Beverage Tastings and Seminars - Prices & Reviews

[CruiseCrazy44]

Are the tastings something you have to sign up for, or do you just show up? Because DH and I would love to try the mixology one! He needs to learn how to make me a proper Bahama Mamma!

 

[LyndaC]

We did the Bloody Mary tasting on the Fantasy December 2012, $15. Learned that I only like classic Bloody Marys.

 

[klepton]

DH and I will be going on the WBPC in May and I am trying to estimate our expenses

Below are the tasting that have been offered by DCL in the past. Could you help by filling in the info on any tasting you know the price of? Here on the DIS, I've read some are $15, some are $20. But I'd really like to know the actual price of each (with the knowledge that the price could change whenever DCL decides it needs to )


Blind Wine Tasting
Bourbon Tasting
Champagne & Sparkling Wine Tasting - $30.00 ★
Chocolate Tasting - $30.00 ★
Cognac Tasting - $20.00 ★ ★ ★
Domestic Beer Tasting ★ ★
International Beer Tasting
International Whiskey Tasting
Malt Whiskey Tasting - $20.00 ★ ★ ★
Martini Tasting - $15.00 ★ ★ ★
Mixology/Mixology Class - $15.00 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Mojito Tasting - $15.00
New World Red Wine Tasting
Old World Red Wine Tasting
Old World White Wine Tasting
Rum Tasting - $15.00 ★
Tequila and Margarita Tasting - $15.00 ★
Wine Pairing
Wine Tasting ★
Wine Tasting (Food & Wine Pairing)

Click on the ★ to be taken to a post with a review in it!


The "Wine Tasting (Food & Wine Pairing)" sounds awesome, and I'm guessing it costs alot more. Has anyone ever done it and have a review?

For that matter, any tastings that I should make a point of trying to get into? Or make sure to avoid?

Thank you!


Jessica

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.

 

[Jessica_of_FL]

We did the Bloody Mary tasting on the Fantasy December 2012, $15. Learned that I only like classic Bloody Marys.

oohhh Bloody Marys!! Adding that to the list! Thank you!

 

[Jessica_of_FL]

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.

Thank you for being an over-achiever And for sharing your info! I've added it to the first post!

 

[trickiwoo]

We did the beer tasting on the Fantasy. It was the only beer tasting offered on our cruise. I don't remember the cost. And the beers we tried were just all the ones they had on tap on the ship. Unfortunately it was the last night of the cruise, and by then we'd already tried all the beers they served onboard! It would have been nice if it had been at the beginning of the cruise.

The tasting itself was great! The CM leading the tasting was very interesting and knowledgeable, and we actually learned some new things about beer!

Unfortunately some of the other cruisers taking part in the beer tasting were rude and obnoxious. They sat around talking very loudly and laughing even louder over the CM trying to lead the seminar.

At the end of the tasting, the CM started passing around even more beers for us. I think I ended up having 2-3 glasses of each of the beers!

 

[tinker6]

Do they pair different wines with chocolate...or is this different types of chocolate wines?

 

[Jessica_of_FL]

We did the beer tasting on the Fantasy. It was the only beer tasting offered on our cruise. I don't remember the cost. And the beers we tried were just all the ones they had on tap on the ship. Unfortunately it was the last night of the cruise, and by then we'd already tried all the beers they served onboard! It would have been nice if it had been at the beginning of the cruise.

The tasting itself was great! The CM leading the tasting was very interesting and knowledgeable, and we actually learned some new things about beer!

Unfortunately some of the other cruisers taking part in the beer tasting were rude and obnoxious. They sat around talking very loudly and laughing even louder over the CM trying to lead the seminar.

At the end of the tasting, the CM started passing around even more beers for us. I think I ended up having 2-3 glasses of each of the beers!

Added your review! thank you!

 

[manhattanman]

My DH and I did the Champagne tasting on the Fantasy and I believe it was $25 each. Loved loved loved it! Then on the Dream we did the wine tasting and it cost $15. That was alot of fun too!

We did the champatne on the dream, in pink ( the bar not our clothes). It was fun, semi informative but not dry and I got to try champagnes I would likely never order. It was $ 15, took about 45 minutes to an hour and there were about 12 people. I think we had 4 or 5 glasses that were about 3/4 full.

With champagne, if you have a smaller group, the pours get larger. It was nice and worth the money.

 

[jbuckent]

We did the wine & chocolate tasting which I thought was $30 (someone else said $20, I could certainly be wrong). There was a champagne, red wine, port, and whiskey (I think, you'd think I had been drinking with this memory!). Each drink also had a white, carmel, and dark chocolate to try with it. My DH enjoyed it, I didn't really like it, I wouldn't do it again. There was believe it or not too much chocolate for me! Never thought I'd ever say that! There needed to be a glass of water or something to sip inbetween drinks. When you went to the next glass you were suppose to taste it alone and then try the chocolate and try again to see how the chocolate changed the flavor, the problem was while taking that first sip there was still a chocolate taste in my mouth. It was kind of boring as well, one guy talking telling you about it all with very little interaction with the other people. If you want someone fun, this isn't it. If you want some quiet time while sipping on drinks you might like this.

This is what it looks like when you arrive.

