The Royal Railway Utopia Station Whiskey Tasting

The Utopia of the Seas, which had its maiden voyage in July of 2024, is currently Royal Caribbean’s newest ship.  It is the sister ship to the Wonder of the Seas and is designed similarly to Wonder with one major difference being that Utopia has the Royal Railway.  The Royal Railway is a train car on a cruise ship where passengers can enter, have dinner, and experience what it might be like to have dinner in the old west.  You might even have outlaws enter your train car and demand all of your jewels and money.

Dinner on the Royal Railway is limited to only about 32 passengers so reservations go very quickly.  And, because it is essentially a dinner and a show, the ticket prices are about $120 per person.  For comparison, a passenger could eat at Chops twice for the price of one dining experience on the Royal Railway.  We also felt that while the menu accompanied the theme nicely that it was not elevated enough to justify that price tag.  We decided that we would pass on dining there, but when we heard about the Whiskey Tasting experience that they were offering, we jumped at the chance to book it.

The morning of our whiskey tasting we discovered that these fun themed tickets with an old-timey telegram were delivered to our stateroom.  At our assigned time, we headed down to Utopia Station and checked in with the rest of our group.  When it was time to board the train, we got our picture taken (which they, of course, tried to sell to us) and then we were led to our assigned booth.  We enjoyed a fun preamble, complete with a country western accent and “phone call” to the conductor.  Shortly after that, a crew member came out to lead us through the whiskey tasting.  We learned the history of Uncle Nearest and were taught the best way to experience whiskey when tasting it.  We were walked through the tasting of three different kinds of Uncle Nearest Whiskey. They also supplied us with a small plate of food to go with the whiskey (although we weren’t told if any of the food paired well with any particular whiskey).  Lastly, we were given an Old-fashioned cocktail that is uniquely served during the Royal Railway whiskey tasting.    

Probably the coolest thing about the whole experience is that there was a virtual window that made it seem like the train was really moving and there was a rumble system in the seats to make it feel like you were really on a train.  The tasting itself was fun, perhaps a bit rushed, and everything was really tasty.  Our bartender did an excellent job explaining everything, while having fun with it. It is obvious that he is really passionate about all things whiskey and his job. That passion was infectious and helped us to have a good time as well. The old-fashioned cocktail that was served to us was a bit on the sweet side, so not our favorite, but we enjoyed it all the same.  It seemed that many of the people at the tasting with us weren’t even really fans of whiskey and maybe were just there to experience the train.  So, potentially Royal Caribbean could think about providing other experiences to let people check out the train without having to book dinner.

Now that we have experienced the Royal Railway would we recommend it to others? It is definitely a fun and unique activity to do while cruising.  If you have the drink package, then you could just as easily experience a tasting of your own choosing in the Mason Jar.  If you wanting to check out the Royal Railway, then it is a fun way to do it.  Are we glad that we did it? Yes, definitely.  Would we do it again? Probably not.