Celebrity Cruises Tempts Taste Buds With Its Newest Culinary Experiences

             

 One-of-a-kind culinary offerings and exceptional restaurants are among a few of the

many unrivaled additions now onboard  

Discerning travelers who appreciate world-class cuisine, exceptional dining, incredible ingredients and the finest wines, can enjoy new uniquely distinctive experiences when they sail with Celebrity Cruises. Guests will savor fresh, authentic Japanese dishes at new restaurant Sushi on Five, enjoy the decadent Concierge Class, delicious menus, and much more. This is the Celebrity Distinction.

"Celebrity has always been recognized for its unmatched culinary and beverage experiences. And, our guests, trade partners and our multiple award wins continue to affirm this," said Brian Abel, VP, Hotel Operations, Celebrity Cruises. "We are now taking our expertise to an entirely new level through our latest offerings, which are adventurous, unexpected and distinct - just like Celebrity. When you combine all of this with our passion for delivering extraordinary service and having the very best culinary talent at sea, you have a truly winning combination."

"We continue to redefine our offerings, and the expectations of modern luxury vacationers by providing unique onboard experiences," said Cornelius Gallagher, AVP, Food and Beverage Operations, Celebrity Cruises. "From globally inspired recipes, locally sourced ingredients and freshly prepared cuisine, we want to instill even more finesse in everything we do and throughout our entire fleet. Our newest offerings are all part of crafting an unrivaled experience that only Celebrity can provide.”

The modern luxury brand has premiered a variety of new exciting culinary adventures and expanded its restaurant portfolio in the past 18 months. These culinary delights include: 

Onboard Culinary Experiences:

• Celebrity’s Concierge Class staterooms have been redesigned to pamper travelers with a personal Concierge, five-star amenities, and an exclusive, Concierge Class Luncheon at the start of each sailing, showcasing expertly-crafted menus by Celebrity’s own Michelin-starred chef, Cornelius Gallagher:
  • In addition to the personal and attentive service, Concierge Class guests receive other luxuries including fresh fruit and sparkling wine upon arrival, complimentary Daily Delectable Delights delivered every afternoon, preferred pillows from Celebrity’s extensive pillow menu and plush robes, towels and slippers.

• As part of Celebrity’s “Deliver the Destination” program, travelers sailing to Alaska can now enjoy fresh, locally sourced and succulent Alaska King Crab. This decadent treat is available at the Mast Grill daily, and can be paired with Alaskan brewed ale including Alaska Brewing IPA, Pale Ale, Amber Ale and White Ale
• Travelers can take part in chef-led culinary excursions - Chef’s Market Discoveries, offered in more than 40 regions across the world, to experience the local fare on land and feast on culturally inspired dishes on board.

Expanded Restaurant Portfolio:

• Celebrity’s newest culinary delight, Sushi on Five, reimaged from what was once Bistro on Five, features an à la carte menu, crafted by expert sushi chef Yoshikazu "Yoshi" Okada. The new menu features hand-rolled sushi, fresh tableside grated wasabi, house-made soy sauce, plus a variety of starters and entrees paired with an array of Asian-inspired cocktails, Japanese beers and premium sakes curated by a sake sommelier
• Celebrity’s Italian-inspired ristorante and enoteca, Tuscan Grille, currently onboard the Solstice Class and Millennium Class ships, showcases a new menu crafted by Chef Gallagher, Celebrity’s Michelin-starred culinary lead. The menu features 100% homemade pasta, artisanal salumi and cheeses, USDA prime dry-aged steaks, as well as Celebrity’s own spin on Italian regional favorites. Sip hand-crafted, Italian-inspired cocktails, house-made limoncello and choose from the wine list dedicated to the wine-growing regions of Italy. The new Tuscan Grille will be rolled out to Celebrity’s entire fleet by the end of Summer 2016 
• An energetic, vibrant lounge onboard Solstice ships, the Sky Observation Lounge now offers new hand-crafted cocktails prepared by a flair mixologist who has been professionally trained by the world’s best Flair Bartender, Christian Delpech

And, what’s still to come:

