Anyone done a Chef's Experience port excursion?

[the2006Junket]

Hi, we're sailing on the Quest's Spain Intensive itinerary beginning Oct 31. There is an excursion option in Cartegena called the Chef's Experience in which we would go to an outdoor market, sample foods and go to a restaurant where a Chef will prepare Paella.  It's $189 pp.  Has anyone done a Chef's Experience in this port or others?  Did you like it and think it was worth the $$.

 

Thanks much!  Lynne

[wrtmlt]

We have done this twice. It was a great time and then the dinner was special with paired local wines. highly recommend.

 

Bill

[hamrag]

1 hour ago, the2006Junket said:

Hi, we're sailing on the Quest's Spain Intensive itinerary beginning Oct 31. There is an excursion option in Cartegena called the Chef's Experience in which we would go to an outdoor market, sample foods and go to a restaurant where a Chef will prepare Paella.  It's $189 pp.  Has anyone done a Chef's Experience in this port or others?  Did you like it and think it was worth the $$.

 

Thanks much!  Lynne

The only thing to say is you'd get a much cheaper Paella in the best restaurant available! That said, I do understand for many it's an experience, but certainly not for us at that price. 😲

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 minutes ago, hamrag said:

The only thing to say is you'd get a much cheaper Paella in the best restaurant available! That said, I do understand for many it's an experience, but certainly not for us at that price. 😲

I agree.  Go to the best restaurant in Cartagena and order their best bottle of wine – you'll still be ahead.

[blag]

We have done this a couple of times, but on each occasion included a visit to a local winery where a lunch was provided. We got to sample and choose the ingredients and wines for every course.

Compared to the pricing of other excursions on the same days we considered this to be excellent value! 

[uktog]

We have enjoyed several Azamara chefs market tours on three continents with meals cooked back on board and set up at a special spot (often a section of windows or if the weather is nice on the opposite side to the patio.)  These were run by the ship's chef and generally cost more than the price of the paella trip.  I am wondering if this is more a land based event and there may be a disconnect between the shopping and the visit to the restaurant and may not involve the onboard Executive Chef. 

We were very involved with the chef (and usually two assistants and the sommelier) in choosing what would be cooked based on what was found in the market.

We saw the excursions as an excellent way to use OBC as they gave us an excursion and a "chefs table".  It was lovely to have dinner with the people we had explored the market and other sights with earlier in the day.

[blag]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

cooked back on board and set up at a special spot (often a section of windows or if the weather is nice on the opposite side to the patio.

For us these were 'special' versions of chef's table and the venue was the large table in Prime C.

[Dynacruiser]

Thanks for all the info here.  I've been curious about these experiences, and would consider one if it was a type of cuisine I'm interested in and the chef was local.    Also, I wish they were not as expensive.

 

I fully understand that I can get the same or better food and better wine at a local restaurant for a lot le$$, but some folks enjoy going to a market and learning the recipe from a local chef.

 

Paella es particularly a fun dish to cook, or learn how to cook.