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Chef's Table or Ultimate Balcony Dinner?

Dive Girl

By Dive Girl,
in Princess Cruises

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Dive Girl

Dive Girl

Posted
Posted

Hi all! We are cruising on the Crown Princess 10 day Southern Caribbean Cruise Dec 7. I was thinking of booking the Ultimate Balcony Dinner, but don't know when to reserve it. Then, I thought hmmm, maybe the Chef's Table...

 

I'd appreciate your thoughts....

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trbarton "Live from...." Rare

trbarton

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, Dive Girl said:

Hi all! We are cruising on the Crown Princess 10 day Southern Caribbean Cruise Dec 7. I was thinking of booking the Ultimate Balcony Dinner, but don't know when to reserve it. Then, I thought hmmm, maybe the Chef's Table...

 

I'd appreciate your thoughts....

If I had to choose btw the Balcony dinner & the Chef’s Table it would be the Chef’s Table without any questions. It is a remarkable dinner which I try & book on each cruise. 
 

Remember when you’re first on the ship go to the Passenger Service Desk & put in your name as they only take 12 people. 
 

Tom😎

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Papa Yoda

Papa Yoda

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Posted

 

10 days...  Why not both?  The Chef's Table should not be missed if you've not done it .  Pretend it's another shore excursion.  There may be none, one, or more Chef's Tables held on a 10 dayer. They try to avoid late port days, MDR Lobster night,  last night etc.   The UBD is great, Steak and Lobster and all the goodies, but Chef's Table is where the Executive Chef gets to show off, no 2 of ours have been the same and they seem to strive to keep it fresh.

 

Lobster, Filet, Duck and Lamb main course

IMG_7591.JPG

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Set to go

Set to go

Posted
Posted

I have a question...My mother is going on a Princess cruise in March and I was planning to get her a couple of gift cards for OBC in the hope she would be able to use it for the Chef's Table (which she has raved about on most cruises she has been on).  She is in her 80's and although spry, I can't see her running for a reservation.  Would her best bet be to apply the gift cards to her account before her cruise, or wait to see if she gets an invitation to the Chef's Table?  If she is included in the special meal, can she apply the gift cards on board prior to the dinner?

 

Diane

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JF - retired RRT

JF - retired RRT

Posted
Posted
28 minutes ago, Set to go said:

I have a question...My mother is going on a Princess cruise in March and I was planning to get her a couple of gift cards for OBC in the hope she would be able to use it for the Chef's Table (which she has raved about on most cruises she has been on).  She is in her 80's and although spry, I can't see her running for a reservation.  Would her best bet be to apply the gift cards to her account before her cruise, or wait to see if she gets an invitation to the Chef's Table?  If she is included in the special meal, can she apply the gift cards on board prior to the dinner?

 

Diane

IMHO...it wouldn't make much difference when she "cashed" in her gift cards.

The CT isn't charged until she goes to the dinner.

If she isn't selected, she can use the OBC for something else or get a refund after the cruise.

She doesn't need to run to Passenger Svcs., just go there as soon as she boards.

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XBGuy

XBGuy

Posted
Posted

Sorry, I'm late to this party.

 

We have also done both multiple times--2 X for the Chef's Table and 4 X for the Ultimate Balcony Dinner.

 

Without a doubt, we prefer the UBD.  We love the fact that two servers are dedicated to just us for the entire evening.

 

One thing that prejudiced us about the first CT we attended is that we did not enjoy most of our fellow diners.  Several years later, we tried again, and that experience was much more pleasant.

 

OP,  you will have a great experience with either choice.

 

UBD #5 is being scheduled for January.  😁

 

 

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c-boy "Live from...." Rare

c-boy

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Dive Girl said:

Thank you for everyone's input... Decisions, decisions!!

 

It appears the Chef's Table is everyone's fav!

... Image result for coin toss

Romance and forgiveness for past transgression  UBD 

looking for presentation and quality ...... Chefs Table

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TheRabbit

TheRabbit

Posted
Posted

We have done both. The UBD can be ordered and paid ahead and then a date selected once on board. Chef's dinner was planned ahead on CC and reserved by a CC member first day on board for over 30 of us on separate nights.

 

For us, we enjoyed the UBD so much we did it again on the very next cruise. Dinner came with flowers, drinks, half bottle of champagne, surf and turf, and pictures as well as a few other courses. Food was top quality and above what you would get in the MDR. We did it both times with the ship sitting in port. Once in San Francisco and another time in Honolulu with a view of sunset on Diamond Head. If there is bad weather, they will move it inside the cabin. Some friends have had this happen, but the experience was still good. About a 1.5 to 2 hour experience. One of these was on the Royal where we had one of the angled balconies (C409).

 

As for Chef's dinner, expect to be filled to the gills with Great food. We had several horderves while visiting the kitchen along with drinks for the pallet. You can pay less and skip the wines for dinner, but I thought the wine was well worth the money. Food was over the top and dessert was to die for. Also included pictures. Over a 3 hour experience. Service was provided by the top chef and some immediate subordinates along with some lesser waiters who were the runners, so it was top shelf.

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dogdoc2002

dogdoc2002

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Posted

For those that have done the UBD, if someone has a food allergy, do they give you options on substitutions, or just wing it on their end?  We've done the Chef's table once (amazing btw) and they did a great job of accommodating my wife's shellfish allergy as well as another passenger's food allergy, asking them the sorts of things they liked and tailored it to them. I'm thinking of surprising my wife with the UBD on our upcoming cruise, but want to make sure she'll enjoy what she gets (the turf of surf and turf would be a bad thing 😞 )

Thanks all!

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Papa Yoda

Papa Yoda

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

... and it's not unlikely that the Chef's Table apps in the galley may include caviar.  Plus we've had Dirk twice and he makes a white tomato soup that takes 2 days to prepare.  Yes it's white as they strain and reduce the tomato juice several times.

 

 IMG_4898.thumb.JPG.42f3f3d00d6136b75e9f014666c63a86.JPGIMG_2347.thumb.JPG.13ffb60dac5c7eec89861323dde2f927.JPG

Edited by Ferd Berfle
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RocketMan275

RocketMan275

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, dogdoc2002 said:

For those that have done the UBD, if someone has a food allergy, do they give you options on substitutions, or just wing it on their end?  We've done the Chef's table once (amazing btw) and they did a great job of accommodating my wife's shellfish allergy as well as another passenger's food allergy, asking them the sorts of things they liked and tailored it to them. I'm thinking of surprising my wife with the UBD on our upcoming cruise, but want to make sure she'll enjoy what she gets (the turf of surf and turf would be a bad thing 😞 )

Thanks all!

 I would bet  you could switch the turf for an extra surf.

Or, you can always give her your surf and take her turf.

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