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Learn more about wine than ever before with Celebrity Cruises

Celebrity Cruises has expanded its wine programme to offer guests the opportunity to taste and learn about more wine than ever before.

The updated programme introduces more than 100 new selections of wines by the bottle, including 20 additional new half-bottle selections.

The wine tasting programme on Celebrity ships is popular with passengers

The programme now also expands beyond the previous emphasis on wines from Italy, France and California, to include more wines from South America, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Portugal and South Africa.

When the ships are in wine-producing areas such as Australia and South America, guests will now have more opportunities to select locally produced wines.

“Our guests have told us how much they enjoy the wine experience on our ships, from participating in tastings led by our highly trained sommeliers to the convenience of our wine packages, to simply sipping a glass of wine while gazing out at sea,” said Celebrity spokesman Scott Steenrod.

“The updated, now globally focused programme exemplifies modern luxury, with offerings from more wine-producing regions than before, a new emphasis on the many nuances of flavour that make wines unique, and a variety of convenient pricing and packaging options.”

Other highlights of the expanded wine programme include:

In the ships’ main restaurants, as well as in “Blu”, the speciality restaurant for AquaClass accommodation guests, wines are listed by flavour profile, identifying primary flavour characteristics

A new “Reserve List” within the main restaurant wine list identifies some of the finest wines previously only available onboard in Celebrity Cruises’ speciality restaurants

The list of by-the-glass wines served in various bars, restaurants and lounges throughout the ships has grown from 25 to 38 selections

Beverage packages that include wine also have been updated to mirror changes to the overall wine programme:

The “Taste of the Vineyards” three, five and seven-bottle wine packages previously available on the Millennium Class ships and Celebrity Century have also been introduced on the Solstice Class ships, and 90 per cent of the wines that guests can choose from to create their packages are new wines for the cruise line

The Classic Beverage Package and Premium Beverage Package, both of which include wines by the glass in addition to beer and spirits, now include more wine choices. More that 80 per cent of wines available by the glass are part of the Premium package

Renowned wine educator Brian Connors has developed a comprehensive wine education programme for Celebrity Cruises’ sommeliers, bar staff and restaurant staff. Dubbed “Celebrity Cruises Wine University at Sea”, the programme provides up to 24 hours of training.

Said Steenrod: “What really takes our wine programme from being just a list of names on a menu to being a truly interactive experience is one of the world’s largest teams of highly knowledgeable sommeliers in the world.”

The enhanced wine programme brings the Solstice Class fleet offering to more than 500 different wines, and the Millennium Class ships and Celebrity Century offering to more than 300. Guests on Celebrity Cruises’ ships also have the opportunity to experience wine tastings and food-and-wine pairing events as part of the line’s Celebrity Life activities programme.