Dates for your diary - Celebrity Chef Cruises

The trend of getting celebrity chefs to create signature menus on board cruise ships continues. P&O Cruises have no less than 3 celebrity chefs on their payroll, Gary Rhodes, Marco Pierre White and Atul Kochhar. There are many rumours that the aforementioned chefs have put their names to signature restaurants but never make an appearance on board. I can confirm now that this is completely untrue, having met both James Martin onboard Ocean Village and Marco Pierre White onboard P&O Ventura. I can also now provide a list of dates that you may catch these chaps in action next year. The three Michelin starred chefs Gary Rhodes, Marco Pierre White and Atul Kochhar are lined up to visit their restaurants on the following departures next year. They will lead cooking demonstrations, sign copies of their books as well as spending time with their chefs in the kitchens and amongst guest in their restaurants.

Gary Rhodes will be on board during the following itineraries:
*Arcadia 15-night cruise departing 19 June 2010, J008. Ports of call include Zeebrugge, Amsterdam, Oslo, Stavanger, Flaam, cruise in Sognefjord, Olden, cruise in Nordfjord, Trondheim, Akureyri and Reykjavik.
*Arcadia 13-night cruise departing 2 November 2010, J019. Ports of call include Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Alicante and Gibraltar.
*Oriana 12-night cruise departing 11 July 2010, X011. Ports of call include Copenhagen, Nynashamn, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn and Zeebrugge.
*Oriana 7-night cruise departing 27 August 2010, X015. Ports of call include Corunna, Bilbao, Le Verdon, Brest and St. Peter Port.

Marco Pierre White will be on board during the following itineraries:

*Aurora 12-night cruise departing 19 April 2010, R002X. Ports of call include Madeira, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Cadiz, Lisbon and Vigo.

*Oceana 14-night cruise departing 15 May 2010, E011. Ports of call include Gibraltar, Cartagena, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Cadiz.

*Ventura 7-night cruise departing 5 June 2010, N014. Ports of call include Corunna, Bilbao, La Pallice, Brest and St. Peter Port.

*Ventura 14-night cruise departing 3 July 2010, N017. Ports of call include Barcelona, Cannes, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Palma, Valencia and Gibraltar.

*Oceana 14-night cruise departing 2 October 2010, E021. Ports of call include Gibraltar, Cartagena, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Cadiz.

*Ventura 14-night cruise departing 22 October 2010, N027. Ports of call include Tenerife, Tortola, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Barbados.

Atul Kochhar will be on board during the following itineraries:

*Azura 16-night cruise departing 12 April 2010, A004. Ports of call include Malaga, Katakolon, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Venice, Korcula and Gibraltar.

*Azura 16-night cruise departing 23 July 2010, A010. Ports of call include Malaga, Katakolon, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Venice, Korcula and Gibraltar.

*Azura 12-night cruise departing 8 August 2010, A011. Ports of call include Madeira, La Palma, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Lisbon and Vigo.

*Azura 7-night cruise departing 21 September 2010, A014. Ports of call include Dublin, Cobh, Bilbao and Brest.

Be sure to book up early as these sailings will sell out fast! For more information view our P&O Cruises section of the website and search your chosen itinerary from there.

Celebrity Chefs on P&O Cruises

When it comes to a cruise one of the expectations that you hold high is that regarding the dining that is available, with P&O cruises these expectations are reached, if not smashed. The reason being is thanks to the vast array of dining options that are open to you. Formal dining rooms, grill restaurants, oriental and pan-pacific restaurants as well as tapas bars and pizzerias are just a selection of the types of dining options that are open to you when it comes to P&O cruises. However the dining option that is taking the cruising world by storm at the moment comes in the form of celebrity chefs opening their own restaurants on board the ships.

There are a number of celebrity chefs who are currently teaming up with certain cruise lines in order to create their own restaurants on the ships and the cruise line P&O are no exception. These restaurants supply a great way for holiday makers to enjoy five star food at reasonable cost, something they wouldn’t be able to do elsewhere.

Each cruise line contracts certain chefs; in the case of P&O they now have three of the top chefs on board; Gary Rhodes, Marco Pierre White and Atul Kochhar. All three of these highly acclaimed chefs hold Michelin stars for their dishes and each of these offer signature styles of food so no matter what food you’re in the mood for there will be something to suit all tastes.

Having your meals cooked by such outstanding chefs whilst on a cruise is adding luxury to luxury. Sampling food cooked and prepared by such chefs is worth coming on a cruise for all by itself. So what should you expect from Gary Rhodes, Marco Pierre White and Atul Kochhar when it comes to the food they will serve whilst working with P&O cruises?

Due to his dedication and continued pursuit for perfection, Gary Rhodes has found himself at the forefront of the culinary world. He is now a well known chef, restaurateur and celebrity as well as author. His various restaurants are what have won him a wide collection of Michelin stars as well as his traditional British cooking, which is what he brings to P&O cruises. Some of the dishes that he serves up are Asparagus and Lambs lettuce salad and Roast beef with foie gras and morel mushroom Madeira sauce. He gives diners a high quality dining experience the likes of which are normally reserved for visitors of his Twenty Four restaurant in London.

Certain Oriana and Arcadia ships are the P&O cruises that Gary Rhodes will be present on, whereas Marco Pierre White will be on board for some of the Ventura, Oceana and Aurora cruises. So what will Marco Pierre White have on offer?

Classic Italian fare is Marco’s speciality, offering simple yet stunning dishes. He has already been named the godfather of modern cooking and is the youngest Briton to be awarded three Michelin stars. As well as sampling his cooking within the ships restaurants you can also opt to buy private cookery sessions to groups of up to eight adults and children. Within these sessions you will join Marco in creating a three course meal as well as get to ask him any cooking questions that you have.

Last but certainly not least Atul Kochhar has recently signed a deal with P&O cruises to bring his culinary skills on board to the company’s new superliner the Azura in 2010. Atul Kochhar is the third Michelin star chef to join this cruise line and he will bring a new restaurant called Sindhu, which means fusion. This will serve holidaymakers with modern British dishes that have an Indian Twist.

Cruise lines all across the country are now enlisting top chefs to open up restaurants on their ships. So if you are going on a cruise this year or you have one planned in the near future then make sure you look out for celebrity restaurants and sample some of the food that they have to offer because let’s face it, this will probably be the only opportunity we get to do this so let’s make the most of it.