While I’ve eaten in such far off places as China and Japan and New Zealand and multiple countries in Europe, my three most memorable dining experiences might surprise you: a restaurant literal feet from my childhood home, the Golden Corral in Las Vegas, and on a cruise ship. Let me explain.
My childhood home near Salt Lake City was nestled at the mouth of a canyon featuring some of the most acclaimed skiing in the world. It was also abutted by an exclusive French restaurant and winery called La Caille. Sadly, a coordination deficiency meant I never really learned to ski and for years all I knew of La Caille was the ornate gated entrance which we drove by multiple times a day and a stray peacock who would sometimes escape from the grounds and strut through my neighborhood snubbing his beak at us and showing off his iridescent blue and green plumage. That is, until I turned 13 and my parents took me to dinner there to celebrate. I felt so fancy in my dad’s rusty Nissan Sentra as we drove up the winding private drive. And while the number of forks was baffling, my dreams from that day forward incorporated visits home on breaks from my world singing tour where I’d swing by in my chauffeured limo and treat my parents to lunch at La Caille like it was no big deal.
Fast forward 20 years. While, shockingly, I wasn’t a famous pop star, I did ride in a chauffeured limo to another memorable dining experience: the Golden Corral in Las Vegas.
If you’re thinking, “those photos don’t look anything like the Golden Corral in [your home city],” you’re right. Those were from earlier in the evening when we spent $500 each for a twelve course tasting menu at Joël Robuchon. I offer the photos as proof that one time I wore a cocktail dress and pearls (practically unthinkable to anyone who knows the current version of me) and to drive home the point that, despite being awarded 3 Michelin Stars and being rated by numerous critics as one of the top restaurants in the U.S., the portions were so small. If you’re no good at math, let me help you out: 12 courses X 1 tiny bite per course = 12 tiny bites. $500 for 12 tiny bites. We headed back to the limo starving. To Golden Corral, Jeeves!
And that brings us to my third memorable dining experience which takes place…on a cruise ship. If I’m being honest, the dining experiences I’ve had on my dozens and dozens and dozens of cruises have never been as good in terms of quality of food and service as on land. The realities of preparing and serving meals on a cruise ship make that near impossible in my estimation. But don’t get me wrong, I LOVE cruise dining, mostly because I’m a quantity versus quality gal and I enjoy meeting servers from all over the world. And while I love unlimited starchy, carby, cheesy, salty, sugary cruise food, none of it really stands out that much from the rest (except for maybe the Indian food, which can be surprisingly excellent on cruise ships). But the 360 Dining Experience onboard my recent cruise on the Discovery Princess bumped that time I took a group of students to a bustling night market in Beijing, where they sampled a variety of fried bugs on sticks and I ate my weight in mooncakes, out of my top three most memorable dining experiences.
So…
In a few words, it’s a multi-sensory, immersive 7-course dining experience offering food, cocktails, and wines from four countries in the Mediterranean. For a more detailed description, here’s a press release my contact at Princess Press Relations sent me when it launched:
A new, invitation-only experience from Princess Cruises will soon transport guests nightly to the Mediterranean – no matter where they’re actually sailing – engaging all of their senses with the tastes, sights, sounds, touches and fragrances of the Mediterranean. The fully-immersive 360: An Extraordinary Experience is the cruise line’s most epic experience ever offered and is now available onboard Discovery Princess and coming to Enchanted Princess in late January.
With the 360: An Extraordinary Experience, guests booked in suite accommodations are invited to embark on a six senses journey showcasing the spectacular hilltops of Santorini, Amalfi Coast, Barcelona and Provence. Through synchronized authentic storytelling, imagery, music, scents, cuisine and stunning visual film, guests are introduced to local ingredients, artisans, passionate purveyors, and culinary methods simultaneously mirrored with a seven-course gourmet experience including wines that emerge from the story of each destination.
“360 is a fusion of master storytelling, world-class cuisine, visual entertainment and ground-breaking technology that manifests in what can only be described as an Extraordinary Experience,” said Princess President John Padgett. “360 is a remarkable adventure that immerses our guests into the compelling cultures and flavors of the Mediterranean in a 90-minute celebration of the senses.”
With two seatings nightly, the cloaked venue accommodates 20 guests surrounded by LED walls in a circular format that places guests into featured destinations using stunning 4K cinematography. The Mediterranean takes center stage as guests are drawn into the memories of a fellow traveler who relives her adventures and local connections made in each destination as her travel journal comes to life.
360: An Extraordinary Experience is configurable and adaptable, with the Mediterranean taking the debut spotlight. Venue personalization is enabled by the OCEAN platform, the Internet of Things platform that powers the exclusive MedallionClass on all Princess ships, and, in addition, each guest receives a unique and limited “360” Princess Medallion that is only available to guests that have participated in the Extraordinary Experience.
Beloved actress and model Brooke Shields, renowned for her extensive modeling, film and TV careers, in addition to her latest entrepreneurial project Beginning Is Now, a global digital platform and brand inspiring inspire women over the age of 40 to live their fullest lives, is the voice of Bethany, the voyager who takes guests on the sensory journey.
