Chef's Table: Buy before cruise or can we get a deal once onboard?

[island lady]

7 hours ago, uvadover said:

At some point, isn't the value of your time worth more than a modest savings on a dining experience in the context of a cruise that can cost a few thousand dollars?  I appreciate that folks enjoy the endless banter around here, and everyone enjoys the "thrill of the hunt" for a good deal, but ultimately you need to take the plunge and decide whether a $40 experience is worth it to you, yet the same experience at $50 is not.  Obviously there are limits to how much we will all pay for things, but these are quite small in the grand scheme of things.  Same applies to the endless questions about saving a few bucks a day on a drinks package -  $18 per day is a tremendous deal, but does $58 vs $60 really make that much of a difference?  

 

Gosh I wish I could find Chef's Table for what you listed!  Most of the time it seems to be around 80 plus bucks, then may go on a little discount later after you board to fill the tables that were not reserved in advance...but have not seen the 40-50 per person in a long time.  

[island lady]

4 hours ago, crazyank said:

Totally agree,  we have done Chef's Table once and will not do it again.  Our evening was ruined by one woman who simply would not shut up.

 

We had that same problem.  Woman was celebrating her birthday, came in late, quite drunk, and very loud...then proceeded to be on her cell phone talking loudly to relatives.  She would not leave the room to have her conversation.  It got quite ugly as she was asked to leave by other diners.  Luckily that was the only time the evening was ruined.  All other Chef's Table experiences ...we very much enjoyed.  

Edited December 3, 2019 by island lady

[spookwife]

On 12/1/2019 at 2:03 PM, Host Clarea said:

 

We got a 50% discount on board for doing Chef's Table on the first night.  Not saying this will be your experience, but they seem to have the most incentive to fill it on night 1.

where did you go?   any Specialty  podium?    I definitely want to do CT  next summer on Serenade and am flexible about when.   getting it half off when I can't drink any more sounds great.  

[cruzincanuck]

14 hours ago, uvadover said:

At some point, isn't the value of your time worth more than a modest savings on a dining experience in the context of a cruise that can cost a few thousand dollars?  I appreciate that folks enjoy the endless banter around here, and everyone enjoys the "thrill of the hunt" for a good deal, but ultimately you need to take the plunge and decide whether a $40 experience is worth it to you, yet the same experience at $50 is not.  Obviously there are limits to how much we will all pay for things, but these are quite small in the grand scheme of things.  Same applies to the endless questions about saving a few bucks a day on a drinks package -  $18 per day is a tremendous deal, but does $58 vs $60 really make that much of a difference?  

If the difference was just a few dollars, I totally agree and I wouldn't not think twice and pre-book.  We did the Chef's table in Jan and had a great time.  However the cost at this time per person is $130 CDN so even if by waiting we get 20% off for example then saving $52.00 is worth my time.

 

Happy cruising to all 🙂

[cruzincanuck]

Thank you all for your advice...very appreciated.  We will take a chance and wait.  If we can get a small saving then we will book onboard and hopefully meet wonderful people.  If not, we will still be on a cruise and regardless where we eat,  it is still my kind of therapy: sun & sea

[varganator]

My wife and I have done Chef's table on multiple ships and multiple lines. We have always enjoyed the experience. The people are the people. We have been lucky in who we have eaten with, but even lively loud disagreements in the conversation were enjoyable and laughed about during the next course. We do not pre book any more, because it is rarely filled and they want the people in seats and are willing to discount on board, every time we have tried. 

 

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

Three trips on Oasis class and did Chef's table each time.  We were offered discounts upon embarkation while hanging out in the SL waiting for our cabin.  Seems it was about 20% off on certain nights.  One night we booked the entire table and got a really good discount.