Wine tourism is a big deal, especially in countries where there are many renowned wine regions – like Australia. Taking a Celebrity Cruise through some of the best Australian country was an absolute dream. Combined with amazing sightseeing in this diverse country, taking a Celebrity wine cruise in Australia really is the recipe for an amazing vacation.
Disclaimer: We paid travel agency rates for this cruise, however it was not a sponsored trip, and all opinions are our own.
The Celebrity Eclipse
The Celebrity Eclipse is one of the ships in the Solstice class. I loved the size of the ship and the staff to guest ratio. The ship felt large and we never felt crowded except around the pool on at sea days.
My absolute favorite area of the ship was the green space on the upper decks. I have never experienced this concept on a ship before but enjoyed relaxing here. There were lounge chairs, a putting green, and just space to lay in the grass. Real grass. This is where I found myself enjoying the sunrise and sunset each day.
Dining aboard the Celebrity Eclipse
Dining on the Celebrity Eclipse was phenomenal! Compared to other cruise lines and ships, I felt that the main dining room far exceeded our expectations. There was one night all three of us ordered steak cooked completely different and each of them were cooked to perfection.
As for the speciality dining options, our favorite was Le Petit Chef. I have never seen this concept anywhere before and we were blown away. I would sail again just for this dining and entertainment experience. We also enjoyed the Chef’s Table during our sailing which I always recommend to our clients and friends. This is such a special treat and especially on this wine cruise.
Wine tasting aboard the Celebrity Eclipse
There were multiple wine tasting events held onboard during our at sea days. We attended two of them.
The first one was a food and wine pairing learning experience held in the Tuscan Grille with views off the back of the ship. The sommelier was very informative and we learned a great deal. Many of these combinations I would have never imagined pairing together.
The second was a wine around the world event. This was held in the Cellar Masters lounge. Multiple tables were set up with red and white wines with flags designating what country the wine was from. Cheese and fruit was provided as well. We were given time to taste our way around the world. There were sommeliers at each table providing more information about each of the wines and the regions they came from.
Where does the Celebrity Wine Cruise visit?
This 9-day cruise left out of Sydney, and sailed to Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart before returning to Sydney.
Cruising from Sydney
Sydney is a fantastic port to sail out of. It is easy to get to from its large international airport, and there is so much to do for 3 days in Sydney before your cruise departs. From climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, to taking a day trip to the Blue Mountains – you will love your time in Sydney.
Melbourne
Our time in Melbourne was 8am to 6pm. The city itself is very large as we learned they are on the verge of passing Sydney in population any day now.
Instead of visiting the city we chose to venture out to see the 12 Apostles and the Great Ocean Road. This trip is a full day – most tour operators advertise it to be a 12 to 13-hour tour. Since we only had 10 hours in port we chose the express tour which is 9 hours long. Instead of driving the entire route of the Great Ocean Road we only drove a small section of it to save time.
The experience of seeing the 12 Apostles was worth the long drive. The coastline was amazing. We spent approximately 2 hours at many different outlooks for photo opportunities before enjoying lunch and returning to the ship.
Adelaide
Our stop in Adelaide was an overnight stop with the second day being a half day. Adelaide is famous for having 200+ wine cellar doors within 1-hour of the city center. We chose to focus our first day on experiencing the wine regions of the area, specifically the Barossa Wine Valley.
The cruise port is about 40 minutes by train or 30 minutes by car from the city center. We chose to Uber into the city where our tour guide picked us up to begin the tour. It was a hop on hop off wine tour through the Barossa Wine Valley which was just under an hour from the city center.
Barossa Valley Wine Tour
We visited 3 wineries during our day and started with St Hallett Winery. They are known for their bold and brassy Shiraz wines and did not disappoint. Shiraz is actually what the entire region is famous for, and even though it is not typically my favorite, I found a few that I really enjoyed.
Our next stop was Rusden Wines which is a small boutique winery. We enjoyed a meat and cheese platter here along with our wines. The atmosphere and the wines were amazing.
Even though we originally planned to visit four wineries, our next stop was our favorite and we decided to stay longer and only visit three for the day. Lambert Estate is just spectacular. We met the owners who, ironically, are from Wisconsin. We enjoyed talking with them, learning more about the winery, touring the grounds and of course the tastings.
Lunch here was phenomenal, as it should be as they have six master chefs on site. We could have spent all afternoon here if we had not had to return to the city with our tour bus.
Henley Beach
After returning to the city we took an uber over to Henley Beach. Despite the extremely windy weather we enjoyed an amazing sunset on the beach.
The pier provides a nice walking space. There are many shops, restaurants and outdoor areas. The locals were flying kites, playing in the splash pads, biking and lounging on the open grass areas. It is a great place to unwind and relax.
We ate dinner at Joe’s which is a small restaurant right on the beach providing floor to ceiling glass walls overlooking the water. It was perfect place to watch the sunset over dinner. Not to mention that the food was fresh and delicious.
Hobart, Tasmania
Our time in Hobart was very short – 10am until 5:30pm. Thankfully the cruise port is within walking distance of the town and the location where we were to meet our private driver for the day. We departed the ship as soon as possible, ready to start our day.
We chose a private driver since we were planning to visit multiple wineries during our day in Hobart. Our driver, being local to the area, was able to customize our day based on our wine preferences, which wineries were open and the amount of time we had available. It was the perfect day. We visited 3 different wineries in Hobart, enjoyed lunch (which was the best meal of the trip) and made it back to the ship in plenty of time.
Wine tourism in Australia
Wine tourism is big business. There are 65 distinct wine regions across the country with GI status, and Australia exports over 600 million litres each year. Combining a cruise with wine appreciation for the southern coast wine regions of Australia is a genius idea on the part of Celebrity Cruises.
The cruise takes you to many different areas, which means you don’t just get the one type of wine or one climate. The varying terroirs and climates give you lots of variety along the way. And don’t worry, for those not into wine, there are lots of non-wine-related excursions to go on.
Sailing from Sydney on a Celebrity wine cruise, Australia
Would you consider a wine cruise of Australia? If so, we would definitely recommend a Celebrity Cruise. The Celebrity Eclipse provided a comfortable means to explore some of the best Australian wine regions, with plenty of time to get a feel for this south coast of Australia. And as a wine-lover, we really enjoyed all the wines we got to try. Some of which challenged my views of the varietal, and opened my eyes to how different climates create unique flavors.
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