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Winemaker diner; Caymus- all princess cruises

FrankieJayIII

By FrankieJayIII,
in Princess Cruises

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JimmyVWine Great Review Rare

JimmyVWine

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

Since when is this?  The menu on Princess.com indicates the new $39 cover, but the $10 upcharge is for Surf & Turf, or for an extra main protein.

I was just parroting back the previous calculation.  If there is not hidden $10 charge in there, then the wine portion of the dinner goes up by $10 and the total cash value of the pours goes up almost $2 per course making the value even more dubious.  

 

Simple math. 

Wine Dinner for two = $280

Regular Dinner for two = $78

Regular Dinner for two + $202 bottle of wine = break even

 

Your money is better spent selecting and purchasing your own wine.  Any $202 bottle is going to be (way)  better than Mer Soleil, Walking Fool and Sea Sun.  Wine dinners are a great way to experience hard to find, limited production, or new to the market wines.  This wine dinner is a mish-mash of wines that you can pull off the shelf in Publix.  They are leveraging the opportunity to have a glass of Caymus Cabernet, which is admittedly a very nice wine, in the hopes that people will pay $101 ($202 for two people) over the price of a Crown Grill dinner.  Go to Publix or Total; buy a bottle of Caymus for $75; pay the corkage fee; come out way, way ahead.       

 

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lernd

lernd

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, MKKruiser said:

Really disappointed to hear about this.  Winemaker dinner always a trip highlight.  But I just can't justify that cost.  

Yes, this is a big disappointment since we all loved the winemaker dinner.  We can create our own winemaker dinner when we are next together on a cruise.

 

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Steelers36

Steelers36

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

I was just parroting back the previous calculation.  If there is not hidden $10 charge in there, then the wine portion of the dinner goes up by $10 and the total cash value of the pours goes up almost $2 per course making the value even more dubious.  

 

Simple math. 

Wine Dinner for two = $280

Regular Dinner for two = $78

Regular Dinner for two + $202 bottle of wine = break even

 

Your money is better spent selecting and purchasing your own wine.  Any $202 bottle is going to be (way)  better than Mer Soleil, Walking Fool and Sea Sun.  Wine dinners are a great way to experience hard to find, limited production, or new to the market wines.  This wine dinner is a mish-mash of wines that you can pull off the shelf in Publix.  They are leveraging the opportunity to have a glass of Caymus Cabernet, which is admittedly a very nice wine, in the hopes that people will pay $101 ($202 for two people) over the price of a Crown Grill dinner.  Go to Publix or Total; buy a bottle of Caymus for $75; pay the corkage fee; come out way, way ahead.       

 

Aside:  My "Since when..." comment was directed at Princess as in "What are they doing to us now?" with $10 extra, so I looked it up to see (not that Princess.com is accurate all the time).

 

So, I do agree with you, although to compare one of these dinners with a CG cover is (hopefully) not quite fair.  Many folks, including myself, have posted about decline in beef cut quality in CG over past year or so.  I would think the CT and WMD would continue to serve a better cut of beef than the CG norm.  Days are gone that a CG filet matched a WMD filet. 

 

But still, your point is very valid in that the cost is well above what would be reasonable.

 

At least the expensive CT Lumiere at $120 offers additional perks beyond the meal and the wine.  It always offered more for the guest than a WMD. 

 

Like you, my first reaction is to contrast the new WMD to a CG dinner because that's what I used to do and for $11 more, the old WMD was a bargain over CG $29 (now $39).  

 

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PacnGoNow Holiday Sharing Rare

PacnGoNow

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, BabsinTX said:

The Royal class ships have a Winemaker's Dinner, and it looks like they'll be extended to the entire fleet.  Excellent!

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/princess-cruises-offers-new-dining-experience-for-passengers/97908

There is a thread on this already. Check it out.

 

$140 per person is not excellent IMO.

We just did the winemakers dinner on the Enchanted at $40 per person. Silverado vineyards and it was excellent.

 

 

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MissP22

MissP22

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

There is a thread on this already. Check it out.

 

$140 per person is not excellent IMO.

We just did the winemakers dinner on the Enchanted at $40 per person. Silverado vineyards and it was excellent.

 

 

Inflation, I guess. 

