The launch of Celebrity Xcel last month strikes me for one particular reason: the person picked to be the ship’s godmother, Janaina Torres, is an acclaimed Brazilian chef who has made her name internationally as a champion of Latin American cuisine.
Godmothers are often celebrity actors or singers, so the choice of a chef speaks volumes about how cruise companies are increasingly focusing on onboard dining and upping culinary levels to appeal to increasingly savvy and demanding cruise passengers.
We’ve charted the changes in cruise-ship dining over the last decade: the rise of speciality dining, themed dining, posher buffets, more informal steakhouses, collaborations with notable land-based chefs, and more vegetarian and health-conscious menus.
Now the cuisine on cruise ships, for too long American and pan-European, is getting more diverse and focused. Thumbs up to the new Greek restaurant Paxos on MSC World America, Thai restaurant aboard Norwegian Aqua, and Indian restaurant on Cunard’s Queen Anne.
Some of Holland America’s cruises now feature a Dutch-Indonesian fusion Rijsttafel and an Indian pop-up menu, with new Indian menus also now offered fleetwide in the main dining room.
Guests are also looking for better quality and more flair, and are willing to pay for it. A good example? The latest six-course Chef’s Table experience being rolled out on Holland America Line ships, which includes dishes such as Asian-inspired wagyu steak tartare, poached lobster, spinach ricotta in truffle butter, and a Mediterranean-style roast lamb loin.
Even ships at the budget end are doing more. Sabatini’s Italian Trattoria on Princess Cruises’ ships has begun a collaboration with the Frescobaldi Tuscan winemaker family. The new menu features dishes from Frescobaldi’s celebrated restaurant in Florence paired with Frescobaldi wines.
Among the choices are seafood stew, handmade tortello pasta, bass fillet with artichokes, and a flourless almond cake with caramelised hazelnuts and mascarpone gelato.
In other tasty news, next year Cunard has another season of Le Gavroche at Sea residencies with celebrated Michelin-starred restauranteur Michel Roux aboard Queen Anne in Norway and the British Isles.
Fifty guests will enjoy the master’s limited edition, five-course tasting menus, and Roux will also give cooking demonstrations and appear as a speaker.
And Oceania is debuting a Gerard Bertrand Food and Wine Pairing lunch in Jacques restaurant on four of its ships, with a six-course menu matched to the celebrated French winemaker’s wines.
Dishes include risotto with scallops, duck and foie gras pate, braised short ribs, and a chocolate cake with caramel and white-chocolate mousse.
Meanwhile, Oceania’s beloved Red Ginger Asian restaurant is rolling out new Nikkei dishes, which blend Peruvian flavours with Japanese culinary techniques: think miso-glazed scallops, soft-shell crab tempura, and chicken anticuchos skewers.
Oceania, which has a reputation for top cuisine and has one chef for every 10 guests on board, has become the first cruise line to appoint two Master Chefs of France as executive chefs. Bon appetit to that, and may the onboard gourmet feast continue.
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Brian Johnston seemed destined to become a travel writer: he is an Irishman born in Nigeria and raised in Switzerland, who has lived in Britain and China and now calls Australia home.