• From November 2016, Celebrity will be the first cruise line in the industry to introduce Dine Aware, the only standard for the food and beverage industry which focuses on food allergy and intolerance communication and experiences. Guests with special dietary needs will be able to dine confident with Dine Aware
• Celebrity proves no detail is too small with the soon-to-be-offered Ripple Maker, which prints personalized images and photos on cappuccinos and lattes, bringing joy to every cup
• The modern luxury brand will take customization a step further with its Blendtique^TM wine blending classes, allowing guests to become a vintner for the day, creating one-of-a-kind wine blends that can be bottled onboard and customized with personalized wine labels. Guests will be able to mail order their custom blended wine to their friends and family on land. Available fleet wide by the end of 2016
• Riedel Glassware, created with over 260 years of expertise in redefining modern glassware, will be Celebrity’s exclusive glassware featured in the main dining rooms fleet wide by the end of 2016

The excitement doesn’t stop there; guests can continue to enjoy the new Rooftop Terrace while savoring sumptuous cuisine inspired by classic films at A Taste of Film, or experience a firsthand lesson in proper grilling techniques from top Grill Masters at the Lawn Club Grill. For the romantic in everyone, the guest favorite Murano offers modern interpretations of classic French cuisine and a unique Five Senses Menu, which features six courses presented in a tasting menu, perfectly paired with world-class wine, designed to stimulate the senses.

Suite Class and Aqua Class guests can enjoy distinct private restaurants of their own. Suite Class offers exclusive access to unrivaled globally inspired modern, eclectic fare at Luminae, the highest-rated restaurant across the fleet, while Aqua Class guests can dive in to the clean, crisp flavors and contemporary cuisine at Blu.

In addition to these truly new and wonderful culinary experiences and expanded restaurant portfolio, Celebrity boasts one-of-a-kind wine offerings and world-class cocktails fleet-wide:

• The modern luxury brand offers one of the largest wine collections at sea. The main dining room wine lists, which have claimed 39 Awards of Excellence from the Wine Spectator Restaurant Wine List Awards over the last four years, host over 300 prestigious labels, including Tignanello, Grgich Hills, and Guigal Côte Rôtie. Celebrity’s wine menus feature an extensive global collection of fine wines as diverse as the destinations the brand visits across the seven continents of the world
• Celebrity’s team of Sommeliers navigates guests through the award-winning wine lists, guiding them to new and exciting choices. The Sommeliers also participate in ongoing education to keep them well-versed in wine theory, vintages, regional and varietal technicalities, and the most delectable food and wine pairings
• Guests can enjoy Celebrity’s newest proprietary blend “Elegance” by Kendall-Jackson, available fleet-wide
• Cocktail lovers can enjoy both classic and contemporary martinis, featuring a collection of classic and rare vodkas at Martini Bar & Crush or relish in the hand-crafted cocktail menu at World Class Bar

As part of the Celebrity Distinction, the brand is committed to continually pushing the boundaries of what is possible at sea while delivering a truly modern luxury experience through its world-class cuisine, personal attention to detail and unrivaled accommodations.

For more details on the newest culinary offerings, visit celebritycruises.com. 

About Celebrity Cruises:

Celebrity Cruises' iconic "X" is the mark of modern luxury, with its cool, contemporary design and warm spaces; dining experiences where the design of the venues is as important as the cuisine; and the amazing service that only Celebrity can provide, all created to provide an unmatchable experience for vacationers’ precious time. Celebrity Cruises' 12 ships offer modern luxury vacations visiting all seven continents. Celebrity also presents immersive cruise tour experiences in Alaska and Canada. Celebrity is one of six cruise brands operated by global cruise vacation company Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL). For more information, dial 1-800-437-3111, visit www.celebritycruises.com, or call your travel agent.

Travelore Cruise News: MSC Cruises Partners With Award-Winning, Celebrity Chef Roy Yamaguchi

New partnership demonstrates MSC Cruises’ commitment to fine dining and adds to the existing culinary partnerships with three internationally acclaimed chefs

MSC Cruises, the Swiss-based world’s largest privately-owned cruise company and market leader in Europe, South America and South Africa,today announced a new partnership with celebrated pan-Asian chef and international culinary pioneer, Roy Yamaguchi.

The innovative Japanese-American celebrity chef will initially introduce a specialty pan-Asian restaurant on board the cruise line’s new next-generation ship, MSC Seaside – known as “the ship that follows the sun” – bringing his unique fusion of cooking traditions to MSC Cruises. This latest announcement further demonstrates MSC Cruises’ ongoing commitment to international fine dining and adds to the cruise line’s existing partnerships with renowned, award-winning chefs Carlo Cracco, Jean-Philippe Mauryand Jereme Leung.

