Beverage Tastings and Seminars - Prices & Reviews

[FabFivePA]

I wouldn't rush and wait in line to sign up right when you board. I doubt they'll fill up until the day of when they're announced in the navigators. But to be safe, I would go at some point the first day and just sign up for all of them that you want to do.

Just to reiterate, for our Fantasy cruise mixology didn't even end up being on the navigator I assume because it was already full, with a waitlist, from day one.

 

[tinker6]

I have never gone to Guest Services right when we board. Our check in time is 11 for the May 25 Fantasy sailing - Are they open at that time?

 

[5forDis]

Just off the Wonder
Mixology was great. I was shocked there were only 7 of us in the class!
My in laws did martini and there were over 50 people!

DH and I want to do this on the Wonder (5 night 4/22). Do you remember where you signed up and when it was offered?

 

[Jessica_of_FL]

Thanks so much your all your reviews guys!

 

[jaybo22]

Here's what experienced on the Fantasy. On the afternoon of embarkation, I went to Guest Services who sent me down to La Piazza. All of the mixology classes were booked by that time but all other tastings were open. It was tough to find times that worked well but I chose a Rum tasting and a Tequila tasting. The rum tasting was held in the Meridian with a very scenic view out the back of the ship. The tasting itself was disappointing because it was mostly average liquor store stuff. We tasted Rasberry Bacardi, Captain Morgans, and Myers Dark Rum which are mostly considered mixers vs sipping rums. We did get to taste Pusser’s 15 yr which, for me, was something different and enjoyable. We ended with a Caipirinha cocktail which was light and refreshing. The staff were nice and the location was nice, but they did not deliver on offering a flight of rum worth tasting.
I had to cancel to Tequila tasting since it conflicted with other plans. I went to Guest Services who told me I needed my paper ticket to cancel. So I went back to my room to search for it only to find that I didn’t have one. I called back down to GS to eventually find out that my name wasn’t on the reservation list after all.

 

[Jessica_of_FL]

My husband and I sailed on the Wonder’s West bound Panama Canal Voyage. As soon as we got on board we went to Studio Sea and signed up for tastings – rum, mixology, martini, and tequila.

Bartender WaWan conducted all four of our tastings in the Cadillac Lounge and the setup for each tasting was the same. All the drinks were already at each station before the tasting began. WaWan had a “card-table” like table set up with all the bottles he would be talking about and the set-up to make 2 or 3 single drinks. On arrival, one of his assistants took our tickets so that we could be part of the raffle taking place at the end of the seminar.

Each tasting’s format was the same. He would start by explaining the history and standards of the spirit being discussed. Then he would go through explaining each glass in front of us, having us taste them at the end of each explanation. After we had tasted each drink – the raffle began! At the end of each tasting, 2 or 3 names were drawn to come up and make their own drinks. My name was drawn at the rum tasking and WaWan invited me up to make a mojito. He asked me which rum I would like to use of the options he had on his card table – Bacardi Raspberry, Bacardi Melon, Bacardi Lemon. I decided on the Raspberry. He had me muddle the lime, mint and agave syrup. Then I added the ice, rum and some raspberry puree. It was topped with soda water and then I stirred it (don’t quote me on this recipe – I had been drinking you know!). He stirred it again and then it was handed over to me. It was yummy and I had my own special drink.

I forgot to take pictures at all 4 tastings, but here are two.

This is Mixology:



This is Tequila:




WORD of WARNING: The gentleman we signed up with at Studio Sea said that the tickets would be delivered to our room. A few days later, we had fish mail, but it was addressed to a different stateroom number, so we handed it off to our room host un-opened. Day of our first tasting, we still had not received our tickets, so we went to Guest Services and they printed new ones for us there (they had re-print on them multiple times.) A few days later we received our original tickets. I figure they went on a tour of the ship first. When we checked our onboard statement later in the cruise we saw were charged for each tasting twice. We went to guest services and were able to get the second charges taken off – so just pay attention.

Over all, my husband and I had a great time!

 

[tinker6]

We did the mixology class on the Fantasy 2 weeks ago...great class. We learned how to make a Stingray...if anyone has made this - do you remember what the exact ingredients are?

 

[LynseyK]

I was just on the Fantasy on May 25th and did the Martini & Mixology class. Both were 15$ and the Mixology did book up very fast. I was one of the first people on the boat cause I was concierge and went straight to guest services and booked both of them. I know people complained about mixiology bc the guest did make the drinks but I think it just made it that much more fun and I did not have one bad drink. Honestly some people made them extra strong which I like lol. The martini one was good but you just sit there and listen while they make the drinks they were all good I just liked being more interactive. Julian was the teacher for the mixiology and he was so fun and entertaining. He balanced a bottle of liquor on his nose and walked all the way down the bar and back with it on his nose. Then added a drink on top of the bottle and balanced those both. I loved the tastings and would highly recommend

them.

 

[tinker6]

We must have been in the same class...we were on the May 25th Fantasy sailing. Do you remember what was in the Stingray drink?

 

[jenf22]

Quick question - We're on the Fantasy and have a port arrival time of 11am. If we go straight to Guest Services will they be able to reserve the tastings or will they send us to La Piazza? We've only sailed the Magic and Wonder and GS has always been able to sign us up for the tastings right when we boarded. Thanks!

