Chef’s Table Dinner

[dsa181920]

We are going on the Celebrity Reflection Thanksgiving week. We are thinking about booking the Chef’s Table Dinner. I’d love to hear from people who have done one of these.

 

Sallie

[bnurick]

Have done 3 of them.  They are fun, but the Vueve Clinqout dinner is much better IMO.  Thanks.  BN

[bnurick]

 

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by bnurick

[justhappytobehere]

We've done two.  The first one (I think that was Azamara Quest) was much better than we expected it to be.  There were about fourteen of us and each couple had their own table.  We were served seven courses paired with seven different wines and the Chef explained every course and why it was paired with it's particular wine as we went along.

 

The second one was with Royal Caribbean (Navigator of the Seas?)and we were all at one large Chef's Table.  There were three or four courses and the food and wine were excellent with the Chef once more explaining everything to us.  However, some of the other diners  were very loud and thought they were superior to everyone else so they spoiled the whole experience for the rest of us.

 

I'm pretty sure you'll thoroughly enjoy the experience, as long as you get like minded table companions.

[SVBing]

Our experience was …ah…. Done it a few times on Celebrity. Kinda an after thought for Celebrity. Food is good not great, service for Chef’s  table fair at best. Other cruise lines do it much better at better price. Was served on Edge in the steak house adjacent wine storage seating…. Tight and noisy. Again our experience is that wine is extra… so value for the experience in our opinion not really worthy.

[DCPIV]

We've looked at it, but I simply cannot make the price make sense.  It's currently $130/p for an upcoming sailing, and that's with a discount.  However, that doesn't include the paired wines or gratuities.  Thank you, no.

 

 

[chemmo]

One nice experience and another with Mr Knowitall and Mrs Drinkitall….Whilst we can laugh at the experience now it was a lot of money to spend to be desperate for the meal to finish.

 

I would do it again but possibly with friends or a group arranged through roll call…

[bothluv2cruise]

We have done both the Chef's Table and the Vueve dinner, both on Celebrity cruises.  As others have mentioned, the level of experience can vary depending on who is in the group with you, however that doesn't stop us - in the end we always have a good time.  We already booked the Chef's Table for our upcoming TA on the Reflection this October.

[cangelmd]

I’ve expressed my opinion on this subject maybe too much, lol! I’ve done 2 Chefs Tables on Celeb, one before, one after Covid, a Chefs Table on Princess in 2013, the Veuve Cliquot dinner a few months ago and a Chefs Market tour just before Covid.

All these dinners are very dependent on your table mates- that can really ruin or enhance the evening. This was more true on Celebrity  than Princess - the Princess dinner was a larger group, more likely to find someone to converse with, although we still had the woman who came tipsy and left drunk, who proclaimed “where are all the men, I thought I would meet men here!?”.

Celebrity did do a super job with the galley tour, especially on S-class - ever wonder why you can’t order from MDR in Blu? The galley tour will show you why, and you would never want to after that. Lead by the Exec Chef, it’s a discussion  of logistics and timing, why do they bake their own bread?

I highly recommend as others have, the Veuve Cliquot dinner, especially on E class. Best scallops I have ever had, ever, why that isn’t an appetizer in Fine Cut or Luminae is a mystery to me, probably too expensive. I Learned on these boards that VC controls the menu, although it isn’t dramatically different from Chefs Table, just a bit. The VC dinner is quite expensive, cheaper to do on land, Ruth’s Chris does them. 
The Chefs Market Discovery tours are my fav though. It’s still a small group and we had a very convivial, but diverse group, so that influences my opinion. You spend the day on a little bus with the group, so there is some getting to know each other before dinner, which makes dinner more pleasant. Dinner is family style and generally more relaxed than Chef Table. It is an enormous day of eating.

[cangelmd]

Also, all these dinners are quite, almost eye popping pricy. We are wine snobs, so the wine is a big part of the experience for us. I don’t think the Chefs Table would be quite as good without the pairings or better grade wine, and the wine situation on all the ships is so unsettled right now, I think I would wait until the supply is a bit more stable, especially if you want to use your pkg not the pairings.

Also in that vein, human nature being human nature, for me, the dinners I’ve done while in a suite and eating in Luminae are not quite as special as when it is the highlight of the trip. The Princess dinner (and the Veuve Cliquot) actually had the best food, but that was partly because the Food at the Princess dinner was much much better and more elaborately presented than the regular Princess MDR food - it made more of an impression.