Is the Chef's Table a good experience for two foodies?

[Aralim]

Looking for people's experiences with the Chef's Table on Princess. My younger daughter and I are major foodies and I'm also a wine lover. I did one of these on Royal Caribbean by myself and loved it, both the food and the company. Would like to book this for myself and my daughter for one of our nights on board if it's good. She is 18 and the cruise is in the Mediterranean, so she's of age for this sailing and will be able to try the wines if she wants.

 

So far it's not showing in the Medallion app, but our sailing isn't until mid-July. I see bookings available for Sabatini's and Crown Grill, so I'm hoping it's just that they don't make those reservations available until closer in, and not they have scrapped it for the sailing due to Covid.

[Donyb]

17 minutes ago, Aralim said:

Looking for people's experiences with the Chef's Table on Princess. My younger daughter and I are major foodies and I'm also a wine lover. I did one of these on Royal Caribbean by myself and loved it, both the food and the company. Would like to book this for myself and my daughter for one of our nights on board if it's good. She is 18 and the cruise is in the Mediterranean, so she's of age for this sailing and will be able to try the wines if she wants.

 

So far it's not showing in the Medallion app, but our sailing isn't until mid-July. I see bookings available for Sabatini's and Crown Grill, so I'm hoping it's just that they don't make those reservations available until closer in, and not they have scrapped it for the sailing due to Covid.

I don't think you will find the Chef's Table on the Medallion. When we did it on the Majestic in August, we spoke directly with the head maitre'd about getting on the list. Since they were only doing it once on our cruise, we were lucky to get a spot. We loved it. It is a lot about the show but the food was very good and so was the wine. IIMHO, we may not do it again for a couple of years but it was a really fun experience. If you can do it, do it!

[taxmantoo]

The Chef's Table is never available for booking on the APP.  You need to book it as soon as you get on board by calling the Dine Line or going to Guest Services.  They will put your name on a list and will let you know at a later date whether or not you have made the cut. 

Is it good? Subjective, but we have done it on every cruise and plan on doing it again on our next cruise!

Edited February 12, 2022 by taxmantoo

[Aralim]

@Donyb, thanks for that info. I certainly hope that it will be offered more than once for our cruise, as it's a two-week itinerary covering two 7-night "legs" of Regal's 3-week Mediterranean rotation. If it's not offered ahead of time, will definitely speak to the head maitre'd when we board.

 

EDIT -- Or, based on what @taxmantoo just posted, will go to Guest Services when we board.

Edited February 12, 2022 by Aralim

[wcflats]

It’s very worthwhile.  As of lately because of all this Covid nonsense they no longer do the galley part.  That’s one of my favorite because you see all the team preparing food. Then they give you many samples of lots of food.  The head chef and head waiter do all the serving and explanations about the particular dishes.

[VibeGuy]

Strong opinion here:  it’s not nearly as much fun when there’s not access to the galley.  The part I enjoy most is the hors d’oeuvre and Champagne and meeting the other guests while dinner service is going on around us.   Recent circumstances have driven the event to a seated affair without galley apps.  Hopefully this changes back. 
 

Strong opinion 2:  the food and wine are generally very well-prepared/selected (and there is a plethora of it), but it is never very adventurous.   Think more “well-executed steakhouse/Continental Cuisine” than “culinary escapade”.   This isn’t to say it isn’t enjoyable (I *like* the classics) but it’s about as cutting-edge as a plastic knife.  It’s a smidgen closer to gourmand than gourmet. 
 

We’ve done it three times, and two out of the three have been excellent. Our most recent, which didn’t have the “interview” with the Maitre d’Hotel was the lacklustre one.  Skipped it on recent Ruby sailings since it moved to Sabatini’s with no particular charm features. 

[Kmkub]

We’ve done it once and loved it! When we boarded Enchanted last month, I phoned immediately. It wasn’t being offered.

 

The galley visit was a special adventure. I’m not surprised that went away.

 

The chef asked if any of us had definite no dishes or allergies. We both have a few foods we don’t like, but we stayed quiet. Sweet breads made it to the plate. That would have been one I would have mentioned. I’m glad I didn’t. They were good.

[coopco]

I agree with all that has been said. It's a very worthwhile experience. We did it before the pandemic. We signed up through Guest Services and they notified us once it was scheduled. I believe it's dependent on if they have enough people sign up to attend.

[Kmkub]

Do they ever do them on 4 or 5 day?
 

We are on the Regal next month for a long weekend. I’m pretty sure that’s where we did our first dinner. 
 

We were disappointed they weren’t even taking names last month. 

[scubacruiserx2]

We will be doing the Winemakers diner on Tuesday and the Chef's Table on Wednesday on the Enchanted .

[eyelash]

If one is lucky enough to get a spot at Chef's Table, is it generally held on "formal" night or a smart casual night?  We never go to formal night but might if we were selected for Chef's Table.  

[hllwdcruiser]

1 hour ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

We will be doing the Winemakers diner on Tuesday and the Chef's Table on Wednesday on the Enchanted .

We're hoping to do the Winemakers on our upcoming trip on Enchanted. We went on the Sky 2 years ago and thought it was fabulous. 

[geoherb]

40 minutes ago, eyelash said:

If one is lucky enough to get a spot at Chef's Table, is it generally held on "formal" night or a smart casual night?  We never go to formal night but might if we were selected for Chef's Table.  

