Cooking Caribbean tour

[smfguy]

We are stopping at Dominica on Serenade of the Seas cruise in Nov 2009 and checking out shore tours. Interested to know if anyone has ever done the "Cooking Caribbean, Rum and Nature" tour offered by RCL. Includes bus ride to mountain home where Creole cooking is demonstrated and buffet lunch. Also "scenic drive" on way back to ship. We are fans of local food on Caribbean islands, so wondering if this tour would be worth the $85 per person.

[ScottNkimmy]

I am interested in this too - we will be in Dominica with X's Millenium and DH is a former chef and is VERY intrigued by the possibility of showing off his cooking prowess - as well as learning to cook some of the local fare.

So I would like to know if it's worth the $85.00!

 

Anyone?

[lka1012]

I will be there in early November and have signed up for this tour also. Let the first one back give a reivew for everyone else.

[Lady Jane]

I will be there in early November and have signed up for this tour also. Let the first one back give a reivew for everyone else.

 

I'm interested in this tour for Feb 2010, so will hope to see a review before then!

[getfuzzyfan]

Anyone back from this excursion? Would like to see a review.

[Marti2]

Hi, We are traveling on the Serenade of Seas in March and are interested to know if anyone has ever done the Cooking Caribbean, Rum and Nature tour offered by RCL and can provide a review? Thanks in advance.

[lives-to-travel-er]

Anybody been? We're going in April.

[rwrcsr1966]

I went on this "excursion" - really an experience, more than an excursion, from the Celebrity Equinox on January 21st. It was the best excursion of the whole cruise. Daria is a delightful person, her mountain home is beautiful and the dishes we prepared together were delicious. It was a unique experience, a chance to really get to know the people and how they live. I highly recommend it!

 

Cindy

First time cruiser, Celebrity Equinox, January 2010

[Buffettfan 225]

Just did a search for such excursion thru Carnival and nothing at all listed.

Anyone know of tours not posted on web that are ship booked only?

[lives-to-travel-er]

I went on this "excursion" - really an experience, more than an excursion, from the Celebrity Equinox on January 21st. It was the best excursion of the whole cruise. Daria is a delightful person, her mountain home is beautiful and the dishes we prepared together were delicious. It was a unique experience, a chance to really get to know the people and how they live. I highly recommend it!

 

Cindy

First time cruiser, Celebrity Equinox, January 2010

 

 

Thank you, Cindy. I went ahead and booked this for April 2010 cruise. Looking forward to it. I've done a cooking class in Sorrento when I was in the Amalfi Coast last May; found I really enjoyed the hands-on.

 

Flora

[lives-to-travel-er]

Thank you, Cindy. I went ahead and booked this for April 2010 cruise. Looking forward to it. I've done a cooking class in Sorrento when I was in the Amalfi Coast last May; found I really enjoyed the hands-on.

 

Flora

 

Cindy,

 

About how many people were in your group? The Equinox is the only ship at port that day. Am curious how many people sign up or how big is the group they accomodate.

 

Flora

[rwrcsr1966]

There were 9 in our group. Daria mentioned that she prefers to have at least 6, but can handle up to 25. I thought our little group was just right.

 

If you'd like to see a video of Daria demonstrating one of her recipes, do a search on "the perfect creole cocktail" and click on the one by lonelyplanettv. It's the pumpkin drink that we made - very yummy!!:)

[lives-to-travel-er]

Thank you Cindy. Really looking forward to this excursion.

[tightlyinterfaced]

I'd like to echo Cindy's comments. My wife and I did this excursion last week and absolutely loved it. There were 7 in our excursion. Everyone participates in the preparation, and Daria (home owner) and Liz (cook) were very personable and very concientious about cleanliness of the cooking area as well as the cooks. They have an outdoor kitchen that opens up to their back yard and, while open, is protected from the sun. If you leave an email address, they'll send you all the recipes.

 

The view wasn't quite as beautiful as Cindy probably experienced because Montserrat (sp?) erupted the night before and there was a lot of volcanic ash in the air. So we weren't able to see the water, but the surrounding mountains were still gorgeous and slightly mysterious in the mild haze.

 

Here's the link to the cocktail video that Cindy mentioned:

 

(I can tell you that Daria poured a LOT more rum in our drinks than she does in the video - and it was good. If you try this at home, I'd suggest adding a little sugar as their local pumpkin is sweeter than what you'll likely find.)

 

And here's a link to a video showing the same meal we prepared, and showing more of the scenery around Daria's home:

 

Bottom line - try this excursion!

