ABOARD THE SILVER MUSE -- Silversea Cruises is developing a
wide-ranging culinary program that it plans to install on its newer class of
ship, beginning with the delivery of the Silver Moon in 2020.
The concept will spotlight regional foods in areas in which
the ships sail and will offer a mix of complementary land-based excursions and
shipboard activities.
It will include the creation of a restaurant that carries
the name of the program -- Sea and Land Taste, or SALT -- in the space
currently occupied on the Silver Moon's sister ship, the Silver Muse, by the
pan-Asian Indochine.
Barbara Muckermann, Silversea's chief marketing officer,
said the program has been under consideration for about two years and stemmed
from a re-evaluation of what the line's appeal would be to luxury customers.
"There's a limit to how much champagne and caviar you
can give," Muckermann said. "That kind of luxury has a peak.
[Providing] experiences does not."
Muckermann gave a preview of what SALT might offer on a
cruise segment from Indonesia to the Philippines on the Silver Muse. It
included an excursion to a remote farm in the central highlands of Bali.
There, journalists trekked through rice paddies amid the
lowing of cows and the quacking of domestic ducks, observing firsthand the
origins of many of the ingredients of Balinese cuisine.
They were offered honey from a beehive split open by a
farmer and tasted a toffee-like sugar produced by boiling palm sap that is
harvested daily 20 feet off the jungle floor using traditional techniques.
Silversea's SALTy culinary program
At the end of the hike, they were served lunch in a jungle
clearing from a food truck operated by the renowned Locavore restaurant in
nearby Ubud. The menu included roast pig and artisanal sausages and sampling
cocktails made with Balinese ingredients.
"This stuff is the next frontier in a sophisticated
approach to destination," Muckermann said.
She said the idea is to bring the destination alive for
guests through the exploration of food.
To complement land excursions, Silversea will offer regional
menus, typically for breakfast, lunch and dinner, in the SALT restaurant. There
will be food lectures, cooking classes and demonstrations by guest local chefs
and food experts, most of which will be included in the cost of the cruise.
Muckermann said SALT will answer the question, "If this
is a destination, what is the story of that destination?"
A SALT food lab will be created on the Silver Moon, taking
the place of the French restaurant La Dame, which will be moved to the back of
the ship where the Arts Cafe would be situated. The Arts Cafe will move next
door, supplanting the Connoisseur's Corner smoking lounge.
SALT will definitely be installed on the Silver Dawn, due in
2021, and probably on the Silver Muse but not on older, smaller Silversea
vessels with fewer specialty dining venues.
To design the details of the program, Silversea has hired
Adam Sachs, until last year the editor-in-chief of Saveur magazine. Sachs said
his plan is for SALT to accommodate both the most and least traditional
cruisers.
"So, if you're the most involved, engaged, food-minded
traveler, there's something for you here you won't find anywhere else in the
category," he said. "And if you're more conservative and you like
what Silversea now delivers, you'll still find something to taste along the way
and go home with a story to tell your friends about."
Muckermann said some regions lend themselves more readily to
SALT and will get a deeper treatment, while others, such as Antarctica, are
less food-rich and will have a shallower SALT program.
"But that layer will always be there," she said.