 

I don't think they have the Chef's Table on formal nights.

[geoherb]

1 minute ago, hllwdcruiser said:

We're hoping to do the Winemakers on our upcoming trip on Enchanted. We went on the Sky 2 years ago and thought it was fabulous. 

 

I went in August on the Majestic. I thought it was great for the price.

[Kmkub]

3 hours ago, PennyS1990 said:

Is this a fixed price?

We went once and I believe it was $95 pp.

[hllwdcruiser]

We've did the Chef's Table a few years ago and enjoyed the experience, but it was almost too much food. I am a foodie as well, and found that by the time we got to the main entree I was too full to really appreciate it. If I were to do it again, I would definitely pace myself and eat smaller portions. 

Like others have said, one of the best parts of the experience was the opportunity to visit the galley and enjoy an amuse bouche with a glass of champagne. 

Two years ago we went to the Winemaker's dinner. We actually enjoyed that more than the Chef's table although the setting is a little more subdued. We hope to do the it again on our upcoming cruise.

 

[trbarton]

7 hours ago, Aralim said:

Looking for people's experiences with the Chef's Table on Princess. My younger daughter and I are major foodies and I'm also a wine lover. I did one of these on Royal Caribbean by myself and loved it, both the food and the company. Would like to book this for myself and my daughter for one of our nights on board if it's good. She is 18 and the cruise is in the Mediterranean, so she's of age for this sailing and will be able to try the wines if she wants.

 

So far it's not showing in the Medallion app, but our sailing isn't until mid-July. I see bookings available for Sabatini's and Crown Grill, so I'm hoping it's just that they don't make those reservations available until closer in, and not they have scrapped it for the sailing due to Covid.

I have done the chef’s dinner 5 or 6 times. For me it’s a MUST event on my cruise. 
 

Here’s some photos. 

Turn in your name ASAP when you first board the ship & enjoy. 
 

Tom😀
 

 

 

[suzyed]

1 hour ago, hllwdcruiser said:

We've did the Chef's Table a few years ago and enjoyed the experience, but it was almost too much food. I am a foodie as well, and found that by the time we got to the main entree I was too full to really appreciate it. If I were to do it again, I would definitely pace myself and eat smaller portions. 

Like others have said, one of the best parts of the experience was the opportunity to visit the galley and enjoy an amuse bouche with a glass of champagne. 

Two years ago we went to the Winemaker's dinner. We actually enjoyed that more than the Chef's table although the setting is a little more subdued. We hope to do the it again on our upcoming cruise.

 

They aren't doing the Galley tours right now...but maybe they will get back to it at some point.

[caribill]

11 hours ago, Aralim said:

@Donyb, thanks for that info. I certainly hope that it will be offered more than once for our cruise, as it's a two-week itinerary covering two 7-night "legs" of Regal's 3-week Mediterranean rotation.

 

 

 

If it is being offered, it will be offered on each segment.

[caribill]

5 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

I don't think they have the Chef's Table on formal nights.

 

Most of the time it is not on a formal evening, but I have seen it offered on a formal evening a couple of times.

[caribill]

5 hours ago, Kmkub said:

We went once and I believe it was $95 pp.

 

More on the Royal Class ships. $115 if I remember correctly.

[caribill]

10 hours ago, Kmkub said:

 

 

The galley visit was a special adventure. I’m not surprised that went away.

 

 

 

It has not "gone away." It is just not being done at this time due to Covid precautions.

[Aralim]

9 hours ago, geoherb said:

 

I don't think they have the Chef's Table on formal nights.

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Most of the time it is not on a formal evening, but I have seen it offered on a formal evening a couple of times.

 

Do they tend to schedule it more on sea days (or a night before a sea day)? Before I knew that it was only offered on one night, I was hoping to book on a sea day so I wouldn't have to worry about being back on the ship early to get cleaned up and changed into my suit. And with most ship-hosted excursions leaving at 7:30 AM, it would be tough to have it the night before a port day where I'd scheduled a ship-hosted outing and was dealing with food coma. 😉 

 

I understand the galley tour omission due to Covid. I didn't have that on my Royal Caribbean formal night, and honestly that was fine by me. I'm mobility limited, and doing a lot of walking and standing around in the galley for an hour or so beforehand would get painful for me. But if it happens to be restored as part of the package by the time we sail in July, I'll go since I know my daughter would get an absolute kick out of seeing all the hustle and bustle. For a time in her early teens she was thinking about becoming a chef / going to a culinary school.

 

And I'm on a Royal class ship (Regal Princess), so thanks for the heads-up about the slightly higher price. Still worth it in my book, and it's our last vacation as a whole family before my older daughter goes off into the wide world post-college and the younger one starts college. So I'm willing to splurge on things like this for the extra memories we'll get.

[JF - retired RRT]

15 hours ago, taxmantoo said:

...we have done it on every cruise and plan on doing it again on our next cruise!

What do you do with all of those cook books?

[JF - retired RRT]

14 hours ago, Kmkub said:

We’ve done it once and loved it! When we boarded Enchanted last month, I phoned immediately. It wasn’t being offered.

Several "Live Froms" have mentioned that they had success by requesting that one be held.

 

4 hours ago, caribill said:

 

More on the Royal Class ships. $115 if I remember correctly.

And approx. $15 less without the wine.