Dining on luxury cruises now rivals – if not exceeds – anything you’ll find in big-name city restaurants. Here’s a who’s who of the top chefs who take discerning foodies on epicurean adventures at sea.
Fine wining and dining are integral ingredients on a luxury cruise, and having a world-renowned chef’s restaurant on board takes the culinary experience to a whole new level.
Among the best-known are Nobu Matsuhisa’s Umi Uma on Crystal’s two ships; Jacques Pépin’s Jacques on Oceania Cruises’ four 1,200-guest ships; and Alain Ducasse’s Nuna on Ponant’s Le Commandant Charcot.
While these chefs design and oversee the restaurants’ operations and may be onboard for special sailings, some luxury lines offer “residencies”.
Visiting chefs such as Le Gavroche’s Michel Roux host culinary programs that include cooking classes or demonstrations, talks and – most importantly – signature dinners.
Scenic’s Tastes of Discovery Series onboard Scenic Eclipse I and II feature celebrity chefs who have starred in the popular US Top Chef shows. They join Scenic’s VP of Oceans Hotel Operations, Maritime Master and Top Chef World All-Star, Tom Goetter, on a selection of voyages.
Silversea’s S.A.L.T. program incorporates dishes by celebrated local chefs, where the ships have culinary-focused shore excursions and chef-led demonstrations held onboard in select destinations.
One thing to remember: However illustrious a chef is, he or she is not “Michelin-starred” as many promoters like to claim – that honour goes to the restaurant the chef was leading when it won the award.
Crystal
Nobuyuki Matsuhisa (main image), better known as Nobu, has 60 restaurants around the world, but Umi Uma is his only oceangoing venture.
Nobu’s partnership with Crystal started as Silk Road & Sushi Bar when Crystal Serenity launched in 2023, then opened on Crystal Symphony five years later. The restaurant was renamed Umi Uma in 2018.
When the ships relaunched under new owners A&K Travel Group in 2023, Crystal and Nobu devotees were thrilled to hear that Umi Uma was also returning.
Nobu’s specialty is blending traditional Japanese dishes with Peruvian ingredients; signature dishes include miso-glazed black cod, grilled Chilean sea bass, and, naturally, sushi and sashimi.
Crystal’s classic Italian restaurant, Osteria d’Ovidio opened this year in partnership with the highly acclaimed Alajmo brothers.
Chef Massimiliano and restaurateur Raffaele Alajmo co-own a group of celebrated restaurants in Italy, including the three-Michelin-star Le Calandre in Padua, helmed by Massimiliano.
Crystal guests can also dine at the Alajmos’ renowned restaurants Le Calandre, Grancaffè & Ristorante Quadri in Venice and Le Cementine in the Venetian countryside through A&K’s exclusive shore excursions.
Oceania Cruises
American-French chef Jacques Pépin founded Oceania’s culinary programs in 2003. His eponymous bistro Jacques on Oceania’s four 1,200-guest ships Marina, Riviera, Allura, and now retrofitted on Vista, is a fan favourite and serves classic French cuisine.
Pepin is now Oceania’s Executive Culinary Advisor and works closely with the line’s Executive Culinary Directors, Master Chefs of France Alex Quaretti and Eric Barale.
Pépin said, “I am so excited to be writing the next chapter of Jacques with my friends and colleagues, Alexis Quaretti and Eric Barale”.
“This is the perfect opportunity to experiment with some delicious new dishes and to explore unique ways to serve some of the classics that our guests have come to know and love.”
Oceania recently introduced an exclusive Gérard Bertrand Food and Wine Pairing lunch onboard Allura, which will be rolled out to Vista, Marina and Riviera in coming months.
The line is also offering a selection of culinary cruises in 2026 featuring chefs Claudine Pépin and Sarah Moulton, alongside Quaretti and Barale.
Celebrity Cruises
Le Voyage by Daniel Boulud on Celebrity’s three newest Edge-class ships is multi-award-winning chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud’s first signature restaurant at sea.
Born and raised in France, Boulud found fame in the US, notably for his Michelin-starred New York restaurant Daniel.
Having opened Daniel in 1993, Boulud now has several more venues in New York, as well as in Palm Beach, Miami, Toronto, Montreal, Singapore, the Bahamas and Dubai.
He is renowned for classic French cooking that incorporates global flavours from destinations that have influenced him – hence the name Le Voyage.
Celebrity cruisers can also sample Chef Boulud’s dishes at Luminae, the exclusive dining experience included for guests of The Retreat, and at The Chef’s Table, where a five-course dinner designed by Boulud is served for a maximum of six people in a private room within Le Voyage.
Aqua Expeditions
Aqua Expeditions offers menus by three renowned chefs in three of the diverse regions its boutique river and ocean ships explore – the Peruvian Amazon, East Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
Pedro Miguel Schiaffino, an internationally celebrated Peruvian chef and champion of Amazonian cuisine, oversees fine dining in the Peruvian Amazon aboard Aqua Nera and Aria Amazon.
Multi-talented Australian chef Benjamin Cross presents menus influenced by Indonesian, European and Mediterranean cuisines onboard Aqua Blu, which sails in East Indonesia’s Coral Triangle; and another much celebrated Australian chef, David Thompson, heads up the culinary team onboard Aqua Mekong, in Cambodia and Vietnam.
Schedules for chef-led cruises in 2026 are still being finalised so keep your eyes peeled for info that will be released later this year.
Similarly, the chef and voyages showcasing his or her skills onboard the upcoming Aqua Lares, due to set sail in East Africa in February 2026, are yet to be revealed.
Ponant
Alain Ducasse is a culinary superstar. His eponymous restaurant at London’s historic Dorchester Hotel has held three Michelin stars since 2010; he founded Les Collectionneurs, a network of some 500 independent restaurants and hotels in Europe; and in 2021, he opened his first restaurant at sea, Nuna, onboard Ponant’s uber-luxe icebreaker ship Le Commandant Charcot.
“I really like the idea that passengers will discover distant horizons, the rugged beauty of polar landscapes and so a complete change of scenery – and then for their meals, they will return to the soft atmospheres of these charming and elegant restaurants to enjoy refined French cuisine,” said Ducasse.
Executive chefs across the Ponant fleet work with Alain Ducasse’s consulting firm, Ducasse Conseil.
Le Commandant Charcot has three restaurants that each offer a distinctive experience of French hospitality, but Nuna – which means “the Earth” in the Inuit language – is exclusively overseen by Ducasse.
For more information, visit Aqua Expeditions, Celebrity Cruises, Crystal, Cunard, Oceania Cruises, Ponant, Scenic, Silversea.
