Whisk(e)y tastings on the Grand?

[edgeman61]

We will be sailing on the Grand Princess in a few weeks.

 

I was wondering if any of the bars have whisk(e)y tastings available?

 

We have a drink package so we can always do our own tasting but a hosted event may be more fun.

 

Thanks,

[Bwana Tom]

I wish they would have a scotch tasting event, but I've never seen either taking place on any of my many cruises. Are you listening Princess - it would a great event!

[voljeep]

9 minutes ago, Bwana Tom said:

I wish they would have a scotch tasting event, but I've never seen either taking place on any of my many cruises. Are you listening Princess - it would a great event!

 @Thrak did they have these in the Wheelhouse Bar on some ships in the past?

[Bwana Tom]

3 minutes ago, voljeep said:

 @Thrak did they have these in the Wheelhouse Bar on some ships in the past?

Had some rum tasting on one of our Caribbean cruises pre-pandemic, but nothing post-pandemic.

[Thrak]

8 minutes ago, voljeep said:

 @Thrak did they have these in the Wheelhouse Bar on some ships in the past?

 

Don't think I've seen whiskey tasting. At one point they were talking about flights but I don't know if they ever actually offered them. That was back in 2017 when they were advertising their "Whiskey Adventure" which ended up just being a bunch of extra items offered in Wheelhouse. They "may" have offered the flights on that cruise but we had the beverage package as a perk and the flight wouldn't have been included.  I do have a copy of the old Whiskey menu. Who knows if it's accurate these days.

whiskey-menu.pdf

[t&atravel]

They offer whisky flights on the salty dog gastropub menu for $25 but the Grand does not have the gastropub.  

[Thrak]

28 minutes ago, t&atravel said:

They offer whisky flights on the salty dog gastropub menu for $25 but the Grand does not have the gastropub.  

 

That may well be where I saw flights offered in 2017. They had put Salty Dog Gastropub in Wheelhouse on Emerald Princess. I almost never saw anybody actually eating at those tables other than the time they offered Pub Lunch in Wheelhouse. It was a 28 day cruise and I spent a fair amount of time in Wheelhouse so I likely saw the flights offered there. (It was a weird usage of space in Wheelhouse and only had tall tables which wouldn't work at all for someone in a wheelchair.) I did sit at one of those tables when I listened to a great version of Santana's Samba Pa Ti done on electric ukulele. 😜

[edgeman61]

Thanks for the replies!!

[edgeman61]

On 9/6/2022 at 1:27 PM, Bwana Tom said:

I wish they would have a scotch tasting event, but I've never seen either taking place on any of my many cruises. Are you listening Princess - it would a great event!

I was on HAL's Rotterdam back in July, they had a dedicated area for tastings.

 

They did a Highland, a Speyside, an Islay and a Lowland Scotch tasting (on a separate night for each category), a Bourbon tasting, an Irish Whiskey tasting, a Canadian (I think?), a Japanese tasting, a Johnny Walker tasting and a couple of others.  It was a 14N cruise so they found a reason to have a different one just about every day.

 

They sounded interesting but since my DW did not accompany me on this trip I abstained from the events so I don't know how well they were attended.  They did have their whiskey collection on display, it was pretty impressive.

[2 cruises a year]

On 9/6/2022 at 11:38 AM, voljeep said:

 @Thrak did they have these in the Wheelhouse Bar on some ships in the past?

Yes, I've been lucky enough twice.  It was fun. I think that if a bartender has enough background, he or she can put it on on their own.  So it is hit or miss.

It will probably be above and beyond the package, but worth it.