Chef's Market Discoveries

[aruzinski]

Has anyone tried the chef's discovery excursion? We were thinking it would be a great way to immerse ourselves in the culture and enjoy a special dinner prepared by the chef. But we also want to spend time in the town of Tallin. Any reviews would be appreciated.

[FreestyleNovice]

We did the Cozumel one in Nov.

 

Very interesting and would surely recommend!

 

With a small group of 10, accompanied by the executive specialty chef and the executive pastry chef, we had a small tour of a cacao/chocolate museum, including some local food samples followed by shopping at the local market, including on the spot decisions on the quality and price fish by the chefs. All was taken on the bus back to the ship but not before we stopped at a restaurant for another tasting/small lunch.

 

In the evening we were met by the chefs for a glass and a toast and had a short briefing on the following MDR galley tour during dinner (7pm-8pm), very very impressive and great guidance by the executive specialty chef!

 

The extensive dinner on the Porch (with one table just finishing as we entered), with the open kitchen, was even more impressive, both chefs really delivered top notch. Wine was included with the dinner for all (although I think all had a bev package), not sure if this was a mishap or a compensation for the accidently paid drinks during the lunch.

 

Both chefs were new to this excursion in Cozumel but they did great!

 

Spoke to one of the chefs later on and he said the St Martin one later on the cruise was a less experience, although that group was even smaller (6 IIRC).

Edited December 3, 2016 by FreestyleNovice

[Project_gal]

We had a very similar experience in St Maarten. In our case we were accompanied by the specialty restaurants Sou chef, the maitre d' from Qsine and a member of the shore excursions staff. Our group was inly four couples. We visited a street market and fish market where the chef bought ingredients for our evening meal. There was a demonstration in a restaurant by the fish market. We then had some free time before lunch in Grand Case. In the evening, we meet up for a reserved table in Qsine where the chef had prepared a special meal from the ingredient we saw him purchase.

 

I highly enjoyable excursion which we fully recommend.

[Texed]

We had a very similar experience in St Maarten. In our case we were accompanied by the specialty restaurants Sou chef, the maitre d' from Qsine and a member of the shore excursions staff.

 

And we are on this excursion this year Sue. :)

[LuAnn]

And we are on this excursion this year Sue. :)

 

And while we will miss you at dinner at "Ocean 82"...can't wait to hear all about this great adventure!!! LuAnn

[Bead Pirate]

We did it on the Silhouette TA in Barcelona... was the best excursion in all of our years of sailing. We would have gladly paid twice as much (in fact we have it booked on the upcoming 14 night Holiday cruise on Equinox).

 

Cannot tell you how great this is if you are even slightly interested in food and cooking (we are foodies to be sure, so take that into account)

[gdpups]

We did one last January out of Ocho Rio, Jamaica and it was one of my all time favorite excursions. We had the executive chef and Celebrity's traveling chef who both dined with us and it was fun and very interesting to spend time talking to them. Dinner in the Porch that night was outstanding and the small group of around 12 on our excursion had a wonderful time getting to know each other.

 

Pricey, but there is quite a bit included. Loved it so much we are booked on our upcoming January cruise that stops in Falmouth for more jerk meats and I've been watching for one to open up on our May cruise. as well.

[Jiminy1955]

We did it on the Silhouette TA in Barcelona... was the best excursion in all of our years of sailing. We would have gladly paid twice as much (in fact we have it booked on the upcoming 14 night Holiday cruise on Equinox).

 

Cannot tell you how great this is if you are even slightly interested in food and cooking (we are foodies to be sure, so take that into account)

 

 

Please let us know how you liked it on the Equinox. We sail on the Equinox in March 2017 and am considering booking it for Barbados since we are already doing the "Flavors Of St. Martin Food Tour"

[Project_gal]

And we are on this excursion this year Sue. :)

 

I am sure that you both will have a great time. The only reason we did not book it this time was that it was also offered elsewhere and we would see different places.

[Project_gal]

We did it on the Silhouette TA in Barcelona... was the best excursion in all of our years of sailing. We would have gladly paid twice as much (in fact we have it booked on the upcoming 14 night Holiday cruise on Equinox).

 

Cannot tell you how great this is if you are even slightly interested in food and cooking (we are foodies to be sure, so take that into account)

 

Where are you doing it?

 

Our Roll Call is clearly a group that appreciates food!

[Project_gal]

And while we will miss you at dinner at "Ocean 82"...can't wait to hear all about this great adventure!!! LuAnn

 

When we did this excursion in St Maarten, Ocean 82 was the restaurant where we had lunch so Texed and Jacquie will not be missing out completely!

[Project_gal]

Please let us know how you liked it on the Equinox. We sail on the Equinox in March 2017 and am considering booking it for Barbados since we are already doing the "Flavors Of St. Martin Food Tour"

 

We were originally booked for Barbados but it was cancelled. Hope you have better luck. We rebooked for St. Lucia.

 

We are doing the "Flavors Of St. Martin Food Tour" on our next cruise. Look out for my review when we return.

[Bead Pirate]

Where are you doing it?

 

Our Roll Call is clearly a group that appreciates food!

 

We are doing the excursion on day 10 in St. Maarten...

[Texed]

And while we will miss you at dinner at "Ocean 82"...can't wait to hear all about this great adventure!!! LuAnn

 

When we did this excursion in St Maarten, Ocean 82 was the restaurant where we had lunch so Texed and Jacquie will not be missing out completely!

 

Thanks to both of you. We will definitely let y'all know our opinion of our experience. We will miss going as a group. But, I guess we can not do it all. :p

[Jiminy1955]

We were originally booked for Barbados but it was cancelled. Hope you have better luck. We rebooked for St. Lucia.

