

[puppycanducruise]

We purchased this package on a cruise about 2 years ago. I hope my memory is correct.

We received 5 (or was it 6) bottles of wine. We selected from a list from the Wine Steward in the MDR.

There was one bottle of wine in our cabin upon arrival. We did not select it, but we drank it!

We also had 2 nights dinner for 2 in the Pinnacle. Although we could not make reservations before embarkation, a quick visit to the Pinnacle got our dinners arranged.

We also got 3 wine tastings for 2. The first was held in the MDR and we got about 4 tastings of wine. The Cellar Master also gave away several bottles of sparkling wine (birthday, anniversary etc). The second tasting was in one of the bars (can't remember which). The Cellar Master said he "didn't want to see an empty glass!". We had a lovely hour, tasted several wines and had a nice chat with a couple from Texas. The third tasting was held in the Pinnacle Bar and paired wine with appetizers. It started with champagne (the real stuff) and ended with a lovely port. Appetizers included bread, pate and shrimp. The 3 tastings, if purchased separately, would have cost $15, $25 and $35 per person. Needless to say the third tasting had the fewest participants. I don't know if we would have splurged for the tastings if they weren't included in the package, but we sure enjoyed them!

We also received a gift - some wine charms.

I think our package cost around $300.

We might have purchased the Cellar Master Package for our upcoming cruise, but we got the SBP included as a perq, so I hope we like that. But, we'll have to pay extra for the wine tastings.

Hope this helps.

[Ryten]

If you are referring to the cellar master "package" I believe that the offer is for the four bottles of wine listed in the offer. This would likely include two separate wine tasting events. One is for the lesser priced bottles in the one package and the second is for the better bottles. Our experience is that the pours at the tastings are relatively small, however depending on the turnout and the sommelier, a second "taste" may be offered. IMO, if you are used to California Cabs etc at the $20 range you will likely be disappointed in the lesser priced package wines offered. With regard to their better package, be aware that is a limited selection of California wines, with a very high (at least 60%) selection of Washington state wines. There are a couple of good Chileans, Spanish and Italian offerings on the regular wine list. Be also aware that if you are on a longer cruise ( we finished a TA in May for 15 days) the supply is limited and a selection may not be available later in the cruise, as we had a bottle of a Sterling Cab on the 4th night only to be told they had no more on the 11th night.

 

We have found that we are better off just ordering off the wine list and trying a few that looked interesting and going back to those 3-4 bottles.

 

Also there will likely be a master cellar wine dinner at the pinnacle grill one evening ($89?) where they will pair some nice wines with a four course meal. There is a sparkling wine offered while you wait to be seated and then a very good meal with wine that is sometimes not listed on the regular list. We enjoyed this evening very much. Good luck and enjoy.