Food, Glorious Food…

For me the main event of life on board a cruise has to be Dinner service and I am the biggest foodie ever..  well actually I am a bit smaller now since losing nearly 6 stone, but sure that some of that will go back on the next time I am at sea.

With so much Television exposure for cruise ships at the moment also focusing a lot on the food & associated culinary options, my main focus of this post is on an exciting new programme I have been watching called Battlechefs.

Battlechefs – Currently showing on W (can catch-up here),  This is a fantastic programme – Celebrity Masterchef at Sea – truly showcasing the Cookery School on board Britannia along with giving a great insight into the ports of call featured on the cruise.  This sees 10 “Celebrities” – ok you do have to use the term loosely – competing to be the winner of the coveted Battlechef title.  The first week’s 5 Celebrities are Comedian – Jenny Eclair; Impressionist – Debra Stephenson; Choreographer/Judge – Jason Gardner; Blur Bass player – Alex James & Long-jumper – Greg Rutherford…They get to go ashore in the different ports of call, taste and cook with local chefs and then return to the ship where each evening Marco Pierre White (my not-so-secret celebrity chef crush !!) chooses one of them to lead the team to recreate an authentic 4 course menu to serve to the captain and some guests at the dining table in the cookery school.   I won’t reveal the winner in-case you have not seen it and want to watch it for yourself.  We are now into the Second week and a further 5 “celebs” are now continuing the Battle.

The next Food Heroes cruise featuring Marco Pierre White on-board will be on the 30th July 2016.. here are the details for that cruise, if you are interested in that or any of the other Food Heroes sailing or cookery school options then please do let me know.

Another great food spectacle had to be Regal Princess – The Cruise – Series Finale highlighting the amazing Flaming Baked Alaska parade through the Restaurant as part of the final night’s farewell dinner celebrations.

For some insider sample menus from some amazing restaurants on board many cruise ships click here.

Add into this my other food related TV Viewings at the moment that don’t feature cruise ships of Masterchef & Gok’s Lunchbox.

Watching all of these amazing food programmes inspired me to cook a multi-course dinner for myself and my husband on a rare night-in together last Friday night.. however I did forget the golden rule that we were told on a recent MSC training is that their 7 Course Dinner Menu does have smaller size portions throughout..  so by the time we got to the Steak as our third course in we were both really struggling and for me, I had to forfeit the Cheese course until the next day.

So if food is as much your passion as it is mine, with so many fantastic ships offering a wealth of choice of restaurants on board – including some celebrity chef offerings – My questions to you are:

• which would be your favourite restaurant on any cruise ship ?  My answer would be the tremendous Steak Restaurant The Crown Grill on board Princess Cruises. 

• Would you or have you attended any of the cookery school options on a ship ?  My answer is that I did get to look around the cookery school on board Britannia at the Launch celebrations and yes I would love to have a one-to-one with Marco !!. 

Until next time – Bon Apetit & Bon Voyage..

Frankie

xx