Oceania News - Insignia Refurb/Dom Perignon Dinner

[StanandJim]

3 hours ago, Shawnino said:

I wonder if this Dom-fest is the replacement for the Odyssey Menu.

I doubt that the Dom Perignon people would allow this "event" to be offered often enough to replace the Odyssey Menu.  

[Shawnino]

8 hours ago, StanandJim said:

I doubt that the Dom Perignon people would allow this "event" to be offered often enough to replace the Odyssey Menu.  

 

Odyssey was only offered once per leg on our recent B2B.

I don't see why Dom wouldn't be offered once per leg at least, if demand warrants.

At $295++ they may struggle with demand though. When we went, the $99 dinners (CB; Odyssey) sold better than the $165 Connoisseur. On one leg, the Connoisseur was shelved for lack of uptake.

[StanandJim]

2 hours ago, Shawnino said:

 

Odyssey was only offered once per leg on our recent B2B.

I don't see why Dom wouldn't be offered once per leg at least, if demand warrants.

At $295++ they may struggle with demand though. When we went, the $99 dinners (CB; Odyssey) sold better than the $165 Connoisseur. On one leg, the Connoisseur was shelved for lack of uptake.

As I understand it, the concern is not so much about demand, but that the Dom dinners should not be seen as "run of the mill".

[pinotlover]

I have no clue as to what Jim&Stan were referring. These Dom Dinners are both an excellent upscale event for Oceania to up its game on the food front, but also a nice marketing deal for Dom to get their products in front of customers that are perhaps not familiar with them yet have the financial wherewithal to buy them. A constant occurrence is having someone come into the wine shop and say “ I had this wine on our cruise, can I buy it here!”.

 

I’ll again repeat what I’ve posted numerous times, posters on this Board have zero concept of bulk rate ( cruise ship) alcohol prices as compared to liquor store retailer prices. Zero! This is even more amplified by marketing opportunities such as this. As far as Dom is concerned, Oceania could run these events nightly. High end bubbly sales have been suffering worldwide of late and any attempt to get their products out in front of potential future buyers, in such an atmosphere, is a godsend for the Champagne houses. 

 

 

[Shawnino]

4 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

 

 

I’ll again repeat what I’ve posted numerous times, posters on this Board have zero concept of bulk rate ( cruise ship) alcohol prices as compared to liquor store retailer prices. Zero! This is even more amplified by marketing opportunities such as this. As far as Dom is concerned, Oceania could run these events nightly. High end bubbly sales have been suffering worldwide of late and any attempt to get their products out in front of potential future buyers, in such an atmosphere, is a godsend for the Champagne houses. 

 

 

 

This.

 

Something else PL discussed before was the old menus potentially struggling with new vintages. This shake-up would allow Dom to shift vintages which they think represent the house well -- but still represent excess inventory.

[warburg]

Greetings, Everyone, from South Beach. Yesterday we booked the Dom Perigron dinner for March 9th on Riviera. It is our wedding anniversary and my birthday. I mentioned it to my husband, and he said he'd like to do it. We are Champagne fans. We owned a condo in Paris for three years and had access to wonderful wines, including Champagne. We do drink it with certain foods and it is wonderful. 

 

We discovered O in 2004, and have enjoyed the line ever since. If we can't find the right combination of itinerary and timing on O or Regent, we do sail other lines. This time O won because our special day is right in the middle. Lucky us. 

Mary

[StanandJim]

1 hour ago, warburg said:

It is our wedding anniversary and my birthday.

You got married on your birthday?  

[sammiedawg]

23 hours ago, LHT28 said:

it said it was $295. pp

 

Pretty steep for those of us who don’t care for bubbly. 

 

The best deal on Oceania is Privee,   $250 and you can invite up to ten guests.   Alcohol not included.  We love this venue.  

[pinotlover]

Sammiedawg;

 

We love great bubbly.

 

We also really enjoy Privee. We are doing a wine dinner there on our cruise next month. Service and ambiance is always spectacular there.

 

However, at the end of the day, the menus and food is still a combo of Polo Grill and Toscana, same ole same ole 15 year old menus , and nothing new or special. For us, It’s always the great wines everyone brings to share and companionships enjoyed that makes the night so special. Our corkage fees always far surpasses any prorated share of the $250 usage fees! 😂

 

For us, having new and exciting menus along with multiple Doms to try anew is a welcomed treat! If one watches that video and doesn’t just smack their lips or say they’d rather just eat in the PG, that’s a personal statement on their part! Each to their own. 

[warburg]

Greetings from South Beach, StanandJim. Yes, we did get married on my birthday. One might say that I wanted an unusual present. This will be the second time we celebrated this occasion on Riviera. The last time it was in La Reserve. We had a wonderful time that evening.

Mary

[rallydave]

On 1/16/2019 at 2:05 PM, Paulchili said:

Ouch 🙂

Plus 18% so add another $53.10 so most probably more than dinner ashore.

