Bon Appetit Culinary Center onboard Oceania’s Marina

One of the unique features of Oceania Cruises’s new stunning Marina is the Bon Appetit Culinary Center. Guests can sign up for hands-on cooking classes. On a recent cruise I enjoyed a two-hour class with Bon Appetit chef Kathryn Kelly, who did a masterful job of managing the program, and “students.” Kathryn is still testing the program, as the center is the first of its kind at sea.

At the $49 class, nearly two dozen of us went thru the paces of making Jacques Pepin recipes for mushroom crostini, grilled and glazed salmon, and mashed potatoes… all from scratch. The experience was fun and educational, as Kathryn not only talked about proper knife technique and differences in olive oils, but also paired our meal with a lovely sauvignon blanc at the end, (a pairing I wouldn’t have considered for a salmon in a brown sugar and soy glaze).

The only downfall, so to speak, was we weren’t considering having yet another meal in between breakfast and lunch on this spectacular new ship!