An Epicurean Expedition Cruise with Atlas Ocean Voyages

For Those Passionate About Food…Yet Hunger for More

In Sete, France, I slurp briny, lemon-spritzed oysters and sample tender octopus encased in a fluted, golden pastry crust.  At a charming outdoor café in Barcelona, I delight in crisp and creamy ham-studded croquetas while sipping a rioja produced at a vineyard nearby.  In Sardinia, tender clams over linguini and ruby-colored seared tuna mark the beginning of a decadent oceanfront lunch that stars a massive fresh-caught red snapper, fileted tableside and surrounded by juicy cherry tomatoes and piquant local olives. High in the White Mountains of Crete, the chef of a rustic farm-to-table kitchen hands me a spoon and invites me to stir the concoction of snails that bubble in the traditional clay pot that rests above the blazing flame of his outdoor wood stove.

These magical culinary experiences—and so many more—are part of my 12-day Mediterranean Epicurean Expedition aboard the 198-guest World Traveller, one of three ships operated by Atlas Ocean Voyages. This five-year-old cruise line now applies the educational and highly immersive “expedition” concept to the world of gastronomy.

Atlas Ocean Voyages’ Epicurean Expeditions celebrate a region’s culture, cuisine, wine, and more with an inspiring schedule of activities both aboard and ashore.  Expert lecturers, chefs, and winemakers bring guests the culinary equivalent of “the story behind the song,” delving into the region’s fascinating history of ingredients and traditions to deliver a better understanding of the area’s local cuisine and customs.  It is the perfect expedition for those who are passionate about extraordinary food…yet hunger for more.

Epicurean Experts

We sail from Civitavecchia, heading to culinary hot spots in Italy, Spain, France, Menorca, and Greece.  Mara Papatheodorou, previously travel editor at Bon Appetit Magazine, prepares us for the journey with a talk that emphasizes how the sun, the sea, and the soil have shaped so much of the region’s most revered foods and flavors.  We are introduced to the role the church played in the bread and wine of the region and hear about the purity of the sea salt we will see in the flats of Trapani.  We learn why those of us who require gluten-free bread and pasta in the United States can feast freely on the real thing in Italy (it’s the pure semolina flour) and the luscious impact that the region’s volcanic soil has on the humble cherry tomato.  We see that in the past five years, many winemakers have returned to aging grapes in the same type of clay pots that ancient monks used so as to eliminate the preservatives and sulfites that appear with modern techniques.

Mara, World Traveller guests quickly learn, isn’t considered a Master Foodie for nothing.  Her ability to highlight and interpret the connection between culture and cuisine through facts, flavors, flair and folklore is even more dazzling than her uncanny ability to remember every World Traveller guest’s first name!

In the days ahead, Mara joins World Traveller’s special gastronomic experts and accompanies culinary-themed shore excursions to provide clarification of technical processes that many culinary professionals take for granted, adding details of particular interest to the largely American audience.

On our sailing, Academia Barilla Executive Chef Marcello Zaccaria personifies Italian cuisine with his charming accent, his objection to the word “macaroni” as a general term, and his insistence upon the use of small basil leaves, pine nuts from Pisa, olive oil from Liguria and hand-rolled trofie-style pasta for his Pesto alla Genovese. In the ship’s elegant Atlas Lounge, Chef Zaccaria prepares his pesto (all ingredients chilled to maintain the vivid green color) and, after, spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, and red chili hot pepper.   Many of us are surprised to see Chef Zaccaria leave the parsley stalks in the simmering olive oil for additional flavor and place the dried spaghetti strands directly atop the simmering olive oil mixture, gradually adding water until the strands are al dente.  After a taste of each mouth-watering dish, we leave with the recipes and later, at dinner, find Chef Zaccaria at a live cooking station preparing another masterpiece:  his Pasta alla Norma, a rich mixture of fried eggplant, tomato, grated ricotta salata cheese, and basil.

It at first seems curious that an Epicurean Expedition in Mediterranean waters features Julieta Davey, known as Chef Mama Cacao, who spends most of her time in Costa Rican jungles crafting exquisite chocolates.  We watch her temper chocolate, enjoy the desserts she creates at dinner, and, at a tasting, sample her rich, dark—sometimes bitter—bars the proper way:  first smelling the rich chocolaty aroma, sucking the sample shard and finally positioning it to melt on the roof of our mouths to evaluate texture.  We peel steaming roasted cacao beans, and I participate in a chocolate Yachtsman Cook Off (which I lose spectacularly when I add a ton of sea salt to my dish, believing it’s powdered sugar).  Chocolate, as anyone who has savored Ferrero, Perugina, Chocolates Valor or Valrhona knows, is a popular Mediterranean treat. Yet, like coffee beans, which are also vital to Mediterranean life, cacao is simply not grown locally.  Enter Mama Cacao, who shares with us the grueling and exacting process required to transform these almond-like cacao beans into the sweet chocolate indulgences that are so popular throughout the Med.