[rallydave]

22 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Plus 18% so add another $53.10 so most probably more than dinner ashore.

And, that's per person so  $696.20 per couple.

[Paulchili]

3 hours ago, sammiedawg said:

 

Pretty steep for those of us who don’t care for bubbly. 

 

The best deal on Oceania is Privee,   $250 and you can invite up to ten guests.   Alcohol not included.  We love this venue.  

Once again I am with you as I tend to be 99% of the time 

I sure hope our paths will cross at some point in the future on Oceania.

We have enjoyed Privee a couple of times - always for OBC. A nice way to invite friends old and new to celebrate the end of a good cruise.

[sammiedawg]

45 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Once again I am with you as I tend to be 99% of the time 

I sure hope our paths will cross at some point in the future on Oceania.

We have enjoyed Privee a couple of times - always for OBC. A nice way to invite friends old and new to celebrate the end of a good cruise.

 

Great minds think alike!  

Would love to meet up some time on an Oceania ship.  

[RetiredLifer]

27 minutes ago, sammiedawg said:

 

Great minds think alike!  

Would love to meet up some time on an Oceania ship.  

If you two think so much alike, it would like talking to yourself! Might be boring🙂

[Paulchili]

35 minutes ago, RetiredLifer said:

If you two think so much alike, it would like talking to yourself! Might be boring🙂

But you would always be right (and hopefully courteous also)

[Mura]

We've loved our La Reserve evenings but I doubt we'd do the Dom Perignon -- not really because of the cost (although we DO consider that steep).  But mostly because while we like a glass of bubbly, we wouldn't really want an evening of bubbly!  For champagne lovers, this sounds like a wonderful dinner.

 

We've done these dinners I think maybe five times -- twice in Connoisseur.  No empty seats on our cruises!

 

Mura

[babysteps]

The price doesn't seem too out of whack compared to recreating the experience on land - depending on your market and how much you tend to drink at a wine dinner lol.  With the dinner offered once per sailing, in a perfectly balanced market O might want to price the dinner so that just under 2% of passengers found it compelling - perhaps, based on comments here, they have just about hit that mark 

Edited January 18, 2019 by babysteps

[pinotlover]

One of the common complaints of La Reserve is the overall quality of wines. With this meal, one is getting fabulous wines. Is it over priced? Are the shore excursions, ship transfers, hotel stays with Oceania overpriced? It’s Oceania, so of course the price is steep!!!

 

The food in La Reserve has , IMO, always been the best on ship by far. I see this meal as a one time extravagant experience that I’m doing for the experience and which I consider myself fortunate to be able to do. To me, it’s like me paying to play Pebble Beach or many of the other great golf courses I’ve played. Could I have just played the muni at home and saved money. Yep! Would I pay the current price to play Pebble Beach again? Probably Not. Any regrets in doing so that first time? Absolutely Not! We love bubbly and drink it regularly. Pinot Noir is a major component after all!😀 So, we’re highly looking forward to this probably one time event/ experience, with its NEW and exciting menu ( I know how some here hate the words new and menu together in one sentence) and will let you know next month how it went.

[ORV]

18 hours ago, rallydave said:

Plus 18% so add another $53.10 so most probably more than dinner ashore.

But are you going to be drinking Dom with that meal ashore? Just how much is a bottle in most restaurants? $250-$500 maybe? I know it's around $150-$200 in the local store, most restaurants have a markup at least 2 to 3 times retail. 

Edited January 18, 2019 by ORV

[Jancruz]

Stuart and I  are trying out the Dom dinner on RVA January 29 so I will be happy to post what I think..In truth I also do not like the Connoisseur dinner in La Reserve..

Jancruz1

[Jancruz]

Double Post

Edited January 22, 2019 by Jancruz
double post

[willmschen]

We are on Riviera right now, and enjoyed the very first ever Dom dinner last night. The food and Dom pairings were excellent. The pours of champagne were small, but they offered several refills. I am attaching the menu with descriptions of both the Dom and food. One thing missing from the first course description is the mention of the beautiful slice of fois gras. At $295 plus 18% gratuity per person, it is expensive, but where else can you have three vintages of Dom Perignon in one sitting. 

[pinotlover]

Thanks for the review and menu! Looking forward to our 2/13 Dinner on the Marina!

[pinotlover]

We did our Dom La Reserve event last night and all I can say is INCREDIBLE!

 

The food is the best food of all the La Reserve Dinners. The pairings were made by the Dom people and simply exquisite. The wines magnificent. They actually have a real sommelier for this event not one of the wine servers pretending to be one! That is a huge added bonus!

 

Last night’s dinner was the second one offered aboard the Marina. It has been offered once on Riveria. We had 17 in attendance. Later in the cruise their will be a special wine bar in La Reserve where one can get Dom by the glass and special appetizers will be served along side.

 

If one is a true wine and foodie this should be a don’t miss event at least once!