The Vintage Room on the Riverside Ravel

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Among river cruise lines, the Vintage Room on Riverside Luxury Cruise Lines is unique.

Why is it unique? There is a significant charge for the dining experience which Riverside justifies due to the premium wine selection for the 7-course meal. No other river cruise line that has a specialty dining option charges for the experience that I am aware of based on our knowledge of the 8 river cruise lines we follow.

So, let’s experience the Vintage Room Dining Experience as we did recently and evaluate if it is an experience you desire to have.

The Vintage Room on the Riverside Ravel venue that is set up for 10 guests. Photo Anne Schrader

As a little bonus, during the 2023 ASTA River Cruise Expo, we got a chance to see the double-wide Mozart. Here are 2 pictures of the Vintage Room and a sample menu.

The Vintage Room on the Riverside Mozart. Photo Hank Schrader

A Sample Menu for the Vintage Room on the Riverside Mozart. While the menu items are different, the 7-course meal and excellent wines mirror the concept of the Vintage Room. The wines on this sample menu are exceptional. Photo Hank Schrader

The Vintage Room Concept

This small venue on the 3 Riverside ships is only available if enough guests sign up for this extra-cost meal (my best guess is at least 8 are required). The exact meal is not known beforehand—the chef and sommelier plan the menu on the day of the event.

The meal is a combination of a tasting menu with a larger main course entrée, served with premier wines. Our meal started with an excellent Bollinger Champagne (Grande Anne—a true hit with my lovely wife Anne—even the spelling of Anne was correct!).

Each course was served with wines, starting with the 2 whites and switching to the reds—each course is paired to the wines to enhance the sensations on your palate.

Our Menu

Course 1 Crayfish & Cucumber in a gin and tonic sauce

Course 2 Compressed Watermelon with Goat Cheese |Mint |Arugula |Basil

Course 3 Dark Fish Veloute Huitre Bretonne | Bruschetta

Course 4 Raspberry Sorbet in Cassis Spheres | Sparkling Wine

The Sorbet to cleanse our palates. Photo Anne Schrader

This is how they added the champagne to our sorbet—cool technique with the twisted napkin! Photo Anne Schrader

Course 5 Venison with Young Vegetables |Peach | Plum

The Main Course—Venison. Photo Anne Schrader

Course 6 Millefuille with Fig | Blue Cheese

Course 7 Petit Gateau Au Chocolat Noir Chocolate Mousse | Cassis Sorbet | Royal Almond Glaze

Wines

The real emphasis of this meal was the premier wines. To help understand this, I researched the average cost per bottle retail in an online search, just to get a sense of the cost to put on the meal without the food. For our 11-person group, they used about 2 bottles of each wine.

My best guess is that the wine cost Riverside somewhere around $1,624 total for the meal (using my 2-bottle estimate), so it was about $148 per person. I do want to emphasize there was plenty of wine, so no one was limited—it was just the right amount for fine dining.

The reason this is important is the meal cost us 580 Euros per couple (I have seen reports of 295 Euros per person for this experience, making the cost 590 Euros per couple) and as smart travelers, we want to know if the experience was worth the cost of 290 to 295 Euros per person.

Campagne

Bollinger Grande Anne Champagne France 2014 ($144 per bottle)

White Wines

Chateau Carbonnieux Sauvignon Blanc Bordeau France 2017 ($60 per bottle)

Olivier Laflaive Les Folatiers, Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru, France 2020 ($140 per bottle)

Red Wines

Chateau Hossana, Merlot, Pomerol, Bordeaux France 2018 ($182 per bottle)

Chateau Figeac, Premier Grand Cru Classe, St Emillion, Bordeaux France 2018 ($215 to $295 per bottle)

Dessert Wine

Karcher Trockenbeerenauslese, Burgenland, Neusiedlersee, Austria 2003 (retail $71 per bottle)

The Meal Experience

The venue is very elegant, and the service exceptional. Each course was explained and the wine accompany it was explained in greater detail. A cool feature was the menus printed for each guest by name and detailed descriptions of the wine and were delivered to our stateroom to help us remember the experience.

The chef (right) explaining the meal with the sommelier looking on. Photo Anne Schrader

The experience was exactly as described to us, the wines excellent, but personally I was disappointed in the meal. The quality was excellent, but the choice of food just didn’t send me raving afterwards about the meal. Some of the courses called for a refined palate to appreciate the taste and flavor and although the Venison was superbly prepared, it is one of my least favorite meat dishes.

The wines were awesome, so overall it was a good experience.

We did get a lttle special treatment—it was just before my 75th birthday. Thay made me a cake and all got to share and celebrate with us.

The awesome cake on my plate—it was really good! Photo Anne Schrader

Our Final Thoughts

This optional meal is a truly fine dining experience. It was a highly unique experience, and far exceeds a Captains Gala on other river cruise lines.

Anne feels it is the best dining experience she has had on a river cruise line. Anne’s impression of the meal was very high and worthy of the cost—even though Venison isn’t a meat she likes, the other dishes were excellent. Her take on the evening: quality food, beautifully presented plating, timing of the courses to allow full enjoyment without excessive waiting, and truly white glove service by the staff.

I would encourage you to read the courses and wine in detail, as it will help you decide it the experience was worth the cost. Since the food and courses are decided at the last minute, you also need to factor that into your decision. We did provide some feedback to the Riverside staff that the exact menu would encourage more guest to try the experience, especially if the courses were more to their liking.

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ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry. Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA. Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations. She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors. An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 52 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

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