Wine pairings at Remy--suggest you DON'T do it!

[Uncleromulus]

Mind you, the wines were excellent. But the "pour" was just that--poor.

Barely enough in each course to cover the bottom of the glass.

And worse, the Port (suggested with the cheese course) was extra.

At 99$ each, I'd almost call it a rip-off.

To note that we always get the wine pairing at V&A, so it was rather easy to compare the two---

 

[Lisa Lisa]

Mind you, the wines were excellent. But the "pour" was just that--poor.

Barely enough in each course to cover the bottom of the glass.

And worse, the Port (suggested with the cheese course) was extra.

At 99$ each, I'd almost call it a rip-off.

To note that we always get the wine pairing at V&A, so it was rather easy to compare the two---

I agree that $99 is a rip-off. Once the sommelier had told us that each glass would be 2 oz, we decided to skip the pairing and instead opted for 2 glasses each. I have a question for you. The sommelier came to our table with a velvet bag, but after we told him that we'd be ordering by the glass he told us that he would not be showing us what was inside. We thought he was joking, but then he turned and walked away! What was in the bag??

 

[PrincessForLife]

I agree that $99 is a rip-off. Once the sommelier had told us that each glass would be 2 oz, we decided to skip the pairing and instead opted for 2 glasses each. I have a question for you. The sommelier came to our table with a velvet bag, but after we told him that we'd be ordering by the glass he told us that he would not be showing us what was inside. We thought he was joking, but then he turned and walked away! What was in the bag??

Our waiter told us himself that he was glad we chose to do a bottle over the wine pairings. He said the pours used to be 5oz but they stopped doing so much because people were too tipsy to get through the meal.

The velvet bag was for the Remy Vault wine list. It's a selection of their best wines and some of their most expensive...topping out at $25,000 a bottle! We met with the sommelier early in the week to pick a wine from there and they only bring it out if you are serious about buying the whole bottle. You can't get just by the glass from the vault. Here are the pictures I was able to get when the sommelier stepped out:

 

[Lisa Lisa]

Our waiter told us himself that he was glad we chose to do a bottle over the wine pairings. He said the pours used to be 5oz but they stopped doing so much because people were too tipsy to get through the meal.

The velvet bag was for the Remy Vault wine list. It's a selection of their best wines and some of their most expensive...topping out at $25,000 a bottle! We met with the sommelier early in the week to pick a wine from there and they only bring it out if you are serious about buying the whole bottle. You can't get just by the glass from the vault.

Wow -- thanks for the info and the photos! I'm feeling better about not seeing the contents of the bag now!

 

[PrincessForLife]

Wow -- thanks for the info and the photos! I'm feeling better about not seeing the contents of the bag now!

Oh trust me, we got the cheapest bottle on that list. About $150. They only go up from there! lol

And even if you don't do the Vault list and you still want to get a good bottle, meet with the sommeiler, ask for suggestions from the regular wine list, and they'll make sure it's iced and ready to go when you are seated!

 

[PrincessMer]

Oh trust me, we got the cheapest bottle on that list. About $150. They only go up from there! lol And even if you don't do the Vault list and you still want to get a good bottle, meet with the sommeiler, ask for suggestions from the regular wine list, and they'll make sure it's iced and ready to go when you are seated!

Did you just swing by Remys during the day and say you wanted to pick out a bottle of wine?

 

[PrincessForLife]

Did you just swing by Remys during the day and say you wanted to pick out a bottle of wine?

While we were at Palo at the beginning of the week we told the hostess for Remy that we wanted to meet with the sommelier and she gave us an appointment time. She was a very busy sommelier!!

 

[Uncleromulus]

Princess:

Interesting about people getting too "tipsy"--with lots of folks drinking beer all day long

And with no need to do anything after Remy but walk back to the room after dinner

Not sure I'm buying that servers explanation---

 

[BCV23]

So good to know. It sounds like ordering by the glass or bottle is the way to go.

If the pours were reduced from 5oz. to 2 oz., one would think the price would be 2/5ths of the original price, too....a bit under $40.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I agree!

With a 2 oz pour (or even less, as it seemed to me) a bottle of wine should go a LONG way!!!

And I should note that unlike V&A where the servers themselves usually do the wine pours, at Remy it was always the sommelier.

 

[ST1TCH]

Those aren't pairings...they're tastings

 

[Uncleromulus]

Yeah--tasting is more like it.

