Beverage Tastings and Seminars - Prices & Reviews

[FabFivePA]

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!

We did Mixology last week as well. We went to the scheduled one. Just curious when did they add the other one? Glad to hear they accommodated more people, someone said they had a 40-person waitlist. Really surprised they have seemed to knock this one down to once a cruise with as popular as it seems.

I completely agree with the amaretto sour and the squished frog!!! SO GOOD, both of them!!! We had a great time. Will definitely do this again on our next cruise.

I know reports are mixed as far as whether or not you pour your own drinks depending on the CM, we did pour all the drinks with Damian.

 

[Jessica_of_FL]

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.

We did Mixology last week as well. We went to the scheduled one. Just curious when did they add the other one? Glad to hear they accommodated more people, someone said they had a 40-person waitlist. Really surprised they have seemed to knock this one down to once a cruise with as popular as it seems.

I completely agree with the amaretto sour and the squished frog!!! SO GOOD, both of them!!! We had a great time. Will definitely do this again on our next cruise.

I know reports are mixed as far as whether or not you pour your own drinks depending on the CM, we did pour all the drinks with Damian.

Added both your reviews to the first post, thank you.


I also edited the first post to group all the wine tasting listing together.

 

[owensjro]

Looking at the schedule on that western fantasy I mentioned before the first sea day is a doozy....

12:15pm - Champagne
1:00 - Martini
2:00 - New World Wine
3:00 - Mixology
4:45 - Amari
10:30 - Whiskey

Wow. Not sure I'd be walking after all that. At least they give you time to eat before hitting the Whiskey

Jim

 

[kddlm]

@FabFive..we had tried to sign up for the original scheduled mixology when we first boarded and like you said waitlist was very long but we got on it. As a fallback, we signed up for the martini tasting for thursday at 1:00. I believe it was tuesday night when we got back from our late seating dinner that a card was outside the door indicating they added the extra class. It was, however same time/day as martini tasting. Guest services put us on hold for a bit, but allowed us to swap the martini for mixology All 12 of us in mixology were very surprised class wasnt larger..maybe some just didnt ask to switch...dont know, but very glad we did!

 

[FabFivePA]

@FabFive..we had tried to sign up for the original scheduled mixology when we first boarded and like you said waitlist was very long but we got on it. As a fallback, we signed up for the martini tasting for thursday at 1:00. I believe it was tuesday night when we got back from our late seating dinner that a card was outside the door indicating they added the extra class. It was, however same time/day as martini tasting. Guest services put us on hold for a bit, but allowed us to swap the martini for mixology All 12 of us in mixology were very surprised class wasnt larger..maybe some just didnt ask to switch...dont know, but very glad we did!

That's awesome! So glad to hear they did that and more people got to do it! Sounds like you guys went just before us.

 

[kddlm]

Yes, Damien had all the glasses prepped for your 3:00 class. Do you remember what was in the drink with chambord? I only remember not caring for the muddled drink or the sparkling wine one...only because I just do not drink anything fizzy (soda sparkling water etc..)

 

[FabFivePA]

Yes, Damien had all the glasses prepped for your 3:00 class. Do you remember what was in the drink with chambord? I only remember not caring for the muddled drink or the sparkling wine one...only because I just do not drink anything fizzy (soda sparkling water etc..)

Ooh, that was the martini, right? Let me think, neither of us poured that one. LOL That was yummy too.

Okay, I know it had grenadine in it. The rest will come to me. I'll be back. LOL!!

 

[NicoleKristal]

Has anyone done the cognac tasting before?

 

[klepton]

Has anyone done the cognac tasting before?

Yes, what would like to know?

 

[valee]

This will be my first 7 nighter, and on my previous short cruise I didn't need to sign up for any on-board activities. it sounds like these tastings are popular - do I need to go by Guest Services right after boarding and sign up? I assume they'd be busy right after boarding with people trying to make reservations for Palo, so would prefer to wait a bit and let the lines get shorter.

 

[robhawk]

This will be my first 7 nighter, and on my previous short cruise I didn't need to sign up for any on-board activities. it sounds like these tastings are popular - do I need to go by Guest Services right after boarding and sign up? I assume they'd be busy right after boarding with people trying to make reservations for Palo, so would prefer to wait a bit and let the lines get shorter.

You can go to Guest Services. We went right down to La Piazza. They had someone signing people up. No line!

 

[klepton]

This will be my first 7 nighter, and on my previous short cruise I didn't need to sign up for any on-board activities. it sounds like these tastings are popular - do I need to go by Guest Services right after boarding and sign up? I assume they'd be busy right after boarding with people trying to make reservations for Palo, so would prefer to wait a bit and let the lines get shorter.

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.

 

[valee]

So GS would have a list of all the tastings on the first day, so I can plan and sign up early, before the Navigators are available. Perfect.

 

[Silverfox97]

So GS would have a list of all the tastings on the first day, so I can plan and sign up early, before the Navigators are available. Perfect.

Guest services will send you to where the list is - example, on embarkation day on the Fantasy, it's in La Piazza from 1-3. THEN you can sign up at Guest Services from 3pm & on.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Silverfox97]

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.

Not true. On the Fantasy, several sell out. On our last cruise, Mixology and Champagne tasting both sold out on the first day.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[kddlm]

Not true. On the Fantasy, several sell out. On our last cruise, Mixology and Champagne tasting both sold out on the first day.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Indeed!!! Go to guests services when you first board. We were waitlisted for mixology on 3/23 Fantasy and they told us waitlist was larger than actual class...fortunately they added a second class and we got in

 

[valee]

I'll sign up right away then. Since I'm on a repo, I assume there will be a lot of experienced cruisers who will know the best times to do everything.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[j2o]

My DH would probably really enjoy one of these events, but I don't drink. Do I still get charged if I go just to keep him company and not drink?

TIA!

 

[bahacca]

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!

 

[FergusBC]

My DH would probably really enjoy one of these events, but I don't drink. Do I still get charged if I go just to keep him company and not drink?

TIA!

I tagged along to a whisky tasting with my dh. There wasn't a problem. If you don't pay, you just don't get drinks . I did sit at a chair 'behind' the group so I wouldn't displace anyone who wanted to sit up with the group. And I did end up 'helping' dh by downing his Irish whiskey .