Chef's Table and Star Class

[TheBucketLister]

We have never done the Chef's Table before, even on previous Star Class sailings, because I am not a seafood person.  I don't wan't my wife to miss out on the experience since she LOVES seafood.  We want to try it out this time on our Anthem TA in October.  First, are there any additional charges for this?  Second, since it is a 15 night cruise we were thinking about doing it a couple of times possibly, is there a limit to how many times, other than space availability?  Lastly, can we let the Genie know that one of us doesn't eat seafood and can they (kitchen) tweak the menu for the one person so that there are no seafood selections?  Thanks in advance!

[acuprulez]

Star class it's included but the wine pairing is like $25/pp additional

 

Not sure about substitutions.  I personally don't think it's worth doing twice on a single voyage.  

It's the only resturaunt besides izumi habachi (not on anthem anyways they only have sushi) that Genie reccomends you book in advance and they reimburse the charge once onboard.

[njkruzer]

We're not star class but have eaten at Chef's table on Anthem, as well as other ships.   Love it, though once a cruise is fine.  And yes we speak to someone at Chops, at least 1 day before,  to pass on our food issues.  We always confirm when we arrive that evening  I don’t eat anything that comes from the water.   Dh doesn't eat shellfish or meat.  They are always very gracious about accommodating our issues.   Remember this is a set menu,  6 courses including dessert with wine pairings.   New Year's Eve on the Jewel 2021-2022, with only 9 of us, spent 4 hrs there, told it's not the record for longest evening. Great evening.  Most evenings run 2-3 hours.  Enjoy.

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, TheBucketLister said:

We have never done the Chef's Table before, even on previous Star Class sailings, because I am not a seafood person.  I don't wan't my wife to miss out on the experience since she LOVES seafood.  We want to try it out this time on our Anthem TA in October.  First, are there any additional charges for this?  Second, since it is a 15 night cruise we were thinking about doing it a couple of times possibly, is there a limit to how many times, other than space availability?  Lastly, can we let the Genie know that one of us doesn't eat seafood and can they (kitchen) tweak the menu for the one person so that there are no seafood selections?  Thanks in advance!

Definitely substitutions.  My wife is allergic to seafood. She received a chicken tasting, a short rib tasting and a sliced filet mignon with pepper sauce. This was on Symphony. Agree with post 2, 2nd time on same trip would be slightly disappointing. Ours was a solid three hours with totally bottomless wine. 

[twangster]

Not a seafood eater but I recently did CT on Oasis while in Star because it was just $25 and there were some friends also in Star that would be with me at CT.

 

I can eat some seafood, it's not an allergy issue but a dislike of strong fish tastes.  My genie had passed along my dislike of seafood and they accommodated with substitutions.  I did accept the lobster course.  While lost on me I can eat lobster.  For the fish course they subbed some dried chicken.  Our CT was in the Solarium Bistro where at night they have the mini plates with one of them being chicken.  They basically took one of those chicken plates and that as my substitution.  As chicken goes it was bland and dry.  It was the worst course for me.  The rest was fine.  

 

Overall I'm glad I did CT.  The company of friends alone made it worthwhile.  It was a nice experience, not great but not bad either.  Not worth more than the $25 I paid so I'm glad I did it while in Star.  If I had paid full price I would have been harsher with this review.

[njkruzer]

I also recommend Chef's Table on ship with private rooms, which means Quantum class, where there is a private room in Chops, and on Radiance, which uses the old card room, also a private venue.  

 

Never had chicken in Chef's Table.  Also they limit group to 16. During covid limit was 8, or 9 once.

[acuprulez]

Curious if they try to shove an extra couple in with the group of 14 I am with in december on Anthem.

[njkruzer]

6 minutes ago, acuprulez said:

Curious if they try to shove an extra couple in with the group of 14 I am with in december on Anthem.

Possible. 

[TheBucketLister]

19 hours ago, njkruzer said:

Love it, though once a cruise is fine.

 

19 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Agree with post 2, 2nd time on same trip would be slightly disappointing.

 

21 hours ago, acuprulez said:

I personally don't think it's worth doing twice on a single voyage.  

 

Curious as to why you think Chef's Table is a one time thing for a cruise, especially for a 15 night cruise. Isn't it the same as going to the same specialty dining restaurant multiple nights?  I was thinking like going once within the first couple of nights and once within the last couple of nights.  Any thoughts?

Edited March 21, 2023 by TheBucketLister

[njkruzer]

6 minutes ago, TheBucketLister said:

 

 

 

Curious as to why you think Chef's Table is a one time thing for a cruise, especially for a 15 night cruise. Isn't it the same as going to the same specialty dining restaurant multiple nights?  I was thinking like going once within the first couple of nights and once within the last couple of nights.  Any thoughts?

