"Chef's Market Discoveries" review: St. Maarten, Dec. 24, 2015

“Chef's Market Discoveries – Flavors of Philipsburg.” Dec. 24, 2015

My wife and I joined 6 others for the first St. Maarten version of the “Chef's Market Discoveries” tour on the Dec. 20-27 cruise on the Silhouette. Being the “guinea pigs” for this tour, we would be say that it worked out well, after a couple hiccups which Celebrity made right, and we would recommend it. If you think you would enjoy this, and are comfortable with the cost, then go for it. Note that it is extremely limited in the number of participants: I was told that it needed at least 4, and a maximum of 10.

The description of the tour was not accurate in what really occurred, but it was made right by Celebrity. Unlike the description stated, we did not “accompany our Executive Chef” to a fresh fish market and a renowned restaurant in Grand Case. We were accompanied by Michael (the chef responsible for the specialty restaurants) for the first half of the tour, and he proved to be a wonderful, knowledgeable adjunct to the tour guide. We were also accompanied by Ben, a member of the Shore Excursions staff, who was taking notes for his report of the tour. Lots of notes.

As expected, our van took us to Marigot on the French side of the island. According to the tour description, we would go to “watch local fishermen bring in the catch . . .” However, since the waters were too rough for the fishermen to go out, we did not see this. The “fascinating cooking demonstration in which you will learn about various methods to prepare the fresh- caught seafood” was, in our case, a vendor frying grouper and serving it as part of a salad. It was great! His passion for his vocation was evident, and the food was wonderful, but the event was not as described in the tour description.

We next went to a spice vendor in the market area. We were introduced to the many spices, extracts, etc. of the island, and Michael proved to be very knowledgeable, supplementing the information from the vendor. Of course, we could purchase spices, extracts, etc. The tour description said that we would “hand pick and source the ingredients that would be used by the Executive chef to prepare an exclusive tasting menu on board the ship.” When Michael started to tell us about choosing our ingredients (to purchase), the tour guide said that it really wasn't part of the tour, and that the ingredients would not be part of the meal prepared. Not a big deal, and Celebrity will make adjustments in the tour or description. The meal was, however, prepared with local ingredients selected by Michael.

All of the tour participants had assumed, based on the excursion description, that our meal would be prepared as a lunch, upon our return to the ship. This was not the case. Celebrity assumed that we all knew that the meal would be prepared as dinner, that evening, at 7:00 PM on The Porch. Since most of our group had reservations for that evening, Christmas Eve, at specialty restaurants, the 7:00 surprise announcement was not received well. Michael and Ben totally understood, and said they would make it right.

At this point, Michael left our group and scouted out to find the fresh fish for our meal to be cooked by the Executive Chef. He bought the fish and returned to the ship independently. We then had half an hour on our own before continuing to Grand Case and the Ocean 82 restaurant, an upscale restaurant on the water with a great view, where were were served not “a local dish” as described in the shore excursion booklet, but a full lunch, including an appetizer, choice of entree (chicken breast or mahi-mahi), a glass of wine, and coffee. Everyone chose the fish, which was excellent.

We then took a leisurely return trip to the ship, completing the circle tour of the island. Ben told us that he would call us later in the afternoon to let us know how the meal preparation time would be resolved. Sure enough, before 5:00 we received a message that the meal would be prepared for lunch the next day – Christmas.

Fast forward to The Porch, noon, Christmas day. The Executive chef greeted us and gave us an exclusive tour of the galley. We then returned to The Porch, where the wine flowed freely and the courses were presented by the Executive Chef. Not just a “tasting menu” as described, but a full meal: two salads, panettone, soup, the fish, and dessert. All superb. During the meal, Michael arrived to see how we were doing, and we were doing very well. He had selected both snapper and parrot fish, and each of us received a fried whole fish, either snapper or parrot fish. I had not had parrot fish before, and totally enjoyed it – better than the snapper.

We definitely enjoyed the experience, and feel that it was worth price. They do plan to offer the tour in European ports, and we look forward to a similar meal prepared by the Executive Chef there.

Because it is a new type of tour for Celebrity, they are still working out the kinks. We suggested that they specifically describe the tour as including dinner the same evening as the tour, so that when you a make the reservation you realize that the evening's dinner is included. We'll see if that happens. We also felt that they should not advertise that the Exec. Chef will go to the market. There is definitely nothing wrong with going with another chef – just don't say it will be the Exec. Chef.

In conclusion, it was a Christmas lunch we will long remember, and we look forward to other “Chef's Market Discoveries” in other parts of the world.

Phil

What is the cost of this tour.

Cost was $199 per person. Sorry - I should have included that in the report.

I enjoyed reading your review.

Scanditaly

Thanks for the feedback. It will be interesting to see if it differs with a different ship in the same port - we have it booked for January on Eclipse - as I guess it will depend on which chef is more comfortable going al fresco with guests.

We also have the same excursion booked in another port [sorry, cannot remember off the top of my head this early in the morning]. Again, it will be interesting to see how it works in a different port.

Having read the review, I did wonder if it would be too much to do two such excursions in a matter of a few days but, if they need minimum numbers, it is always possible that a tour could be cancelled.

Will feedback on our experience on our return.

Thanks for the report. We'd scheduled this for our December Summit cruise only to have it cancelled because of 'venue issues.' It sounds promising once the details are worked out.

Thanks for your review.

