judebarsto

On 6/20/2023 at 6:56 AM, pinotlover said:

A Sea Day, and just sat down with the lady at Restaurant Reservations. The story is coming together for Privee.

 

Oceania does book the La Reserve dinners on specific nights. Max capacity is eight (8) people. To hold a dinner, all eight spaces have to be sold or the event is canceled. This is why putting together a group oneself is important, because otherwise they may not get enough signups. Currently, there has been a total ,since first sailing,  of three Odyssey and no Dom P dinners held. You can’t book until aboard, and then hope to get enough to sign up on the nights available.

 

I was able to finally get the menus for the wine pairing dinners in PG and Toscana. Will try to post later.

did you ever post the menus?

Here are some pix of my Oceania Red Ginger cooking class last year on Riviera:

 

great fun!!

 

2 hours ago, exlandlubber said:

We just got off the Vista's NYC to Montreal cruise and I attended two of the cooking classes.  The first was Harvest Unleashed, which turned out to be a vegetarian class and was really great.  The class was with Chef John Stephano (sp?) and he was both entertaining and informative.  We made Socca (a chickpea flour pancake - surprisingly good) a chia pudding, a salad dressing and something else which I'm sorry but I can't remember.  Plus there was lots of wine!  The second class was Passport to the North Atlantic which my husband attended as well and we made a delicious lobster salad, a small Delmonico steak and an individual blueberry pie.  Lots of fun.  We also made a cocktail called a Boston Tea Party (tea, molasses, bourbon & ginger beer) which wasn't something I really liked, but again the wine was good.  The classes were lots of fun and super informative. I'd highly recommend them.

Thanks so much for posting this - really, really helpful!

4 hours ago, n2chocola8 said:

Thank you and keep those class choices coming. They are very helpful.

definitely! It’s really the only way to know what you’re possibly preparing “

Yes, you can choose the class and time (2 times offered on sea days, only one time on port days) but they won’t tell you exactly what you’ll be cooking. Hence, this thread. Hoping to find out what recipes they’re making. For our upcoming January cruise, I chose “old man and the sea,” but besides “fish” I have no idea! Also, my class is already booked but several others are available: passport to the new world, classic French, couple of others. 

3 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

In November 2017 I did two classes with chef David on Riviera, and I bought his book that he was selling about his experiences as a chef trainee in southern Europe. Really enjoyed reading his book and the classes.
We made paella in one of the classes. I took videos of his demonstrations and I’m able to re-create a beautiful paella. It’s a lot of work, but I do it for the family about once a year around the holidays. I had a great time in both of the classes, and I would do it again.! 

What was the name of the class?

I’ll go first. On our cruise from Lisbon to Rome in October 2022 on the Riviera, we made miso cod, lobster pad Thai, and pomelo summer rolls all from red Ginger. All were just fabulous and it was a really fun cooking class with chef Stephanie. Hoping to find out what others cooked on their Oceania cruise!

On 2/16/2023 at 7:29 PM, DENIE said:

We are on the 1/9/2024 Vista cruise, and the culinary classes just became available on the website.

Hi, we’re on the same cruise. The posted classes don’t mention specific recipes. I really would like to know that, since “high heat,” “French technique,” “fish cooking,” etc. are just so non specific. 
when we were on the Riviera in October, we had a class based on food from Red Ginger and it was excellent. I really don’t want to just learn techniques. I’d much rather explore new recipes.
How do we get this information??

33 minutes ago, Tyskie said:

 

Thank you for posting your experience!

When/where did you book your class?  

 

@Robjame  Thanks for the video - the experience looks awesome.

 

@LHT28  Where/when do you book the Cooking Excursion?

 

Thank you for all the wonderful information.

 

I booked it online quite a few months before the cruise, to get the time and date that I wanted. Our cruise was very port intensive, so I chose a date where we had already been to that port on a previous cruise. That being said, since there was a port every day, all of the cooking classes were from around 4 to 6 PM. The day I took my class we were schedule to eat at Toscana, and needless to say, I didn’t eat very much for dinner!

We had 2 no shows for our class, but it was too late to fill the spots with wait listers, if there were any. 

