Tastings sold out 90 days out

Jenlynn3

Mouseketeer
Joined
Aug 22, 2015
I signed on right away to book Palo , excursions, spa and tastings. Wine, mixology and chocolate pairings is already sold out as most of them. Is this typical?
 
It's hard to say if it's typical or not. What I can gather is there must be a lot of Platinum/Gold cruisers booked on that cruise.
 
I signed on right away to book Palo , excursions, spa and tastings. Wine, mixology and chocolate pairings is already sold out as most of them. Is this typical?

So many factors.
Cruise lengths.
Sea days, ( fewer sea days less availability).
What Castaway club level you are, Concierge, platinum, gold, silver, and the mix of all other cruisers, so more platinum and gold eat up slots.

I have. seven night cruise and recently booked at platinum, it has two sea days and only three mixology slots of forty people. I have a five night cruise it had one mixology class.

Tips.
Keep checking people book then cancel.
Join a cruise meets group and book a private one.
Book on embarkation.
 
From what I understand, they do not list all the tastings in advance. Check the Navigator you'll get at the port on check-in for the location of tasting sign-ups and go there when you board/when they open. They will have a full list of the tastings and times and can book you into available slots. (Also, they MAY take a waiting list for tastings and if there are enough people for one AND there is a location and bartender available, they MAY be able to add another.)
 


I signed on right away to book Palo , excursions, spa and tastings. Wine, mixology and chocolate pairings is already sold out as most of them. Is this typical?

How long is your cruise? When we sailed out of New York City on the 8 night Magic last fall, there were only three or four tastings available to book ahead of time. Once on board however I think there were at least 15. Embarkation day, there will be a location to go and check and see if there are tastings available. In the past that location is usually open up between 1 and 130.
 
My upcoming 5-day was the same way. And it's not a sold out cruise. There will be more options on the ship though.
 
Fear not! Just because the tastings are all booked online does not mean there isn't a few open slots. DCL always keeps slots open for booking onboard the ships.
 


I've been able to book the wine and mojito tastings (which were sold out at around the 75 day mark) within the 2 weeks before the cruise. People start reevaluating their plans as the cruise gets closer.
 
Ditto the point about not all tastings being listed online - many more options available on our cruise over this past New Years than what was found online. Go to Guest Services when you board.
 
We had the same problem on the Fantasy the first week of April. We were only able to book 2 tastings. When we got on board there were more available. These are some of the best adult activities on board. Every time we come back from a cruise with a new appreciation for certain drinks and always come back with a new favorite.
Keep checking and then check on embarkation day. Have fun.
 
I signed up for the Tequila & Margarita tasting on the Dream not long after boarding and I ended up being the only one in the class/tasting. It as really neat having the sole attention of an attractive bartender. I as also able to book the Mixology class which ended up being pretty full.
 
We were in the same situation before our Fantasy cruise at the end of February. One of the first things we did once on board was hit the mixology/tasting signup and we had no problem getting all the classes we wanted. Definitely check as soon as you board, good luck!
 
Same as with Palo bookings. Lots of availability to book typically, once you board.
 
We were in the same situation before our Fantasy cruise at the end of February. One of the first things we did once on board was hit the mixology/tasting signup and we had no problem getting all the classes we wanted. Definitely check as soon as you board, good luck!

If there is a certain class or time that you really want, you can certainly go to Guest Services as soon as you board, as there will be plenty of new classes spots added. However, Guest Services will be crowded at that time, and in my experience, they are a little bit "efficient" at that time, wanted to get you signed up ASAP, but not wanting to discuss all of the options.

The alternative is that one of the bars (depends on your ship, it will tell you which one in the Navigator when you board) has the whole list. If you go sometime the first afternoon or early evening, or even the second day, the bartender will let you look at the whole list, see all the choices, times, open slots etc. and pick and choose at your leisure. We found this to be much more to our liking, and there were still openings for most things. Also, you can show up at a full class, they often have a couple of no-shows and will let you join. Just come a few minutes early so you don't hold anyone else up.

Enjoy!
 
I signed on right away to book Palo , excursions, spa and tastings. Wine, mixology and chocolate pairings is already sold out as most of them. Is this typical?

We are platinum and had to wait until we were onboard to book the Chocolate and Liquor pairing for last year's NYC 7 night cruise, which had 4 sea days.

Check the Navigator you'll get at the port on check-in for the location of tasting sign-ups and go there when you board/when they open.

I second this. The Navigator stated that we could sign up for this experience where the Dining changes/Palo reservations were being made (Lumiere). While my husband was still eating embarkation lunch in Cabana's, I ran downstairs to book it. I had a couple of slots from which to choose.
 
It's not a big deal to me, but the tastings were sold out on my upcoming cruise at 120 days and a few platinum members were surprised that they couldn't book them. Good think it doesn't matter since I have another month to go to be able to book anything.
 
The other thing to remember is that booking these tastings online is a relatively new change (last year or so) so DCL is probably still working to get the balance right of how many tastings to offer for pre-registration online. As things go forward, they will probably get better at offering enough online choices to meet the initial interest, but in any case they will offer more tastings onboard, so other than missing the convenience of online registration, you won't actually miss out on the tastings. Keep checking back. Hopefully they will add more, or there may be some cancellations.
 
You can get in when you get on board. I didn't have a bit of trouble adding people to my booked tastings, or adding on to previously-booked tastings on our last cruise.
 

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