Information about American's Test Kitchen

Chef teaches you the proper way to cook whatever is being cooked. Each team prepares one course. No chopping. Everything is pre-chopped to save time.

 

After the class is over the same menu is then prepared for you by the Chef and served in the Pinnacle Grill (under Culinary Arts concept) with wine.

Must have depended on the chef because, in my sessions, some had to chop! But we were taught the proper way to do so. And it was more than chopping. But some did more work than others; some participants took over and wouldn't let others do part (which is one of the reasons I stopped going to these classes).

I've done the class twice now under ATK concept. Frankly, if it wasnt a perk for 5 Star I wouldn't do it.

There is no more lunch included and believe the actual price is now $39.00

On Westy our class was pasta and at the end we had an appetizer sized portion of pasta served to us.

On Veendam we did eggs and had deviled eggs served to us.

You still receive an apron.

On both of these cruises, the host had a list of 5 Star that had to be contacted to see if they were participating

Wow, that's an expensive apron!! I'm surprised/disappointed that lunch (with wine) is no longer included at that price point. I guess I won't worry about going in the future (since it's going to be quite a while before I become 5 star). Thank you for the information.

Thanks for that news Tanada.

 

My understanding is that, while it is not an explicit limitation, the available "student" spots in their "classes" are generally all taken up by elite passengers. Did you (or does anyone else) have any insight into how that is working out? Do non-elite Neptune Suite passengers (for example) have a chance?

On our Westerdam cruise last year, we were in a Neptune Suite and went immediately to the NL to see if we could get into the ATK classes. They were already all booked up by 5 star mariners..and we were among the first onboard the ship. I am thinking once it's no longer a novelty, it may be easier to get in as time goes on

Good morning,

I'm just off the Amsterdam and we had the inaugural "America's Test Kitchen" for the ship. It sounds, to me, like everyone is talking abut two different things on this thread. Our America's Test Kitchen was done in the Wajang Theater. Abbie, the trainer, and Kathleen, the trainee, conducted the demonstration and we watched on monitors. For instance, one was "All About Chocolate" and Kathleen was the demonstrator that day. She did a "pots au creme" which she described as an "adult chocolate pudding" and then did brownies. Interspersed with this was information about chocolate.

I think that the class where you get to actually create, then eat in the Pinnacle, is something different and has a different name, but it's escaping me at the moment! I also may be totally off base.

Karen

There are no individual cooking stations. When I took a class under the old CAC, there were twelve of us in total. We were broken up into groups of 2 or 3 and each group worked on a different course or part of a course. Some were at the cooktop, some were around the rest of the station on the stage. I assume that the ATK classes are run pretty much the same.

This was my experience as well. We had three groups of four working in the kitchen area of the movie theater. One group worked on the main course (fish in this case), one worked on appetizer (scallops), and my group worked on dessert (a delicious bread pudding). We then all went up to the Pinnacle Grill where the chef cooked the same meal for us.

As Kazu mentioned, these hands on classes are generally **not** advertised. I inquired at the front desk on embarkation day (a tip I learned from reading the CC board here pre-cruise). Once they figured out what I was asking for, they put me on a list, and I got called a few days later with a time. It was in fact mostly 5-star mariners, which was interesting for me as they had some stories to tell. I'm not sure if there is any pecking order after all of the 5-stars have signed up or if they just go by who got on the list first. It cost $29, which included an apron, a bottle of water, copies of all of the recipes, and the lunch in PG, which also included wine. Well worth the money IMO.

I was on the Nieuw Amsterdam in June at America's Test Kitchen was in full swing. The cases were on Sea days and you could also watch taped episodes on your state room TV Monitors I attended some of the classes,