 

Tom

[susiecreamchs]

My husband and I went on the excursion with Tom and Kerri and loved it. I definitely recommend it! The rum cocktail was great, even at 11:00 am.

After we got back to the pier we asked our driver to give us a tour of the island ($50 for the two of us) and we had plenty of time to do that also.

 

Susan

[Buffettfan 225]

I cannot find this tour listed on Carnival.

Do you kow where one can sign up privately?

1.)Cost

2.)Tour length

3.)How far is it from pier by cab? Thanks

[tightlyinterfaced]

I cannot find this tour listed on Carnival.

Do you kow where one can sign up privately?

1.)Cost

2.)Tour length

3.)How far is it from pier by cab? Thanks

 

If memory serves me correctly, it was about $85/person. The total length was 3 1/2 hours. And it took about 20 minutes to drive up into the mountains from the pier. I haven't yet seen the email from them with the recipes, but I can try to post that after they send it. You might also look at similar excusions for Carnival, as they said that they've used like five different names to describe it. If it talks about a mountain home in the rain forest and creole cooking, that would likely be it.

 

Tom

[Buffettfan 225]

If memory serves me correctly, it was about $85/person. The total length was 3 1/2 hours. And it took about 20 minutes to drive up into the mountains from the pier. I haven't yet seen the email from them with the recipes, but I can try to post that after they send it. You might also look at similar excusions for Carnival, as they said that they've used like five different names to describe it. If it talks about a mountain home in the rain forest and creole cooking, that would likely be it.

 

Tom

Thanks for info. If you do get an email with recipes, will you please post her? Loved the video I saw posted.

[susiecreamchs]

Here is contact info for the excursion:

 

Daria and Michael Eugene

Owners

JUNGLE TREKKING ADVENTURES AND SAFARIS

Dominica…your way

www.experiencescaribbean.com

Enjoy!

Susan

[Buffettfan 225]

My husband and I went on the excursion with Tom and Kerri and loved it. I definitely recommend it! The rum cocktail was great, even at 11:00 am.

After we got back to the pier we asked our driver to give us a tour of the island ($50 for the two of us) and we had plenty of time to do that also.

 

Susan

Just wondering if you ooked on your own, (our cruise line -Carnival) does not offer tour) Also how did transportation work? Was the driver you had a taxi or part of tour and you just offered extra? Thanks

[tightlyinterfaced]

We did not look or book on our own - we just picked the RCCL excursion. The transportation was not a taxi, but part of the tour. And it seemed like it was owned by the tour, and not just arranged for RCCL.

 

As an aside, I am a little disappointed that we have not yet received the promised email from them with the recipes.

 

Tom

[Lady Jane]

We did not look or book on our own - we just picked the RCCL excursion. The transportation was not a taxi, but part of the tour. And it seemed like it was owned by the tour, and not just arranged for RCCL.

 

As an aside, I am a little disappointed that we have not yet received the promised email from them with the recipes.

 

Tom

 

Did you go on this tour in Dominica, and were your hosts Daria & Liz? We got the recipes in our email even before the cruise ended. I did have to look in my spam bucket to find them, however.

[Arzeena]

Hi,

We went on this excursion via RCCL. It was one of the best!:)

[Cruisin'Mike]

We did this tour in early March and it was the most fun shore excursion we have taken. Daria and Liz were fabulous teachers and we did all of our own cooking - with a minimal of help from the experts. The food was terrific. The house was beautiful. The transportation was part of the tour and not from Royal Caribbean. We received our recipes in the email today and can't wait to try them out on our own.

[Arzeena]

Anybody been? We're going in April.

 

 

This is one of the BEST excursions I have ever done! I booked it via the RCCI's excursion desk. The vans picked us up at the pier and took us to a lovely mountain top home of Daria, the host. The views were stunning, the weather was wonderful. We were two van fulls of tourists from the RCCI's Explorer. The host Daria, has a gorgeous semi open air kitchen and eating area, surrounded by fantastic views. Daria and Liz demonstrated and everyone participated in the cooking. The food was delish:p! I loved it. The whole excursion took about 3 1/2 hours including lunch (We did the 9 am to 12.30 time, then went for an afternoon swim at the Titou Gorge and Sulphur Springs). In case you wonder what kind of a mix we were, we were a very diverse group of people ranging from late sixty-ish to very early twenties, and all of us enjoyed this. Daria emailed us the recipes and I have tried them out twice already. You will love this excursion! Do post your experience once you do it.