Winemaker's Dinner & Events

[weltek]

I'm a frequent Cruise Critic poster/reader and was surprised that I hadn't heard about the Winemaker's series before (though I just did a search I saw it mentioned once earlier this year on here). The last one of 2022 was on our Encore sailing last week and it was awesome. There were 16 or 17 of us, plus the winemaker and his girlfriend (who is in the wine business) and the NCL corporate food & bev director.  The food was abundant and delicious. Each course paired with the featured wines (small pours... ~4 oz each), some of which aren't available outside of the winery tasting room. The service was high level, with servers coordinating their plate delivery and fun decanters for some wines.

I highly recommend attending if you enjoy this kind of thing. You sign up once you are onboard. You could do so at the Cellars. They had a table out promoting it on embarkation day, and there were signs up at all the specialty restaurants. The corporate director mentioned there was going to be a big one next October on the Escape out of NY (I think he said the Bermuda sailing), featuring several pairings (e.g., wine, tequila, cigars). 

There were also some other tasting events in the Cellars you could sign up for with the winemaker (no food).

Here was the announcement about the 22 series. Hoping they announce the 23 list soon! The marketing team is apparently a little nervous about over-publicizing because people could book the cruise and then they can't get into the dinner, given it's such limited seating. And we all know how upset that could make some people. I will try to find better documentation about the cost, but I think it was about $60/pp for the dinner and $40 for the wine pairing, plus gratuity. A few photos below.

[Sailing12Away]

8 (I think) cruises under our belt and I've never once heard of this or seen it offered on any of our sailings.

[laudergayle]

Wow, this looks like an amazing event.  Also never heard anything about this.  I hope the CC posters will let us know if they hear/read about the 2023 schedule.  I would love to plan around this event.  Thanks for the heads-up.

[travelgip]

I would love to do this on my upcoming cruise in January!

[Middleager]

Never heard of it on any NCL cruises.  If offered on our cruise, we'd sign up.

[weltek]

Right? A total surprise (which was sort of fun to be surprised after this many NCL cruises). I am definitely keeping my eyes peeled for any announcements about 2023.

[eldrima]

My wife loves wine and we lucked out a few years back and were on a cruise that featured Gerard Bertrand. We went into the Cellars the first night not knowing they had a special guest on board and he ended up showing up and sitting at the table right next to us.  Really nice guy!  We ended up signing up for the dinner and the food was unbelievable and they wine they served was worth the price alone.  Everyone left with an autographed copy of his book.  One of the guests also bought a bottle of wine for everyone there and he autographed those as well. I'll see if I can find the menu and post it.

 

I found a post on the NCL site for 2022's offerings...looks like they announced it on March 3rd of that year with the first Winemakers cruise on March 6th!  They definitely don't do a good job of marketing them.  I'd like to go on another one but if they don't advertise it or release dates until 2 months into the year, it is difficult to coordinate it with vacation schedules.

 

https://www.ncl.com/newsroom/norwegian-cruise-lines-2022-meet-the-winemaker-series-celebrates-debut-in-europe

Edited January 29, 2023 by eldrima

[BirdTravels]

Diane Flamand ended up on the Encore because of the "Escape Incident" and cancellations. She admitted that it was her first time on a cruise ship. Some wine helped ease some of the trepidation. 

[Clay Clayton]

I am gonna show my age and mention that years ago, Norwegian offered The Chef’s Table for at least one night on every cruise. Limited to 12 or 14 as I recall and was always amazing.  Cost was under $100 per person I think and was many many courses with lots of free-flowing wine.  We loved going to them but hated that the menu never changed.

 

Just found a video on YouTube-9 courses if you include the amusè and the granité! 
 

Glad to see they have brought something similar back!

Edited January 29, 2023 by Clay Clayton

[MagnoliaBlossom]

So very interested in this.   We are Diamond and have not heard of this and we’re sorry that Chefs Table seemed to have died of COVID.  Something to look forward to.

[Clay Clayton]

19 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

So very interested in this.   We are Diamond and have not heard of this and we’re sorry that Chefs Table seemed to have died of COVID.  Something to look forward to.

Chef’s Table died long before Covid unfortunately.  I’m also interested in the winemaker’s dinner and will ask about it in April. 

[eldrima]

My Google Alert let me know that the 2023 dates have been announced...Check out the below link:

 

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/cruise/ncl-reprising-meet-the-winemakers-cruise-series-for-7th-year.html

[BirdTravels]

On 1/28/2023 at 9:02 PM, BirdTravels said:

Diane Flamand ended up on the Encore because of the "Escape Incident" and cancellations. She admitted that it was her first time on a cruise ship. Some wine helped ease some of the trepidation. 

Some events from last April 2022 on the Encore