Part 3: Wine Experiences Aboard the Oosterdam

This is the third and final post about wine aboard cruise ships.

Last December, we took our second cruise aboard Holland America, on the Oosterdam. As I said in part two of this series, we really enjoyed our wine experiences aboard the Ryndam, so much so that we were really looking forward to this cruise and doing it again.

Like on the Ryndam, we wanted to befriend the cellar master. However, the wine guy we met did not show the same excitement and charisma that they did on the Ryndam, who had come up to us each night to see what we were drinking, and talk about wine. On the Oosterdam, however, they only came up to us the first night to pimp the wine tasting. We ended up signing up for the wine tasting later in the cruise, anyway.

Later, we were disappointed to find out that the wine tasting was to be held in the culinary arts center, which is like a small theater, with a kitchen for a stage. This did not sound nearly as elegant or intimate as the tasting aboard the Ryndam, which was held in the Pinnacle Grill, the premium restaurant on board. As a result, we canceled the day before the tasting.

The next day, we ended up walking by the tasting, and peering inside. It was a packed house with someone on stage talking about wine. Like we suspected, it was very impersonal. We were glad we canceled.

In the end, the best wine we enjoyed was wine we brought on board ourselves. We did not even try any of the wine offerings aboard the ship.

So, what did we learn? Just because you had one experience aboard one ship does not mean you will have a similar experience aboard another ship, even if it is the same cruise line. It is not that the experiences aboard the Oosterdam were bad. They weren't. It simply was not the Ryndam.

Post Script:

All was not completely lost. The Oosterdam had a master sommelier to teach cooking classes, as a guest instructor, for our cruise only. We took a couple of the classes.

The one take away we got from the cooking classes was a nice wine recommendation: Castle Rock Pinot Noir. Castle Rock Pinot Noir is a well priced Pinot Noir, at about 12 bucks, that is a good value. When we got home, we tried it. It was quite enjoyable. As a result, we've added the wine to our wine repertoire.

The nice thing about Castle Rock is we found it on the menu of a Italian style wood fired pizza joint, walking distance from our house. It is nice to be able to look at the wine list and see another wine we enjoy. Every time we drink it, I think back to the cooking class on the Oosterdam.