My husband and I are always looking for ways to celebrate because we love a cold glass of champagne to go with the celebration. It’s Mother’s Day- here’s a glass of champagne. We made it to the weekend- here’s a glass of champagne. It’s Tuesday- here’s a glass of champagne. Because of our love for champagne or sparking wine (also because we discovered that activities like this are a good way around needing the drink package), we jumped at the chance to try the Moët & Chandon Wine Tasting that is offered by Royal Caribbean on many of their sailings.
I had done the Women of Wine tasting before and really enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to trying a similar experience. We were able to book the wine tasting in the Cruise Planner before our cruise and paid $36.99 each for it (regularly it is priced at $50). Once we got on the ship, we saw that the event was noted on our calendar in the Royal Caribbean app. This was also helpful to see because it told us where the wine tasting would take place. Depending on the ship, it might be in Giovanni’s Wine Bar, in the Main Dining Room, in Vintages or maybe some other space that they have found for it.
Our Moët & Chandon Wine Tasting on Star of the Seas was in Lou’s and started at 3pm. When we arrived at Lou’s, we discovered that there were only 6 of us that had signed up for tasting. This meant that it was a more intimate experience, and it also meant that we got to taste more of the wine, which was great. Richard was our sommelier and led us through the tasting. He told us all about how champagne got its name, where it was from, how it is made, how it is bottled and gave us the history of the Moët & Chandon vineyard.
Richard was very well informed, easy to understand and was very personable. The best part about the wine tasting was, of course, when we were able to taste it. We were encouraged to think about the 4 Ss when enjoying the wine: sight, smell, sip and savor. We made sure to do that with each of the three glasses of sparkling wine that we were served. For our tasting, we tried the Brut Imperial, the Rosé Imperial and the Grand Vintage. While we throughly enjoyed the first two, the Grand Vintage was the favorite amongst everyone at the tasting, including Richard. While we did not have any food to pair with the tasting, we were given a bottle of water to help cleanse the palette between tastings and to keep us hydrated.
Even though many of the experiences on board Royal Caribbean are a one-and-done activity, I would seriously consider doing this wine tasting again. I am sure that with each tasting we would get a different sommelier and so a varied experience. And, I would book it again if for no other reason than I just enjoy drinking champagne.
Whether on a big ship like Star of the Seas or a smaller ship like Mariner of the Seas, I can help to book you on a cruise so that you can experience this wine tasting as well. Contact me today to help you get started on planning your next adventure.