Why Foodies and Wine Lovers Vacation with Celebrity
Celebrity Cruises® has made its reputation on globally-inspired cuisine and cutting-edge cocktails, especially its distinctive restaurants and extensive wine list. The modern luxury vibe is more like a boutique resort than a cruise line — stylish staterooms and suites, intuitive service, and engaging shore excursions.
It’s easy to imagine why the readers of Travel Weekly have voted Celebrity the Best Premium Cruise Line for the last eight years. Here are five top reasons that wine aficionados and foodies hungry for unique experiences book with Celebrity.
1. Globally Inspired Cuisine
This year, Celebrity ships visit more than 280 destinations on all seven continents, but wherever you go, your favorite dining spots are likely to be right on board. Menus are crafted by Celebrity’s Michelin-starred chef, Cornelius Gallagher, who leads more than 7,000 culinary professionals.
Each ship offers up to 12 dining options, including room service, casual cafés, and the main restaurant, with tasteful design and excellent service. But the true wonder of a Celebrity vacation has to be the specialty restaurants. While the lineup varies from ship to ship, popular venues include:
Blu, serving clean cuisine — like truffle vinaigrette in place of heavy béarnaise — to AquaClass® guests
Lawn Club Grill, celebrating the joys of outdoor grilling — yes, that’s real grass
Luminae, an exclusive experience reserved for Suite Class guests
Qsine®, a quirky eatery like you’ve never experienced on land or sea
Tuscan Grille, a contemporary Italian steakhouse
Meals are made on board from scratch, with locally sourced ingredients for luscious aromas, flavors, and textures. While the guests are in port enjoying their shore excursions, the chefs are in port shopping for fresh fruits, vegetables, spices, meats, and seafood.
2. Glorious Wine
Solstice® Class ships feature an impressive two-story wine tower, created by renowned designer Adam Tihany, that holds 1,800 bottles at the perfect temperature.
The main restaurants stock at least 400 labels, which means a perfect pairing for every course of every meal. Two thousand sommeliers fleet-wide make sure of it.
Most ships also feature Cellar Masters, a wine lounge, and onboard programs like Wine Appreciation 101 and the Riedel® Comparative Wine Crystal Workshop.
All this focus on fine wine has earned Celebrity Cruises the 2015 Award of Excellence — for all 10 main restaurants — in the Wine Spectator Restaurant Wine List Awards.
3. Culinary Events & Excursions
Cuisine infuses onboard activities and shore excursions as well. Guests participate in duel-style cooking demonstrations, interactive challenges, private cooking classes, wine tastings, and more.
Throughout Europe — and Asia, Australia, and the Americas, too — guests choose from hundreds of Uniquely Celebrity Shore Excursions, many focusing on food, wine, and cocktails.
World Flavors is a collection of excursions including Gourmet Tapas Hopping in Barcelona, Food & Wine Pairing at a Traditional Basque Farmhouse, Benedictine Museum and Cocktails in France, Búrid Cheese Workshop in Iceland, Russian Vodka Tasting in St. Petersburg, Mayan Flavors on Cozumel, Taste of Carnival in St. Maarten, President Truman’s BBQ in Key West, and many more.
In the Chef’s Market Discoveries program, guests join the chefs on culinary excursions to local docks, markets, and restaurants. They taste fine wines, explore local ingredients, and learn secrets they can deploy in their own cooking, like how to choose seafood. Back on board, they savor private dinners featuring the treasures they found in port.
4. Lounging in Style
Celebrity ships offer numerous bars and lounges, from the poolside Mast Bar to the frozen — yes, literally — Martini Bar. Each has its own cool vibe. Some favorites include:
Ensemble Lounge, on Solstice Class ships, for live entertainment by world-class musicians
Martini Bar, an ice bar with talented bartenders who put on a show as they craft your drink
Mast Bar & Grill, the poolside spot for refreshing cocktails, frozen specialties, and nonalcoholic drinks
Michael’s Club, an exclusive retreat for Suite Class guests
Sunset Bar, with spectacular views in a country-club atmosphere
5. World Class™ Bar
Celebrity Cruises and Diageo Global Travel Americas recently launched the first permanent World Class™ Bar at sea, on Celebrity Eclipse®. Its menu features creative craft cocktails, including:
Mystic Ketel One®, a tropical drink made in a kettle that cools the strawberries, pineapple, aloe vera, lime juice, ginger liqueur, and Ketel One vodka
Zacapa® Old Fashioned, featuring rich Zacapa® 23 Rum with Angostura bitters and a dash of chocolate mole
Celebrity No. Ten™, based on Tanqueray No. Ten™ gin, with fresh raspberries, a dash of bitters, lemon juice, and crème de violette, topped with ginger ale
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