We are just off the Riviera from Lisbon to Rome in October. I took the red ginger cooking class (without my husband) and found it excellent. Chef Stephanie was personable, humorous, knowledgeable and an excellent instructor. We all had a great time! The stations were individual but couples were able to be right next to each other. A very efficient crew cleaned up after you and made sure all your prep was in order. But you actually did the cooking and of course the eating! We had previously eaten at red ginger and the dishes we made were as good as, if not better, then the same dishes at the restaurant.The class was very well run, and I found it to be one of the most enjoyable activities that I’ve ever done on a cruise. Definitely worth the $89 fee. I would highly recommend it, but YMMV depending on who is the chef.

Oh and we really didn’t like the main stage magician/comedian - not funny and bad magic tricks. Beware!

We just left Wonderland on Harmony a minute ago, and we had a wonder-ful experience. We enjoyed the Cosmo/cotton candy drink and the smoked drink.

Not every dish was off the charts, but there was plenty of delicious and creative food and all was presented so well. The Mad Hatter was there tonight and made our evening so much fun. 
We especially enjoyed the smoked eggs, the potted shrimp, the liquid lobster, the yuzu tuna and the World dessert. The liquid mushroom risotto and the tomato water were misses and the halibut in the plastic bag was under seasoned and over cooked. The pork belly entree was great!

 Just a fun evening! I’d go back if I ever saidl Royal again. 

I’m on Harmony right now. No 1887 ice show all week,  just the iSkate showcase which was excellent. 
Aqua show was disappointing. 
Grease was phenomenal!

We ate at Jamie’s last night. Nice venue, very good service. But the food was only ok - not well seasoned, flavorless lamb chops, lasagna was the best thing we ordered, pavlova was awful. 

 

Grease was really fantastic - great dancing, superb talent! Several performers were (dare I say) Broadway?- caliber.  I would highly recommend. 
 

Guitar guy Wojciech was excellent - we’ll go see him again. 
 

Giant 90’s party last night - very loud and crazy but fun to watch, even for this senior couple. 

It rained pretty much all day today, our first sea day. But the 4:30 pm aqua show went on - the 2:30 one was canceled. Didn’t see it, though - we had reservations at 5 at Jamie’s. 
 

 No food-porn-worthy pictures these last two nights BUT the escargot in the MDR were excellent and the grand marnier soufflé was off the charts!

 

 Tonight was Jamie’s, which we both thought was good but not great. We had an excellent waiter and great service. Arancini, garlic shrimp, truffle tagliatelle, lamb chops and lasagna were good - no standout here. Pavlova was awful; sorbets were so so, not a lot of intense flavor. 
 

Now we’re waiting to see Grease - should be fun. 
Tomorrow is Falmouth, Jamaica and it’s supposed to rain again. All week, in fact. We might try to find some jerk chicken near the port. 
 

 

Our first night we dined at 150 Central Park - we were skeptical of the food on Royal but wow! What a fantastic meal! As good as a fine dining restaurant on land: (warning, food porn coming up!)
Soft buttery rolls with truffle butter, seasonings - delish!

 

Pretty venue



Braised short rib appetizer for me. Lean tender great sauce yummy mascarpone polenta

 

Honey scallops for Steve
fantastic, scallops cooked perfectly 



Sunchoke veloute great

 

Lobster thermidor - yum. Waitress Christian gave us double portion bc “they were so small.”

 

Chocolate pnut butter tart with blackberry sorbet. Really good!

Question: Why do they even bother with formal nights? Tonight in the MDR at My Time Dining (huge line to get in by the way) there was virtually no one dressed up. I did see a guy in a wife beater tank top, another in a Beatles tee shirt. ?????? Just sayin’

 

 the food was mostly very good with a couple of standouts: excellent escargot, outstanding grand Marnier soufflé with vanilla custard sauce. The service was perfunctory - disinterested waiter, not friendly at all, very disappointing. I know they are overworked and he really seemed to be stressed out.  I’m sure I’ll get a better waiter next time. 

Thanks for all the responses!

but:

Vitality - nope

cafe promenade nope

sorrentos just water

bars - just water

 

i think they’re trying to get you to buy a soda package but we try not to drink that stuff. 

 

we ended up taking a couple of glasses of tea and lemonade and put them in the “fridge” for later. 

