Le Champagne

[Kane]

We are considering a sailing on SS and have a question about Le Champagne.

 

1. Is it an add-on, similar to the Vintage Room on Crystal ships?

 

2. Is the menu set for the evening? It would seem that wine pairing would be difficult if the menu was "open".

 

TIA

[mistrtj]

yes, it's an add-on,,, WELL WORTH IT in MHO and,

 

menu and wine pairings are set (though I watched a moron try to tell the crew what wines should go with the items SHE decided should be on the menu and the crew was very kind and REFUSED to embarass her sorry a$$)

 

try it! The Whisper LC dinner was GREAT!

[sw18]

Saletta on the smaller ships is simply stunning - the $150 cover charge is negligible when you consider that an equivalent meal with wines in a similar resataurant in London would cost at least three to four times as much.

[cechase]

We are 83 days away from boarding Silver Shadow on 12/12/2006. [she was docked just in front of Celebrity's Infinity in Ketchikan last week, and we got a good look at her - beautiful!]

 

First, do you have to pay $150.00 per pax to eat in Le Champagne, or can you eat there without having the paired wine dinner?

 

If you eat in Le Champagne without the paired wine dinner, do they still serve complimentary wine as in the Restaurant?

 

Are reservations hard to get for Le Champagne? [We will be in a Silver Suite.]

 

Hopefully, seasoned SS travelers will respond. Thank you in advance.

[Iamsailing]

We are 83 days away from boarding Silver Shadow on 12/12/2006. [she was docked just in front of Celebrity's Infinity in Ketchikan last week, and we got a good look at her - beautiful!]

 

First, do you have to pay $150.00 per pax to eat in Le Champagne, or can you eat there without having the paired wine dinner?

 

If you eat in Le Champagne without the paired wine dinner, do they still serve complimentary wine as in the Restaurant?

 

Are reservations hard to get for Le Champagne? [We will be in a Silver Suite.]

 

Hopefully, seasoned SS travelers will respond. Thank you in advance.

 

We have just returned from the Shadow (Vancouver to Los Angleses )

and i remember the Infinity in Ketchikan, You should not have any problems getting into Le Champagne apart from 1or 2 tables it was empty every night

[Iamsailing]

We are 83 days away from boarding Silver Shadow on 12/12/2006. [she was docked just in front of Celebrity's Infinity in Ketchikan last week, and we got a good look at her - beautiful!]

 

First, do you have to pay $150.00 per pax to eat in Le Champagne, or can you eat there without having the paired wine dinner?

 

If you eat in Le Champagne without the paired wine dinner, do they still serve complimentary wine as in the Restaurant?

 

Are reservations hard to get for Le Champagne? [We will be in a Silver Suite.]

 

Hopefully, seasoned SS travelers will respond. Thank you in advance.

 

We have just returned from the Shadow (Vancouver to Los Angleses )

and i remember the Infinity in Ketchikan, You should not have any problems getting into Le Champagne apart from 1or 2 tables it was empty every night

[Iamsailing]

We are 83 days away from boarding Silver Shadow on 12/12/2006. [she was docked just in front of Celebrity's Infinity in Ketchikan last week, and we got a good look at her - beautiful!]

 

First, do you have to pay $150.00 per pax to eat in Le Champagne, or can you eat there without having the paired wine dinner?

 

If you eat in Le Champagne without the paired wine dinner, do they still serve complimentary wine as in the Restaurant?

 

Are reservations hard to get for Le Champagne? [We will be in a Silver Suite.]

 

Hopefully, seasoned SS travelers will respond. Thank you in advance.

 

We have just returned from the Shadow (Vancouver to Los Angleses )

and i remember the Infinity in Ketchikan, You should not have any problems getting into Le Champagne apart from 1or 2 tables it was empty every night

[wripro]

Cechase,

 

You cannot eat in Le Champagne without having the paired wine so it will cost $150 per person whether you drink the wine or not. On my Shadow cruise in May I checked because my partner does not drink alcohol at all and was told we would have to pay anyway.

[JGS]

:mad: This Restauaurant is just a joke and a waste of what could be a nice restaurant. We have been on the Whisper for over 2 weeks and although I have not checked every night, the most I have seen in the restaurant on any night has been one table of 2!!

 

Somebody in Marketing has really stuffed this up. Just about nobody want to pay $150 per head for "wine pairing" and have no say in what they wish to drink. To have a so called Sommelier tell one what he should drink is not my idea of fine dining.

 

Ther previous system worked well when you ordered and paid for what you wanted. There was no complimentary wine but you had a wide choice of what you could pay for. This we found to be quite o.k. and used the facility... but not on this cruise.

[wripro]

From what I have heard the current wine pairing system in Le Champagne was the idea of Silversea's owner. On my last SS cruise I rarely saw anyone in there since the wines offered then were hardly worth the $300 supplement. I understand that on other cruises the selctions have been better but imo this is a failed experiment and I seriously doubt it will be around much longer. I agree with JGS that the previous system was better. You had to order off the premium list but the choice was yours and you could order one bottle of wine for a lot less than $300 and still eat there. Also it's no fun to be in an empty room no matter what they serve....unless of course, it's in the privacy of your suite.

[cechase]

After reading all of these posts, I have to agree with several of the other posters, that this is indeed a failed experiment. On our very recent cruise on Celebrity's Infinity, along with four friends, we had dinner in their alternative restaurant the U.S. United States. The charge was $30.00 per passenger, and each of the three couples ordered a bottle of wine. We ordered the La Crema Chardonnay which we drink at home, for $34.00. The dinner was much much better than the fare we had in the dining room on Infinity. We thought the cost was reasonable.

 

And you have to remember, Infinity is not an all inclusive cruise! It would seem to us that it would be more reasonable for Silver Seas to not charge for Le Champagne and permit us to order our own wine or wines. Obviously, the cost would not come anywhere near $150.00 per pax. Unless you go over board on the wine or wines, but then it is your choice and not theirs. :D

[yogagal47]

we were on the sept 6 copenhagen to amsterdam cruise. we were unsure about whether or not to try le champagne but some fellow cruise passengers convinced us. the night we ate there it was wine and food pairings from bordeaux. we had a wonderful time-that is just us-yes, it was a splurge but so was the whole trip! the restaurant was full that night. i cannot speak for the other nights but as I said, i met quite a few folks who dined there on other nights. Just one person's opinion of course.

[Wellseasoned]

A hearty second to yogagal's comments! My wife and I just returned from 23 days on the Whisper, Copenhagen to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Barcelona. We dined in Le Champagne , also on a Bordeaux night, last week. The food and service were absolutely superb. We have a fair amount of experience with wine, and in our estimation, the wines were excellent. At least two of the wines are in the $150 per bottle range, and that is at the Total Wine store in Delaware, which has no sales tax. I have no idea as to the price in a restaurant. Refills were readily available. As to attendance, on our night there were 22 passengers booked, though I believe 18 actually ate there.

We have eaten in Le Champagne several times under the old system, and it was outstanding, but it still seems to us to be well worth the price.

 

Sorry our paths didn't cross on the ship, Julie. Maybe next time!

[mistrtj]

not a knock, and i'm not looking for flames, but LeChampagne was not designed to sell $34 bottles of mediocre chardonnay that you can get at home. It's about experimenting with fine food, served professionally matched to wines that you'll never find "by the glass". And they do it well.

 

I'm on record on other threads saying that I thought LC was an EXCELLENT experience and worth the $$.