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Kitchen Table Excursions


just_dont
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I have a question about the Kitchen Table Excursions, where you go into port with the chef to select fresh food, and then later prepare the meal in the Kitchen Table dining venue.

This was advertised as an optional "excursion" for our upcoming Midnight Sun cruise, but when the actual excursions posted to MVJ, there isn't one in any of the ports we'll be visiting.  But Kitchen Table is still advertised as an available dining venue, still talking about going into port to shop for the food.

So how does Viking handle this?  Did it used to be an "excursion" that you could pre-book?  Have they changed it to something that you can only book once aboard the ship?  Have they stopped treating it like an excursion and done away with the port visit portion, treating it more like a cooking class?

Does anyone have recent experience with the Kitchen Table?

Thanks in advance.

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Kitchen Table is not available on all itineraries. It is a shorex and is booked as a shorex.

 

The port by port pages that we see as part of the description of the various itineraries are generic pages and are used for all itineraries that stop in that port. Not all of the shorex that are shown will necessarily be offered on your sailing and Viking does say it at the bottom of the list on every page: Shore excursions vary by departure and are subject to change.

 

For instance, the page for Tromso shows a Northern Lights viewing excursion but since full darkness is needed to see the lights, this shorex will not be offered as part of of any of the Midnight Sun sailings. Tromso is also part of the Jan-Mar Northern Lights itinerary so the generic page shows winter only and summer only activities.  And that is why you see the Kitchen Table excursion mentioned on the Viking website but don't see it on MVJ; for whatever reason, it is not being offered on your sailing.

 

Viking does have another Kitchen Table experience that it offers on some sea days--and therefore does not include the shopping component. It can only be booked on the ship. It is not necessarily offered on every sailing with sea days.

 

 

 

 

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As long as we're "talking" about "Kitchen Table" excursions, has anyone booked one of these?  How was it?  They look interesting but frankly $250.00 is a lot of money (and x2).  They make it sound like you shop and you cook ... not sure it's worth $250 to do what I do at home every day for free ... just kidding, but would love to hear some feedback from anyone having participated in one of these .

Edited by molymoo
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30 minutes ago, molymoo said:

As long as we're "talking" about "Kitchen Table" excursions, has anyone booked one of these?  How was it?  They look interesting but frankly $250.00 is a lot of money (and x2).  They make it sound like you shop and you cook ... not sure it's worth $250 to do what I do at home every day for free ... just kidding, but would love to hear some feedback from anyone having participated in one of these .

$250??  Per person??  Wow!  On WC1 we did KT in Singapore and Sardinia.  Loved them.  They were $99 p/p.  Went in a small group (12 or less) with Chef.  Stopped for coffee and pastry first.  Then on to the markets where he bought a variety of goods, some our suggestions, some he was searching for.  Then off to another cafe for wine and snacks.  A bit of a tour in all the coming and going.  Then we are back at the ship for a free afternoon.  At 6pm we met in the KT room along with Chef, Sommelier, and several cooks/servers.  We drank and socialized while Chef and assistants cooked.  We had a nicely printed menu showing all the courses but Chef always reminded us "is just a suggestion" as he made changes on the fly.  Each course served right from the pan and it took about 3 fun hours to get to dessert.  A wonderful experience each time but not sure I would do it for $500!  And no, we did not have to cook or clean up....

Edited by Jim Avery
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We did KT in Muscat, Oman.  There were 6 or 7 of us.  Went to the market with the Executive Chef and one of the Sous Chefs.  They had no idea what they would find to cook.  Ended up with a blue fin tuna, that had been caught a few hours before.

 

Then back to the ship for dinner, similar to that described by Jim.

 

It was a bit pricey at $249 pp. But we had a great time!

 

Just to add to Peregrina’s post.  The availability of KT seems to be somewhat dependent on Chef’s schedule and suitability of the local markets.  Also dependent on some minimum number of participants.  The KT on our cruise wasn’t posted in the excursions ahead of the cruise.  We found out about it by asking at the service desks.

 

We also did the sea day cooking classes a couple times.  Only an hour or two in the KT, at much less cost pp.  They each had a theme (French, Italian, etc.).

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25 minutes ago, MarkTapley said:

 

 

 

Just to add to Peregrina’s post. 

 

Please do! I stuck to the bare bones, hoping that more people would chime in. 

1 hour ago, Jim Avery said:

 On WC1 we did KT in Singapore and Sardinia.  Loved them.  They were $99 p/p.

 

I'm wondering if that was the World Cruise special pricing, since every other time I've seen them listed it has been $250.

 

2 hours ago, molymoo said:

not sure it's worth $250 to do what I do at home every day for free

 

  I so agree with you on this!

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On our Star sailing they offered three sea day cooking classes.  DW attended the French and Italian sessions which only cost $30 each.  Held in the morning, classes were limited to 12 participants (need to book right away at embarkation) and lasted 3 hours. They prepared and ate 3 course lunch.  Did some prep, drank some wine, cooked some food, drank some wine, ate lunch, drank some more wine.  She had a great time and will do it again. 

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Nancy Anderson, I believe, just did one of these sea day on MO and she gave a ballpark price of around 50. Sea day so no shopping. Posted some pictures on one of the facebook pages and the  whole thing looked nice.  She said you booked when you boarded.  I think it holds true for a bridge or kitchen tour but I have no personal knowledge.

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