Sorry to go contrarian to others, but we would not do the Chef table again. (We did in in June on Mariner, but the menu appears consistent across it).
The food was overall just ok, (the steak was the best we had on the ship -we had the Key welcome lunch and separately the lunch at chops), however it was not something to get crazy over.
The biggest issue we had was with the wine pairing, presentation, and quality.
The presenter of the wine was reading off a script and had no formal wine training at any level. And the script was bad.
The wines themselves were nothing special, retail of around $15-18, with the exception of the “really special” wine, the Mondavi Cab, which is about a $45-50 bottle.
But the crowning disappointment was the actual pairing. We’ve been to a lot of pairing dinners, and have a reasonable expectation, but also know that not everyone’s palette matches and some times a pairing may be perfect for one person, may be a little “off” for another.
However, it shocks me how badly paired two of the courses were… drinking the wine with the food actually made both worse. (Specifically speaking to the overly NZ Savi Blanc, which was an exaggeration of everything a NZ Sav should be).
Three other couples indicated equal disappointment. The only couple that was super happy showed up drunk to being with, and fell asleep during the dinner.
After an entire cruise of mediocre food, we were so looking forward to this, and left very disappointed. Unlike ever cruise we have ever been on, there wasn’t a trained somm,
in this ship and 2/3 of the wine requested from the wine list was not available. And that’s the by the glass stuff, not the premium wines…. Don’t even get me started, it this is just an indictment of the chef table.
conceptually awesome, poor execution.
save the money and do something special at one of the stops.