What I am still waiting to hear about is when Luminae will be receiving locally purchased and prepared meals as promised in the rollout of Luminae. It seems if you pay $199 pp they are somewhat making this happen (sans the exec chef), but when included in the price of dining in Luminae nothing is being done yet. Interesting.

Thanks for the review. We are doing this in St. Lucia in March on Eclipse and looking forward to it since they have 3 months to work out details.

Thanks for the review. We have this excursion booked in St Lucia with the Summit at the end of February. Hope by then, some things are tweeked so that it goes off smoothly. I'm looking forward to something a little different than snorkeling off a catamaran (not saying there's anything wrong with that!)

Thanks again.

Kelly

Thanks for the review! We had considered it last week in Jamaica but booked an Alcove instead. Now we need t decide if we want to try it in February.

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

Thanks for review.

It sounds to me like the excursion wasn't even close to what was advertised...I suppose if the make it right (by refunding ALL the money) it might be ok, but it sounds like nothing close to the "experience" that they tried to sell.

Thanks so much for the review! We're on Reflection in less than 2 weeks and have it booked for Jamaica, so I'm really looking forward to it.

The description doesn't explain when the meal would be served, so I wasn't sure if we should make dinner reservations that evening, so thanks for clearing that up. I'll try to post a review of our experience when we return.

Sounds like it has a lot of potential!

gd pups wrote:

The description doesn't explain when the meal would be served, so I wasn't sure if we should make dinner reservations that evening, so thanks for clearing that up. I'll try to post a review of our experience when we return.

The F&B manager told us that the way it was originally supposed to work is that if the day following the tour is a sea day, then the meal would be the next day at lunch. If the day following the tour was a port day, then the meal would be served the evening of the tour. In our case, the next day was a sea day, but they had scheduled the meal for the evening, which is not the way it was "supposed" to be. We suggested that introducing the two possibilities only lends to confusion that is not necessary if they stay with only having the evening meal.

I mention this because some ships may offer the meal on the evening of the tour, and others may offer it on the next day for lunch. If you are booking this tour, try to find out when the meal will be served - though you may not be able to do this until you are on board.

Hi Phil and Jane! It was great meeting you on the excursion, and seeing you again at our lunch. Great review! I would agree with most everything you said. One thing that I heard differently was the number of participants. Our Rising Sun tour guide told Steve and I that the tour company wanted a minimum of 12 participants, and nearly cancelled. But Celebrity convinced them to take the 8 who signed up. That would allow them to see what kinks needed to be worked out by both companies (Celebrity and Rising Sun Tours).

The stop at Butterfish Restaurant in Simpson Bay was great. I thought the fish at the cooking demonstration was red snapper, but I think you are right - that it was grouper. I don’t love conch, but the conch fritter was pretty good, as was the johnnycake made by the chef’s mother.

I loved our very exclusive Christmas Day lunch. Denton, the Executive Chef, did a great job. The shrimp & avocado ceviche and bean salad were fantastic. The panettone was good, but too filling knowing there was more food coming. When they placed the fish in front of me, I initially thought I was to carve it up for everyone… until I saw that everyone was getting their own fish! Like you, I have not had parrot fish before, and thought it was much more flavorful than the snapper. The tres leche cake was a fantastic finish to our meal. I seriously considered asking them to throw some Saran Wrap around the remainder of the cake, so I could take it back to the room, and enjoy when I wasn’t so sated.

I’m not sure this link will work, but here are pictures I took over the two days – during the excursion, the galley tour, and our lunch:

https://chefsmarketdiscoveriesstmaarten.shutterfly.com/pictures/8

(Phil & Jane - There is one picture that I did not include in that link. It was taken at the fruit stand with Jane standing next to the vendor. Send me an email at sgreenlaw at me dot com, if you’d like me to forward you the copy.)

The only other thing I would add is that Steve and I signed up for these excursions in each port: Puerto Rico, St. Kitts, and St. Maarten. The excursion in San Juan, PR (called “Chef’s Market Discoveries – Casa Bacardi Flavors of San Juan”) was cancelled due to a lack of participation. The one in St. Kitts (called “Culinary Experience with Chef Marshall”) was cancelled due to a problem with the venue. I was glad that the one in St. Maarten went forward, and that we got to be the guinea pigs for this excursion. We really enjoyed ourselves and would sign up for these excursions again.

Studentoftheworld wrote:

One thing I heard differently was the number of participants. Our Rising Sun tour guide told Steve and I that the tour company wanted a minimum of 12 participants, and nearly cancelled. But Celebrity convinced them to take the 8 who signed up. That would allow them to see what kinks needed to be worked out by both companies (Celebrity and Rising Sun Tours).

That probably explains a part of the story that I hadn't mentioned. We did not try to book the tour until we were onboard, as we wanted to use OBC for it. We were told that we were on the wait list. Usually that means that the tour is full, and someone would have to cancel for us to take their place, but in this case, it apparently meant "let's wait to see if we are going to do the tour." A few hours after we inquired, we were told that we would be on the tour. Based on what you were told, I'd bet that what was really going on when we wanted to sign up was that Celebrity and Rising Sun were in the negotiating process, and we apparently increased the number of participants from 6 to 8. Maybe us joining the tour tipped the scales :-) Maybe not. Regardless, I'm glad you finally got to participate on a Chef's Market Discoveries tour, and we are glad we participated, too. We will do it again.