Culinary Cruise on board the Celebrity Eclipse – Savor Your Destination – Part 1

There are four premium specialty restaurants in this area.  Murano serves Contemporary French Cuisine, Qsine calls its offerings “Uniquely Unordinary” and it is best described as delightful small plates and tastings from around the globe presented with a dramatic flair.  Tuscan Grille is their Italian Steakhouse with beautiful views of the sea while you dine.  Blu offers a lighter and healthier spa menu and is exclusive for those guests with their special AquaClass package.  All of the menus for the ship are created by James Beard nominated Chef Jacques Van Staden.  We dined at three of the four specialty restaurants and found the food and service was excellent.  The wait staff was incredibly attentive to each guest’s needs and made every effort to create an enjoyable dining experience.

Our evening at Murano was truly spectacular

The stunning main dining room, Moonlight Sonata, covers two levels with a sweeping staircase and is home to an impressive wine tower by renowned designer, Adam Tihany. This tower holds 1800 bottles of wine.  This outstanding collection includes selections from every major wine-producing region in the world; among which are Rare Vintages, California Rare Cult Wines, and Grand Cru Champagnes.

A special brunch was served one day on the ship in Moonlight Sonata

Since we were on board to experience the Celebrity Savor Your Destination activities and dining, most everything we did revolved around food and wine.  There were culinary displays and cooking demonstrations with the guest chef, Dena Marino and the ship’s Executive Chef, German Rijo. We also attended a cooking class with Chef Marino at Murano (more to come on that) and a Connoisseur Wine Dinner one evening starting at Cellar Masters wine bar and proceeding to Tuscan Grill.

Christmas in the Caribbean

We became quite partial to Michael’s Club, which is an intimate bar very close to these specialty restaurants.  It was elegant and clubby and perfect to enjoy a glass of wine before dinner or an after dinner drink later in the evening.  In addition, there were a number of scotch, bourbon and Irish Whiskey tastings at Michael’s Club.  Maila was quite knowledgeable and led us through the various tastings.  We enjoyed being able to stop in and visit her in such a warm, quiet and inviting atmosphere.

Michael’s Club was a favorite destination and Maila welcomed us each evening.

Maila provided additional thoughts as we tasted

Jameson Irish Whiskey Tasting – A side by side comparison

Cellar Masters was another favorite and host to several special wine events.  This beautiful wine bar offers a wide range of wines from around the world.  The selection is quite impressive from value wines to Premier Cru’s served from Enomatic machines.  One afternoon we attended a wine tasting with wines from several different countries.  They also had a Riedel Comparative Wine Crystal Workshop, explaining and comparing the difference between drinking wine served in Riedel crystal versus other stemware.

Nikola Lukac, a Sommelier at Cellar Masters

Excellent wines are available by the glass at Cellar Masters

Wine tastings and the Riedel event at Cellar Masters