World Traveller Delivers the Excellent Expedition for Foodies
When most of us hear the phrase “expedition,” photos of brightly coloured parkas, strolling sticks, icy landscapes and penguins or polar bears come to thoughts.
Atlas Ocean Voyages has modified all that with Epicurean Expeditions, a program that applies the extremely immersive and academic idea of a conventional expedition to the fantastic, colourful and oh-so-delicious world of gastronomy in a number of the most food-focused areas on earth.
I actually didn’t require a parka throughout my 12-day mid-summer Epicurean Expedition from Rome to Athens aboard Atlas Ocean Voyages’ all-inclusive (limitless drinks, gratuities, room service and extra) World Traveller. The blinding solar glittered on impossibly blue seas as we made our strategy to Portoferraio, Porto Venere, Good, Sete, Barcelona, Menorca, Sardinia, Trapani, Messina and Crete, the bulk uncrowded boutique ports the place the ten,000 grt, 198-passenger World Traveller may tie up in dazzling harbors dotted solely with a number of privately-owned yachts and small craft.
From the very starting, our Epicurean Expedition aboard Atlas Ocean Voyages’ World Traveller promised a journey that may “Entice, Discover, Expertise, Have interaction and Enrich”…and, boy, did it ship.
EPICUREAN EXPEDITION: ABOARD 10/10
I as soon as sailed a so-called theme cruise solely to search out one solitary lecture associated to the subject I had booked the cruise for. Not so aboard an Epicurean Expedition.
On our crusing, meals fanatics are in culinary heaven as they’re handled to cooking demos, wine tastings with representatives of visiting wineries, fascinating lectures, honey and chocolate tastings, Q&As, and hilarious “Yachtsman Cookoffs” the place company compete for bragging rights and prizes as they whip up a loosely-defined dish utilizing a choice of thriller components. And the epicurean theme continues in World Traveller’s Lisboa eating room with particular dishes whipped up a la minute by a number of the crusing’s gastronomic company.
EPICUREAN EXPEDITION: THE EXPERTS 10/10
It’s like touring with a gaggle of foodie buddies—extremely educated and gifted foodie buddies, that’s. World Traveller’s cooks, specialists and lecturers work together with company even when “off responsibility,” whether or not it’s Barilla Government Chef Marcello Zaccaria chatting whereas ready for the tender in Portoferraio, exhibiting you the basil and olive oil he simply bought (and assuring you that, sure, your Neapolitan mother is true—it’s crushed tomatoes not a blended pizza sauce that makes an genuine pie) or Grasp Foodie Mara Papatheodorou sharing her limitless retailer of data throughout an intimate lunch within the Lisboa eating room.
Right here’s only a style of the culinary professionals who joined us aboard our crusing:
The Gastronomic Knowledgeable’s Knowledgeable!: If our Epicurean Expedition had featured not more than Style & Custom Knowledgeable Mara Papatheodorou’s welcome lecture that explored the varied flavors of Italy, France, Spain and Greece, I might have come away with extra culinary data than I may have acquired by myself in a lifetime. Mara, who for 12-years served as editor at Bon Appetit Journal, dazzles World Traveller’s company together with her data of the locations, the dishes and the components that star in our voyage, from herbs and grains to provide and fruits (olives, by the way, are fruits!), wines and spirits, seafood and olive oils. Within the days forward, Mara joins the particular gastronomic company aboard in talks and demonstrations and accompanies culinary-themed shore excursions to impart her data and, typically, make clear unfamiliar ideas for the primarily American viewers.
Pasta Perfection: The tantalizing aroma of garlic wafts by World Traveller’s elegant Atlas lounge as Barilla Government Chef Marcello Zaccaria, a member of the Italian Chef Federation and a participant in numerous televised cooking exhibits together with Grasp Chef and High Chef, chops and peels the components that rework the scorching pot of oil on the transportable cooktop into his spaghetti with olive oil, garlic and purple chili scorching pepper. He tosses within the parsley stalks for additional taste and, to our shock, merely locations the dried spaghetti strands atop the steaming combination, including water a little bit at a time till the strands are cooked al dente.
Chef Zaccaria is on board for a number of days collaborating in cooking demos like this one, overseeing and judging a Yachtsman Cookoff, and he actually rolls up his sleeves a few nights as he mans a reside cooking station within the Lisboa Eating Room and whips up the heavenly pesto alla Genovese and Pasta alla Norma that seem on the dinner menu.
Champion of Chocolate: We’ve all loved candies like Italy’s Perugina and France’s Valrhona, but the cacao bean doesn’t thrive within the Mediterranean local weather. Enter Julieta Davey, also referred to as Mama Cacao, who spends most of her time within the jungles of Costa Rica crafting cacao beans into beautiful candies. In an enchanting Q&A session, Mara and Julieta, chocolate martinis shut at hand, collectively discover the historical past, myths and romanticism surrounding cacao at some point whereas we’re handled to a tasting of Mama Cacao’s darkish, generally virtually bitter, chocolate bars one other, texture, aroma, aftertaste and the reminiscences every evokes on the forefront of the dialogue. In one other day’s session, we get our palms soiled throughout an introduction to chocolate making that features peeling scorching, roasted cacao beans to create two luscious chocolate recipes and actually get our palms soiled throughout Mama Cacao’s “Yachtsman’s Cookoff” the place I discover myself wrist-deep in melted chocolate, making an attempt desperately so as to add the components that may bind my chocolate concoction into little edible balls!
