Allure of the iPad Digital Menu at Trendy Central Park Wine Bar2 min read
The word is everyone loves the iPad digital menu at Vintages, the neighborhood wine bar in Central Park; but you won’t find the trendy establishment in Manhattan. Royal Caribbean International’s signature wine bar is at sea. Its address: Royal Promenade Deck 5, Central Park, Allure of the Seas – the newest cruise ship in Royal Caribbean’s fleet and the largest, most revolutionary ship in the world — a ship so big, it had to be divided into seven distinct “neighborhoods.” Vintages is in Allure’s Central Park neighborhood.
Recently, freelance journalist, Andrea Ashfield, a feature writer for World Cruise Industry Review, asked Frank Weber, Vice President of Food and Beverage Operations at Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, to share some of the exciting enhancements to the culinary experience aboard Allure of the Seas. Weber was quick to tell her about the iPad digital menu at Vintages. Guests can search the wine bar’s extensive selection of wines and authentic tapas (small plates) and build a virtual meal by adding their wine and food selections, one at a time, to a virtual tabletop on the iPad digital menu, before sending their order directly to the kitchen and bar. But that’s not all: embedded video on the iPad digital menu lets guests at Vintages see the food being prepared!
Guests can order wine by the bottle or glass, or in two-, four-, or eight-ounce pours, priced by the ounce, from a special selection of ten fine wines, through the wine bar’s automatic pouring system. A virtual “wine assistant” feature on the iPad digital menu lets them narrow their search by suggesting wines based on their personal preferences. And, with the iPad digital menu, they can send messages back and forth to chat with the server.
WATCH VIDEO DEMONSTRATION HERE
“It’s very cool and interactive,” said Weber, who believes the ability of the guests to interact with the server on the iPad digital menu, helps personalize the service and contributes to the “unique bonding of the service staff with guests.”
Weber said Royal Caribbean’s long-term plans are to expand Vintages’ iPad digital menu to other ships in its fleet, during their regularly scheduled drydock.
