Reserving chef table

[lbfluffy]

My husband and I are celebrating our 30th we'd anniversary on our 10 day Alaskan cruise. We have never done the Chef's Table, but have considered doing it in the past, just never did it. My husband wants to do this on this trip. I know they only book a certain amount of people. We will not be one of the passengers getting on early. So I'm wondering how likely will we be able to secure the table for us two? I believe I read somewhere they usually have more than one chef table offering and I think only ten people per table.

 

Thank you

[chrysalis]

Call the DINE line when you board...and yes, they have more than one, depending on the length of the cruise.

 

or....speak to the Maitre d'

[4x4bob]

Call the DINE line when you board...and yes, they have more than one, depending on the length of the cruise.

 

or....speak to the Maitre d'

 

Yes, if you can not get through on the DINE line then contact the Maitre d'. We had to do this on one Cruise. After several attempts to call the DINE line, I located the Maitre d'. He made a call that got through and handed me the phone. We were selected for the Dinner. It was great. Hope you get selected.

 

Bob

[lbfluffy]

Yes I hope we do too!! I've read great things about this event.

[Loonbeam]

If they get more than capacity, they will generally either do random selection or (and this is more likely on a 10 day) do an additional seating. It's exec chef's call in consultation with the Maitre'D because it is disruptive to the kitchen routine.

[jodi58]

We called the DINE line upon boarding and were chosen both times, we boarded around 12 pm.

[Nezmo]

They ran three on our 10-day Royal cruise in March. The last one only had about 6 people in it.

[Roatanfans]

On our Hawaii cruise we were able to do the chef's table- it was the 2nd one they did (there were only 2 on a 15 day cruise). Their were 7 people total, but we loved it- it was a fantastic dinner and well worth doing!

[lbfluffy]

Thanks for the feedback.

[geoherb]

We've called the dine line as soon as possible. We made the cut three times out of four. On our Panama Canal cruise, we did not find out until fifth day that we made it.

 

Another option to celebrate a special occasion is the Ultimate Balcony Dinner. We've enjoyed all three of the ones we've had--celebrating our anniversary twice with them and DH's birthday once.

[lbfluffy]

We've called the dine line as soon as possible. We made the cut three times out of four. On our Panama Canal cruise, we did not find out until fifth day that we made it.

 

Another option to celebrate a special occasion is the Ultimate Balcony Dinner. We've enjoyed all three of the ones we've had--celebrating our anniversary twice with them and DH's birthday once.

 

We probably will do the Ultimate balcony dinner for our upcoming Alaska cruise.

[BabsinTX]

Call the DINE line when you board...and yes, they have more than one, depending on the length of the cruise.

 

or....speak to the Maitre d'

 

We're still fairly new to Princess but have several cruises coming up, so I must ask: What exactly is the DINE line? The numeric equivalent: 3463? In January 2017 we and three other couples want to do the Chef's Table, so we'll need to call ASAP to get on the list.

[LeeW]

We're still fairly new to Princess but have several cruises coming up, so I must ask: What exactly is the DINE line? The numeric equivalent: 3463? In January 2017 we and three other couples want to do the Chef's Table, so we'll need to call ASAP to get on the list.

 

Most cabin phones have a button for this, but it is indeed the equivalent number. Our experience has been that it may not be answered since they are pretty busy on embarkation. Might be easier to find the maitre'd. The Patter will tell you hours and location but it is usually either the specialty restaurants or one of the main dining rooms.

[sananda]

We participated in the chef's table dinner on the Regal last month. It was a great dining experience.

 

However, signing up for the experience left a lot to be desired. As soon as we boarded we requested a reservation. They are unable to confirm a reservation, but promised to let us know the day before the Chef's table dinner would take place. They also can't tell you which day(s) they intend to have the dinner and we saw two occur before ours took place. We were actually informed the morning of the dinner. This made planning our daily schedule difficult, because we also wanted to dine in the specialty restaurants. Our turn at the chef's table occurred on a day that we had already made reservations at the crown's grill. This was our loss because there were no other available reservations left at the grill for the remainder of the cruise.

 

Also, the head waiter or maitre' d was aware that we wanted to do the chef's table dinner. Instead of facilitating this, he kept trying to push us into a "wine connoisseurs" dinner which cost $45 compared to the $115 for the chef's table. The menu didn't seem as exciting and we could tell that if we took the wine connoisseurs dinner, we would be excluded from the chef's table. We decided to hold out and were glad that we did.