Like Marcello, Mama Cacao holds court docket on the Lisboa eating room on some evenings, tempering chocolate earlier than our eyes on the reside cooking station and creating delicious chocolate desserts for company to take pleasure in.
Wine, Sicilian Type: Whereas within the port of Messina, Italy, World Traveller welcomes guests, particularly Marco and Agatha of the prize-winning, fully-organic, 40-year-old Colosi Vineyards, a family-owned firm that produces distinctive wines on 25 acres of Salina, the greenest and most fertile island of Sicily’s volcanic Aeolian archipelago—which is definitely in view from our ship!
Whereas all of the wines are pleasant, it’s the Salina Rosato IGP that surprises me. At first look, this deep ruby-colored rose suggests a candy dessert wine, but from my first sip, I discover it dry and scrumptious. It’s, in actual fact, my favourite of the tasting.
The Resident Knowledgeable: Certain, World Traveller’s gastronomic company create the magic that transforms our crusing into an Epicurean Expedition, however let’s not neglect World Traveller’s resident skilled: Government Chef Valeriu Surugiu. This gifted 28-year-old chef has served aboard Viking Ocean and numerous riverboats and now oversees World Traveller’s excellent eating program which, contemplating the intimate dimension of the ship, is impressively huge, assorted and positively scrumptious. Think about, a ten,000 grt ship providing a selection of 5 delectable predominant programs every night time and, at each meal, scrumptious (even for carnivores) plant-based choices together with a 6 oz. chargrilled plant-based steak which, in look, texture and style, rivals the true factor. And, Chef Surugiu works his magic responsibly, in accordance with Atlas Ocean Voyages’ “zero-waste” philosophy, an idea that eliminates meals waste by the creation of recent menus and new dishes that make use of each a part of every ingredient to insure nothing (besides meat bones) leads to the landfill.
EPICUREAN EXPEDITION: ASHORE 10/10
The Epicurean Expedition actually doesn’t cease when World Traveller ties up within the gorgeous ports that dot the Mediterranean. Ashore we will rise up shut and private with the meals, flavors, wines, and even spirits which can be produced on this magical a part of the world.
Whereas extra conventional shoreside excursions—like a go to to Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and Iconic Scenes from the Godfather in Messina—can be found, most World Traveller company select to proceed the epicurean theme by reserving one of many cheap gastronomic experiences supplied. And the alternatives are huge! Wine and Marsala in Trapani, Tradition & Gastronomy in Portoferraio, Flavors of Menorca, Gastronomic Sete are just some of the choices.
And there are a few complimentary epicurean experiences as properly, like our cultural immersion in Good, a pleasant night of native delicacies, cocktails and music held on the AC Marriott Resort’s luxe rooftop venue that overlooks the celebrated Promenade des Anglais and the glowing sea past and, in Messina, a go to to the native markets with World Traveller Government Chef Valeriu Surugiu.
WORLD TRAVELLER: THE SHIP 10/10
“I like the scale of this ship!”
That was a declaration I heard from so many company throughout our Epicurean Expedition and it’s no surprise. With six passenger decks, all public areas are conveniently positioned–in actual fact, I didn’t meet anybody who truly used the ship’s elevator!
World Traveller could have been constructed for the polar areas as a Polar Class C vessel with an Ice Class 1B-certified hull and state-of-the-art engineering however throughout our Epicurean Expedition within the Mediterranean, these {qualifications} have been irrelevant. As an alternative, company have been delighted by the 198-passenger vessel that falls between the small ship and yacht classes.
Shocking for such a small ship, World Traveller contains a theater, swimming pool, scorching tub, pool bar, ample deck chairs, the L’Occitane Sea Spa, a health studio and an out of doors working/strolling monitor with train stations. The Dome Statement Lounge, that includes music every night time, and The Atlas Lounge are good for pre-dinner cocktails, each snug light-filled areas achieved in modern décor.
The Lisboa Restaurant presents assorted and luxurious breakfast, lunch and dinner menus (together with many vegan choices) and al fresco lunch and dinner can be found at 7Aft Grill (reservations required for dinner; no surcharge). For a chunk on the run, drop by Paula’s Pantry, an informal nook usually open from 6:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. with a tasty assortment of breakfast, lunch and snack gadgets.
Nearly all of staterooms aboard World Traveller fall into the 300-square-foot Veranda Deluxe and Horizon Deluxe classes. Each the Veranda and Horizon classes embrace a stunning marble toilet and spa-like bathe with rain head, hand-held bathe fixture and physique jets, in addition to Nespresso coffees and Kusmi teas, L’Occitane toiletries, wall-mounted TV, binoculars, stocked mini-fridge and sitting space. The excellence between the 2 classes is that the Horizon Deluxe Stateroom presents a top-drop Juliette balcony which permits extra residing house, whereas the Veranda choice features a conventional balcony with two chairs and finish desk. Irrespective of which stateroom class is chosen, all company obtain a useful Atlas water bottle and high-end backpack which can be theirs to maintain!
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