October 24, 2008
By Graham Howe
"Would you like Louis Roederer or Veuve Clicquot with your canapés this evening, sir?"
Choices, choices. Sasa, our butler, is worrying about which champagne to put in the ice-bucket for our sundowners on board the Crystal Serenity. Distracted by the view of Capri to starboard, I ask him to chill a bottle of Monterey Chardonnay from our penthouse for dinner at Nobu's sushi bar on the seventh deck.
We were anchored off Sorrento on our way to Sicily on the Crystal Serenity, rated one of the best and most luxurious cruise liners in the world by Condé Nast Traveler.
Celebrity chefs such as Anton Mosimann and celebrity winemakers such as Christian Moueix of Chateau Petrus lead tastings of the world's finest wines in the vintage room, a private dining venue. An exclusive food and wine pairing at sea comes with a price tag of $210 to $2 000 for an eight-course dinner. Put it on my tab.
We went ashore by day and dined on board by night. Every morning we awoke to a wonderful view of a new port of call from our private terrace - and rushed down the gangplank to spend the day exploring legendary destinations in our Mediterranean playground.
We feasted our eyes on the classical sights of Pompeii, the lemon groves of Sorrento, the Sicilian village of Taormina beloved by D H Lawrence, the castles and markets of Corfu, the great walled city of Dubrovnik and the canals of Venice.
A Mediterranean cruise was a glorious way to escape the worst of the Cape winter. Walking these rugged landscapes, climbing cliff-faces, steep cobbled alleys and hilltop castles works up an appetite. We lunched ashore in Sicily on simple street food while listening to accordion and mandolin players perform the Godfather theme.
We enjoyed spanakopita and baklava in the medieval quarter of Corfu, and ate Croatian delicacies in Dubrovnik after walking the circuit on the mighty city walls. What restaurant ambience could beat sharing pizza with the pigeons on St Mark's Square?
Back on the Crystal Serenity, we feasted at the smorgasbord of speciality dining venues on board, from Silk Road and Prego to bistro, café, grill, and fine continental fare in the plush dining room.
On days spent at sea, we explored all the mod cons of our floating luxury hotel, from the state-of-the-art spa, gym and university at sea to the casino, cabaret and theatre. In between, we walked off all the Mozart high teas and captain's gala dinners on the "walk on water" promenade track around the ship - or lounged on deck
.
The idyllic Amalfi coast called for authentic fare - served at Prego, the speciality Italian restaurant on Crystal Serenity linked to Pierro Selvaggio's world-renowned Valentino restaurant.
The wonderful quality of the local produce at markets along the way inspired an appetite for the robust flavours of the southern Italian coast. Find recipes from Amalfi in top Italian chef Gennaro Contaldo's cookbook Passione.
We loved the wonderful flavours of Valentino's vegetarian fare - wild mushroom soup in an oregano bread cup, gnocchi alla Sorrentina with buffalo mozzarella; butternut, apricot and biscotti ravioli in burnt sage butter, and spinach and ricotta cappellacci with truffled cherry tomato soup.
Who could ask for a more evocative dinner than sushi at sea with a view of a sunset over Mount Vesuvius? On board the Crystal Serenity, we dined frequently at Silk Road, a showcase for the world-renowned cuisine of Nobu Matsuhisa, the chef who introduced sushi to the West. Japanese chefs entertained passengers in an open-kitchen theatre of sushi, sashimi and tempura, working with the freshest eel, octopus, crab, squid, tuna, salmon and whitefish.
The minimalist Zen décor was the backdrop for the superb presentation of signature Nobu dishes such as Asian mushroom soup (elegantly poured from a Japanese kettle), stir-fried lobster with truffle-yuzu sauce, shrimp tempura broth with udon noodles and miso-marinated black cod.
We continually met young South Africans working on the Crystal Serenity, a united nations of 40 nationalities.
"We never repeat the same dish during a world cruise," said executive chef Franz Weiss on a tour of the main kitchen, bakery, patisserie, butchery, garde-manger, poissonier and saucier stations.
The ship observes strict environmental guidelines, too. "We never throw anything overboard, we dehydrate all our garbage and we crush all bottles. We've taken wild caviar off the menu - and we don't serve Chilean sea bass (Patagonian toothfish), whale or shark." They do serve 90 dozen oysters - a good match for my champagne.
For information on Crystal Cruises, contact Development Promotions on 011 442 0822, or e-mail devprom@global.co.za, or see www. devprom.co.za
  
 
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