 

[baleeve]

!

Hi Trickiwoo

I clicked on your vinylmation photography link and it is so awesome!

I love all the vinylmations you have.

I can't wait to show my boys. They too like vinylmations but only have 5 each.

I would love the Donald Duck one you have.

Thanks for adding it to your signature so others can appreciate them!

 

[NickyDa]

Quick question - We're on the Fantasy and have a port arrival time of 11am. If we go straight to Guest Services will they be able to reserve the tastings or will they send us to La Piazza? We've only sailed the Magic and Wonder and GS has always been able to sign us up for the tastings right when we boarded. Thanks!

Go to guest services. We just did this a month ago to reserve our cognac tasting with Gilbert from Cove Cafe and mixology with Julian from Skyline bar. Those guys are great! Not sure if guest services can guarantee this is who your host will be, but I highly recommend asking.

 

[jenf22]

Go to guest services. We just did this a month ago to reserve our cognac tasting with Gilbert from Cove Cafe and mixology with Julian from Skyline bar. Those guys are great! Not sure if guest services can guarantee this is who your host will be, but I highly recommend asking.

Great! Thanks so much!

 

[Alfiebookshop]

I did every single tasting on my magic cruise in Jan... I'm an over-achiever

I'll try to fill in some of your gaps, though you've done a great job compiling all this info.

There was a Whisky/Bourbon tasting. $20 for 5 pours, 10:00pm at Cove Cafe.

International Beer was $15 - Boddingtons, Guiness, Red Strip, Newcastle and Fosters

Our wine tastings weren't broken up into red and white. We had:
Around the World Wine
New World Wine
Old World Wine
Texas Wines (it was a last minute thing when our COsta Maya stop was cancelled)
Each session included 2-3 whites, 3 reds, and one champagne. Each was also $15

They duplicated Martini, Mixology, and tequilla on our cruise. They said they'd do things a little different at the second sessions, but they really didn't. I still enjoyed attending a second time, but would have liked to taste difference drinks, especially in mixology.

Loving DCL's idea of 'International Beers' - what a poor selection of beers favored by Brits. No German, Belgium, South African .....

 

[dee slack]

Loving DCL's idea of 'International Beers' - what a poor selection of beers favored by Brits. No German, Belgium, South African .....

Yeah, English, Irish, Jamaican and Australian, very poor choice and certainly not worthy of a beer tasting for a Brit. Now Belgium beers and you're talking! We've been know to take a mini cruise or two with a stop in Belgium just to load up on bottles of Belgium beer to take home hic lol!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I have to agree. I was going to book my husband into one of these beer tastings, but having just told him the selection and seen the look on his face, I don't think I'll bother. I know he was hoping for some lesser known, hard-to-get, craft beers. That way, even if he didn't like them, he could still enjoy trying something new.

He can get most of those beers from any NZ supermarket, but would never voluntarily choose any of them (except perhaps the Jamaican one which he's never tried).

 

[klineyqueen]

Thank you JEssica of FL for creating this thread!!! I love the information!!!

 

[iloverags2]

This is from a trip report I did for our May 9, 2012 sailing on the Magic. This was the Margarita and Tequila tasting (which has since been renamed the Tequila and Margarita tasting).

Now, I had been looking forward to the tasting for quite some time as I had yet to do this one. It was to be the highlight of our cruise outside of the ports. My first clue things would not be all they seemed is when I discovered the tasting would be held in Animator’s Palate. Not exactly the lounge atmosphere one hopes to enjoy while partaking of yummy frozen alcoholic beverages! We arrived a few minutes early, and boy was I glad we did. Since I was the only one participating, we found a seat at a table that was not fully set-up for use and had an empty spot with no tasting set-up next to it. As others arrived, it soon became apparent there would not be enough tasting set-ups for everyone. Odd! The three CMs working this were frantically determining who still needed set-ups, who needed tequila shots, who needed a place to sit at even! One was on a phone call with Guest Services, and figured out they overbooked this. Ugh! So the first 20-25 minutes of our tasting was spent with the three CMs taking care of these issues. This left us with 35 minutes to get the entire tasting in, since we needed to vacate AP promptly at 5:00 p.m. for the first dinner seating. One would think at this point they would have sped up the process just a bit, but noooooooooooo! A good 25-30 minutes was spent solely on tequila shots. I am not a fan of tequila (please add mine to the margaritas first!), and this was billed as Margarita & Tequila tasting (not the other way around). By the time we got to the margaritas, we were given two (yes, just two - not my idea of a tasting really) and were pretty much told, “Drink up!” So unimpressed with this, and very disappointed. (I did voice my dissatisfaction with the entire ordeal after we arrived home, as I hope others in the future have a better experience than we did.)

 

[klepton]

Loving DCL's idea of 'International Beers' - what a poor selection of beers favored by Brits. No German, Belgium, South African .....

Yeah... was a Jamaican bartender who did the session. I really wouldn't say it was bad, as he was knowledgeable and I did learn some new things. But I'd had every beer multiple times before, so didn't get to taste anything new. I was surprised at the number of people in there that hadn't had some of these beers though...

In all honestly I wasn't doing the tastings for the drinks as much as for the social experience. I got to meet a number of cool people at the various tastings.

 

[TinkGirl]

When is mixology offered on a 3 day dream cruise?