Wine related activities on board the ship on pacific wine country cruise

[vacationgogo]

Hi.  Our family is booked on the October 17 sailing of the Grand Princess for the pacific wine country cruise.   We were wondering if there are any wine related activities aboard the ship (wine tastings, lectures, etc).  Thanks.  

[Astro Flyer]

6 minutes ago, vacationgogo said:

Hi.  Our family is booked on the October 17 sailing of the Grand Princess for the pacific wine country cruise.   We were wondering if there are any wine related activities aboard the ship (wine tastings, lectures, etc).  Thanks.  

We sailed that cruise to Vancouver from LA last May & don’t recall any special wine related activities.  As always they have the Princess Grapevine ($9.50) and the Maître d’ ($25) wine tastings.  We enjoy that cruise & are sailing it again in May with different ports except for SF. 

[vacationgogo]

Thanks for your response.  Where can I find more info on the princess grapevine and the maitre d’ wine tastings?
 

[Astro Flyer]

53 minutes ago, vacationgogo said:

Thanks for your response.  Where can I find more info on the princess grapevine and the maitre d’ wine tastings?
 

After boarding the ship I’d recommend asking your dining room waitstaff for information about those wine tastings.  They will gladly sell them to you but don’t recall if they’ll have the wines being served.  The Maitre’d wine tasting has more expensive wines & better appetizers than the Grapevine tasting which usually has cheese, grapes & crackers.

 

Both will also be promoted in the Princess Patter sometime during the cruise with the date (usually a sea day), time & location.

 

Sometimes they offer a Super Tuscan meal ($60) with small portions of food with each wine served. 🍷

Edited February 15, 2020 by Astro Flyer

[Thrak]

59 minutes ago, vacationgogo said:

Thanks for your response.  Where can I find more info on the princess grapevine and the maitre d’ wine tastings?
 

 

If you are Elite the Grapevine wine tasting is free. On our last cruise the wine voted "best" of the offerings in the Grapevine tasting is one that you can no longer get in Vines. They did still have it by the bottle in MDR. Odd that they would remove a wine that the most folks in the tasting liked.

[Astro Flyer]

When they had sommeliers one told me that after the Grapevine tasting those wines had a big increase in sales...good marketing.

[RMMariner]

8 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

When they had sommeliers one told me that after the Grapevine tasting those wines had a big increase in sales...good marketing.

 

I did not know that Princess ever had sommeliers. Celebrity still does, and I must say it was very interesting talking to them.

[Astro Flyer]

4 minutes ago, RMMariner said:

 

I did not know that Princess ever had sommeliers. Celebrity still does, and I must say it was very interesting talking to them.

About 10 years ago they eliminated them but due to negative passenger feedback they briefly had a sommelier on each ship.  I think they now have head waiters leading their wine tastings but like you I enjoyed talking to a knowledgeable sommelier to learn about new wines to try.

 

I can attend the Grapevine tasting for free as an elite benefit but haven’t attend in years.  Very small pours of the same wines that takes up to nearly an hour.  Although Princess management is probably happy when we freeloaders skip it so they can save some money. ☺️