When our family boarded the Disney Wonder for an Alaskan adventure, we expected glaciers, wildlife, spectacular scenery, and plenty of Disney magic. What I did not anticipate was how easily the cruise would also become a Wine Scholars experience.
The scenery may have brought us to Alaska, but the people onboard made the journey unforgettable.
From the beginning, the service was exceptional. Crew members learned our names, remembered our preferences, and continually found small ways to make us feel special. It never felt scripted. It felt personal.
At dinner, Gelmar from the Philippines quickly became one of the kids’ favorite people on the ship. He loved performing magic tricks, and each evening brought a new surprise. Ricardo, our other server from Cancún, always seemed to know when something exciting was about to happen. He made sure we experienced the best performances during dinner and helped turn every meal into part of the entertainment.
Even the onboard gemstone seminars became a highlight. The kids collected charms for their bracelets, but what they really collected were relationships. By the end of the cruise, they talked about many of the crew members as though they had met their new best friends, especially Hannah.
That became one of the defining themes of our trip. The crew did not simply provide great service; they shared their personalities, stories, humor, and enthusiasm with us. Those personal connections made an enormous ship feel surprisingly intimate.
A Wine Scholar’s Treasure Hunt
Naturally, the Wine Scholar in me was conducting a different kind of treasure hunt.
One of the joys of traveling is discovering wines that you might not ordinarily encounter—or finding familiar regions presented through an unexpected bottle. During the cruise, I found several wines that made dinner feel like its own tasting experience.
2021 Hamilton Russell Oregon Zena Crown Pinot Noir
The 2021 Hamilton Russell Oregon Zena Crown Pinot Noir was especially fun because of the story behind it.
Hamilton Russell is best known for its South African heritage and its classically styled Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. This bottle takes that perspective to Oregon, using Pinot Noir from the highly regarded Zena Crown Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills. The result is a fascinating meeting of worlds: an Oregon vineyard interpreted through the lens of a family with decades of experience making restrained, elegant Pinot Noir in South Africa.
The wine offered the bright red fruit we hope to find in Oregon Pinot Noir, but with spice, earthiness, structure, and fine tannins underneath it. It was polished without being heavy and gave us plenty to talk about at the table. More than anything, it was a reminder that wine is increasingly an international conversation. A producer’s philosophy can travel across continents while still allowing a particular vineyard to speak for itself.
2021 Château de Laborde Gevrey-Chambertin “Vieilles Vignes”
We also found the 2021 Château de Laborde Gevrey-Chambertin “Vieilles Vignes,” a bottle that felt particularly appropriate after our recent Wine Scholars exploration of Burgundy.
“Vieilles Vignes” means old vines, and this wine is produced from approximately 40-year-old Pinot Noir vines. The grapes are hand-harvested, and the wine is aged for 18 months in oak barrels, roughly 30 percent of which are new. Its profile moves through cranberry and darker fruit, violets, dried rose petals, spice, and the firm but refined structure associated with Gevrey-Chambertin.
What made this bottle so enjoyable was not simply that it came from Burgundy. It gave us the chance to compare two very different interpretations of Pinot Noir during the same voyage.
The Hamilton Russell showed us Oregon fruit through the perspective of a South African Pinot Noir specialist. The Château de Laborde brought us back to the Côte de Nuits and the structure, earthiness, and savory complexity of Gevrey-Chambertin.
That is exactly the kind of comparison Wine Scholars is built around. We were not just asking which bottle we preferred. We were asking why they tasted different, what the vineyards were contributing, and how the decisions of each producer shaped the final wine.
Apparently, even on vacation, the studying continues.
Meeting Sasa, the Sommelier of the Disney Wonder
His passion for wine was unmatched anywhere onboard. He had stories for seemingly every region, producer, and bottle, and his enthusiasm made each conversation feel less like a lecture and more like being welcomed into his world.
Michelle and I were fortunate enough to attend both his Champagne tasting and his wine-tasting class.
Four Sparkling Wines, Four Distinct Personalities
Our sparkling flight featured Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot, Chandon, and Bollinger
The lineup was more educational than simply tasting four famous labels. Technically, Chandon is a California sparkling wine rather than Champagne, which meant we could compare three Champagne houses with a New World wine made using the same bottle-fermentation method.
Each brought a noticeably different personality.