“Our heritage lies in the Mediterranean, where a passion for food is a way of life and we seek to bring this to life every day for our guests with always fresh, authentic food of the highest quality,” said Gianni Onorato, chief executive officer of MSC Cruises.“The enjoyment of good food plays an integral role in creating unforgettable emotions as well as enabling our guests to discover new cultures and tastes, whilst cruising on one of our beautiful ships.”

“The dining experience on an MSC Cruises ship is distinguished by the extensive variety of Mediterranean and international cuisines and wide range of dining formats available,” said Onorato. “The four top chefs whom we currently work with are known as leading global experts in their respective cuisines and each one brings world-class fine dining expertise, elevating the dining experience for our guests to a new level.”

“We provide a wide range of specialty restaurants to give our guests a wide and varied choice during their cruise,” continued Onorato. “We are developing exciting new dining options onboard MSC Seaside, with nine eateries featuring cuisines from all around the world including a pan-Asian restaurant in partnership with Roy Yamaguchi, a luxury fish restaurant with a chef’s table and a world class international steak house where the beef will dry age on board.”

Chef Yamaguchi will have a dedicated presence and specialty restaurant onboard MSC Cruises next-generation new build, MSC Seaside – one of the company’s most innovative and revolutionary ships – which will come into service in December 2017 and sail year-round from Miami to the Caribbean.

As part of the partnership, Chef Yamaguchi will be personally involved in conceptualizing and designing every element of the new pan-Asian restaurant, bringing his creative flair and vision to every single detail of the guest’s experience. This includes creating the recipes and menus;  selecting the chinaware to enhance the dishes; choosing music to create the right ambience; deciding the perfect wines to complement the food; and even picking out the paper stock for the menus.

In addition to featuring a variety of Chef Yamaguchi’s gourmet pan-Asian style dishes, the restaurant will include a sushi, sashimi, and raw bar, as well as a space with teppanyaki grills in which guests will be able to enjoy a variety of cooking styles – ranging from traditional Japanese to Malaysian to Thai Korean – and be entertained by skilled teppanyaki chefs as their meal is cooked in front of them. An international culinary visionary and the creator of Hawaiian fusion cuisine, Yamaguchi intertwines his Japanese heritage with love for the freshest ingredients. He is the founder of 30 Roy’s Restaurants, including 28 in the United States, one in Guam and one in Okinawa, Japan. His numerous accolades include the prestigious James Beard Award. Yamaguchi has also hosted six seasons of the television show "Hawaii Cooks with Roy Yamaguchi," seen in more than 60 countries. He has also published four culinary cookbooks.

Other Current Fine Dining Partnerships With Internationally Acclaimed Chefs

Two-star Michelin chef Carlo Cracco is a leader in the new generation of progressive Italian cuisine. He began his professional career in 1986 at “Gualtiero Marchesi,” in Milan, the first Italian restaurant awarded Michelin stars. His eponymous Ristorante Cracco has been listed in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

MSC Cruises first began collaborating with Chef Cracco in 2013. The relationship has grown since then and every year he now designs special Christmas and New Year menus for MSC Cruises’ guests. In addition, beginning in summer 2016, Chef Cracco has created an exclusive recipe for the menu featured onboard MSC’s ships on Gala night. MSC Cruises is also collaborating with Chef Cracco to design a new cooking experience for the MSC Cruises DOREMI kids clubs, available from summer 2016.

French chocolatier and pastry chef Jean-Philippe Maury was crowned the Best Pastry Chef in France (Meilleur Ouvrier de France 1997) and was a gold medal winner at the World Pastry Team Championship (2002 and 2004).

Maury held the position of Executive Pastry Chef at The Bellagio Hotel Las Vegas in 1998 and then Aria Hotel in 2009. Today, he is managing in partnership with MGM Resorts International his two shops Jean-Philippe Patisserie, one of which houses the world’s tallest and largest chocolate fountain. Last summer, he opened an innovative dessert concept in San Diego, called iDessert.

Chef Maury will be tempting guests with his sweet creations, initially on MSC Divina – currently based in Miami and sailing year-round in the Caribbean. This will then extend to the rest of the fleet, with new dessert offerings for the ship’s buffet, specialty restaurants and the MSC Yacht Club.

