Oceania culinary classes - what did you cook?

[judebarsto]

I’ll go first. On our cruise from Lisbon to Rome in October 2022 on the Riviera, we made miso cod, lobster pad Thai, and pomelo summer rolls all from red Ginger. All were just fabulous and it was a really fun cooking class with chef Stephanie. Hoping to find out what others cooked on their Oceania cruise!

[britfan]

Scandinavian with Chef Stephanie: salmon rillete (really good - I've already made it successfully at home for a dinner party), swedish meatballs, saffron dessert crepes w/berries. She demonstrated how to do gravlax. We drank glogg and a nice red wine throughout - lots of fun!

[FetaCheese]

Was on Marina, 2017.

 

Took French class with Chef Karl (Karlis).  Made Steak Diane, and side, can't remember what, maybe haricots verte, and Tarte Tatin.  They gave us a beautiful recipe folder, that we still have.

 

Was lots of fun, but had to stand up at station entire time.  Class was with wife, so we shared station. Understand that Vista has individual stations, much better, along with dining area to eat what was prepared.  We ate standing up at station.

 

All ingredients were mise en place, already portioned out for us.  After preparing items, staff cooked them, we ate them, but they just passed out items to all.

 

We didn't know if we ate what we prepared, or someone else's.  Was very nice experience.

 

Was $69 pp, (2017) sold at shorex desk.  Also had to sign a waiver, at start of class.  Shorex was supposed to present waiver prior to paying.

 

Would definitely take another class, but not available on R ships.

[PhD-iva]

In November 2017 I did two classes with chef David on Riviera, and I bought his book that he was selling about his experiences as a chef trainee in southern Europe. Really enjoyed reading his book and the classes.
We made paella in one of the classes. I took videos of his demonstrations and I’m able to re-create a beautiful paella. It’s a lot of work, but I do it for the family about once a year around the holidays. I had a great time in both of the classes, and I would do it again.! 

[judebarsto]

3 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

In November 2017 I did two classes with chef David on Riviera, and I bought his book that he was selling about his experiences as a chef trainee in southern Europe. Really enjoyed reading his book and the classes.
We made paella in one of the classes. I took videos of his demonstrations and I’m able to re-create a beautiful paella. It’s a lot of work, but I do it for the family about once a year around the holidays. I had a great time in both of the classes, and I would do it again.! 

What was the name of the class?

[PhD-iva]

14 minutes ago, judebarsto said:

What was the name of the class?

The culinary class was called Viva España.

His book was “Mediterranean Summer” by David Shalleck. 
Enjoyed both.

[n2chocola8]

Were you able to sign up for the culinary class before you set sail? If so, did you know what class you were signing up for ahead of time?

[judebarsto]

Yes, you can choose the class and time (2 times offered on sea days, only one time on port days) but they won’t tell you exactly what you’ll be cooking. Hence, this thread. Hoping to find out what recipes they’re making. For our upcoming January cruise, I chose “old man and the sea,” but besides “fish” I have no idea! Also, my class is already booked but several others are available: passport to the new world, classic French, couple of others. 

[cjwags]

We did "Passport to Italy" on Vista in June 2023.  We made the following:

Arancini

Eggplant Involantini

Gnudi with brown butter sage sauce

Fresh pasta with lemon and garlic

Tiramisu

 

It was great fun and the food was delicious.  We made the dishes again when we got home for a dinner party with friends.

 

 

[n2chocola8]

Thank you and keep those class choices coming. They are very helpful.

Edited September 30, 2023 by n2chocola8
mistake

[judebarsto]

4 hours ago, n2chocola8 said:

Thank you and keep those class choices coming. They are very helpful.

definitely! It’s really the only way to know what you’re possibly preparing “

[islabahia]

How do I book online for the culinary classes?  We are newbies and appreciate any advice or tips. TIA

[GerryL13]

2 hours ago, islabahia said:

How do I book online for the culinary classes?  We are newbies and appreciate any advice or tips. TIA

I found it on Manage My Booking for the cruise. By the time I thought to look, many of the classes were fully booked, mostly the morning ones. Plenty of openings for the afternoon sessions. (This is the Vista Panama Canal cruise in October.)

