Tag-Archive for » Oceania Marina «

Cruising: It’s All About The Food

By
09
Dec 2015

Chef Curtis StoneFor some of us, there’s an old (and probably outdated) saying that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach…i.e., good cooks get good husbands. The subjects may have changed but the principle has not.

Good cooking gets many cruisers.

As the year winds down, there are two more examples to validate that thinking.

1) Princess Cruises has been hyping the fact that Chef Curtis Stone has opened his own restaurant (SHARE) on select ships, such as the Ruby Princess and Emerald Princess, with more likely to follow. The “headlines” are “Chef Curtis Stone invites you…” and “Chef Curtis Stone shares his love with this special ingredient…”  and “A favorite family recipe from Chef Curtis Stone…”

2) The new Godmother of the Oceania Sirena — next year — will be Claudine Pepin, who has the right surname to be in the kitchen creating cuisines-des-spectacles. She is, of course, the daughter of the famous Jacques Pepin, who is Oceania’s master chef and The Pepinswhose restaurant is named after him and on two ships, the Riviera and the Marina.

See, it’s all about the food.

While we wouldn’t know Curtis Stone from Oliver Stone (we would know him from Sharon), it’s clear this Aussie “Celebrity Apprentice” grad has many followers and many exquisite recipes. He also has a restaurant in Beverly Hills called Maude, which means that a lot of the beautiful people enjoy his menus. And now a lot of cruisers will, too.

Claudine Pepin, also apparently, has some healthy credentials to go with her healthy food. Her Dad, who turns 80 before Christmas, made it big with Julia Child at his side on PBS and now Claudine’s stepping up in class with him at her side. She also had a PBS show — Cooking With Claudine — and this year has her first cookbook on the shelves for Christmas, Kids Cook French.

As generations of cooking go, both she and Curtis Stone represent a passing of the torch.

Or at least the spatula.

In the news…

• MSC Cruises offers 2-for-1 Caribbean fares for balcony guests starting April 23
• Flash from the past: Verandah Restaurant to open in June on Queen Mary 2
• Two sets of tourism students spend a day on Norwegian Epic in Cannes

Today at portsandbows.com: Suite time with Celebrity


Carnival Fantasy
5 nights
January 27, 2016
Charleston (return): Nassau, Freeport
Inside: $409
Cost per day: $81
www.carnival.com

Category: Cruise News, Deals, People, Ships, Stories  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  Comments off

Oceania’s Still Cookin’ With Kathryn

By
07
Jul 2015

It has been more than three years since we had the pleasure of meeting Kathryn Kelly. Pleasure, because she is a fascinating woman who doesn’t think she is. Pleasure, because she knows more about cooking than both of us combined…a piece of cake compared to one of us (male), a formidable chore compared to the family chef (female).

At the time, on board the Oceania Riviera where she was conducting classes at the ship’s Culinary Center, she told us that two years earlier she’d agree to this assignment for two months, maximum. She also told us about the most popular shore excursions she was conducting, taking passengers to a market to buy ingredients, to a restaurant to taste local cuisine and back to the ship for a cooking class.

Chef KellyTwo months became two years became five years…because these days the Center’s Executive Chef is still doing what she enjoys, in the bread-basket of cuisine.

Europe.

“On our new tours, guests spend time in the kitchen with local culinary experts and renowned chefs learning about regional ingredients and cooking customs that have influenced European cuisine for centuries," Kelly said in a statement. “Our goal is for guests to walk away with new culinary skills, satisfied taste buds, and a deeper appreciation for the vibrant culinary traditions found in Europe.”

The Culinary Discovery Tours are not in all ports, not on all Oceania ships (also the Marina), and not always with her as the host (i.e., the program is growing). For example, when the Riviera’s in Barcelona there is sometimes a Chef’s Gastronomy Tour and Tapas Lunch. In France, there’s an Aix-en-Provence Market Tour. Greece and Italy are also on the menu.

All have at least the touch of Chef Kelly.

“Guests love it,” she says. “They're on vacation. A lot of them are experienced travelers and they've been to some of these places four or five times, so for them it's 'show me something new.' They see the world through a culinary lens. They go to a market for local produce, a favorite place to eat, come back for cooking class. There's no corollary to that."

Nor is there for a Kathryn Kelly.

In the news…

• Royal Caribbean keeps Majesty of the Seas, which was headed to Pullmantur
• Oceania launches free shore excursion incentive for booking early
• Carnival Vista floats out at Monfalcone Shipyard to prep for May 1 arrival

Today at portsandbows.com: Silver Muse new flagship for Silversea

Carnival Glory
7 nights
September 19, 2015
Miami (return): Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan, Grand Turk
Inside: $409
Cost per day: $58
www.carnival.com

Category: Cruise News, Deals, People, Ships, Stories  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  Comments off

Sharpening Culinary Skills At Oceania

By
04
Sep 2014

It’s more than two years since we experienced cooking at sea (and we lived to write about it) and, at the time, Oceania’s Director of Culinary Enrichment speculated what her upscale cruise line was doing would continue to grow.

Chef KellyKathryn Kelly also said that she believed in five years only Oceania would be teaching customers like this, because it was too expensive to create the Culinary Centers on the Riviera and the Marina.

What’s happened?

Two years ago, shore excursions under the title of Culinary Discovery Tours were conducted mostly in Europe. In a nutshell, you shopped at local markets, ate at local restaurants and cooked the ingredients you bought as part of a culinary class.