Chef Maury will have a high-profile presence on the next-generation Meraviglia ships, where guests will be able to enjoy a chocolate atelier with an open kitchen as well as sample Maury’s specialty pastry and bakery menus. Maury will also work with MSC Cruises to create a gourmet ice cream parlour and crèperie in the impressive indoor promenade on Meraviglia ships.

Acclaimed Chinese chef Jereme Leung is globally recognized for his contemporary interpretation of Chinese cuisine. With a modern approach to presentation, he has long caught the attention of top international restaurant critics. Taking inspiration from traditional recipes by working together with Masters of Shanghai and Beijing's classic regional cuisine, Leung’s dishes remain true to time-honored Chinese cooking techniques whilst pushing boundaries in terms of style and presentation.

Starting his cooking career at the age of 13 in Hong Kong, Chef Leung is an expert in all four schools of Chinese cooking — dim sum, barbecue, wok cooking and knife work — he later on honed his craft at some of southeast Asia’s best hotels.

Chef Leung will bring his contemporary Chinese cuisine to MSC Lirica, the first MSC Cruises ship deployed out of China in May 2016. Chef Leung is collaborating with MSC Cruises to design new and innovative dining concepts tailored to the tastes of Chinese guests, an exclusive range of signature dishes as well as enhancing existing menus with his creative and distinctive flair.

In addition to the chef partnerships MSC Cruises offers a wide range of specialty restaurants and varied dining options so that guests can discover gourmet highlights of international cuisines. One of these is Eataly, the world’s largest Italian marketplace, which currently has a presence onboard MSC Divina and MSC Preziosa and will also be on all MSC’s Meraviglia-generation ships. Through the Eataly restaurants and marketplace guests can explore, taste, buy and learn about the finest Italian-inspired Mediterranean cuisine.

The chef and other culinary partnerships are part of a broader strategy from MSC Cruises to collaborate with world-class experts who reflect the company’s focus on excellence. The company seeks to work with global leaders in their field, bringing together MSC Cruises’ 300 years of seafaring expertise, dedication to creating unique onboard experiences, commitment to excellence and meticulous attention to detail with the partner’s expertise.

Other examples of best-in-class partnerships include the recently launched Wellness Experience powered by Technogymwhich involves the world’s leading wellness company working together with MSC Cruises to devise a personalized 360°program that enables guests to combine discovery and culture with their personal wellness goals.  World leader in artistic entertainment, Cirque du Soleil has partnered with MSC Cruises to create eight brand new shows on board all four MSC Meraviglia class ships, which will be performed in a custom-built, technology-packed, entertainment and dining venue like no other at sea. Strategic tech partner Samsung is working with MSC Cruises to set the

Where To Find Some Of The Finest Cuisine At Sea

Some cruise lines focus on the fun, others love their luxury and then there are those like Oceania that know the way to a guest’s heart is through his/her stomach.

Speaking on board Oceania Marina during her Sydney visit last month, the line’s local boss, Steve Odell, said dining across the line’s fleet is a priority because food plays a large role in the brand’s reputation.

According to the Managing Director of Asia Pacific, Oceania is famed for having the ‘finest cuisine afloat’, which keeps passengers coming back for more.

In fact, the line’s standard of food is so popular amongst guests that Oceania Cruise Line’s parent company, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, has started rolling out the higher quality of food aboard its Norwegian ships.

If you’re rolling your eyes and thinking, “what makes this line’s food so special?”, here’s the answer:

FOOD WAS CREATED BY THREE STAR MICHELIN CHEFS

EVERY MENU TAKES AROUND TWO YEARS TO BE PUT TOGETHER

AND STARTS WITH HUNDREDS OF TESTINGS

BUT THE INGREDIENTS USED ARE THE MOST VITAL PART

OCEANIA SELECTED AND EVEN CREATED ITS OWN INGREDIENTS THAT TASTE THE SAME REGARDLESS OF THE WEATHER

FOR EXAMPLE, THE LINE WENT TO A FLOUR FACTORY IN FRANCE WHERE IT CREATED AND TESTED A SPECIFIC FLOUR THAT WOULD SURVIVE REGARDLESS OF THE WHICH PART OF THE WORLD IT WAS CRUISING IN

Have you ever tried an Oceania dish? What did you think?

BY NAHRAIN JOHN

 @karryontravel