Chefs Table - Did you get a pre-visit?

[big_duck]

:confused: Did you really do that? With the number of posts you have, I'd assume you knew the drill on how to make a Chef's Table reservation. Or are you just pushing Carnival CC posters' buttons?

 

Why not? He has a place on his blog specifically for this purpose.

 

To answer the original question, we've done it twice. We had onetablevisit and one phone call.

[DebJ14]

We did the Chef's Table on the Magic in January 2012. NO pre-visit and no communication whatsoever from the Chef until the night of the event. When we reconfirmed our reservation in person with the Steakhouse hostess, who handles it on the Magic, we specifically asked if they could accomodate our dietary restriction (gluten) and she said it would be no problem at all and she said she would advise the Chef. We would have canceled otherwise.

At the champagne and appetizer meet with the Chef just before we headed for the kitchen the Chef said "So no one has any food allergies or dietary restrictions, right?" When we said we did have one he rudely scolded very loudly us for not notifying him. We tried to explain that we did advise them, but he stomped off to the kitchen and came back with an appetizer off the regular menu that is GF. Then every time they brought a course in the kitchen it was slammed down saying "And here is YOUR gluten free ..." It was a horrible evening for us. The others at the table who know nothing about the GF diet and presumed it was just a lifestyle choice rather than a medical necessity treated us like lepers and made snide comments all evening. We would never do it again.

We have done the wine tasting dinners on Royal Caribbean and had a much better experience.

[Pellaz]

My friends booked CT on Liberty back in October, and DID receive a visit from the Chef at dinner the night before. I think they were YTD, too.

 

 

They should add the CT as an excursion.

 

Hear, hear! And the Behind the Fun tour, and Bottomless Bubbles, and.... The list goes on and on.

[Isakep15]

We did the Chef's Table on the Magic in January 2012. NO pre-visit and no communication whatsoever from the Chef until the night of the event. When we reconfirmed our reservation in person with the Steakhouse hostess, who handles it on the Magic, we specifically asked if they could accomodate our dietary restriction (gluten) and she said it would be no problem at all and she said she would advise the Chef. We would have canceled otherwise.

At the champagne and appetizer meet with the Chef just before we headed for the kitchen the Chef said "So no one has any food allergies or dietary restrictions, right?" When we said we did have one he rudely scolded very loudly us for not notifying him. We tried to explain that we did advise them, but he stomped off to the kitchen and came back with an appetizer off the regular menu that is GF. Then every time they brought a course in the kitchen it was slammed down saying "And here is YOUR gluten free ..." It was a horrible evening for us. The others at the table who know nothing about the GF diet and presumed it was just a lifestyle choice rather than a medical necessity treated us like lepers and made snide comments all evening. We would never do it again.

We have done the wine tasting dinners on Royal Caribbean and had a much better experience.

 

This sounds horrible! On the Dream, not only did we communicate food allergies over the phone when we confirmed our reservation but the Chef re-confirmed during the cocktail portion, and then explained all of the ingredients to make sure that DH could eat the food. I guess it all depends on the Chef.

[kyrisong1]

I think it depends on the Chef, some are people oriented and others are not. We had an awesome Chef on the Miracle a couple years ago, he and his crew were happy, joking and made it a very fun evening.

The last ship, Conquest, the Chef was preoccupied and not engaging at all, he was fairly rude to the servers and he wasn't a barrel of fun for us. We really loved the first one, this last one was just ok, probably won't do it again, however we are on a long cruise to Hawaii next year on the Miracle so I'm not going to say never.

Cheers, Carole

[Thestral]

My roomie and I did the CT on our cruise this past January on The Miracle and it was a wonderful experience.

 

I will say however, that I did try to make a reservation about a month in advance through John's blog. I never heard anything back and assumed we'd just look into it once we got on board. We found out that our reservation was never received but luckily there were still a few spots left. My roomie was allergic to chocolate (the horrors!! :D ) and they made a note in our reservation at the GS desk. We also got a call the following night from the reservations desk confirming our reservation and her allergy. The night before the dinner our Maitre D came by our table to ask if there were any other things they needed to know.

 

We had a wonderful experience and everyone was nice. We had the Head Chef the entire meal with the exception of about 10 minutes when he had to take care of something in the galley.

 

One question though- how far in advance can you book a reservation? A group of us are going to Alaska next September and are really looking forward to this. I was planning on booking it in August, but if I can do it sooner I will. Thanks!

[nursewurmy]

We did the Chef's Table on the Magic in January 2012. NO pre-visit and no communication whatsoever from the Chef until the night of the event. When we reconfirmed our reservation in person with the Steakhouse hostess, who handles it on the Magic, we specifically asked if they could accomodate our dietary restriction (gluten) and she said it would be no problem at all and she said she would advise the Chef. We would have canceled otherwise.

At the champagne and appetizer meet with the Chef just before we headed for the kitchen the Chef said "So no one has any food allergies or dietary restrictions, right?" When we said we did have one he rudely scolded very loudly us for not notifying him. We tried to explain that we did advise them, but he stomped off to the kitchen and came back with an appetizer off the regular menu that is GF. Then every time they brought a course in the kitchen it was slammed down saying "And here is YOUR gluten free ..." It was a horrible evening for us. The others at the table who know nothing about the GF diet and presumed it was just a lifestyle choice rather than a medical necessity treated us like lepers and made snide comments all evening. We would never do it again.

We have done the wine tasting dinners on Royal Caribbean and had a much better experience.

 

We booked the chefs table on the allure. Do you think this will be a problem? We are going on the allure of the seas in feb and now you have me nervous. They said we could eat in any of the restaurants.

Becky

[twindaddy]

My roomie and I did the CT on our cruise this past January on The Miracle and it was a wonderful experience.

 

I will say however, that I did try to make a reservation about a month in advance through John's blog. I never heard anything back and assumed we'd just look into it once we got on board. We found out that our reservation was never received but luckily there were still a few spots left. My roomie was allergic to chocolate (the horrors!! :D ) and they made a note in our reservation at the GS desk. We also got a call the following night from the reservations desk confirming our reservation and her allergy. The night before the dinner our Maitre D came by our table to ask if there were any other things they needed to know.

 

We had a wonderful experience and everyone was nice. We had the Head Chef the entire meal with the exception of about 10 minutes when he had to take care of something in the galley.

 

One question though- how far in advance can you book a reservation? A group of us are going to Alaska next September and are really looking forward to this. I was planning on booking it in August, but if I can do it sooner I will. Thanks!

 

Wow, I thought I was the only one in the world who was allergic to chocolate!

 

I like the idea of stopping by guest services to note the reservation,I will do that just in case I dont get a visit.

[CapeCodCruiser]

When we boarded the Valor the were two envelopes in our room re-confirming our CT reservation plus Chef visited us at our table in the MDR. The one consistent thing about Carnival is the randomness of how things are done!