Today, while the tours are still mostly (15) in Europe, the concept has been expanded to Australia and New Zealand (2), South America (2) and, later this year, the Caribbean (3). Today, the tours have evolved so that you may wind up at a biodynamic farm in Tortola where organic produce was planted according to the lunar calendar…or cooking pizza in a Tuscan oven…or picking herbs to go with lunch on a New Zealand hillside.

It’s all about time in the kitchen, because that’s where you learn to cook. The kitchen could be on the shore excursions, or back in the ship’s Culinary Center. That’s where Chef Kelly — as she is widely known — will teach up to 24 people at a time how to…well, cook.

“Guests love it,” she said. “They’re on vacation. They learn to relax. When we’re at sea, there are two classes a day. In ports, we take guests to market. There are so many fabulous markets.”

Maybe the people at Norwegian Cruise Line love it, too. Oceania’s ships will soon be owned by Norwegian, and you know what they say about reaching somebody’s heart through the stomach…

Today at portsandbows.com: “3 for Free”  Princess promotion

Celebrity Constellation
11 nights
October 25, 2014
Istanbul, Ephesus, Haifa, Jerusalem, Valletta, Messina, Naples, Rome
Inside $599
Cost per day: $54
www.celebritycruises.com

Category: Deals, People, Ports, Reviews, Stories  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  Comments off

Oceania Ships Have The Same Look Now

By
13
Jun 2014

Two years ago in the Mediterranean, we were fortunate to be on the Oceania Riviera for one of its first cruises, with a stop in Barcelona for the christening and official naming ceremony. This is a smallish ship by ocean-going standards — just 1,250 Rivierapassengers — and, by any objective cruiser's estimation, the Riviera is one beautiful ship.

It is a sister to Marina, Oceania's first new-build. Before that, three ships that performed for other lines made up the Oceania fleet.

And this year, it's their turn.

Earlier in the week, the last of the three — the Regatta — came out of dry-dock looking more like her prettier, younger sisters. While beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, and while there's only so much you can do with an old body (we speak from experience), when somebody spends $50 million on ships that are already "nice" you can assume they're going to look more like they belong to the same family.

The Regatta was the first ship for fledgling Oceania Cruises, 11 years ago, along with the Insignia. Both were known as "R ships" from bankrupt Renaissance Cruises. Two years later, along came the Nautica, another former R ship, and that was the fleet until RivieraMarina arrived, squeaky clean and new, in 2011.

This is the second time the Regatta has been refurbished in three years and most of its new look has to do with cosmetics…isn't that always the case? It also features a couple of popular and proven Marina and Riviera additions: Baristas coffee bar and the Terrace Cafe. That's the same treatment the Nautica and Insignia both received before they emerged from dry-dock last month.

When the Riviera arrived in 2012, it was from the same Fincantieri Shipyard that delivered Marina. About the same time, Insignia was being leased to Hapag-Lloyd Cruises for two years, probably for financial reasons. She returned last month and Oceania again became a five-ship fleet, but won't likely stay that way for long.

Plans are in place with Fincantieri for two more new ships.

If the Marina and the Riveria hadn't been so popular, that wouldn't happen.

Today at Phil Reimer's portsandbows.com: Quantum of the Seas and entertainment

Norwegian Sky
4 nights
September 15, 2014
Miami (return): Grand Bahama, Nassau, Great Stirrup Cay
Inside: $179
Cost per day: $44
www.ncl.com

Category: Cruise News, Deals, Reviews, Ships, Stories  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  Comments off

Insignia and Oceania — the second time around

By
29
Nov 2013

Over the years, we've known a couple of couples who have been married twice. To each other. That's the same bride and the same groom…twice. One second wedding lasted, and one didn't.

In cruise vernacular, that analogy could compare to the Oceania Insignia.

At birth, she was called R One, an unimaginative name for one of the Renaissance ships that all went on to bigger and better things with new names and new owners (spouses, if you will). When R One was five, she became the Insignia, a member of InsigniaOceania's Regatta Class. By the time she was in her teens, Insignia changed her name to Columbus 2.

And now, still only 15 (much older in ship years), she's soon to be Insignia again. 

After Renaissance Cruises ceased to exist, she was a workhorse for more than eight years for Oceania, with R siblings Regatta and Nautica, helping to establish the brand, which the owners like to call "upper premium."  

When the cruise line brought in newer, more modern ships called Marina and Riviera, the economics were such that it made sense to farm out the old girl, Insignia. So off she went to Hapag-Lloyd — that's the name of a small cruise line — and she's been toiling there for almost two years as Columbus 2.

Next spring, they'll strip off that painted name and — while giving her a second facelift, which in the ship world is called a refurbishment — they'll decorate her with "Insignia" again (Insignia 2 maybe?). She'll split her first year back between Europe and the Caribbean, as many ships do, and then she'll be sent around the world in 180 days. 

Twice.

The first such cruise leaves Miami in January 2015, the second in July 2015. The first sold out in eight days, the second goes on sale next week. So Insignia's more popular than ever.

This time, it looks like she and Oceania are in it for the long haul, maybe until their Golden Years.

Carnival Glory
7 nights
December 8, 2013
Miami (return): Cozumel, Costa Maya, Roatan, Grand Caymen
Inside: $299
Cost per day: $42
www.carnival.com

Category: Cruise News, Deals, People, Ships, Stories  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,  Comments off
« Previous Entries

  • Categories

  • Archives