Well that all sounded pretty interesting, but would the reality match the carefully crafted press release? This was our 360 dining experience:
Prior to boarding, I was informed by my media contact at Princess that the manager of the 360 dining experience might be able to secure my husband and I a reservation so I could review it for the blog. But no guarantees. So I waited in suspense for several days until the phone finally rang. Normally I figure a call to my cabin can only mean one of two things: my kid’s in trouble with security or the Captain’s summoning me to his private quarters. Mind you, neither has ever actually happened mostly because I’ve threatened to take a hammer to every screen my kid owns and also his knuckles (too far?) if he ever paints the walls of a cruise ship with soft serve ice cream (ever since I saw a group of teens doing that on a Carnival cruise, it’s been my greatest parenting fear) and because if the Captain were interested in risking his career for an inappropriate tryst, he’d probably phone one of the hot dancers and not an average looking married women in her 40’s with a mystery stain on her shirt: could be chocolate, could be blood, could be barf – we’ll get to that later.
Anyway, it was the 360 manager calling to confirm our reservation for 7pm the next evening and to check on any dietary restrictions. We were in! And not just my husband and I, she extended an invitation to our 10 year-old son as well. I didn’t think kids were permitted to attend and made sure my son knew what a privilege it was: “perfect behavior or there’ll be blood on the moon!”
I mentioned that two of the three of us are vegetarians and she asked me “which two” and jotted down the names, which I found interesting and wondered why they needed to know that level of detail. Turns out there was a good reason for it (stay tuned)! We were instructed to meet our host outside of Sabatini’s and told they would accompany us to a top secret location for our dining experience.
We were greeted outside Sabatini’s a few minutes before 7 and escorted to a roped off area near the International Cafe where we had our photo take in front of a “360” backdrop. Once everyone had arrived, a special 360 cocktail was served. It was as teal as it was delicious and topped with whipped, sweetened aquafaba. For those unfamiliar with aquafaba, it’s chickpea juice. Some of us hippy dippy types have been using it as a dairy and egg substitute for years. You basically collect the “juice” from a can of chickpeas and then whip it together with some sugar. Weird? Many would think so, yes. In fact, if I tried to serve it to my mother-in-law, she’d probably plug her nose and get the tiniest amount on her upper lip so it would look like she drank some and then pour it down the sink when I wasn’t looking. But did every person in our group (most from my mother-in-law’s generation) drink it right up while raving about how delicious it was? Yep! I’m going to take that as proof that if I just live long enough eventually all my weird habits will become in vogue.
After an official welcome, we were escorted right through Sabatini’s by our host and a pair of violinists playing the most gorgeous, ethereal music. I felt like a celebrity and did my best pageant wave as we paraded past confused diners, past Sabatini’s kitchen, and into a circular space where we were shown to our individual seats at a large round table. The violinists continued to play in the center of the room as everyone was seated.
Once we’d all gathered, this magically appeared on the table in front of me:
We were treated to a total of 7 courses, 2 cocktails, and 2 glasses of wine (there were non-alcoholic beverages provided to those who didn’t drink alcohol) while taking in stunning 360 degree views from the Mediterranean and learning from local artisans and purveyors about the ingredients we were about to consume. The images projected onto the table in front us changed to fit each scene and some of them were even interactive! Hosting duties were split between Brooke Shields on the screen and our in-person host who would stand in the middle of the room and introduce each new location and course.
I don’t want to give everything away, so I’m not going to describe each dish in detail, but here are some photos of the courses we enjoyed. There was a vegetarian version offered to my son and I if the course wasn’t already vegetarian (the vegetarian version is on the right in the photos below). Other dietary restrictions can also be accommodated.
The service was carefully choreographed and seamless, with almost as many servers as guests. Our server took some time at the end of dinner to speak with us, answer any questions, and hear what we thought of the experience. I would have said more, but the dessert had rendered me speechless. They even projected the photos we’d taken at the beginning onto the walls as we were wrapping up:
Our experience concluded with the chefs entering the room to a round of applause and kisses (by me – everyone else remain composed) to the ground they’d walked in on.
I don’t really understand what a Michelin Star is or the criteria for receiving one, but I’d risk jail time to steal those 3 Michelin Stars from Joël Robuchon and award them to the 360 chefs on the Discovery Princess. That’s how much I loved it. My husband said it was his best culinary experience anywhere, ever. Land or sea. My kid was completely captivated even though his appetite wasn’t back yet following a marathon barfing session a few nights prior after overdosing on ice cream and pool water and he didn’t eat a single bite of the best meal in history (for the record, Mr. Cruise isn’t prone to exaggeration and that’s another direct quote from him). And I, despite being a pin prick away from exploding after eating my own vegetarian version of the best food in all dimensions (Mr. Cruise again, after realizing his prior descriptions were too limiting) AND my kid’s, could have gone in for a third serving of all 7 courses and died happy.
The 360 dining experience is currently available on the Discovery Princess and the Enchanted Princess.
You can’t. You just have to book a suite on the Discovery Princess or the Enchanted Princess or play a million hours in the casino and wait for “the call.” And with that…
Class Dismissed!
Homework (10 points): Ask questions or share your thoughts on the 360 dining experience to the comments. Then check out my review of the Discovery Princess.
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