Celebrity Expands Culinary Program with Guest Chefs

Celebrity Cruises is expanding “Savor,” the culinary-and-wine/spirits-focused pillar of Celebrity Life, to include special interest cruises with guest chefs and other food and wine experts. The new “Savor Your Destination” cruises kicked off June 1 when the Celebrity Eclipse set sail with Australian chef Benjamin Christie onboard.

During each “Savor Your Destination” cruise, guests can attend a meet-and-greet cocktail hour with the chef and get their photo taken. Each guest chef will lead a cooking demonstration in the ship’s largest venue, the theater. Guest chefs who have published cookbooks may hold book signings.

On every Celebrity sailing (with the exception of the Galapagos-based Celebrity Xpedition), the “Savor” series includes a Star Chefs competition in the ship’s theater. During the event, guests are selected from the audience and then guided by the ship’s chefs to compete in a cook-off judged by a panel of spontaneously selected guests. When possible, guest chefs will take part in the Star Chefs competition. Most of the events are complimentary; the hands-on cooking class and food-and-wine-pairing dinner will require reservation fees, and space is limited. Guests who attend the class or dinner will receive a recipe booklet from the chef.

Guests also can participate in hands-on cooking classes in the ship’s main galley. Each guest chef also will design and present a food-and-wine-pairing dinner in Murano, Celebrity’s specialty restaurant.

Celebrity also has confirmed U.K.-based chef and author Adam Byatt, head chef at London’s Trinity in Clapham Old Town, to sail on Celebrity Eclipse on Aug. 21, for the first seven nights of a 14-night Spanish Mediterranean cruise roundtrip out of Southampton. On Sept. 2, Celebrity Equinox will host Puerto Rican chef and Food Network television personality Daisy Martinez on a seven-night Western Mediterranean voyage from Barcelona to Rome.

On Oct. 31, Zach Bell, chef de cuisine at Palm Beach’s Cafe Boulud and recipient of the 2008 South Florida Rising Star Chef Award, will sail on Celebrity Solstice on a seven-night roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale. Sailing a 10-night Caribbean roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale on Celebrity Equinox on Nov. 26 will be Puerto Rican chef and recent “Top Chef Masters” participant Carmen Gonzalez, former sole proprietor of Carmen The Restaurant in Miami. American chef and restaurateur John Currence, a star in the U.S. Southern cuisine arena, will sail on a seven-night Caribbean cruise on Celebrity Solstice departing Dec. 5 from Fort Lauderdale.

Celebrity also is folding its wine cruises along the Pacific Coast into the “Savor Your Destination” program. These cruises feature a number of onboard activities geared toward wine appreciation, in addition to those offered as part of the standard Celebrity Life Savor series.

The wine cruises feature a visiting winemaker who hosts workshops and dinners as well as activities designed to celebrate wine, food, and entertainment, such as “Sabering at Sea,” where guests learn how to saber a champagne or sparkling wine cork from the bottle. This year, Celebrity is offering a wine cruise from Vancouver to San Diego departing Sept. 17. In 2011, Celebrity will offer two wine cruises; a San Diego to Vancouver cruise departing on May 3 and the reverse itinerary departing Sept. 9. All three wine cruises are 10 nights long on Celebrity Millennium.

The Celebrity Life Savor Series includes activities such as “The Heartbeat of the Operation,” a guided galley tour for guests who can meet the ship’s chefs and witness the creation of a signature dessert; “Molecular Mixology from the Liquid Chef,” where libations designed by mixologist Junior Merino are taught in step-by-step basics; “Celebrity’s World Wine Tour and Silent Auction,” which offers wines from around the globe and an opportunity for guests to bid on select bottles; and the “Riedel Comparative Wine Crystal Workshop,” where guests experience how wine glasses can change the way wine tastes.