Cruise Holidays of Alexandria has found a new tool for luring customers to their luxury vacations: local celebrity chefs.
The company has recruited two D.C. favorites — Michel Richard of Citronelle and Central, and Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve, Majestic Cafe and Eammons The Dublin Chipper— to serve as guest chefs next summer aboard its Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
“We’re cultivating a new market, and there’s a big market for food and wine cruises,” Cruise Holidays co-owner Bob Miller said.
Richard will serve a guest chef on a seven-night Alaskan cruise by Regent Seven Seas Cruises in July. He will host two cooking demonstrations and prepare a five-course menu at the ship’s Compass Rose Restaurant.
The company still is working out details with Armstrong, who will participate sometime next summer on a Regent Mediterranean cruise, Miller said.
The cruises will be part of a new initiative the company is starting called “Cruise for A Cause,” in which $100 will be donated from every room booked to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., Miller said.
The company plans to meet with other chefs in San Francisco to discuss future cruises, Miller said.
“There are people who would love to travel with [the chefs] who have never taken a cruise before,” Miller said. “This is a wonderful introduction for those people to the whole world of cruise ships.”
Richard said Tuesday he probably won’t have his menu figured out until March or April. He avoided cruises for years because of a fear of seasickness, but after a successful stint as chef on a cruise from Nice to Barcelona, he said he’s excited to go to Alaska.
“The best thing about a cruise is you can sit down in a restaurant and drink, and then on the way to your room no policeman is going to stop you for the amount of alcohol you’ve had,” Richard joked.
The Richard cruise packages range from around $4,550 to $17,000 depending on accommodations, Miller said; the price includes alcohol, a suite and gratuities. Armstrong’s cruise will start at around $6,000 but include air fare, he said.
