More cutbacks

[BILNAN]

Well I for one am not the least bit upset. I was at dinner at the steakhouse for a 2nd night on the Miricle when I had ask the Sommelier a question about the wine list when he told me if i would have spent the money on the higher tier wine package I could have had the a better bottle of wine then the crap he was now serving me. The last thing I wanted to do when I go out to a nice dinner is be insulted by the person serving me. I am in the service business and the last thing I would ever do is insult the person paying me, but I feel some of these Sommelier feel they are above the people they serve.

[larkz]

Excellent. There's another thing I don't have to subsidize.

[cccer]

No lose. As long as my Miller Lite is in a glass, can or bottle, I will be fine.

[near the beach]

I would think that anyone who knows what a Wine Sommelier is would know at what temperature their wine should be served. Or if it should breathe before it is served.

I think that wine drinkers are lucky because they can carry on two bottles to drink while on their cruise.

Maybe that is one reason why Disney cruises are so expensive because passengers can bring anything they want to drink on the cruise.

[honeybunches]

Carnival has done it again, more cost cutbacks, now they have eliminated the position of the Steakhouse Wine Sommelier. Just go ahead and ask one of the servers what temperature the wine should be served at, or when it should be decanted or how long before serving should my bottle of high end red wine be opened before dinner and why? You will get a wide variety of answers; will any of them be correct?

 

 

After 5 minutes of sitting on the table in front of me, all wines are the same temperature! ;)

[stevenr597]

Carnival was one of the first lines to offer high scale dining with the Steak House. it used to be an excellent experience with fine dining and entertainment for a very reasonable price. whenver we cruised on Carnival we looked forward to at least one night at this venue.

 

Over the lsst several years, Carnival has cut the experience at the Steak House in additon to raising its price. there is no longer any entertainment and they have tried to reduce or cheapen the number of dishes. The absence of a Wine Steward, although not a big deal, is just another example of this venue becoming a sea-based Outback Restaurant.

 

I might add that we had recently cruised Princess and hav backs on this line, probably because Carnival is taking over more operations.

[maldenmusic]

We don't even eat in the MDR any longer preferring to spend more time on deck and just grab a quick sandwich on Lido

[mousey]

I sure hope the sommelier has a good severance package. I would assume the demand for this line of work might mean the unemployment line for several years to come.

Can you just see his resume.

 

years working 15,

job title - sommelier

 

Now that is an impressive resume.

 

Cheers

 

Len

 

Actually a true Sommilier is a highly respected position that people train years for. A true Sommilier would have no problem finding another position with any respectable restaurant that has need of one. They are not a joke, they know what they speak of when it comes to wine and everything having to do with wine. If you've ever gone to a wine tasting on a cruise and met and spoken with the Carnival Sommilier, you would know how informed and trained they are. It's not about being a snob...it's about people that love wine and want to know all about it. For some it's fun. It's not necessarily being pretentious to have a Sommilier around...it's more of a nice perk. That's MHO. I do think it's funny that you'd need one on a Carnival or NCL cruise though.:)

Edited March 6, 2014 by mousey

[missdebi]

I was born to cruise Carnival~ I had to look up sommelier!

[andy.capitan]

Summa what?

 

AFAIK, NCL and RCCL steakhouses don't serve USDA Prime and Carnival does.

 

Where's the beef? Carnival! :D

[Rinderoo]

If Sommeliers are important to you, then you're on the wrong cruise line with Carnival. I'm not knocking Carnival, and I like them just fine and sail them like everyone else on this board, but Carnival is not exactly known for its high end dining. A sommelier in the steakhouse is not going to be missed. The service staff should be able to recommend something suitable to pair with the meal.

 

On HAL there are several sommeliers on each ship, and the Pinnacle Grill is an amazing steakhouse experience. Perhaps this might be a better option for the OP than Carnival? I enjoyed HAL despite being on the younger end of their demographic. Probably the best dining experience I've had on any cruise line, ever.

 

My last Princess cruise had one Sommelier on the entire ship. I swear she had to have roller skates somewhere because of the amount of running she did in the dining rooms.