Remember the menu doesn’t change and it's not like a restaurant with several options for each course.  In the other restaurants you have options for each course so you pick A for appetizer night 1 and appetizer 2 2nd night and so forth.  Here you don't.   Wine pairings are also the same.  There isn't a wine list to choose from.  Your choice of course.

[acuprulez]

15 minutes ago, TheBucketLister said:

 

 

 

Curious as to why you think Chef's Table is a one time thing for a cruise, especially for a 15 night cruise. Isn't it the same as going to the same specialty dining restaurant multiple nights?  I was thinking like going once within the first couple of nights and once within the last couple of nights.  Any thoughts?

Exactly what njkruzer said, the menu doesn't change.  At any other specialty I can order something different my second time around, with chef's table it's going to be the exact same meal.

[suizas]

I wasn’t aware that Chefs Table is heavy on the seafood.. is this true? I’m booked in September for my first CT experience but not a big fish eater. Should I reconsider? 

[njkruzer]

2 minutes ago, suizas said:

I wasn’t aware that Chefs Table is heavy on the seafood.. is this true? I’m booked in September for my first CT experience but not a big fish eater. Should I reconsider? 

According to menu shown on Radiance,  Scallop Carpaccio, smoked tomato soup, maine Lobster salad, roasted Branzinno, grilled filet mignon, the worlde for dessert.  Since I'm alle4gic to fish they make substitutes. 

[Hutcha]

50 minutes ago, njkruzer said:

According to menu shown on Radiance,  Scallop Carpaccio, smoked tomato soup, maine Lobster salad, roasted Branzinno, grilled filet mignon, the worlde for dessert.  Since I'm alle4gic to fish they make substitutes. 

Lol, according to the menu on every ship, for the past few years. Same- Same.

 

I did it last year, and I won't do it this year. Let alone twice in one cruise. It was a fun experience. We had a great group of people, and it took us 4 hours. I just wasn't that impressed with the food. Seemed like they basically took some of the highlight dishes from the specialty restaurants. The wines were all $12-18 bottles, until they got to the last one. That was about a $40 bottle

[time4u2go]

4 minutes ago, Hutcha said:

Lol, according to the menu on every ship, for the past few years. Same- Same.

Pretty much the opposite of what a true Chef's Table is.

[njkruzer]

We do it for a fun evening and not on every cruise.

[suizas]

Yumm! I can handle this menu 😋 and looking forward to the more intimate experience! 

[cruise_co]

On 3/20/2023 at 5:10 PM, TheBucketLister said:

We have never done the Chef's Table before, even on previous Star Class sailings, because I am not a seafood person.  I don't wan't my wife to miss out on the experience since she LOVES seafood.  We want to try it out this time on our Anthem TA in October.  First, are there any additional charges for this?  Second, since it is a 15 night cruise we were thinking about doing it a couple of times possibly, is there a limit to how many times, other than space availability?  Lastly, can we let the Genie know that one of us doesn't eat seafood and can they (kitchen) tweak the menu for the one person so that there are no seafood selections?  Thanks in advance!

We did this last September while in Star Class.  It was great. We were only charged the upcharge for the liquor.  We did book and pre-pay to get our spot since we had a group of 7 and the genie refunded it on boarding day.

 

My son has a shellfish allergy and they provided wonderful substitutions for him.  For instance, for the lobster salad, they brought him a Caesar salad from Chops.

[Orsino]

One note about Chef Table and Star Class. You should book Chef Table (and pay) for the night you want it and get the difference refunded when on board. Since they sell Chef Table on the planner, it is possible to sell out if you wait for your Genie to book it for you. I don't know how much a problem this actually is, but our genie mentioned by email that we should book ourselves it if we were interested (we were not).

[RFerrington]

3 hours ago, Orsino said:

One note about Chef Table and Star Class. You should book Chef Table (and pay) for the night you want it and get the difference refunded when on board. Since they sell Chef Table on the planner, it is possible to sell out if you wait for your Genie to book it for you. I don't know how much a problem this actually is, but our genie mentioned by email that we should book ourselves it if we were interested (we were not).

Our Genie recommended we pre-book both Chef's Table and Izumi Hibachi since they can sell out.

[nimbex1970]

Chef table CAN sell out before you sail.  What the genie can do then, I don't know.  You will get refunded the cost on the cruise if you go this way.  While I love chef table, it is the same menu and they will accommodate allergies and preferences through the genie.  I don't know if I would do this twice in one cruise.  We did it on both legs of a B2B and while the service and familiarity with the staff were great, it just wasn't for us to repeat the second time.  Food for thought.