Food onboard the Regent Seven Seas Grandeur as well on many shore excursions is excellent
By Eileen Ogintz
The old rowboats filled with sand serve as BBQ grills for sardines up and down the seaside promenade.
We’re in Malaga, Spain, a port on the transatlantic crossing of Regent Seven Seas new ship Grandeur watching cooks at the small sea front restaurants cook sardines the traditional way, loading them on skewers after dousing them in sea salt. They’re served with bread, tomatoes and olives, a veritable feast for less than 12 euros.
Another day during a stop in Madeira, Portugal, we opted for a tour that included “Poncha” a popular local drink with local rum, honey, sugar, and lemon. Afterward, we stopped at a local winemaker’s home to taste his wine and local dishes including a particular long-simmered pork stew, prosciutto, cheese, croquettes, a local bread called Bolo do Cao and Milho fritos, a cornmeal based fried dish mixed with cabbage and cut in squares.
Regent Seven Seas offers included many shore excursions at each port and increasingly, the offerings include those that are culinary based.
At our last stop in Valencia, we opted to pay extra for Paella Tradition: Become a Local where we drive to a farm in the agricultural region of L’Horta to visit his garden and learn to make the traditional Spanish Paella (and eat it for lunch!)
There is also a chef-led market tour with the chef’s demonstration of how to make paella.
Destination Manager Claudia Manzanares notes that there is an increasing focus on culinary-oriented tours. Since Regent has so many repeat guests, she explained, guests are looking to experience and do something new. “The culinary tours are very popular,” she said.
She noted that 70-80 per cent of the tours are offered at no additional charge and unlike on other ships where tours are extra and can be expensive, as many as 80 per cent of Regent passengers opt for tours, though with so many passengers on the longer cruises are seniors, it’s important to be honest about your mobility. In fact, each tour description includes how much walking is required.
And just as food is a focus off the ship, it is on the ship as well with many guests opting for Regent specifically for the quality of the food and the fact that the specialty restaurants don’t require an upcharge.
Executive Chef Michael Meyapa gave us a tour of the galley where chefs were working making pain au chocolate and croissants for tomorrow’s breakfasts, room service orders, different flavors of ice cream and sorbet and prepping for dinner.
There are six separate kitchens, including one for the crew, many of whom are from India Indonesia and the Philippines. Each specialty restaurant has its own kitchen and nine chefs. The main galley bakes everything—some 23 different breads daily and 8-10 different pastries for tea each day. There are 15 different house-made ice creams and sorbets. 10-12 different Danish for breakfast. And if you want something not on the menu, all you need to do is ask, whether berries for breakfast, a no-salt menu, or a different flavor of ice cream.
Chef Meyapa notes that he tastes the specialty dishes for Compass Rose, the main dining room, daily as well as dishes for the specialty restaurants. “I must go up and down 15 times a day,” he joked, “To make sure everything is OK.”
Chef Meyapa believes many of the guests return for the food and that seems to be the case. “The food is better than on other cruises,” opined one guest from Maryland.
“Really good,” said another guest from Texas.
Whatever time you want to eat as there is room service 24 seven.
And plenty of culinary tour options off the ship too. Can’t wait for the paella lessons!
