Culinary tour with the chef?

[jabrown40]

On our planned Reflection cruise in the Caribbean next March, this is an excursion offered for St. Maarten. We have been on a few Caribbean cruises, and have done the usual snorkeling, dolphin swims, land tours etc. I thought this looked different, but wondered if anyone else had ever done it. It involves going to local markets with the chef, maybe a little cooking info, tour of the galley, and then a private dinner using ingredients chosen at the markets. I would love to hear others opinions!

[gdpups]

I was on the Reflection in January and did the excursion in Jamaica. The Celebrity executive chef and their traveling chef both went with us. We stopped and ate at several restaurants where the food was wonderful and we learned a lot about the local food and produce. We also enjoyed talking to each chef, they moved from table to table so we could chat with them.

 

That evening we had a private tour of the galley, if I remember correctly there were about 12 of us. We then had a lovely private dinner with free flowing wine up in the Porch prepared by the chefs with ingredients they had purchased during our tour.

 

My group is sailing on the Silhouette next January and we're already planning to do the Chef Market Discovery (I think that was the name of it) in one of the other ports, we though it was that good even though it's a bit pricey. We've been to so many of the Caribbean ports multiple times, so we though this was something very different and fun. I hope you enjoy as much as we did.

[Project_gal]

We did this in St Martin in February this year and it was a great tour. From your list, we did not do a galley tour.

 

We had a small van, driver and local guide and was accompanied by the specialty restaurants sous chef, maitre d' of Qsine and another crew member. First we went to the fish market on the Dutch side of the island, saw our fish for diner purchased and prepared before moving to a restaurant for a demonstration by the local chef.

 

From there we moved on to the French side of the island to visit market stall sell spices, fruit and vegetables. Here the chef purchased more ingredients and we were able to make purchases. Because we were on schedule, we then had some free time to visit the patisserie and/or the rest of the market on our own. The chef headed back to the ship.

 

Next we headed to Grand Case for lunch in a local restaurant with a wonderful view. Wine, beer and water were included.

 

After lunch we went back to the ship and were free to do what we wanted until we met for dinner in Qsine. Dinner was a special meal that the chef had prepared from the ingredients purchased on our trip. We had to purchase our own wine, beer and water with dinner.

 

As I said, we had a great time and are booking similar excursion for our next cruise - probably somewhere other than St Martin this time both because I believe the programme is slightly different on the various island and because we saw parts of the island we want to revisit on our own.

[jabrown40]

Thank you both, this sounds like something we would also enjoy. Do you remember how early the excursion started? Also, if we have the beverage package, wouldn't our drinks at dinner be included? Do you think we could bring our own bottle of wine? We are staying in an AQ cabin, and on our previous sailing, we were able to swap out our welcome bottle of sparkling wine for a bottle of Chardonnay from Cellar Masters. Thanks again!

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We did the tour in St. Maarten on Eclipse and it was as Sue described except we had dinner in Tuscan and wine was included, they had several bottles to offer and refilled glasses as needed. We did have the premium beverage package so it would not have been an issue if we had to purchase the wine. We had 2 chef's and a staff member from shore excursions with us and they stayed with the group the whole time. There were 18 in our group, the biggest group they had done. The tour started at 8:30.

 

Lunch in Grand Case was excellent, you could smell the garlic on the shrimp as soon as they walked out of the kitchen. There was also a choice of chicken or fish. They offered many pours of wine and a brandy after lunch.

Edited April 7, 2016 by CHEZMARYLOU

[Project_gal]

The tour started quite early, from memory, we had to meet in the theatre at 8:30 or 9:00 am. Of course, you could use you beverage package for the dinner or, as we did, have bottles purchased elsewhere brought to you. I just did not want to give the wrong impression.

[jabrown40]

Thanks, we are going to do it!

[puppyluv1]

This is being offered in San Juan on our upcoming Dec cruise. Has anyone experienced the San Juan tour?