Does Royal Caribbean have a Martini Tasting?

[firstcruise05]

Yes, it was at a pretty bad time. We had late seating...we went to Vintages dressed in our formal clothes and got to dinner a little late. I'm thinking ours was at 7 or 7:30. I'll have to check my compass.

 

MCCA, we also went in Oct. Did you do the Eastern sailing on the 16th by any chance? If so...the other flavors were lemon drop, banana, and the french martini. Otherwise, your madness sounded exactly like ours. I would go again in a heartbeat.

[firstcruise05]

I just checked my cruise compass and yes...it was at 7:45.

 

" 7:45-8:30 Shaken, Not Stirred "007 Bond" Martini Madness"

 

is what it is called in the compass.

 

And I found my receipt for it as well. On the Mariner at least it WAS $20 per person but with a gratuity added so for the 2 of us we paid a total of $45.88.

 

We each had about 7 martinis so it definately was worth the price but like I said before...to get the value of it you need to be able to drink them fast.

[vvnh16a]

FirstCruise

You had 7 Martinis (each) in 45 minutes...............I drink (and enjoy) Martinis but i find that hard to believe if they were full size martinis and not tasters. Someone earlier mentioned that Martini Madness was for 2 hours which would make more sense.....just to get everyone waited on!

 

Rich in N Va

[mcca2]

FirstCruise

You had 7 Martinis (each) in 45 minutes...............I drink (and enjoy) Martinis but i find that hard to believe if they were full size martinis and not tasters. Someone earlier mentioned that Martini Madness was for 2 hours which would make more sense.....just to get everyone waited on!

 

Rich in N Va

Rich, Firstcruise05 is correct. It started at 7.45 and there were 6 martini's. I had forgotten the banana one. We had dinner at Portofino's at 8.30 although we were about 10mins late. Not everyone drank all of their Martini's. We didn't like the sweet ones, so left the cosmo. But if you wanted to you could drink them all.

 

They had the tables and glasses preset, and the barman made the martini's "en masse" so they didn't really have to wait on anyone. When we started off there were about 8 of us and by the time we left or had had enough, other folk were coming in. I hope this helps.

 

Firstcruise, We were on the Eastern Caribbean Oct 30.

 

Kate.

[weazie]

Does anyone know if they offer this on a 5 day cruise on the Enchantment? I would love to do this.

[vvnh16a]

MCCA

Thanks for the clarification . It certainly sounds like RCL should allow more time for people to enjoy this"party" fuction for downing 7 martinis in 45 minutes would be curtin's for most people unless they are simply "tasters".

 

Fisrtcruise

I should have never doubted you..but RCL should know better that James Bond would need time to apprectiate a good aMartini especially if he could distinguish "shaken not Stirred".

I remember that on Celebrity this function was called Martini Tasting and it free 5-6 years ago and then became a $5 cover .....$20 as you describe it seems a bit stiff especially if you only have 45 minutes to drink the offerings.

 

Rich in N Va

[mcca2]

MCCA

Thanks for the clarification . It certainly sounds like RCL should allow more time for people to enjoy this"party" fuction for downing 7 martinis in 45 minutes would be curtin's for most people unless they are simply "tasters".

 

Fisrtcruise

I should have never doubted you..but RCL should know better that James Bond would need time to apprectiate a good aMartini especially if he could distinguish "shaken not Stirred".

I remember that on Celebrity this function was called Martini Tasting and it free 5-6 years ago and then became a $5 cover .....$20 as you describe it seems a bit stiff especially if you only have 45 minutes to drink the offerings.

 

Rich in N Va

Rich, I think I was suggesting that it started at 7.45 and we left for dinner at 8.30, but not everyone did as I believe some may have had early dinner. The party was still going when we left. I think lasted a little longer.

 

There are a few pics on my webshots page 3

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/mcca2

 

Kate

[firstcruise05]

MCCA

Thanks for the clarification . It certainly sounds like RCL should allow more time for people to enjoy this"party" fuction for downing 7 martinis in 45 minutes would be curtin's for most people unless they are simply "tasters".