 

[islabahia]

8 hours ago, GerryL13 said:

I found it on Manage My Booking for the cruise. By the time I thought to look, many of the classes were fully booked, mostly the morning ones. Plenty of openings for the afternoon sessions. (This is the Vista Panama Canal cruise in October.)

 

Thanks GerryL13!  That’s just what I was looking for!
 

[exlandlubber]

We just got off the Vista's NYC to Montreal cruise and I attended two of the cooking classes.  The first was Harvest Unleashed, which turned out to be a vegetarian class and was really great.  The class was with Chef John Stephano (sp?) and he was both entertaining and informative.  We made Socca (a chickpea flour pancake - surprisingly good) a chia pudding, a salad dressing and something else which I'm sorry but I can't remember.  Plus there was lots of wine!  The second class was Passport to the North Atlantic which my husband attended as well and we made a delicious lobster salad, a small Delmonico steak and an individual blueberry pie.  Lots of fun.  We also made a cocktail called a Boston Tea Party (tea, molasses, bourbon & ginger beer) which wasn't something I really liked, but again the wine was good.  The classes were lots of fun and super informative. I'd highly recommend them.

[judebarsto]

2 hours ago, exlandlubber said:

We just got off the Vista's NYC to Montreal cruise and I attended two of the cooking classes.  The first was Harvest Unleashed, which turned out to be a vegetarian class and was really great.  The class was with Chef John Stephano (sp?) and he was both entertaining and informative.  We made Socca (a chickpea flour pancake - surprisingly good) a chia pudding, a salad dressing and something else which I'm sorry but I can't remember.  Plus there was lots of wine!  The second class was Passport to the North Atlantic which my husband attended as well and we made a delicious lobster salad, a small Delmonico steak and an individual blueberry pie.  Lots of fun.  We also made a cocktail called a Boston Tea Party (tea, molasses, bourbon & ginger beer) which wasn't something I really liked, but again the wine was good.  The classes were lots of fun and super informative. I'd highly recommend them.

Thanks so much for posting this - really, really helpful!

[judebarsto]

Here are some pix of my Oceania Red Ginger cooking class last year on Riviera:

 

great fun!!

 

[Mrs f.]

We did an Argentinian cooking class 9n marina with Chef Stephanie.  She was great. Lots of wine. I remember making empenadas....they were good but honestly not as good as mine. Also made dulce de leche ice cream and some other stuff. My Argentinian friend taught me.   But we loved the class

[JER/MPR]

Do you sign up for the cooking classes before boarding or after you embark? 

[Queen of DaNile]

You need to sign up as soon as you see something of interest before embarking. Usually the classes sell out well in advance of the sailing and after that you can be wait listed for cancellations.

[Queen of DaNile]

The Brunch Around the Globe class on Vista was lead by the entertaning and talented John Stephano who coached us through making Scandinavian muesli, Persian Kuku Sabzi frittat and "craggy" English scones.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Queen of DaNile

[wencel]

This is such  an informative thread! Thanks to everyone who chimed in. 

 

Question: If I book the classes now and then decide to cancel once onboard, is my payment refunded?

[LHT28]

18 hours ago, wencel said:

This is such  an informative thread! Thanks to everyone who chimed in. 

 

Question: If I book the classes now and then decide to cancel once onboard, is my payment refunded?

It depends when you cancel the class  read the  Terms & conditions for cancellation penalties

[EJL2023]

18 hours ago, wencel said:

This is such  an informative thread! Thanks to everyone who chimed in. 

 

Question: If I book the classes now and then decide to cancel once onboard, is my payment refunded?

Looking at my invoice under the cancellation section it appears Culinary classes are lumped in with Privee and La Reserva cancellation class and it states you are charged a 100% fee if you cancel within 36 hours of reservation. I’d check your invoice. 

[wencel]

Thanks, @LHT28 and @EJL2023. I couldn't see any T&C in the booking process, hence my question. Will relook again when I book. As a side note, I find O's website not super responsive. We've had to make multiples attempts for many of our excursion and event bookings because it just doesn't seem to work on the first tries. Maybe be a good thing they don't have an app. They should focus on improving the web functioning first!