 

We are doing the "Flavors Of St. Martin Food Tour" on our next cruise. Look out for my review when we return.

 

 

Looking forward to it!

[aruzinski]

Thank you all for the responses. We' d be doing the excursion in Estonian. Seems like a great way to experience northern Europe's flavors. We normally do the chef's table but that menu doesn't seem to change lately.

[DZalumni]

Anyone done this one in Cozumel? Thinking about doing thus as nothing else in Cozumel looks interesting.

[SerraG]

We did the Cozumel one in Nov.

 

Very interesting and would surely recommend!

 

With a small group of 10, accompanied by the executive specialty chef and the executive pastry chef, we had a small tour of a cacao/chocolate museum, including some local food samples followed by shopping at the local market, including on the spot decisions on the quality and price fish by the chefs. All was taken on the bus back to the ship but not before we stopped at a restaurant for another tasting/small lunch.

 

Could you describe the amount and type of walking required for this excursion? We really want to do the Chef's Market Discovery in Cozumel on our next cruise, but the description says it is not recommended for guests with limited mobility. My mother sometimes uses a cane due to a bad hip, although she gets around fairly well. I don't think she could do a full hour of brisk walking, but she would be fine with a leisurely stroll through a market. I emailed Celebrity for more information a couple of weeks ago, but no one has responded. Any information you could provide would be appreciated. Thanks!

[bertrande]

We are considering doing this for our upcoming cruise but there is a caveat there which says the chefs are not allowed to bring back any produce to the ship. Thus our dinner will be "inspired" from the local produce we see during the tour. Interesting that on other tours they are allowed to make purchases and bring them onboard.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Lois R]

We had a very similar experience in St Maarten. In our case we were accompanied by the specialty restaurants Sou chef, the maitre d' from Qsine and a member of the shore excursions staff. Our group was inly four couples. We visited a street market and fish market where the chef bought ingredients for our evening meal. There was a demonstration in a restaurant by the fish market. We then had some free time before lunch in Grand Case. In the evening, we meet up for a reserved table in Qsine where the chef had prepared a special meal from the ingredient we saw him purchase.

 

I highly enjoyable excursion which we fully recommend.

 

Hi Sue, I was looking at this one for St Martin in Feb when I will be on

Reflection. It is 260.00....do you feel like it was worth that amount of

money?

Edited December 24, 2016 by Lois R

[FreestyleNovice]

Anyone done this one in Cozumel? Thinking about doing thus as nothing else in Cozumel looks interesting.

 

See 2nd post of the thread, first line.

 

Could you describe the amount and type of walking required for this excursion? We really want to do the Chef's Market Discovery in Cozumel on our next cruise, but the description says it is not recommended for guests with limited mobility. My mother sometimes uses a cane due to a bad hip, although she gets around fairly well. I don't think she could do a full hour of brisk walking, but she would be fine with a leisurely stroll through a market. I emailed Celebrity for more information a couple of weeks ago, but no one has responded. Any information you could provide would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

We had some older folks on our tour, they did well. :) The walk from ship's pier to the bus is about 1/3 of all the walking that is required. The van (a Mercedes Sprinter 12-14 persons van) had a high step up getting in but help is provided by the driver and guide and a small plastic stool.

 

The first stop is the cacao factory/farm, pavement and level floored (outdoors), as the tour stops there early you'll have the place to yourself (at least it was to us :) ) so besides the walk, shuffle and stop and listening to the guides nothing to worry about there. Maybe standing up for a longer period of time. A part of the tour is sit down and the gift shop part has also an terrace.

 

The market is just strolling along the vendors, parking is around the corner and the market is covered.

 

The restaurant might require a parking spot around the block, although our driver let us out in front of the restaurant so again no hassle besides the high step in and out of the van.

 

I think it's reasonable and doable for you and your mother with the information you provided, but I can understand Celebrity setting a clear line for all mobility issues. As not all pax have a can do mentality and sometimes rely too much on help that's not accounted for.

But it sounds you will be fine, so enjoy the tour! Dinner on the Porch with the open kitchen and passion of the chefs was great!

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We enjoyed the CMD in St. Maarten in March, our 2nd choice after St Lucia, which was cancelled.

 

Booked it in Jamaica on our last cruise and it too was cancelled. We only found out about the cancellation the night before and since Jamaica was our last port did not have any opportunity to book anything else. With 2 days to go we suddenly found ourselves with $500 non refundable OBC. Since we had already given the staff extra tips from our OBC we splurged on a great bottle of wine.

[Lois R]

We enjoyed the CMD in St. Maarten in March, our 2nd choice after St Lucia, which was cancelled.

 

Booked it in Jamaica on our last cruise and it too was cancelled. We only found out about the cancellation the night before and since Jamaica was our last port did not have any opportunity to book anything else. With 2 days to go we suddenly found ourselves with $500 non refundable OBC. Since we had already given the staff extra tips from our OBC we splurged on a great bottle of wine.

 

Hi Mary Lou:)..in your opinion, was it worth 260.00?

[Rob the Cruiser]

Did the the tour in Barbados earlier this month. We loved it. Well worth $199pp.

Edited December 25, 2016 by Rob the Cruiser

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Hi Mary Lou:)..in your opinion, was it worth 260.00?

 

It was $199 when we did it and felt it was worth it. Worth $260?, probably not; even though the food at the restaurant in Grand Case was delicious and they poured unlimited wine. Since it would cost $520 for both of us we would not book it.

 

The one we wanted to do in Jamaica was still $199 and they gave us a 10% discount because we were on a B2B.

Edited December 25, 2016 by CHEZMARYLOU