Does Celebrity Cruises have...

... a Chef’s Table dining experience similar to that offered on Princess Cruises?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

They do have something similar to this. We were in the Wine Bar at Celebrity while there was a group meeting for this event, two of which were the passengers next door to us. They said it was ok but weren't all that impressed. I can't tell you what was expected as we didn't attend.

Yes they do and i have done both. One in Alaska and one in the Caribbean.

I would give a nod to Princess overall.

Celebrity has a better venue - it is held in the wine room in Murano - and a better accompanying galley tour. Our tour was given by the executive chef, while the number 2 chef was in charge of the dinner - at least that was what was said. The dinner is hosted by an officer - in our case the technology officer based in Miami, which was somewhat interesting because he had to defend the website (although he never explained why it is so awful. just acknowledged that it did not function as they would like) and talk about what they were planning for the app. The wines accompanying the dinner were excellent, best we had on board.

You do not get a cookbook as on Princess.

Positives of Princess - the food was much more "over the top" than Celebrity - which sounds wrong given that food is a draw of Celebrity. But, it was more of a special occasion, there was a bigger gap between the food at the Chef's Table and the regular dining room fare on Princess. We were in Aqua when we did CT, so maybe if we had been in MDR and didn't plan on eating Murano, the food would have made more of an impression. The other big positive of Princess for me was that the group was a little larger - 10-12 vs 8 - so you met more people, more opportunities to meet compatible people, no ."commercial" for the cruise line.

In summary, if I was in MDR and was planning on dining in Murano, plus I was interested in how the galley functions and feeds all those people 3 times a day, I might combine the 2 and do Chef's Table. If I was in a suite, or had a specialty dining package, I would likely give it a by.

On some cruises Celebrity offers an excursion with a guest chef to a local market at a particular port stop, including lunch at a special restaurant in the port and followed by a dinner cooked onboard (not by the guest chef, not allowed by CG rules) usually using some ingredients purchased at the market.

Originally this was the excursion we were planning to do instead of the Chef's Table, but it was cancelled on our cruise because it takes place on French St Martin, which is the foodie capital of the Caribbean evidently - our whole stop at St Maarten was cancelled because it had not reopened after the hurricane.

Yes, we did one a couple of years ago, just to have the experience. It was 'meh', just ok.

We did enjoy the galley tour, which was serving dinner in full swing. I agree with previous poster - the food was good, but not over the top. We did also receive a lovely cookbook, that is very heavy. Fortunately, we had generous luggage allowances, otherwise transporting this home may have been problematic.

For us, this is a one-time experience. For another couple in our group, they attend every time they cruise. Each to their own!

This summer on Equinox Chef's table is being offered 3 nights on western itinerary and at least twice on eastern. 5 courses with paired wines. Cost is $279/couple or $199pp

In addition they sometimes offer shore excursions with the chef that include a meal once back on board.

Agree with all other posters, Celebrity's Chef Table is not that impressive. Including the galley tour is a nice touch the first time but not something you want to repeat (for me anyway). Would just as soon dine at a specialty restaurant and choose my own wines than pay the additional for the Chef's dinner. We've sailed different cruise lines and the best dinner was with Crystal followed by a close second with Holland America.

... a Chef’s Table dining experience similar to that offered on Princess Cruises?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Not sure is always offered....we really enjoyed the one on our Panama Canal Cruise on the Infinity in 2015 but our Greek Isles in 2017 on Reflection did not offer one.

We’ve done it three times on three different cruises, and got three big, heavy cookbooks, two of which we managed to rehome while still on the cruise. Next time, I’m hoping to negotiate a discount in exchange for no cookbook. I hear that can be done.

We have experienced it and a lot does depend on your dining companions....

We did experience one with a ‘wine bore’ with a wife who was obviously enjoying the drinks package, not the best of evenings although on reflection we can see the funny side.....

We did one on Azamara and it was fantastic.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

One used to get a huge cook book from Celebrity when one did the full bridge, engine room tour which ended at Murano for a lunch. Doing the tour the cookbook was complimentary but one could buy it for $US30. We bought one and it sits in our lounge room. It weighs about 5 kilos.

They do NOT give you a cookbook anymore, as of January 2018 at least.