A cruise can awaken the gourmand inside you
To a chorus of oohs and aahs, master chef Alfredo Marzi poured cognac over a rack of roasted tenderloin, veal, and pork, flambéing it with a flourish. Served with five sauces, the dish was the main event for diners who had paid $75 each to eat at the Chef's Table aboard the Caribbean Princess, just one of the many gourmet experiences to be had while at sea.
The Chef's Table program, available aboard most Princess ships, started with the pop of champagne corks at a private reception for up to 10 people in the Caribbean Princess's $12 million galley. After munching on king crab cocktail and cleansing their palates with Bloody Mary sorbet, diners moved to a private table in the dining room for a multicourse meal with paired wines. For dessert, the chef joined the group for a chat. "We sell out every cruise," said Marzi, who is responsible for menu selections on all 17 Princess ships. He said that in his 30-plus years of cruising, diners have become more and more particular about what they eat. "We have to make it special, to exceed our guests' expectations," Marzi said. "It's one of the reasons our food costs [were] up 18-20 percent in 2008."
While a cruise line like Princess is in the business of putting out boatloads of tasty food - 16 tons a day - it's quality, not quantity that counts. "Many of our passengers dine out all over the world. They travel," said Marzi. "They want to taste fresh local wahoo in Hawaii and oysters from the bay in Sydney. When people have experienced more, they are more demanding."
Norwegian Cruise Line obliges with an array of as many as 11 restaurants per ship, giving guests the option of dining at a different table every night. A pioneer in the "freestyle" dining movement, Norwegian offers samples from every restaurant on embarkation day, allowing passengers to taste and decide where they would like to dine. On some of its ships, Norwegian features a computerized reservation system posted around the ship, a welcome change from waiting in long lines to make a dinner reservation.
"Two of the biggest dining trends in cruising are specialty restaurants, which provide more dining diversity and enhanced service, but usually at an extra cost; and more flexible dining options," said Linda Garrison, cruise specialist on About.com. "Although many cruise ships still offer the traditional fixed seating times, more and more are allowing passengers to dine when and with whom they wish."
Meeting these culinary challenges, from celebrity chefs to top-shelf sushi, is a priority for every cruise line, from the more value-priced Carnival up to the exclusive big-ticket brands like Seabourn and Crystal.
Specialty restaurants
An ideal escape from large dining halls and bustling buffets, a la carte restaurants require reservations, and in most cases, an extra fee. Carnival is offering reservations-only supper clubs, modeled after New York's top steakhouses, where guests dine on dry-aged prime beef washed down with an extensive list of Super Tuscans, with reservations priced at $30 per person.
Aboard Norwegian's Pride of America, diners enjoy Lazy J Steakhouse, with its Texas theme and menu of Angus beef with all the trimmings. Holland America's Pinnacle Grill specializes in Pacific Northwest cuisine and wine, alongside Bvlgari china, Frette linens, and Riedel stemware.
Brand name chefs
Foodies love to one-up each other when it comes to collecting chefs. Now they can play the game cruising, thanks to the growing number of star chefs lending their names and recipes to floating gourmet eateries. Chefs include Charlie Palmer, a two-time James Beard Award winner and founder of New York's Aureole.
Cruisers on the exclusive Seabourn yachts spend from $4,000 per person for services that include dining on Palmer's creations, dishes like foie gras torchon with plum terrine, roasted hazelnuts, and hazelnut brioche.
Nobuyuki "Nobu" Matsuhisa expanded his partnership with Crystal, designing two new restaurants, The Sushi Bar and Silk Road, which debuted on a cruise to Hong Kong with the chef in attendance. Jacques Pépin is executive culinary director for Oceania Cruises, overseeing the creation of menus and working with executive chefs to appeal to a wide range of palates. Cunard works with Todd English, who designed the menu for the restaurant that bears his name aboard the Queen Mary 2.
Deep cellars
Crystal, the consistently top-rated big ship cruiser, features onboard wine sommeliers certified by master sommelier Robert Bath, one of only 124 in the world and the creative force behind the acclaimed wine program at French Laundry, the famous Napa Valley restaurant. A typical sailing pours from a 25,000-bottle cellar of more than 350 labels.
In 2008, Crystal added a certified cheese sommelier on the line's 60-plus voyages around the globe, certified at the International Cheese Academy of the Hotel and Tourism School in Bad Gleichenberg, Austria.
Regional cuisine themes
More cruise lines are incorporating larger culinary themes into specially designed cruises. In October Cruise West, a Seattle-based small ship line, offered a Taste of the Pacific Northwest cruise, centered on the bounty of the Columbia River, from Chinook salmon to the Washington wine trail. Guests visited orchards, wineries, and markets and took cooking lessons, options so popular the company added nine sailings to its roster.
An even more intimate experience can be had with American Safari Cruises, a four-yacht fleet that offers a 12-passenger sailing along the Columbia River gorge, highlighting local wines and ingredients.
Crystal always offers guests a food-and-wine related excursion, themed with the local port. Shore adventures may include an afternoon filled with gastronomic delights at the Relais & Châteaux Le Saint-James in the tiny French village of Bouliac or a 2 1/2-hour cooking demonstration organized under the direction of Alain Llorca, the virtuoso chef and owner of Le Moulin de Mougins, on the French Riviera.
Matching menus, ports
High end Oceania Cruises serves up authentic dining experiences paired with exotic surroundings. "Our guests want tapas dishes from the Costa del Sol; earthy, rustic dishes from Tuscany; or seafood from the Ligurian coast. When they think Asian, they don't want standard Chinese food, they want authentic Thai, Balinese, Vietnamese, or fresh hand-rolled sushi," said Tim Rubacky, spokesman for the line. Oceania's ships offer four open-seating gourmet restaurants, with no extra fees.
Aboard three Princess ships, the Emerald, Crown, and Ruby, a central three-deck piazza gives guests the chance to sample European style pastry, drink wine, and sip cappuccino, with a backdrop of burbling fountains and "street" performers. Unlike the usual buffet or lido restaurants, these are premium spots with prices on the menus, and options like raclette, panini, and gelato.
If all this culinary flash really floats your boat, you can even go to cooking school at sea aboard Holland America ships, some of which feature a Culinary Arts Center, with classes and demonstrations designed to make a chef out of just about anybody.
Beth D'Addono can be reached at bethdaddono@comcast.net. 