Focus on Culinary Travel: Navigating celebrity chef partnerships: Travel Weekly

Oceania’s changing tastes

Oceania Cruises, long known for its culinary focus, works with several renowned chefs in various ways. 

French author, PBS television personality and culinary educator Jacques Pepin headlines his own restaurants on Oceania ships, called Jacques. And while the line originally dropped Jacques on its last ship, the Oceania Vista, it is bringing the venue back with a refreshed menu on the Vista and its sister, the Allura, debuting in July. 

Oceania also incorporates other popular chefs’ dishes into its dining venues rather than opening branded restaurants onboard.

For example, Italian-American chef, cookbook author and TV personality Giada De Laurentiis was not only godmother to the line’s newest ship, the Oceania Vista, but was named the brand’s culinary ambassador and now co-chairs its culinary advisory board. 

Oceania serves two of her creations on the Vista, including her lemon pasta, in the ship’s Italian restaurant Toscana and in the Grand Dining Room. 

Like Seabourn, most of the passengers on Oceania’s ships are repeat guests. While good for business, that can pose a challenge for the culinary team, said Bernhard Klotz, Oceania’s vice president of food and beverage.

“They come back cruise after cruise,” he said. “We want to make some changes because some guests, they like changes. And some guests, they don’t.”

It is not simply the involvement of a celebrity guest that makes these dishes a hit, Klotz said. It’s that the chef and cruise line work together to figure out what recipes will work. Some ingredients that are consistently available on land may not be so easy to obtain during a cruise, Klotz said. That’s a problem because the line wants to offer a consistent experience. 

“If we make something onboard, it should not be just one time when we have all the ingredients,” Klotz said. “We need to have something that we can serve worldwide. It doesn’t matter if we are in South America or in Africa or in Asia or in Europe or here in the United States. We should always have the same quality available.”

Oceania is among the cruise lines like Windstar that don’t just feature dishes and restaurants from celebrity chefs but also brings them onboard. 

Sara Moulton, who hosted 13 seasons of “Sara’s Weeknight Meals” on PBS and worked as the executive chef behind the scenes of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” hosts specialty cruises on Oceania and serves as a member of the line’s culinary advisory board. 

Moulton hosts cooking classes and demonstrations, and Oceania showcases her work when she does demonstrations by adding her dishes to the menu in the main dining room that cruise. 

Moulton “is another personality that brings a lot of followers. Our guests, they love her,” Klotz said. 

Rebecca Tobin contributed to this report.