Sms1973

I'm kind of a wine snob, so I always bring my own wine. Even if they sold the wine I like on the ship, they're gonna over charge for it, and since you can bring on your own bottle (used to be bottleS), you may as well carry on the good stuff you like I’m with you, we’ve been know to carry a case of wine on trips, but two bottles won’t get us through the first day. I don’t mind the markups, they’re modest compared to most restaurants if you have the drink package, but the lack of availability killed me… MDR had nothing good, just the basest cab and chard, we found Whisrpering Angel at one bar (it was a June cruise, so we needed a nice hot weather wine), and then some good stuff tucked away at the specialty restaurants. But one would expect the “fleetwide” wine list to be available, especially in the MDR. It seemed the emphasis was on the deck drinks and the wine program was largely going away. If that’s the plan, fine, but don’t let on that there stuff that isn’t there. I guess the fact that there are no longer Somms on the ships may be an indication of the importance of the wine program to RCL. the other thought I had was that the ship we were last on, Mariner, does mostly 3-4 day booze cruises, so I was hoping that is why the wine options were lacking. in the end, I am just trying to figure out wha5 to expect and not be as disappointed as last time with modest expectations and high hopes for the chef dinner.

Stumbled into this thread researching wine issues. We were on Mariner last summer and found the wine program to be in disarray (we had been on Symphony in Nov of 19 and found it to be more than adequate). We had the same, lack of availability of wines that were all on the list (MDR was a choice of red or white) and I’m happy that your Chef table worked out. Our was bad according to the group overall (4 unrelated parties). The 5th group was so drunk when they got to the table I think they could have been been fed dog food and swill from a dump bucket and they would have loved it. I’m just trying to determine if this is the new norm for RCL, or is this just older ships, or what the story is. Any other fellow winos that can weigh in?

100%

We did Captains Table on Mariner June 22, and found to to be horrible. The pairings were ok at best, and one was really “off” and should never have been paired. The wine steward was just a normal waiter reading off a script, trying to make a bottle worth $12 at retail sound special. The best wine was a $45 Mondavi, and it as nice enough, but overall the table mates were drunk and the one other wine guy at the table (didn’t know him, but easy to spot) was also clearly unimpressed. conceptually, it was to be an awesome night. In the end the field was remarkable, but the rest was meh. HOWEVER, (and herein lies my question to my fellow winos) only about 1/10 of the MDR wine list was available (the selections were nothing shy of miserable) and I am trying to determine if RCL is going downmarket and ignoring wine, or if it was just the ship, or if it was the timing. Anyone see a similar experience and is it improving? Or is it time time move in fromRCL? Please help!

Exactly, buy it and watch for it to go down, especially on holiday weekends.

Those of you in Oasis are lucky, Mariner had no Somm, and in fact they didn’t even understand the word. When asking for a wine list, we are told there isn’t one due to limitations,,, so do we want red or white…. They were killing me. to the ABC crowd, I’m with you… in fact I was one of you..but I’ve also found that there is such a wide variety of expression (and manipulation) of the grape that ere are so many styles… the days of big butter and oak are waning, and lighter styles are becoming more common. So don’t give up on Chad before taking a sip!

I can speak to vodka scotch and rum. Selections were pretty much as stated on the cruise menus. We hit one bar that was out of daiquiri mix in the first day, and other that would sporadically have or be out of Coke Zero. Minute Maid lemonade was not available in the coke machines after the 2nd day (the only thing our kids drinkmother than water). But the wines were atrocious. I wonder if wine tends to be the most “costly” to the line as the others (other than like a straight scotch) can be offset with mixers, in the end, with a month of reflection, I think we are done with Royal. Looking back there were so many issues that I don’t reflect on anything related to the boat as a positive experience.

Apologies all… I was on a topic for chef table on RCCL, and somehow ended up here to post. please ignore the comments… clearly there’s no point in comparing the two lines’ versions of chefs table. sorry!

Sorry to go contrarian to others, but we would not do the Chef table again. (We did in in June on Mariner, but the menu appears consistent across it). The food was overall just ok, (the steak was the best we had on the ship -we had the Key welcome lunch and separately the lunch at chops), however it was not something to get crazy over. The biggest issue we had was with the wine pairing, presentation, and quality. The presenter of the wine was reading off a script and had no formal wine training at any level. And the script was bad. The wines themselves were nothing special, retail of around $15-18, with the exception of the “really special” wine, the Mondavi Cab, which is about a $45-50 bottle. But the crowning disappointment was the actual pairing. We’ve been to a lot of pairing dinners, and have a reasonable expectation, but also know that not everyone’s palette matches and some times a pairing may be perfect for one person, may be a little “off” for another. However, it shocks me how badly paired two of the courses were… drinking the wine with the food actually made both worse. (Specifically speaking to the overly NZ Savi Blanc, which was an exaggeration of everything a NZ Sav should be). Three other couples indicated equal disappointment. The only couple that was super happy showed up drunk to being with, and fell asleep during the dinner. After an entire cruise of mediocre food, we were so looking forward to this, and left very disappointed. Unlike ever cruise we have ever been on, there wasn’t a trained somm, in this ship and 2/3 of the wine requested from the wine list was not available. And that’s the by the glass stuff, not the premium wines…. Don’t even get me started, it this is just an indictment of the chef table. conceptually awesome, poor execution. save the money and do something special at one of the stops.

Based on the wine experience we had on Mariner in June, if you are into wine, bring as much of what you like as you can. I chose not to as there were plenty of wines on the wine list that were interesting… however, what you may see online is not representative of what is onboard… they were out of almost everything. At dinner, when I suggest we would like some wine, the waited asked if we wanted red or white. It was like they had a chard and a cab, and that’s about it. And they were both crap. So while I would not have suggested to bring wine before the cruise, I now am a huge advocate of taking it if it is important to you. of course 2 bottles would have had a very limited lifetime with us.

I doubt the WJ Indian dish will rise to your expectation of spicy. Perhaps wings in Playmakers?

Sushi class another victim of Covid…

Swear off, RCI? Why?