MasterChef at Sea a 'competitor's' experience....

[jerseylily]

Hi, I know some have been very interested in MSC's new promotion of MasterChef at Sea.

 

As a recent competitor on a Grand Voyage Cruise I thought I would share my experience.

 

On boarding I did notice that that were posters around the ship and advertising was visible on the continuous loop video on the screens around the ship including that on the main deck outside.

 

Apart from that however there were not many/any? 'shout outs' about this new concept. I did however notice in the daily that on day two or three that was going to be a elimination quiz for people interested in competing in the cooking competition.

 

I did attend the quiz which looked as if it was originally going to be 20 questions but turned out to be only 10 multiple choice questions on various subjects surrounding food and cooking.

 

They were going to select 6 competitors for the next day's final from those that entered the quiz and essentially those that had the most right answers when they collected the papers in would be subject to a draw and 6 people would be selected in this way to attend the final the next day.

 

This was a little bit disappointing as there were no heats or full build up to a Grand Final and no particular advertising, all very flat.

 

The next day arrived and I had a note in the cabin telling me that I had been selected as one of the six finalists and that I was to go to reception to sign various forms and releases and then attend the theatre that afternoon and compete in the final actually doing some cooking.

 

I turned up at the allotted time to find a virtually empty theatre. This was very disappointing for those of us who had been selected. But the disappointment did not end there. We were grouped in pairs with people we did not know previously and were given aprons and hats to wear.

 

There was not a lot of explanation as to how things would proceed and we were taken onto the stage and presented with a mystery box per pair.

 

Three Chefs from the ship were introduced also and we were then given 10 minutes to unveil the ingredients in the box and present a dish to the chefs for tasting.

 

There was nothing to cook as such as this was a cold dish, ingredients included a tortilla wrap, spinach, cream cheese, various seasonings, and what it looks like a Brazilian maize coating.

 

Needless to say and my partner made the best dish very well presented but we failed to win the competition. Pipped to post by the only gentleman (French I think) in the contest and his Welsh lady pair, no hard feelings I promise you.....

 

To conclude all together quite disappointing event which was watched by very few people which could in reality be named the DisasterChef at Sea...

 

Hope your experience of it is better as a competitor or spectator than mine.

Edited December 6, 2017 by jerseylily
Correction

[DMH15]

I have found so many demos or interactive cooking at sea to be lame. I once watched a fruit and veggie carving class, on the NCL Jewel, I think and it was awful.

 

Seriously, when the audience could teach the chef how to do it better something is wrong.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[jerseylily]

On a positive note they could stream contestants by country at the quiz stage and have more of a mix represented at the final stage and this would bring in more audience

[Skier52]

Here is a quote from 1firstavenue's review of his cruise on Meraviglia

 

I was lucky enough to be chosen and was paired up with another contestant from Portugal. It was certainly an experience and quite nerve wracking to try and prepare something tasty and well presented in front of a crowd of 700 using the following ingredients: galia melon, honeydew melon, watermelon, strawberries, feta cheese, balsamic vingar, olive oil, salt and pepper… By a sheer miracle we won and came away with various MSC and Masterchef branded goodies!

 

guess it's a matter of pot luck and maybe which ship you're on as to whether you get a good audience

[jerseylily]

'guess it's a matter of pot luck and maybe which ship you're on as to whether you get a good audience'

 

 

Good point Skier, but I think audience size is determined by the effort put into promotion and your evidence may rather highlight the inconsistency in delivery if this new product across the fleet.

[1fifthavenue]

It was also the day at sea on my Meraviglia cruise when it took place - and being the Med in November it wasn't sunbathing weather, I think that played a part too... The unfortunate thing was that as it was a day at sea I "forgot" about Masterchef whilst partaking in a few libations in the disco until 2am!! It's a good job there was no need to prepare a squid or anything, it might not have been good viewing!