Chef's Table scheduling

[coprgeorge]

We have a group of 10 (5 cabins) cruising on the Conquest in June 2023. We have all purchased the Chef's table. All of our bookings are linked. Will Carnival ensure that all 10 of us have the Chef's table on the same evening?

[weezal]

during purchase, you must pick a day, for the chef's table, and there's only 1 seating per night.

 

[Mic101680]

It depends on the ship - some only have a few seatings during the cruise, some have them nearly every night. Some have more limited seats. Some have a dedicated space for the event and some have to use the library, bar, or other public area that gets roped off for the 'private' event. Some don't schedule which night(s) you get until you're onboard. Some allow you to choose, some don't.

 

If you didn't get to choose it when you booked it, you can try asking once onboard to see if they can accommodate everyone for the same seating.

[Elaine5715]

25 minutes ago, weezal said:

during purchase, you must pick a day, for the chef's table, and there's only 1 seating per night.

 

Not on all ships.  Some ships only have one or two nights and you don't get a choice

[coprgeorge]

I did not have an option to pick a night. I'm just hoping that we can all do it the same evening. Like I said, our bookings are all linked and we will be seated in the MDR together. Just hoping Carnival sees that and realizes that we want to eat together. If they cannot accommodate, we can cancel and try the steakhouse. 

[DPTexas]

18 minutes ago, coprgeorge said:

I did not have an option to pick a night. I'm just hoping that we can all do it the same evening. Like I said, our bookings are all linked and we will be seated in the MDR together. Just hoping Carnival sees that and realizes that we want to eat together. If they cannot accommodate, we can cancel and try the steakhouse. 

As was suggested above, as soon as you get abroad (and after your muster drill), I would also highly suggest getting in line at the service desk and let them know about your party and the CT bookings.  Your party of 10 would almost make up a full CT seating because there are usually 12-14 guests.  Not trying to be pushy, but we experience the CT almost every cruise, so if I were you, I would forget about doing anything else (including hoping), making this a priority by doing everything you can to experience a wonderful (and delicious) evening together at the CT.  The number of seatings for the CT depends on the length of the cruise and the number of requests.  Also, at the beginning of each CT, a group photo is taken which will be an especially nice memento of the evening for your group. 

Enjoy the CT! 

[Linguist208]

On 3/9/2023 at 10:28 PM, weezal said:

during purchase, you must pick a day, for the chef's table, and there's only 1 seating per night.

 

We had that option on our upcoming Celebration cruise (but it was sold out every night). When we booked on our Pride cruise in June, it just asked how many adults, and said we'd be informed onboard what night we get.

[coprgeorge]

DPTexas - thanks for the information. Honestly had that move already planned, but did not know if anyone had run into the same problem and had a better solution. 

 

I wish the option to pick the date and time had been available. It was not an option and when booking there is a note that states "Reservation date will be confirmed on board." 

[MistyRo76]

If you can find the email address to the ship’s maitre d, you can let them know that you are traveling as a group so they can accommodate you. We had a group of 8 who did Chef’s Table together on the Paradise in 2019. This was before you could book Chef’s Table through your cruise manager page. So we had to email our booking in. But they were able to accommodate our entire group. Our Chef’s Table seating held at least 16 I believe. 
 

I would also verify this with the Maitre D when you get onboard. They lost our booking as we booked it so far out. We kept waiting to get our invites sent to our cabin with the date and time of the seating. When it didn’t come by day 3 when inquired, and they didn’t have any record of it. They had a change over in Maitre D on our ship between when we booked it and when we sailed and it got lost in the shuffle. Luckily the Maitre D was able to get us accommodated. We did have copies of all of our email communications about our booking which helped! 

[mz-s]

20 minutes ago, MistyRo76 said:

If you can find the email address to the ship’s maitre d, you can let them know that you are traveling as a group so they can accommodate you. We had a group of 8 who did Chef’s Table together on the Paradise in 2019. This was before you could book Chef’s Table through your cruise manager page. So we had to email our booking in. But they were able to accommodate our entire group. Our Chef’s Table seating held at least 16 I believe. 
 

I would also verify this with the Maitre D when you get onboard. They lost our booking as we booked it so far out. We kept waiting to get our invites sent to our cabin with the date and time of the seating. When it didn’t come by day 3 when inquired, and they didn’t have any record of it. They had a change over in Maitre D on our ship between when we booked it and when we sailed and it got lost in the shuffle. Luckily the Maitre D was able to get us accommodated. We did have copies of all of our email communications about our booking which helped! 

 

Guests can no longer email Maitre D's.

[ChuckF]

On our last cruise, we had to talk to steakhouse management to get any insight into our Chef's Table scheduling.  Don't be surprised if Guest Services sends you to the steakhouse as they seem responsible for scheduling guests to the Chef's Table. 

[Elaine5715]

3 hours ago, ChuckF said:

On our last cruise, we had to talk to steakhouse management to get any insight into our Chef's Table scheduling.  Don't be surprised if Guest Services sends you to the steakhouse as they seem responsible for scheduling guests to the Chef's Table. 

This is correct, at least it was for the Spirit

[DPTexas]

On 3/18/2023 at 9:51 AM, ChuckF said:

On our last cruise, we had to talk to steakhouse management to get any insight into our Chef's Table scheduling.  Don't be surprised if Guest Services sends you to the steakhouse as they seem responsible for scheduling guests to the Chef's Table. 

Chuck, good to know!  Thanks for passing this along.  

[DPTexas]

On 3/17/2023 at 9:45 PM, coprgeorge said:

DPTexas - thanks for the information. Honestly had that move already planned, but did not know if anyone had run into the same problem and had a better solution. 

 

I wish the option to pick the date and time had been available. It was not an option and when booking there is a note that states "Reservation date will be confirmed on board." 

Coprgeorge, I am not sure why they don't either.  I have heard that they have to determine how many have signed up, etc., but that could be solved with a drop-down with the date and number of seatings like they do with some excursions as in "more than 10 available".  So, as ChuckF stated, it might be best to start at the steakhouse!    Hope you and your group enjoy the CT! 

Happy cruising everyone!

[TravelBluebird]

On 3/18/2023 at 10:51 AM, ChuckF said:

On our last cruise, we had to talk to steakhouse management to get any insight into our Chef's Table scheduling.  Don't be surprised if Guest Services sends you to the steakhouse as they seem responsible for scheduling guests to the Chef's Table. 

 

On the Carnival Mardi Gras, Rudi Seagrill’s management handled the Chef’s Table scheduling. i only know this because they overbooked the night we were supposed to do it, so we were sent there to try to straighten it out.

[carrieluvsgreg]

Does anyone happen to know if they try to work around other specialty dining that we have already booked?  We sail on the Panorama next weekend and our Chef's Table is also DBD.  We have scheduled the steakhouse for the first sea day and Tepanyaki the last sea day.  I feel like we should be good... but it would have been good to be able to pick it ourselves.