Culinary Arts Kitchen

Has anyone attended the Culinary Arts Kitchen Classes? How long are they? What do they cost? Are they hands-on? Are they beginner, intermediate or expert level?

I have attended them and they are wonderful. I believe they are $89 for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Very hands-on - you are at your own work station and do the cooking yourself (after a demo from the Chef). Everything is prepped for you so not chopping onions, etc. but you are cooking.

Not sure how to rate the level - probably intermediate. I'm thinking about the pasta making class and you do roll out your own pasta (using a Kitchenaid appliance) and cook the noodles. This could be challenging for beginners but I was able to do it (and I rarely cook). An expert likely would not need to class.

I agree 100% with Jackie - the classes were fun, the recipes very good - I took several different ones on the recent TA crossing and will do it again when I sail on the Explorer again. Go for it.

I have taken lots of cooking classes and I'm very good cook and baker, my husband not so much, but he is getting better. Most classes that we take, the instructor/chef normally sizes up the group and starts to dole out recipes or tasks based on that. Is that what happens in the classes on the Explorer? I take these classes because they are fun, sometimes educational and you drink wine and cook!

Can we sign up in advance or is this done onboard? If the latter, are classes advertised on day one or closer to when they are offered?

You can and should sign up in advance as the classes are limited and tend to fill up quickly. If you go to your online itinerary you will see an option to customize your voyage, and a tab for Culinary Arts Kitchen Classes. My husband took the classes on our last voyage and really enjoyed them. In addition to the staff doing the prep, they also clean up your station afterwards which is a nice treat :DOn our trip they were offered late afternoon and so they did not interfere with any of our excursions. One note.....you must pay for the classes in advance, but once onboard we were able to pay with our onboard credits and were refunded what we had paid on our credit card.

You take the class to have a lot of fun, you learn a little---but it's really a great way to spend a few hours.:)

You can and should sign up in advance as the classes are limited and tend to fill up quickly. If you go to your online itinerary you will see an option to customize your voyage, and a tab for Culinary Arts Kitchen Classes. My husband took the classes on our last voyage and really enjoyed them. In addition to the staff doing the prep, they also clean up your station afterwards which is a nice treat :DOn our trip they were offered late afternoon and so they did not interfere with any of our excursions. One note.....you must pay for the classes in advance, but once onboard we were able to pay with our onboard credits and were refunded what we had paid on our credit card.

It could be operator error, but I don’t see a tab for this when I look at customization options. Or is this something that isn’t done on Mariner?

Only Explorer has a culinary kitchen.

I took two of the classes on the recent TA on Explorer. One was a cooking skills class--on preparing fish--and the second was a cuisine-oriented class (Mediterranean). The first one could be said to be beginner level, the second closer to intermediate. But that may have been the difference between a skills vs. a cuisine class, or due to the fact that the instructing chef noticed on the second one that everyone in the class had been to at least one earlier class.

As others have noted, it is hands-on, though there are a couple of items the chef prepares and you just watch (and then sample). The way it works is that everyone gets their own station, supplied with all that you will need, including the ingredients already measured and ready to go. The only chopping we did was shallots (and she did teach the method that, if applied to onions, will minimize tears, as you wind up never cutting through the part that releases the offending juices). Everyone goes up to the front of the room, watches the chef demonstrate the technique, then goes back to their respective stations and does it. The chef and her assistants walk around the room giving tips and encouragement.

And pouring wine.

You eat what you make as you go along (you can also save for later, or to give to someone else). And drink wine. Count on skipping lunch or dinner that day (depending on what time you sign up for), as you'll find that you've devoured a full meal by the time you leave.

It's a lot of fun, and I actually learned some things.

If you are interested in signing up for the cooking classes, I recommend you call Regent. The registration for the classes on the Trans-Atlantic cruise in November wasn't posted until one month prior to sailing. They finally did appear online but for our cruise, the registration was late appearing.

I also recommend you go to the Destination Desk (yes, this is considered an excursion and Luke the Destinations Leader was in one of our classes) to ask for a transfer over to shipboard credits. They were very happy to help us with this.

If you are interested in signing up for the cooking classes, I recommend you call Regent. The registration for the classes on the Trans-Atlantic cruise in November wasn't posted until one month prior to sailing. They finally did appear online but for our cruise, the registration was late appearing.

 

I also recommend you go to the Destination Desk (yes, this is considered an excursion and Luke the Destinations Leader was in one of our classes) to ask for a transfer over to shipboard credits. They were very happy to help us with this.

Did not know that it was considered an excursion. So, if you get discounted excursions, do you know if the classes are discounted?

I'm not sure if all of these are considered excursions - the first one we did was simply the cooking class - which was a total blast, a lot of fun and we got to eat what we cooked (of course). Great way to spend a few hours.

But...our second one we did in August was tied in with a morning excursion to the Riga Central Market (a series of former Zeppelin hangars converted to a huge market) where we were set loose with kind of a 'scavenger hunt' where we each had items to find to contribute to lunch. One couple had thistle cheese, we had chanterelles, others had specific cuts of meat, etc. Once we all had our stuff, we went back to the ship and cooked up a huge family-style lunch. Things like this are probably handled through destination services as you have the shopping as well as the cooking. But as I recall, we signed up for both online before we even sailed.

So I think they have two different approaches to the Culinary Arts classes - the 'cooking only' classes and the 'shopping and cooking' classes.

PS - if you're doing one of the shopping ones, make sure to learn how to say the items you're looking for, a few numbers, and 'please' and 'thank you' in the local language. Amazing how asking for things in Latvian was so much easier than trying to mime it out. "Divi kilogrami garneles." and "Paldies." went a long way. :D

I don't think the discounts apply, but they are handled by Destinations Services.

Did not know that it was considered an excursion. So, if you get discounted excursions, do you know if the classes are discounted?

TC - I think the discounts would apply on a 'shopping/cooking class' deal but not on the straight up $89 culinary classes. I could be wrong, but I believe that's the way it's set up...

Did not know that it was considered an excursion. So, if you get discounted excursions, do you know if the classes are discounted?

The reason I said that the cooking classes were considered an excursion was because you do get a ticket like those issued for port excursions and that the Destination Desk handles them. We did not get a discount off the cost as we were in an E suite and I am Platinum. Sorry if I confused anyone.

Thanks for the explanations. Must say that we absolutely love the pricey but wonderful culinary excursions - they are the best.

Only Explorer has a culinary kitchen.

Too bad as we are on Mariner and would have loved to have done this! We sailed once on Oceania and loved our time in the culinary arts centre. On that sailing we did a market tour in the AM and cooked with things we purchased in the PM. It was the highlight of the cruise and the only really good food we had on the entire sailing (for our tastes we found the food in the Oceania MDR and special restaurants very bland and boring but loved the cooking class offerings).

Too bad as we are on Mariner and would have loved to have done this! We sailed once on Oceania and loved our time in the culinary arts centre. On that sailing we did a market tour in the AM and cooked with things we purchased in the PM. It was the highlight of the cruise and the only really good food we had on the entire sailing (for our tastes we found the food in the Oceania MDR and special restaurants very bland and boring but loved the cooking class offerings).

Hope that you sail the Explorer in the future. Unlike Oceania's two newest ships where you share a station in the Culinary Center, on Explorer you get your own station!