Mrs U 's recollection is that the wine barely covered the "well" at the bottom of the glass (where the stem meets the glass).

Should add that we took the Old World wine tasting on the ship and each tasting glass had a lot more wine than at Remy

 

[mgibson301]

Great info! We have reservations for our 14 Dec cruise on the Fantasy. I'm having to force my husband to pay extra as it is for Remy's...wait.. maybe if he was tipsy he wouldn't care

 

[PrincessForLife]

Princess:

Interesting about people getting too "tipsy"--with lots of folks drinking beer all day long

And with no need to do anything after Remy but walk back to the room after dinner

Not sure I'm buying that servers explanation---

I totally don't believe it either! Since we had a very new waiter, I'm sure that's what he was told to tell people....We didn't investigate into it any further. Since we don't really plan on returning to Remy, we'll stick with the V&A wine pairings that are more than worth it!

 

[Uncleromulus]

mgibson310:

Please don't mistake that we didn't like Remy--we did.

But whan you go and if you want wine, I think you will be much better off just buying a bottle, or even just by the glass.

And I would hope that "by the glass" resulted in a standard sized pour

 

[Empress Room]

DH and I had a completely different experience on our August 10 Fantasy cruise. We ate at Remy with the wine pairing option and found both the quality and the quantity of the wines poured to be quite outstanding.

We certainly like our wines and certainly are more than capable of drinking our share, and we each found that the pours at Remy were very much worth the wine pairing fee. Each wine, in addition to being perfectly married to the course, was more than enough to enjoy with the food. They are all served in oversized glasses, which may be why the pours appear smaller, but by the end of the evening, we had more than our share of wine and were happy that, whatever the portion size, it wasn't any larger lest we fall overboard!

Although we found no reason to, there was a gentleman at the next table who was also doing the wine pairing. During a course, he asked the sommelier for more because he was enjoying it and she was only more than happy to give refills.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Well--glad you had a different experience.

Our sommelier was a "he"

At V&A (and we've dined there 25+ times) the glasses are also "oversize" and the pour ALWAYS quite a bit more than the pittance we got at Remy.
2 oz is about right---could not have been any more than that no matter what the glass looked like!!

Stand by my original statement--clearly not worth $99 EACH, and the Port we had to order with the cheese course an ADDITIONAL $20 each!!! Port (as it should) comes with the wine pairings at V&A.

 

[gumbo1009]

I am curious about the FOOD. Were you in Remy in October? May I ask you whether you noted any shifts in the menu? I know they were planning new dishes for introduction in "the fall," and I did see a recent dining post on Popular Cruising that showed two new offerings from Remy. Thanks!

 

[brittie62]

DH and I had a completely different experience on our August 10 Fantasy cruise. We ate at Remy with the wine pairing option and found both the quality and the quantity of the wines poured to be quite outstanding. We certainly like our wines and certainly are more than capable of drinking our share, and we each found that the pours at Remy were very much worth the wine pairing fee. Each wine, in addition to being perfectly married to the course, was more than enough to enjoy with the food. They are all served in oversized glasses, which may be why the pours appear smaller, but by the end of the evening, we had more than our share of wine and were happy that, whatever the portion size, it wasn't any larger lest we fall overboard! Although we found no reason to, there was a gentleman at the next table who was also doing the wine pairing. During a course, he asked the sommelier for more because he was enjoying it and she was only more than happy to give refills.

On the Fantasy, we were also pleased with the value. Neither DH or myself are Wine experts so this was an opportunity to try wines we would never, ever buy, wine that was paired correctly with the food along with the expertise of the sommelier in explaining about it. Sure, I could have gotten 2 bottles of my Pinot Grigio that I was drinking elsewhere for the same price as the pairings but I'm not sure it would have worked with all of the courses as well. I was especially surprised by the wine that smelled like diesel fuel but tasted wonderful when paired with the food course.

 

[Uncleromulus]

gumbo:

Wish I could help but I don't what the "old" Remy menu looked like. We both ordered off the Lallement menu rather than the Scott Hunnel menu.

One more comment about the wine pairings and then I'll end my part of it. A bottle of wine is 750 ML--just over 25 oz. Not counting the champagne, the 2 oz pours we both received of actual wine would probably fill ONE bottle about 80% of the way--if that.

For nearly $200. And no Port. Not a good value.

But I learned a good lesson!!