Sommelier on Princess

[1Gizmo]

I've tried searching here and the Princess site. Does Princess have Sommelier's on board? I've not been on Princess yet, August of next year.

[JF - retired RRT]

I've tried searching here and the Princess site. Does Princess have Sommeliers on board? I've not been on Princess yet, August of next year.

No.

The waiters have wine knowledge (at least some of them do).

You can also visit Vines. The barman there should be knowledgeable.

Or purchase the Wine Tasting. Presented by the Maitre D' and the Head Waiter.

[DRPWDunIL]

Interesting. Disney had Sommeliers when we cruised in 2003. I guess I would have expected that it would be a foregone conclusion that Princess would have them if Disney did. Interesting.

 

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[Roberto256]

Interesting. Disney had Sommeliers when we cruised in 2003.

 

Princess had them in 2003, too.

[eatdrinkfly]

thats really interesting to know. every cruise line i've been on, even Carnival has sommeliers onboard.

i totally would have assumed Princess did too... but now that i think about it, i can't recall any on my past Princess cruises.

[grouchomarx]

Princess used to have them. Years ago (maybe 5? maybe I can't remember) we sailed on the Coral and got to know the Sommelier. He told us how Princess was phasing it out and they would all become dining room staff, like head waiters or Maitre D or something. He seemed very sad about it. He was the person who did the wine tastings that's how we got to know him. I guess the demand is low.

[capriccio]

Princess used to but it has been about 5 years (at least) since they had sommeliers on board. For a more serious wine tasting than the one with the Maitre'd and Head Waiter, if your ship has a Vines on it they will offer a stammtisch - a small group (10 -12) of people for a wine tasting with tapas hosted by a staff member of Vines. I've seen Old World tastings, New World tastings, Reds with Chocolate, etc. They can be very popular so sign up when it is announced in the Patter.

[1Gizmo]

Thanks for the responses. We have knowledge of wines. We also liked to ask the Sommelier what he would recommend with a particular dish, and introduce us to new wines (with in our price range).

[skynight]

Way more than 5 years, probably the early 2000's.

[capriccio]

Way more than 5 years, probably the early 2000's.

We started cruising on Princess in 2007 and I know there was a sommelier on board the Emerald in 2010 and one other later cruise so that was why I said at least 5 years. I will say I'm not sure how effective a single sommelier could be during dinner (as opposed to specific wine tastings) since there are numerous MDRs and specialty restaurants to cover.

[Colo Cruiser]

The early start of cutbacks. :(

[SoCalTraveler]

I have never seen a wine steward on board. Princess does offer wine tastings (for a fee) with an "expert,", and the bartender at Vines is usually knowledgeable.

 

On our last cruise, as we had the AIBP (courtesy of our agent, because we can't drink that much) we worked our way through the wine list and the drink list. I can't say that there is a wine that we had that I was so wowed by that I wanted to run out and buy on our return. On the other hand, there was no wine I rejected or did not finish.

[Hlitner]

We are oenophiles (wine lovers) who cruise many different cruise lines. Most of the mass market lines (HAL being a big exception) have eliminated having groups of wine sommeliers serving wine in the MDR. Most now leave this up to the individual waiters. We have found pros and cons. On HAL, where they still have sommeliers, one can wait a long time (especially on formal nights) to even get the attention of the sommelier (there is only one assigned to each section of the MDR). And if you have a white wine (which is kept in a bucket away from the table) you might wait a long time to get a refill. On Princess, the waiters handle most wine issues and are usually a lot more responsive. That being said, many of the waiters do not have a lot of knowledge of the wines...so you might have to depend on your own abilities.

 

On the Ruby, we once had a question about some pricey wine selections and our waiter got the Maitre'd who I think was from Italy. Since our question was about an Italian wine...we got a big smile and some excellent first hand info. But that is not the norm...and we normally do not look at the higher priced wines.

 

Hank

[OzKiwiJJ]

Celebrity still have sommeliers, and they are very good. Each night we just told the sommelier what we had chosen to eat and the perfect wines would appear, and were topped up if necessary (we had the Premium drinks package).

 

On our last Princess cruise the wine service was dreadful. We had one of the worst assistant waiters we have ever experienced, he seemed to spend all his time chatting to one particular table. We struggled to get two glasses of wine each night - normally we would have three with dinner. Also the wines by the glass, available under the AIBP, aren't the greatest so we are not going to get the AIBP on our upcoming Med cruise. I'm hoping the wine package will be available - it's never offered on Australian-based cruises.

[Videopark]

We had a great Sommelier on a cruise in 2013. He hosted wine tastings and was available in the MDR for advice and wine sales. I'm sure he generated revenue.

[geoherb]

Celebrity still have sommeliers, and they are very good. Each night we just told the sommelier what we had chosen to eat and the perfect wines would appear, and were topped up if necessary (we had the Premium drinks package).

Glad that some of the ones on Celebrity are very good. The one we had on the Century was not. Dealing with him is one of the reasons we haven't sailed on Celebrity in several years. Another issue was with our wine (the allowed number of bottles) being held by security until the second day. I had to press to get them returned (instead of them being delivered to our cabin as promised).

[XBGuy]

My first Princess cruise was in 2011--the Sapphire Princess. There definitely were somms in the dining rooms. It was pretty funny watching them hover over certain tables. I never had a problem with wine service from our table servers. The Princess list is not terribly lengthy, and I was able to pick out what I wanted, pretty quickly. In the specialty dining rooms, the headwaiter would offer wine selection advice, and he actually tried to sell wine to all the diners. I was able to get along with them very nicely. Sometimes, I would take their recommendations, sometimes I would decline.

 

My second and third Princess cruises were in 2013. In January, on the Golden Princess, I'm pretty sure there were somms in the dining rooms (may be wrong). However, in September, on the Grand Princess, there, definitely, were no somms to be found.

 

I have been very surprised that in my last five or six cruises, the headwaiters in the specialty restaurants have not seemed particularly interested in selling wine to their diners. If a diner orders a bottle off the wine list from his table server, then fine. If he doesn't, then, apparently, that is also fine.

 

More and more, I am bringing my own wine on cruises. I'm getting older every day, and I still have a lot of wine on hand to drink up.;p

 

I agree that the tasting events at Vines are a lot of fun--mostly, because the attendees do have a more than passing interest in wine. So, it's fun to chat and get to know them.

[casofilia]

No but it is a real pain; not because I want wine advice. The waiter has to do it and so has to stop waiting every time one of his/her "customers" wants a drink, to go to the bar to get it, or has to send his/her assistant. That means that service is halved for a period. Dining is therefore much slower. At a shared table for 8 recently our meal took over 1Hr 50Min!!

[snowskier]

Interesting. Disney had Sommeliers when we cruised in 2003. I guess I would have expected that it would be a foregone conclusion that Princess would have them if Disney did. Interesting.

 

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I just don't understand this response. First 2003 was 14 years ago and there have probably been a couple changes on both cruise lines. Second, is there an expectation that Princess has everything Disney does except the mouse and friends?

[Iamcruzin]

Interesting. Disney had Sommeliers when we cruised in 2003. I guess I would have expected that it would be a foregone conclusion that Princess would have them if Disney did. Interesting.

 

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Celebrity has one in the dining room.