Is Cellar Masters Under Used

[Newbury newbie]

Cellar Masters occupies a great area on the ships but I get the feeling that it’s too specialised (as a wine bar obviously) and under utilised as a result. Whenever I look in there’s never many in there. Would it be better used if fitted out as some other theme. Dare I say it, but would we be better served with an area decked out with a British Pub sort of thing. Like a bar to sit at and further seating around? What do others think?

[JeanieC,Aston]

Hi

I disembarked Silhouette on Sunday.

One officer told me it was going to be converted into a Gastro Pub selling snacks as the Passport bar used to do.

[bookitdanno]

On Equinox, Cellar Masters has been replaced with exactly what you are describing.

The area is called Social Craft, has a lot of craft beers, and gets a considerable amount of use.

[George C]

7 minutes ago, Newbury newbie said:

Cellar Masters occupies a great area on the ships but I get the feeling that it’s too specialised (as a wine bar obviously) and under utilised as a result. Whenever I look in there’s never many in there. Would it be better used if fitted out as some other theme. Dare I say it, but would we be better served with an area decked out with a British Pub sort of thing. Like a bar to sit at and further seating around? What do others think?

Yes would love to see a pub like rccl has.

[davekathy]

We were on the Summit September 2019 and agree about Cellar Masters needs to be replaced. The Summit just went thru her revolution and they forgot to update Cellar Masters. It looks exactly the way it did when we were on the Summit 2014 cruise. We've never spent anytime in Cellar Masters either time other than just walking thru or meeting the CC hostess to be escorted to the CC priority tender. 

[cruisestitch]

It has multiple uses. On some itineraries, that is where customs and immigration meet you to check your passport.   Sometimes it is used for cruise critic Connections get together’s. It can be a meeting spot for those who will be dining with an officer.  So it isn’t just a wine bar, although that is its primary evening use.

[chemmo]

56 minutes ago, bookitdanno said:

On Equinox, Cellar Masters has been replaced with exactly what you are describing.

The area is called Social Craft, has a lot of craft beers, and gets a considerable amount of use.

 

It was quiet on the couple of occasions we passed by...

[Northern Aurora]

I am posting from the Constellation.  We are on the middle leg of a B2B2B.  On the first leg and on the current leg Cellar Masters has been incredibly packed during the evening.  In addition to the uses already mentioned, it is being designated as a "quiet" area in the mornings, and is surprisingly full of folks reading or working on their computers.

[awhfy]

It was always quite busy on Eclipse two weeks ago, actually overcrowded a couple of nights

[gfkcruiser]

I always thought it was a waste of space until my last two cruises.  Was very busy in the evening, especially before dinner.  Service was fantastic.  Hope to use it again in December.  Can order drinks and wine.  

 

We were on the Equinox after the conversion to Gastro PUb.  Did not purchase any food but my DH took advantage of the opportunity to try the many different beers.  We did have a drink package on that cruise.  Was not that busy most times but that was a few years ago.  Will be back on Equinox in 2021.

[jelayne]

We were on the Summit in July and  Cellar Masters was busy every evening until about 8:30.    Many nights it got busy again after the show.  
On the M Class ships  Cellar  Masters is more of a full bar than on the SClass ships where the focus is primarily wines. 

[Kartgv]

We were on Summit just 2 weeks ago and became very frustrated with Cellar Masters.    We'd usually go around 6:00-6:15 for a pre-dinner drink; there were usually a few tables available, but not many.   We enjoyed most of the entertainment groups they had there.    We had some problems though:   first, almost each night, we couldn't get served at a table - simply no staff around until about 6:30.    We usually went to the bar and got our own drinks.    The other issue was, for a supposed "Wine Bar", what staff there was knew or cared amazingly little about wine.    The selection was very limited, they poured the wrong wines, used the wrong glasses, etc.    We liked the location on the Summit (a great place to wait with your buzzer while waiting every night to be seated in Blu - but that's another story!), but on some other ships (I believe Solstice for example) Cellar Masters is somewhat closed off, so there's no activity to watch while you're enjoying a drink.   

[cruisestitch]

On S class ships that space is also used for wine and liquor tasting events, in addition to what I mentioned above.

[the_dylaness]

We liked the concept on Solstice in 2010 or so...

With our drinks package on Reflection in November 2018 we found it VERY underutilized and understaffed but also the only place we could get many of the premium wines.

[cachouonacruise]

We visited Cellar Masters on Solstice, Infinity and avoided it on Constellation. 

 

The reason: In my opinion it is misrepresented. This is too bad, since in my opinion, the concept had merits.

 

With such a name, I was expecting an opportunity to discover, taste and experience wines. ( I am a wine amateur).

 

Unfortunately what I have experienced in that bar was a limited wine list ( on Infinity, in Alaska, the limited list of wines in included quite a few listed wines which were not even available). I found the concept of Cellar Master, quite deceptive taking in consideration the limited list, the absence of wine expertise, and, I was even offered a rude experience.

 

Like others have mentioned, I have observed Cellar Masters to be often quiet or under frequented. I will be sad if it is replaced. ( I would have preferred hearing that it was improved/renewed). This said, a better use of the area would make sense.

[miched]

On one ship that had the craft beer there was an event listed in the Daily Paper.

 

It was advertised as a Craft Beer Seminar about their beers to start at 8:00.  We got there and nothing was going on.  When the server came to us I asked about it and the reply was there was no seminar.   I showed her the paper and the reply was what beer did I want to know about.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[willma]

We have always enjoyed Cellar Masters on Eclipse as a quieter option for a post dinner drink. The Martini Bar is not our thing as it is too loud and shouty. We would be sorry to see it go as there are no other options if you don’t want noise. Often we were the only people there. 

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, willma said:

We have always enjoyed Cellar Masters on Eclipse as a quieter option for a post dinner drink. The Martini Bar is not our thing as it is too loud and shouty. We would be sorry to see it go as there are no other options if you don’t want noise. Often we were the only people there. 

The Sky Lounge is also rather quiet.

 

We like both venues vs Loud and Shouty.

 

If all you have left is loud and shouty you might as well sail Carnival or Oasis.

[Katyoparty]

Got off Solstice a week ago and I have to agree Cellar Masters is generally pretty quiet but they have a decent sized bar in there and have a lot of craft beers you can't get at other bars on the ship but most people don't realize that. My husband is a beer guy. I attended a couple of wine tastings in there that were packed. I found the sommelier to be very helpful and patient about educating me about new wines and offering me lots of options that were available with the premium package.

 

I also observed that Cellar Masters was used to feed through new passengers on embarkation day to pass out the welcome glass of champagne. I would not be surprised if they convert it to a pub theme when they revolutionize the ship since the decor is already halfway there.  

 

One more thing--the sommelier has a list of what wines are available in what restaurants  (on the package) and can advise about that so if you ask for a specific wine and they tell you they don't have it you can tell them politely to go get it. Please.