Oceania's New Grand Menus

Oceania Cruises has announced the successful completion of an extensive new menu rollout featuring 85 new dishes for its Grand Dining Room on the line’s newest ship, Riviera. The remainder of the Oceania  fleet will incorporate the new menus over the next three months.

Oceania  devotes extraordinary resources to cuisine, with an entire team at the helm of its culinary programme, including executive culinary director, renowned master chef Jacques Pépin. Fleet Corporate Chef Franck Garanger, who travels the world sampling international cuisines to inspire his creation of dishes, led the team in conceiving the new menus, which have been deseigned and tested over the past eight months. As the menus in the Grand Dining Room change daily, the rollout features a total of 85 new dishes, including three new lobster dishes and 10 new pastas and risottos.

New creations include dishes such as Pancetta-Wrapped Jumbo Shrimp with Kalamata Olive Sauce and Vegetable Julienne; Roast Segovian Suckling Pig with Rosemary Fingerling Potatoes; and Diver Scallops over Orange-Braised Endive with Vanilla Vinaigrette Salad. The new dishes also feature unique, high-end ingredients such as Castilla-La Mancha saffron, Lessatini olive oil from Nice and Ibérico de Bellota pork. There is also a selection of new Canyon Ranch® dishes, Oceania’s spa and lifestyle partner, including Dover Sole Meunière in Lemon Butter Sauce with Sweet Leek Puff Pastry and Steamed Potatoes, as well as Pulpo a la Gallega: Octopus on Warm Potato Salad with Sweet Spanish Paprika de la Vera.

The rollout includes an array of new wines by the bottle as well as an extended list of wines by the glass. The Grand Dining Room features open-seating and accommodates parties from two to 10. 

For bookings, follow this link to our sponsors The Cruise Line Ltd, the UK's luxury cruising specialists.

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Silversea's Relais & Châteaux Style

Acclaimed culinary trainer David Bilsland, a former instructor at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in London, is again set to host Silversea's exclusive "Relais & Châteaux L'École des Chefs" interactive cooking school in 2013. Chef Bilsland will present a programme developed in collaboration with Jacques Thorel, a consulting Relais & Châteaux Grand Chef, on 14 ultra-luxury voyages across the globe.

Silversea enjoys the privilege of featuring the only Relais & Châteaux cooking school at sea. The innovative programme, which is offered free of charge, provides guests with a special culinary curriculum, including hands-on instruction and entertaining events and has been carefully designed to celebrate the cultural flavour of the itinerary. Also offered on certain voyages, when the itinerary permits, is a "Market to Plate" experience that provides an escorted tour of a local market followed by a cooking class and a "Culinary Outing," an instructor-escorted excursion to a local restaurant, hotel or other venue where guests can enjoy a unique culinary exploration.

Here is a representative selection of the L'École des Chefs voyages for 2013:

AFRICA

Voyage 2336: Silver Wind departs Las Palmas December 3 on an 18-day sailing to Cape Town with calls in Porto Novo, Praia, Dakar, Takoradi, Walvis Bay, and Lüderitz. Silver Privilege fares start at £3,450.

ASIA
Voyage 3329: Silver Shadow departs Tokyo September 29 on a 10-day sailing to Shanghai with calls in Hiroshima, Busan, Jeju, and Tianjin (Beijing). Silver Privilege fares start at £3,250.

MEDITERRANEAN
Voyage 2334:Silver Wind departs Rome November 19 on a 7-day sailing to Málaga with calls in Sorrento, Trapani, Valletta, La Goulette, and Cartagena. Silver Privilege fares start a £1,450.

Voyage 2335:Silver Wind departs Málaga November 26 on a 7-day sailing to Las Palmas with calls in Cádiz, Casablanca, Agadir, Arrecife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and Santa Cruz de la Palma. Silver Privilege fares start at £1,850.

NORTHERN EUROPE
Voyage 7309:Silver Explorer departs Lisbon April 29 on a 14-day "Flavours of Europe" voyage to Portsmouth with calls in Oporto (Leixoes), Vigo, Santander, St. Jean de Luz, Bordeaux, Quiberon, Saint-Malo, Guernsey, and Honfleur. Silver Privilege fares start at £4,450.