 

 

We are on the Harmony right now  and having fun. That being said, I can’t believe we booked Easter week without even thinking twice.  TONS of kids and I mean TONS. Now I like kids, but this is overwhelming. (Full disclosure, we usually sail celebrity and there’s a huge difference) Will probably stay in the Solarium on at-sea days but I’m disappointed that there’s no pool, just hot tubs)

 

Yesterday‘s lunch was in the Windjammer Café, and I must say I was disappointed in the lack of food choices. The Indian food was excellent, but most other things we tried were not well cooked i.e. over cooked chicken etc. So we headed to the park café and had a beef on Weck sandwich - which was good - but remember, I’m from Buffalo, so it was not great lol. 
 

We started thinking that the food would be a disappointment, but were we proven wrong! Last night we had an absolutely fabulous meal at 150 Central Park. Everything we ordered was outstanding: the short rib appetizer, honey scallop appetizer, and lobster Thermidor. Chocolate peanut butter tart with blackberry sorbet for dessert. Great and fast service, and we really enjoyed it. It definitely is right up there with some of the better restaurants on Celebrity. Tonight is formal night in the main dining room, so we shall see.

 

We went to the  iSkate ice show last night and it was very entertaining: talented skaters, great music and a fun show. They are apparently not doing the 1887 ice show and I’m not sure why. Someone said lack of personnel to run two ice-skating shows?

 

Today’s aqua show was postponed due to rainy weather. We briefly went into Nassau and had cracked conch for lunch that was pretty good. 

 

We are staying in a regular balcony cabin, and we do not have a drink package. We brought two bottles of wine on board and are trying not to order more than two drinks per person per day. I will say that it is very difficult to find free beverages during non-restaurant hours. The machines with ice tea, lemonade, fruit punch are only available in the Windjammer Café and when that restaurant is closed, it’s hard to get a free drink of any sort. Still, the drink packages  are exorbitant and not worth it for us.

 More to come…..
 

 

On 4/15/2022 at 5:15 PM, bobmacliberty said:

Just saw Grease. I was impressed, especially with the dancing. I’ve said this before on Dani’s thread but my daughter did competitive dance for 10 years and then spent 2 years on the Kentucky dance team. We’ve been to countless dance competitions. I know a lot more about dance than I’d like to admit. On most Royal shows, the singers have good voices but are often just so so dancers. There was some difficult choreography in Grease and they nailed it. We had to move back one row from our preferred seats. 

Funny! I too am from Buffalo, ready to board Harmony this morning. And I also have a daughter (now 36!) who did competitive dance with David deMarie for 10 years or so. (Now doing modern dance out west) So I’m very picky about good dancing in musical theater. I’m looking forward to Grease and to beef on weck (even if sub-par - can’t get it here in Florida!) Go Bills, lol!

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

My understanding is that the port has always been a tendered port because of the water is shallow.

The tender really only took 20 minutes for those on future sailings

We tried talking to the host last night. I’m afraid he was very snotty to us and suggested we couldn’t get a reservation because we booked through a travel agent not celebrity directly. Which sounds pretty ridiculous!

Hi We are currently on board. Originally we had cabin 6237 but as soon as we boarded we were switched to 8300. Higher deck but no upgrade otherwise and further from the elevator. Also they didn’t manage to deliver our luggage until late and we didn’t get out captions club notifications until much later. BTW I’m very disappointed because we were unable to book Eden, even though we were on the ship at 11. Apparently all the Eden reservations were mostly booked before the ship even sailed! Probably the 900 travel agents on board for a convention had something to do with that. Anyway I really think celebrity needs to address the reservation system for the specialty restaurants. We only waited to get a reservation until we were onboard so we could use shipboard credit. Bad mistake. So Ken! Would you like to sign over your second Eden reservations to us? ?! 🤣 I’ll be your best friend! Have a great cruise, Judy

Have they started putting outlets and/or USB ports by the beds on the newer/refurbished ships?

On 10/3/2019 at 9:31 AM, Georgia_Peaches said:

 

Which sailing?  We cruise on Silhouette over Thanksgiving to the ABC's...

Hi! We’re Judy and Steve and are also on Silhouette over thanksgiving. I haven’t booked it yet, but I’m looking forward to LPC, but only the original menu, lobster, steak. Anyone know how to find out? Looking forward to meeting you both. Heading over to Roll call now.