Chef's market discoveries

Anyone have experience with this unique celebrity excursion?

Anyone have experience with this unique celebrity excursion?

I think this is brand new. I was on Summit the week of 11/14 and spoke

with a couple of different Maitr'ds.....it seems like it would be a lot of

fun.....one of the Chefs gets off the ship (I think) to buy local food

and have a culinary excursion on board the ship. That may be a bit

simplified but I think it is about that.......not sure of all the details.

Actually, you go shopping with them!

Actually, you go shopping with them!

Well, there you go......you have more information than I do;)

I do know I was told it is brand new excursion.:)

True-- i know what it includes; I just want to know if it's worth the $200 price tag. After hearing from you that it's new, I figured I would book it and look out for reviews in the coming months-- I can always cancel it later.

I'd missed seeing this one on the website. But it sounds like fun.

Since it's a 'tasting menu' I'm assuming it's a snack and not a meal?

We're on Summit next week and I'll come back and report if we try it. I have to wait to sign up so I can use some of our OBCN.

And since we're on the subject, does anyone know Anything about the "Scenery & Artistry Basseterre, St Kitts & Nevis.' We've signed up for it but have no idea what it is! We did a HAL art tour on St. Martin once that was one of the best Caribbean tours we've ever done. So we're hoping it's similar.

This is news to me, but it sounds interesting. For which ships and when are these excursions programmed?

This is news to me, but it sounds interesting. For which ships and when are these excursions programmed?

Summit in April for st Thomas and st Maarten.

It's offered in several ports on the Eclipse March Southern Caribbean cruise. One is St. Lucia, can't remember the other ports.

I'd missed seeing this one on the website. But it sounds like fun.

 

Since it's a 'tasting menu' I'm assuming it's a snack and not a meal?

 

We're on Summit next week and I'll come back and report if we try it. I have to wait to sign up so I can use some of our OBCN.

 

And since we're on the subject, does anyone know Anything about the "Scenery & Artistry Basseterre, St Kitts & Nevis.' We've signed up for it but have no idea what it is! We did a HAL art tour on St. Martin once that was one of the best Caribbean tours we've ever done. So we're hoping it's similar.

For 200.00 bucks it better be more than just "a snack":eek:

Since Celebrity is making it difficult (or impossible) to cash in non-refundable OBC at the casino, it's good if they come up with new shore excursions.

We're just not shoppers or sun people, so I'm thrilled at the new possibilities.

So many Caribbean cruisers are repeaters.

I agree that the price is steep. I'd never spend 'real' money on it. ; )

And I'll get more details before I book.

I think this type of excursion would be exciting in areas of the world where the food is quite different....asia, india, etc....but not so much in the caribbean or similar areas. $200 does seem like a pretty steep price to pay...even with tasting....but for some, the price doesn't matter.

but for some, the price doesn't matter.

Wow...

Since Celebrity is making it difficult (or impossible) to cash in non-refundable OBC at the casino, it's good if they come up with new shore excursions.

 

We're just not shoppers or sun people, so I'm thrilled at the new possibilities.

So many Caribbean cruisers are repeaters.

 

I agree that the price is steep. I'd never spend 'real' money on it. ; )

And I'll get more details before I book.

You do know that you can only use those OBCs to book excursions once you're already on board. If you book now your credit card will immediately be charged.

I think this type of excursion would be exciting in areas of the world where the food is quite different....asia, india, etc....but not so much in the caribbean or similar areas. $200 does seem like a pretty steep price to pay...even with tasting....but for some, the price doesn't matter.

We booked this in St Lucia for a bit more than $200. It is described as lunch on board with locally sourced foods purchased during the tour, after a morning of shopping with an executive chef and touring around the harbor area. We have a plethora of Asian and Indian restaurants in Pittsburgh but not a lot of Caribbean so we are looking forward to it, also to the input from the chef.

You do know that you can only use those OBCs to book excursions once you're already on board. If you book now your credit card will immediately be charged.

Yes, that's why we're waiting to book this one next week while we're on board.

I'd rather do this than purchase a $200 bottle of wine or another item from the shops. We'll enjoy an activity much more. And like Pittsburg, Knoxville has a dearth of Caribbean restaurants (no surprise there).

But first, I want to hear more about it when we board and see if any other new excursions are offered.

Hopefully, tangerinebunny will post about their experience, if they go on one of these tours. Either way, My Guy and I will be checking out the culinary excursions on our upcoming Christmas cruise. They sound like something he and I would enjoy. And it doesn’t hurt that we have OBC to spend.

For those that haven’t heard about these excursions, here is an overview of those offered on our particular (Dec 20 – 27, 2015) cruise:

San Juan, Puerto Rico: Chef’s Market Discoveries – Casa Bacardi & Flavors of San Juan

It’s 3 hours and is $199 per person. It includes a tour of the rum factory, learning how to make the perfect mojito, and enjoying a guided tasting at Georgina’s Restaurant. Also, you and the Executive Chef source local ingredients. Once back at the ship, the Executive Chef prepares a 3-course tasting menu, using ingredients sourced in San Juan.

Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis: Culinary Experience with Chef Marshall

This 4 hour & 15 minute excursion is $129 per person. The only description I found said this: “ Your experienced and involved chef will meet you at the local vegetable and fish market on the Bay Road, Basseterre.”

Philipsburg, St. Maarten: Chef’s Market Discoveries – Flavors of Marigot

This one is 5 hours long, and costs $199 per person. It includes going to a local fish market at Simpson Bay, and travelling to Marigot to explore a market with spices and fresh ingredients. Then off to Grand Case to enjoy a local dish in a restaurant. Again, on board the ship, the Executive Chef will prepare a 3-course sampling menu using ingredients sourced on land.

Those sound great. I hope they do something like that in Bermuda.

On our cruise on Connie in February, this description has been modified to read " dinner onboard" instead of "tasting". It is in St. Marten. We have done the Chef's Table in the past, and eating in the galley is quite an experience!

We signed up for this on our Reflection cruise for next week. It was offered in all three ports. We chose the one in St. Thomas. I'll report back when we return.

Bennett of

Bennett and Debbie

Sans the tour, isn't this what they are supposed to be doing in Luminae for what we have already paid for in our suite fee? Chef prepares meals with locally sourced ingredients? Has anyone seen this yet in the Luminae dining room?

We signed up for this on our Reflection cruise for next week. It was offered in all three ports. We chose the one in St. Thomas. I'll report back when we return.

 

 

Bennett of

Bennett and Debbie

Bennett, St. Thomas was the port that we tried to schedule, but they were having 'problems with the venue.' Please come back and let us know how things go. It sounds good on paper.

I would also be interested in hearing what it's like.

It's the first ship excursion in many, many years that actually sounds interesting.

We got back from our New Year's cruise on the Reflection. We did do the new Chef's Discovery excursion in St. Thomas. There was one in each of the ports. Although it looked like they followed similar formats, each is unique due to the port part of the excursion.

The excursion turned out to be very good. It was a little rough around

the edges, with some kinks needing to be worked out. With a little

refinement, it will be well worth the expense for anyone interested

in the culinary aspects of the destinations.

Our excursion met in the morning on the dock where all the other

excursions met. This part was run by a local tour company, who was

obviously contracted to provide the transportation. There were 4 couples including us escorted to an open air tram, similar to those used for many of the excursions. After one additional lone straggler hopped on the tram, we headed out.

Along the way the driver gave us a mini-tour of the island along the

path we were taking. During this time, we started wondering about the

details matching our expectations - wasn't there supposed to be one

of the ship's chefs with us? There was very little communication as to

what we should expect, other than the original tour description.

Turned out that lone straggler was Chef Conroy, the Executive Sous Chef from the deck 4 MDR. I didn't become aware of that until we got to the Blue Orchid. At the Blue Orchid, we met their Executive Chef, Sally, who had prepared a tasting menu of several island dishes. She also talked through a recipe for a hot sauce that we could easily try at home. Also provided were samples of the many flavored rums from the island.

Again, some of us were wondering what had happened to the stop at the farm to look at the produce (with an eye to dinner). Again, a little

communication up front can go a long way. Turned out that due to heavy rains the previous night, the farm visit was literally washed out. So the farm, which is next door to the Blue Orchid, came to us. The lady who grows the produce brought an ample selection to us, where we sampled some of the offerings. Then, while we roamed the grounds of the Blue Orchid (which are absolutely lush and beautiful), Conroy picked out the produce for our dinner.

After returning to the port, that portion of the tour was concluded. We

reconvened that evening. Some more confusion as we were to meet in Cellar Masters, but the staff there was hosting another dinner there, and wasn't aware that we were meeting there.

Once we were assembled, we were escorted by the Maitre'd for a tour of the Deck 4 MDR galley. Full tour, during dinner service, watching them turn out the meals. We were met there by the ship's Executive Chef and the Executive Pastry Chef to talk about, well, what we wanted to talk about.

We then went up to the Porch, where Conroy was preparing our dinner. 4 course dinner, prepared with the fresh produce that was purchased that morning. Dinner was constantly monitored by the Executive Chef. I don't know if that was done to watch over a new and still being refined experience, or if that would be standard practice (I kind of think it would be the former, especially since the excursions desk also solicited our feedback from the experience.)

Great meal, good company, highly enjoyable experience.

So as a recap, and for Celebrity (who clearly said that they follow these discussions):

The good:

-great concept

-fantastic galley tour being during the dinner service

-excellent staff involvement

-group size of 8 was perfect. I don't think some parts of this would be

managable if you get above maybe 12 people

Needs improvement:

-communication; let the chef introduce himself at the start when

everyone gathers for the tour, let everyone know what is going on, especially since something like this may dynamically change due to conditions.

I'm already planning on grabbing one of these offerings on the Eclipse

for next new year's.

Bennett of

Bennett and Debbie

I posted a review of the Dec. 24 St. Maarten version. See it here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2295419