Cruising: Oceania Cruises ship Nautica

     In a recent blog (http://holidayezine.blogspot.ie/2016/07/cruising_5.html) I confessed: 'never been on a cruise… it's not really my thing', so I've taken the next step. At Ocean Pier in Dublin Docks I embarked on the Oceania Cruise ship Nautica. I was invited to join a select group from the Irish travel trade for a look around and for lunch on board.

Master Chef Jacques Pépin

     We were guided around by Alex Farquharson of Oceania Cruises who wasted no time to tell us "Oceania Cruises prides itself as the cruise line for foodies". Well, I thinking, he'd say that anyway, he is after all Sales Manager for Oceania Cruises. It wasn't just sales pitch, the lunch in the Grand Dining room was impressive. We could easily have been in a several Michelin stared restaurant. Alex told us Master Chef Jacques Pépin is the  Executive Culinary Director off Oceania, once the personal chef to three French heads of state, including Charles de Gaulle.

The cruise line for foodies
     Beginning with a signature taster, small as you would expect but punching large in taste. Highly regarded fingerling potatoes have a natural buttery flavor, then add Echiré butter handmade from cows milk in western France around the small villages of Poitiers and La Rochelle, and  top it off with sturgeon caviar and fresh chives, and then further demonstrate a knowledge of food, they kindly provided a small plastic spoon - maybe the only occasion when etiquette calls for a plastic spoon. They knew that spoons made of any metal will oxidize the sturgeon eggs and create an unpleasant metallic tang. Mind you, for an even posher scoop, they could use a mother of pearl caviar spoon, but then, it was far from either mother of pearl spoons or cavier I was born.

We were guided around by Alex Farquharson of Oceania Cruises                Photo: Pat Keenan

     Next from the ship's Toscana restaurant came Rissotto All’aragosta, Arboria rice, Maine lobster morsels, Italian parsley cooked in a reduced lobster broth.
     For mains I choose Filet de boeuf, sauce perigourdine, pink roasted beef tenderloin with black truffle and foie gras demi-glace, harvest vegetables and crispy parmesan. Others choose Den miso glazed sea bass, wrapped and cooked in hoba leaf (favored by sushi chefs}, steamed basmati rice. You know somehow when you are at a table where everyone is pleased and this was one such occasion. We continued to be impressed.
     I'm not what you'd call a sweet course person, but I could have licked the plate after the samba milk chocolate mousse cake with caramel. Oh…and on the subject of plates, all our food was served on Versaci plates.

The Nautica
     In 2014, the Nautica and the two other'R-class' Oceania Cruises’ ships, Insignia and Regatta, completed a $50 million makeover, the company's largest ever refurbishment programme. All three now match the new furnishings and décor and many of the amenities and design elements on the line’s newest ships, Marina and Riviera, including the addition of Baristas, Oceania Cruises’ very own speciality coffee bar, and the state-of-the-art grill in the Terrace Café. There are four unique, open-seating restaurants, a fitness center and spa, eight lounges and bars, a small casino and 342 lavish suites and staterooms, nearly 70% of which feature private verandas. She's a relatively small sized cruise ship, just 684 guests and 400 staff of whom 100 work in the kitchens.

Oceania Cruises
The line has no black tie requirements, no formal evenings…whew!, they have what call country club casual dress or elegant casual. Shorts, casual jeans, t-shirts, sports footwear should not be worn to any of the restaurants… as if you would!

Next week I will be reviewing one of Oceania Cruises' newest ships Marina.

For more info: www.oceaniacruises.com/