Taittinger represented the more elegant, Chardonnay-focused side of Champagne. Its flagship Brut Réserve contains a comparatively high proportion of Chardonnay, contributing freshness, delicate fruit, fine bubbles, and a refined overall character.
Veuve Clicquot provided more Pinot Noir-driven structure. Its Yellow Label blend is built around Pinot Noir and incorporates a significant proportion of reserve wines, producing a broader style with pear, peach, brioche, and pastry notes.
Chandon offered the New World contrast: bright California fruit, with green apple, pear, citrus, and a soft, dry finish. The wine undergoes its second fermentation in the bottle and spends at least 12 months aging on the lees, giving it some of the creamy texture associated with the traditional method while retaining its sunny California personality.
Finally, Bollinger rounded out the flight with a richer, more vinous and structured expression. The house’s signature style is strongly influenced by Pinot Noir and reserve wines, producing deeper flavors that can include ripe fruit, roasted apple, brioche, spice, and nuttiness.
Rather than deciding that one was simply “best,” Sasa helped us understand what each house was trying to achieve. The experience showed how grape selection, blending, reserve wines, aging, and house philosophy can create completely different expressions of sparkling wine.
That is the kind of tasting I love: recognizable bottles, but a much deeper lesson hiding behind them.
Blind Tasting at Sea
The next class was even more aligned with the Wine Scholars spirit because Sasa conducted it blind.
Blind tasting immediately changes the conversation. Once the label disappears, so do many of our expectations. We can no longer rely on a producer’s reputation, a famous region, or the price of the bottle. The wine has to speak for itself.
We worked through the clues: color, aroma, acidity, body, tannin, alcohol, texture, fruit character, oak influence, and finish. Was the fruit coming from a warm climate or a cool one? Did the wine feel youthful or developed? Were the aromas pointing us toward a grape, region, or style?
Sasa guided us without simply giving away the answers. He encouraged us to describe what we were experiencing, defend our conclusions, and remain open to being completely wrong.
That last part is important.
The point of blind tasting is not to perform a magic trick and announce the correct bottle. It is to develop a repeatable way of thinking about wine. Even an incorrect conclusion can be valuable when the observations behind it are thoughtful.
The tasting was educational, welcoming, and just competitive enough to keep everyone invested. In other words, it felt very much like a Wine Scholars event—only this time our tasting room happened to be sailing through Alaska.
An Evening at Palo
Sasa was also the sommelier at Palo, where his recommendations helped make our dinner one of the most memorable meals of the cruise.
A thoughtful wine recommendation can change the entire rhythm of a dinner. The right bottle does not compete with the food. It reveals something new in it, connecting one course to the next and giving the meal a sense of progression.
Sasa understood that we wanted more than an expensive label. We wanted something interesting—wine with a story that would complement the food while giving us another opportunity to learn.
The experience was elevated even further by Gio from Italy.
Gio brought his life stories, infectious energy, and extremely strong opinions about how to have the best possible meal. He did not merely take our order. He guided the experience.
There was a correct way to approach the menu, a correct order in which to enjoy things, and—according to Gio—very little room for negotiation.
Naturally, we loved him.
Between Sasa’s thoughtful wine recommendations and Gio’s animated approach to dining, the evening felt less like a restaurant reservation and more like being welcomed into a lively Italian conversation about food, wine, travel, and how life ought to be enjoyed.
The People Made the Journey
Alaska gave us the spectacular backdrop, but the people aboard the Disney Wonder gave the trip its heart.
Gelmar, Ricardo, Hannah, Sasa, and Gio each shared something of themselves with our family. Their stories, humor, knowledge, and attention transformed ordinary interactions into lasting memories.
The kids left feeling as though they had made friends throughout the ship. Michelle and I left with a deeper appreciation for the hospitality—and the unexpectedly rich wine culture—we found onboard.
For families who love Disney but also want meaningful food-and-wine experiences, there is much more available than you might expect. Attend the tastings. Ask questions. Speak with the sommelier. Let the dining team guide you. Order a bottle you have never tried before.
Most importantly, take the time to know the people sharing these experiences with you.
We went to Alaska expecting glaciers, adventure, and Disney magic. We returned with all of that, along with several wonderful bottles, new wine knowledge, and memories of the people who made us feel genuinely special.
For this Wine Scholar, that was its own kind of magic.