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| Photo by Freeimages.com/Emma Payne |
Travel Leaders Group has announced the details of its “2016 Culinary Collection.” The collection of epicurean cruise experiences includes opportunities for clients to cook with Michelin-star chefs, explore food and spice markets with local experts, and interactive sessions with local chefs, sommeliers, farmers and more.
The 2016 Culinary Collection consists of 68 sailings on eight different luxury and premium cruise lines with unique and exclusive special offers for clients who book their food-inspired cruise vacations with an agency affiliated with Results! Travel or Vacation.com, which originated the program, or with a Travel Leaders travel agency.
Travel Leaders Group’s 2016 Culinary Collection sailings are offered aboard the following cruise lines: Avalon Waterways, Celebrity Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Holland America Line, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Seabourn (new for 2016), and Silversea. Each sailing in the collection provides a special offer for guests. The various amenities include: a stateroom VIP package, prepaid gratuities, shipboard credit, complimentary specialty dining, or the services of Travel Leaders Group’s Distinctive Voyages Host, a private cocktail reception and an exclusive shore event.
Here is a sampling of some of this year's offerings:
“Radiant Reflections” – This 12-day cruise aboard Oceania Cruises’ Marina from Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires will allow guests the opportunity to indulge in culinary creations inspired by Master Chef Jacques Pepin and create hands-on inspired dishes in the ship’s state-of-the art teaching kitchen. This sailing includes a $200 shipboard credit which can be applied to a cooking class at The Culinary Center. Guests will also receive a choice of a free shore excursion, free beverage package or up to $800 in additional shipboard credit.
“Spain, Malta and Italy Cruise” – Guests selecting this Celebrity Cruises voyage will be treated to one complimentary evening of specialty dining, along with the services of a Distinctive Voyages Host, a private cocktail reception and exclusive shore event. The seven-night cruise aboard Celebrity Equinox departs from Barcelona and includes Valencia (the birthplace of paella) and Almeria, Spain; and Valletta, Malta; along with Sicily, Salerno, and Rome, Italy. The exclusive, private shore event will immerse clients in an epicurean experience at a traditional Sorrento farmhouse.
“Circle Hawaii” – The 17-day culinary-themed cruise from Hilo and Honolulu to Lahaina (Maui), Kauai and Kona aboard Holland America Line’s Amsterdam will include a VIP package per stateroom of a bottle of sparkling wine, flower arrangement, and a plate of chocolate-dipped strawberries, in addition to a bottle of wine from the Captain for dinner on the first formal evening during the voyage. Guests will also enjoy the services of a Distinctive Voyages Host, a private cocktail reception and exclusive, and a complimentary shore event.
“Africa and Indian Ocean” – This Silversea 15-day cruise aboard Silver Cloud will take clients on a journey along the eastern coast of Africa from Mombasa to Cape Town. Guests will enjoy the cruise line’s partnership with the Grands Chefs Relais & Châteaux. The exclusive guest offer for this sailing is a shipboard credit of $500.
“Baroque Architecture” – Starting in Stockholm, ending in London, and enjoying ports of call in Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Riga, Copenhagen and Amsterdam, clients selecting this 12-night cruise aboard Regent Seven Seas Voyager will receive a complimentary bottle of champagne, plus a $100 shipboard credit per person.