For bookings, follow this link to The Cruise Line Ltd, the UK's luxury cruising specialists.

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Oceania Expands Culinary Tours To South Pacific

Oceania Cruises is expanding its Culinary Discovery Tours to the South Pacific in 2013, on the award-winning mid-sized luxury cruise ship Marina. Uniquely designed for each port, Culinary Discovery Tours provide guests with the opportunity to explore local food markets, vineyards and farms in small groups, side-by-side with an expert chef from the ship’s Bon Appétit Culinary Center. Participants then join the chef in the fully equipped cookery school for a hands-on cooking lesson of the regional cuisine in one of 24 workstations.

The new South Pacific Culinary Discovery Tours are offered in the Bay of Islands and Tauranga, New Zealand on the 18-day South Pacific Paradise cruise. Departing Papeete, Tahiti, on February 7, the cruise calls on 11 ports throughout French Polynesia, Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia before arriving in New Zealand.

“A Chef-Insider's Food & Wine Feast” Culinary Discovery Tour in the Bay of Islands visits Kerikeri, a horticultural centre and home to Ake Ake winery for a tasting with the head vintner and a meal created from locally grown foods depending on what's fresh that day. Guests might expect a regional dish prepared with seafood from the Bay of Islands, such as Pan-Roasted Snapper with Capsicum Coulis.

The Culinary Discovery Tour in Tauranga, “Maori ‘Kai’ Cooking Demo and Kiwi Fruit,” explores a flourishing kiwi orchard followed by a trip to the lakes of Rotorua for a traditional Maori luncheon featuring native herbs and ingredients used by the indigenous people of New Zealand.

Marina also sails three additional South Pacific voyages with highlights that include overnight calls on Easter Island and Bora Bora, cruising the Tuamotu Archipelago and crossing the international dateline. Additional sailings include:

Ancient Legends – a 20-day holiday sailing between Valparaiso, Chile, and Papeete, visiting Robinson Crusoe Island, Hanga Roa (Chile), Adamstown (Pitcairn Islands) and Fakarava, Moorea and Bora Bora (French Polynesia). Departure: December 27, 2012.

Tahitian Breeze – an 11-day voyage round-trip from Papeete, with visits to Bora Bora and ports in the Marquesas Islands. Departures: January 16 and January 27.

With free air, bonus savings of up to £3,184 per stateroom and free pre-paid gratuities, guests will find exploring the exotic South Pacific with Oceania an extraordinary value. Bonus savings and free pre-paid gratuities are offered on bookings made by December 31.

The Bon Appétit Culinary Center on Oceania's Riviera and Marina features 24 fully equipped workstations. Induction cook-tops and convection ovens afford participants the opportunity to gain a hands-on cooking experience. Classes cater to all levels of aptitude, from beginner to master-chef level.

For bookings, follow this link to The Cruise Line, the UK's luxury cruising specialists.

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Silversea's New Partnership with Slow Food Promozione

La Terrazza set to become first restaurant at sea to feature Presidio Slow Food logo on menu

Silversea Cruises is pleased to announce a new partnership agreement with Slow Food Promozione, an arm of Slow Food Italy.

The collaboration will focus on highlighting the Italian heritage of La Terrazza, a speciality restaurant featured aboard the all-suite, ultra-luxury ships Silver Cloud, Silver Wind, Silver Shadow, Silver Whisper and Silver Spirit.

Founded in Italy in 1986, Slow Food has become an international organisation dedicated to promoting greater enjoyment of food through a better understanding of its taste, quality and production. It seeks to defend biodiversity in our food supply, spread the education of taste, and link producers of excellent foods to consumers through events and initiatives.

The joint initiative will also entail a programme of special Slow Food culinary voyages designed to showcase products of excellent gastronomic quality, help guests rediscover the joys of eating, and understand the importance of caring where their food comes from, who makes it and how it's made.

Time Spent at Sea has moved and can now be found at World of Cruising. You can follow World of Cruising on Twitter and Facebook for the very latest in cruise news.

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