[racephoto]

Well, I'm sad to hear this. I attended the little wine tasting talk at David's last week on the Pride and it was fun. Haris, the sommelier, was entertaining and engaging and I learned quite a bit. So when I ate there again, when the server asked if I wanted wine, I said that I had loved the Chardonnay from the wine tasting and if she could ask Haris what it was that's what I'd have. She sadly replied that Haris had to leave the ship due to a "family emergency". I was so sad to hear that. I guess getting fired was a family emergency for his family. :-( (And no, the server wasn't much help with the wine.) On a side note, I don't quite get why everyone feels compelled to bash people who like wine.....there's plenty of stuff on here that I have no interest in that others just think are of paramount importance, but I just go on to the next thread. Ah well.

[going2cruz]

No offense, but a sommelier on Carnival is as misplaced as a sommelier at Applebee's.

 

And I was under the impression that they had eliminated this position years ago anyway.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

LMAO....but so true!!!

[JerrynClaire]

Wait..I thought a Somalian was a Pirate who attacked cruise ships... LMAO

 

Wine junkie? Nah... Don't need em... that's for the Elitist's.... Oh wait... I just read the name...

[CdrescherRBL152]

I find it funny that people think the steakhouse is fine dining and would even need one.

 

Acctually what I find funny is someone is upset, that they did away with a position that served what maybae a 100 out of 3000 passangers on a week.

[Pine Bluff]

Acctually what I find funny is someone is upset, that they did away with a position that served what maybae a 100 out of 3000 passangers on a week.

 

If McDonalds or Ponderosa/Olive Garden/Longhorn does have these specialts, most here would not even know what they were.

 

This is also why you don't find butlers on Carnival.

[jimbo5544]

Acctually what I find funny is someone is upset, that they did away with a position that served what maybae a 100 out of 3000 passangers on a week.

While I do get your point, if you are one of the 100 (if your logic is correct) than I can understand why that person (like the poster) would be upset.

[tncap]

I'm by no means upset over it, but I had a great experience with the one on Spirit a few years ago. She definitely improved the quality of the cruise for me.

[jimbo5544]

I'm by no means upset over it, but I had a great experience with the one on Spirit a few years ago. She definitely improved the quality of the cruise for me.

The only intereaction we have had was in when we visited the Steakhouse or at wine sampling. Always was enjoyable. I can see the "need" for this position declining in the new Carnival world. From our perspective, it will be missed.

[EnTnSA]

Oh No!

 

Who is going to be there to twist the cap off of my Mad Dog 20/20?

 

 

Seriously, I would imagine that out of the small percentage of people on a Carnival cruise that would order a bottle of wine. Chances are a very large percentage of them are ordering something pretty main stream, like a Kendall Jackson or Mondavi…I doubt they are ordering anything that would benefit from the help of a Sommelier.

 

Typically it would be a long the lines of I want the house white, or house red...

[Waterloomarc]

I can see the "need" for this position declining in the new Carnival world. From our perspective, it will be missed.

 

 

This. This is also what alluding to in my post about the serving suggestions being on the box. I wasn't trying to ridicule the OP and I hope it wasn't taken as that.

 

The fact of the matter is that Carnival is pursuing a demographic to whom this isn't important.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[onegroundcafe]

I hope this doesn't mean the end to the Food and Wine pairings, we love those and look forward to them every cruise. :(

[racephoto]

I hope this doesn't mean the end to the Food and Wine pairings, we love those and look forward to them every cruise. :(

 

Yeah, I enjoyed that too. I would imagine that this spells the end for them....who else would do it? :-(

[EZ4]

25 George Foreman grills will replace the chef, next. ;)

[waldocruiser1]

Oh NO! How will I know what I like without some overbearing persnickety snob telling me?!:eek:

 

I agree, that is the last straw, I will never sail with Carnival again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Just kidding, who cares,

 

And more importantly, does that mean they had a person that their only job was to talk about wine in the steakhouse? talk about a great gig,