Kitchen Table Excursion question

[blmjcs]

Hello,

Have any of you done the "Kitchen Table" excursion? I am trying to find out more about it I called Viking and the representative I spoke with was not very helpful. The representative would not even hang up the call so I could take the survey she just kept the line open until I hung up.

 

The cost is $249.00 per person. The time listed on the Viking site is 1 hour & 45 minutes. It seems like the description below would take longer than 1hr & 45 minutes. I put a brief description below of what is listed on the Viking site. Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Immerse yourself in local culture and cuisine as our Executive Chef leads you on an interactive culinary adventure. In the morning, you will travel by mini-coach to the local market to handpick ingredients with instruction from our Chef. Later in the day, you will help prepare regional dishes for the evening meal with hands-on guidance from our experienced culinary staff. You and your fellow students will dine on the creations of our Culinary Director and his team at The Kitchen Table. You will also observe the art of plating and presentation for each of the meal’s three courses. From fresh market fare to cooking techniques and elegant presentation, experience first-hand how the ship’s world-class culinary staff brings distinct, local flavors from the town to your taste buds. It is an unforgettable, one-of-a-kind opportunity to shop, cook and eat with the masters.

[Homosassa]

It is obvious from the description that the excursion will take more than two hours to complete.

 

When was the last time you went shopping for the ingredients for a made from scratch hot meal, prepared all three courses and then sat down to eat the meal? It was a lot longer than two hours to do it all.

 

I was excited about some of these Kitchen Table Excursions on my cruise and was going to book them until I realized I am will be on vacation.

 

I shop, spend time in the kitchen with meal prep and cooking, serve the meal and eat it when I am at home. Why would I spend a day doing the same thing on a cruise?

 

The only advantage to the cruise excursion is that we don't have to wash the dishes.

[MarkTapley]

We’re on Orion now and are signed up for the Kitchen Table in Muscat, Oman in a few days time. It’s scheduled for three hours. We did this once on Viking River and it was great fun.

[RetroRod]

We did the Kitchen Table during our Empires of the Mediterranean cruise this past March and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We docked in Dubrovink and in the morning our group went food, wine and cheese shopping at the local markets with the Executive Chef and Head Sommelier. There wasn't a good selection of seafood since the local boats couldn't go out due to bad weather. We did get a good selection of Croatian wine, cheeses and meats. Since we didn't get the seafood the chef wanted he said he could "cobble" together a dinner for us. He also gave us the option to participate or watch him and his sous chef prepare the meal. We voted to watch (and drink wine). The whole shopping process took less than 2 hours. NOTE: Had we known how long the shopping would be we could have booked one of the included tours in the afternoon. We assembled for dinner around 7 PM in the private Kitchen Table dining room. The room and table was set up with numerous appetizers of crab legs, shrimp etc. that we munched on while drinking a welcoming glass of champagne. The chef put together a great 7 course meal that was paired with 7 different wines for each course. The dinner lasted around 3 hours but after the 4th course I lost track of time:)

[Tom.in.nc]

We were on the inaugural voyage of the Sun and did sign up for these excursions, they sounded like fun when in fact they were not as described. We did go shopping but there was no cooking. Instead sign up for the actual Kitchen Table cooking class held on sea days. You will get to cook and have the lunch you cook, it’s fun and informative and whole lot less expensive.

 

 

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[Jim Avery]

Shocking to hear that price for KT. On the World Cruise we did the Kitchen Table with the Chef twice. $99 p/p each time and darn well worth it...:cool:

[Heidi13]

Shocking to hear that price for KT. On the World Cruise we did the Kitchen Table with the Chef twice. $99 p/p each time and darn well worth it...:cool:

 

We were considering this activity until reading the cost posted by the OP. However Jim's posted cost is much more reasonable and we would be interested at that price point.