We also did Mixology which was $15. It was a lot of fun! There were 20 people in our group and he asked for 4 volunteers to make the drinks, each drink was 4 new volunteers and if no one wanted to someone could do it again. He showed us all how to make the drink and then the volunteers made them for the whole group (each made 5). First drink was muddled fruit with sparkling wine, then an amaretto sour, a martini like coctail, a frog in a blender (sour apple schnapps, bailey's, and grenadine I think, curdled together). Apparently I forgot a drink. They were all very good. It was a fun time, very interactive. I would do this again! I did not take any pictures at this event.

 

[kddlm]

Just did Mixology on the Fantasy. Damian the bartender was great! There were only 12 people as it was an added class since the first filled up. My new favorite is amaretto sour and the squished frog shot! Also made a champagne drink, cosmo type drink and a muddled drink with gin I believe (I didn't care for that one). Would definitely recommend....you get your $$ worth for $15!

 

[Jessica_of_FL]

We did the champatne on the dream, in pink ( the bar not our clothes). It was fun, semi informative but not dry and I got to try champagnes I would likely never order. It was $ 15, took about 45 minutes to an hour and there were about 12 people. I think we had 4 or 5 glasses that were about 3/4 full.

With champagne, if you have a smaller group, the pours get larger. It was nice and worth the money.

Thank you all so much for your review, I've added it to the first post!

We did the wine & chocolate tasting which I thought was $30 (someone else said $20, I could certainly be wrong). There was a champagne, red wine, port, and whiskey (I think, you'd think I had been drinking with this memory!). Each drink also had a white, carmel, and dark chocolate to try with it. My DH enjoyed it, I didn't really like it, I wouldn't do it again. There was believe it or not too much chocolate for me! Never thought I'd ever say that! There needed to be a glass of water or something to sip inbetween drinks. When you went to the next glass you were suppose to taste it alone and then try the chocolate and try again to see how the chocolate changed the flavor, the problem was while taking that first sip there was still a chocolate taste in my mouth. It was kind of boring as well, one guy talking telling you about it all with very little interaction with the other people. If you want someone fun, this isn't it. If you want some quiet time while sipping on drinks you might like this.

This is what it looks like when you arrive.

We also did Mixology which was $15. It was a lot of fun! There were 20 people in our group and he asked for 4 volunteers to make the drinks, each drink was 4 new volunteers and if no one wanted to someone could do it again. He showed us all how to make the drink and then the volunteers made them for the whole group (each made 5). First drink was muddled fruit with sparkling wine, then an amaretto sour, a martini like coctail, a frog in a blender (sour apple schnapps, bailey's, and grenadine I think, curdled together). Apparently I forgot a drink. They were all very good. It was a fun time, very interactive. I would do this again! I did not take any pictures at this event.

Thank you all so much for your reviews and for a picture of the chocolate set up!!! That helps so much!

Just did Mixology on the Fantasy. Damian the bartender was great! There were only 12 people as it was an added class since the first filled up. My new favorite is amaretto sour and the squished frog shot! Also made a champagne drink, cosmo type drink and a muddled drink with gin I believe (I didn't care for that one). Would definitely recommend....you get your $$ worth for $15!

Thank you all so much for your review, I've added it to the first post!

 

[DeniseMarie526]

to do with my DD on her 21st Birthday And not too bad on the budget!

We will be on the April 19th 2014 Fantasy Cruise.

My question is, do they normally have at least one of these scheduled per day?

 

[IWannaBeAMousketeer]

I've done the Champaigne tasting twice on the Dream. The first time it was great! Generous pours, refill of your favorite, almost an hour of interesting information on Champaigne. At that time it was $15 and a bargain for what you got. The most recent Champaigne tasting was last Dec and was a total bummer. The pours were small and uneven (some people had full glasses, others only half full) and he moved so fast, you could barely finish each glass. We were out of there in 25 minutes. They didn't refill (even though there were several unfinished bottles and one of my friends politely asked if she could have a bit more) and the cost was $30...double what we had paid in 2011. Like many things with DCL, your experience is entirely dependent on the CM you get. As one of the more expensive tastings, I'm not sure I could justify doing it again.

 

[misslizzy1973]

Can we sign up now somewhere or do we have to wait until we board? I cruise on the Magic on the 10th of May!!

 

[DMMarla07860]

We did the martini tasting twice, tequila and margarita tasting twice and mixology once on out back-2-back on the Fantasy, all were great

 

[Jessica_of_FL]

Can we sign up now somewhere or do we have to wait until we board? I cruise on the Magic on the 10th of May!!

You have to wait until you board

 

[Wenawen]

You have to wait until you board

Even if you are concierge?

 

[Meghatron]

Even if you are concierge?

Yes. Your onboard concierge can book them for you, but shoreside does not have access because the ship staff sets the schedule.

 

[owensjro]

So looking at a recent Fantasy navigator I see they have this tasting listed:
Amari

Has anyone done this tasting? Never heard of it before (but just did a google search so I see what it is) and was curious what people thought of the tasting.

For those curious, these were the tastings listed in the navigator I saw:

Mixolog
Wine
Martini
Champagne
Beer
Cognac
Whisky
Amari
Tequila & Margarita
Wine & Chocolate
Rum

I got the navigator off the wdwinfo site...it's from 3/16/13 7N Western.

Jim

Jim