 

Fisrtcruise

I should have never doubted you..but RCL should know better that James Bond would need time to apprectiate a good aMartini especially if he could distinguish "shaken not Stirred".

I remember that on Celebrity this function was called Martini Tasting and it free 5-6 years ago and then became a $5 cover .....$20 as you describe it seems a bit stiff especially if you only have 45 minutes to drink the offerings.

 

Rich in N Va

 

For our cruise, it did end between 8:30 and approximately 8:45...we were having so much fun that we stayed until the very end. We were also seated with a mother and son team at a four top who were really sweet...part of our fun was talking and laughing with them. We had late seating and were a little late getting to dinner but we also took a pre-dinner formal night photo. We got there right before everyone ordered but later than the bread offerings. LOL. It would have been better (IMO) if they started it a bit earlier.

 

No need to explain the doubt, it does sound crazy! And let me tell you, there was no time to savor the martinis unless you wanted to skip some of the other flavors. It was chug them or miss the next kind. Pretty much what I did was: Get the martini...take a couple of savoring sips...remark how tasty it was...here the bartender announce the next flavor...say "OHHH....I want to try that and guzzle the rest of the martini...rinse and repeat. Some people DID take their time drinking and appreciating each of the martinis that they had but then they had to skip a few of them, so they may have had 4 instead of 7.

 

I think the only flavor we had that MCCA didn't have was the lemon. VERY GOOD...otherwise both sailings seemed to have the same flavors which is weird because he polled our audience and made whatever we asked for. Our formal night photo taken at the dining table shows just how much fun we had at martini madness...we look VERY relaxed. ;)

[vvnh16a]

Kate

Your picture on p.3 for Martini Madness speaks a 1,000 words......certainly looks like a full Martini glass was used...definitely not taster glasses. What a shame to hurry you through this for I know it would be fun as you say justy to comapre notes with the other tasters.

 

FirstCruise.......Im sure there were no complaints about dinner that night.

 

Rich in N VA

[VaCruzers]

I certainly hope they offer this on the Jewel on our cruise next month. We sailed HAL Zuiderdam in May (before I get bashed let me say that HAL was not our choice, it was an award trip for my husband thru his employer) and we attended 2 mixology classes where we were instructed on how to make 5 or 6 cocktails and were served each one. Sometimes you had to drink quickly to keep up, but somehow we always managed. I think it was $9.95 per person. Not all the drinks were martinis, but several were. My favorite was a grapefruit cosmopolitan. Best of all, we were given the recipes for each drink. I have altered some of them slightly to better suit our tastes, but we are definitely enjoying the results of that class. I love making cocktails for our friends when they visit. They all beg for "Debbie's Lucious Lemon Drop", my rendition of the HAL Lemon Drop martini. I'd love the chance to try some new things for new ideas. Thanks for all the info.

[wastin' away]

Anyone know if this is offered on all RCI ships? Or, more specifically on Explorer? Sounds like a blast!

[mcca2]

I am hoping it will be on the Jewel for our cruise next year. We will probably arrange to go to Chops at 9.00pm so we will have time to finish them all. :D

 

Kate.

[clutch1130]

Hello all,

Just touching base with fellow cruisers. My wife and I, along with six of our friends are sailing on the same cruise. We have been on other cruises, however our friends are first timers and we are all looking forward to it. I guess with the outside temp. at 25 and chance of snow tonight has made me check out this forum to ease the pain of WINTER. My wife Carroll is turning 40 :( Feb. 28th and we are looking for a party she will remember for a long time. We will keep in touch.

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[Sailfish]

Hi Everyone!

 

I am the OP and thought I would touch base with you all; just got back from our short cruise aboard the Monarch (4 night Baja out of LA). No, there was no Martini tasting or the like on the ship. We had a good time, and bought a martini or two in the Viking Crown Lounge (quite pricey, though).

 

Too bad...