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Rick&Jeannie "Live from...." Rare

Rick&Jeannie

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Posted

Given all that we know about the way Princess mangles and confuses the "naming" of various things...do we really know for a fact that this "new" offering really is the "old" WD (previously $40)  and they have actually raised the price?  If so...that is RIDICULOUS.  We always try to make the WD whenever offered on the limited ships...but will not do so if it's the same thing now at $140.

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justafem

justafem

Posted
Posted

We've done the winemakers, doubtful if we'd do it again.  

 

I'm not a snob, hardly even a foodie, but I was disappointed with the cook on the steak. 

1) I ordered blue, hubs ordered med-rare.  I got mine at med, hubs got his at med well.  Yes, we told our host.  Yes, it was apologized for, but we were not offered remake and truthfully, we wouldn't have accepted.  

2) The ceiling dripped the entire time on my arm, a couple of times on my head and the floor.  Not constantly, intermittently.  But enough that I finally said something and there was a puddle to the right of my chair.  Yes, I told the host, yes it was apologized for. 

 

It was probably a singular occurrence, but at $40 per person upcharge, I'd rather sabitini's or crown.  And at $140 per person, that's a huge nope out of me!

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JimmyVWine Great Review Rare

JimmyVWine

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

This new offering could go the way of "Share" and Norman Love chocolates.  It has the strong potential to be a huge flop! 

I certainly don't consider the partnership with Norman Love to be a huge flop.  Several of his dessert creations remain on the menus and are guest favorites.  I'm talking to you, chocolate hazelnut bar!  The partnership with Curtis Stone, on the other hand...

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XBGuy

XBGuy

Posted
Posted

@justafem I agree that you had a VERY disappointing experience.  As a person who likes his steaks prepared "blood rare" I am familiar with your frustration in getting the preparation that you requested.  My steaks often come medium rare.  Generally, I just shrug and eat what is on my plate.

 

The water dripping on your head, however, is just inexcusable.  I have to assume that the staff did not notice the drip before you were seated.  I don't know how they could not have known, but I suppose that stranger things have happened/

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Eamon Chute

Eamon Chute

Posted
Posted

After seeing the menu posted by XBGuy above, I will definitely pass. I used to live in San Francisco and frequented Caymus Vineyards regularly. None of the wines paired with the dinner are especially wonderful enough to command that high of price point.

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Steelers36

Steelers36

Posted
Posted
22 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Given all that we know about the way Princess mangles and confuses the "naming" of various things...do we really know for a fact that this "new" offering really is the "old" WD (previously $40)  and they have actually raised the price?  If so...that is RIDICULOUS.  We always try to make the WD whenever offered on the limited ships...but will not do so if it's the same thing now at $140.

I don't see any reason to expect this new WMD is anything much different than the old WMD - other than it looks to be available on the older ships as well as Royal Class and newer.  What was ridiculous was the old cover of $40 - a complete steal-of-a-deal from the guest perspective.  However, I don't see it as worth more than a CTL experience.  

 

It won't be something we will do.  We have never done the CT/CTL either.  I think the best value is the $100 UBD (for two).  I suppose that will go up any day now as well.  We are rarely in a balcony, but when we are I will be doing that one at only $22 more than two CG covers (assuming today's known pricing of $78 versus $100).  I really doubt they can keep that $100 price tag based on all the other increases.

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suzyed

suzyed

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, trbarton said:

I prefer the Chef’s Table with excellent wines for much less $. 
 

Tom😀

Less $ than what?  The Chef's Table is way more expensive than the Winemaker's dinner.   Chef's table is more elaborate so maybe worth it.  The Winemaker's dinner is only $40...we have done it twice.

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suzyed

suzyed

Posted
Posted
On 4/5/2023 at 7:24 AM, PacnGoNow said:

There is a thread on this already. Check it out.

 

$140 per person is not excellent IMO.

We just did the winemakers dinner on the Enchanted at $40 per person. Silverado vineyards and it was excellent.

 

 

No it's not excellent...it's also not $140....it's $40.

 

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Steelers36

Steelers36

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 4/4/2023 at 9:01 PM, BabsinTX said:

The Royal class ships have a Winemaker's Dinner, and it looks like they'll be extended to the entire fleet.  Excellent!

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/princess-cruises-offers-new-dining-experience-for-passengers/97908

Already posted in another thread.  I also don't think this is "excellent" at $140/pp.

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