Unlike many culinary-focused sailings, World Traveller offers an abundance of epicurean activity on board.  Most days feature multiple culinary events, from wine tastings like ours with representatives of the award-winning Sicilian Colosi vineyards to hilarious Yachtsman Cookoffs, cooking demos, local honey tastings, Q&A sessions, and more.

Epicurean Excursions

The cows and goats at the Subaida Cheese Farm in Menorca don’t smell too good but the farm’s cheese and sausage are sublime!  This tasting is only one facet of Flavors of Menorca, a multi-pronged excursion that kicks off with a walking tour of the charming fishing village of Fornells, soars to Monte Toro, the tallest hill of Menorca and the site of the 1670 Virgin del Toro sanctuary and concludes with a stop at Xoriguer Gin Distillery where I discover I DO like gin, at least their lemon variety.

World Traveller’s Epicurean Expedition doesn’t stop when the ship arrives shoreside.  Instead, the culinary celebration intensifies as guests delve into the local flavors—literally—with epicurean-themed excursions offered at nearly every port:  Wine and Marsala in Trapani…Culture & Gastronomy in Portoferraio…Vermouth tasting in Sete…A winery visit in Crete.  And more. 

While most tours are optional and reasonably priced (excursions outside of the gastronomic world are offered as well, World Traveller offers occasional complimentary experiences like our epicurean cultural immersion in Nice—a delightful evening of local delicacies, cocktails and music held at the AC Marriott Hotel’s luxe rooftop venue that overlooks the celebrated Promenade des Anglais and the sparkling sea beyond.

Epicurean Excellence

You can learn a lot about a ship’s culinary standards by shopping with the chef, another complimentary, epicurean adventure offered during our sailing.

We’re at a local market in Messina, and I’m standing beside World Traveller Executive Chef Valeriu Surugiu, who has the same ticked-off look on his face that I get when I want to make guacamole and all the avocados in the store are rock hard.  Yet we’re in front of what I consider a gorgeous display of fresh fish, so I’m baffled.  “What’s the problem??” I ask Chef Surugiu, and he tersely replies, “The fish isn’t on ice.  I’d never buy this.”  And just like that, the group skedaddles, heading to Mercato Sant’ Orsolo, a more acceptable market brimming with beautiful olives, cheeses, fruits, and seafood—this time on plenty of ice.

Chef Surugiu, a 28-year-old Romanian who bears a striking resemblance to Leonardo DiCaprio, is already a culinary veteran of a number of riverboats as well as Viking Ocean Cruises.  In addition to maintaining the quality and variety of dishes that World Traveller’s demanding Epicurean Expedition foodie-focused guests demand, this young chef oversees the ship’s “zero-waste” concept, an effort to eliminate food waste through the creation of new dishes and new menus, recycling even onion skin into onion powder to keep it out of the landfill and treating crew to any of the ship’s glorious buffet and galley leftovers.

“By the end of a sailing,” Chef Surugiu assures me, “All of our food is gone.” 

And having dined exquisitely aboard World Traveller for 12 days, that doesn’t surprise me a bit.

Atlas Ocean Voyages’ World Traveller

Atlas Ocean Voyages’ 10,000 grt World Traveller was launched in 2022, the second ship of Atlas’ three-ship fleet that is best known for its exploration of the world’s polar regions.  With Epicurean Expeditions, Atlas takes the highly-immersive and educational concept of the more familiar “expedition” and applies it to the gastronomic world in regions like the Mediterranean.

Like her sister ships World Navigator and World Voyager, World Traveller can’t be further from the “expedition ship” image of a rugged no-frills vessel employed for scientific research.  World Traveller is a luxurious (though certainly not dressy), all-inclusive (unlimited beverages, gratuities, room service and more) experience that features all the elegant trappings of a high-end cruise experience, including stunning contemporary interiors adorned with spotlit prints and artwork that pay homage to ocean liners of yesteryear.

Aboard World Traveller, guests find a swimming pool, hot tub, and ample deck chairs, the L’occitane Sea Spa offering facial, massage, and other treatments, a fitness studio as well as an outdoor running/walking track with exercise stations, and a theatre.  Looking for a tipple?  The 7Aft Grill is located poolside, while The Dome observation lounge and the Atlas Lounge provide a vast menu of wine, beer and cocktail options.  Heck, Atlas Ocean Voyages’ ships even offer 24-hour bar room service!

Dining—of particular importance to the foodies sailing Atlas’ Epicurean Expeditions—offers varied, sumptuous breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus (including many vegan options) served at the lovely Lisboa Restaurant or al fresco lunch and dinner at 7Aft Grill.  The grab-and-go fan will love Paula’s Pantry, a casual nook that’s ideal for a quick coffee (a vast variety!), creamy yogurt, home-made healthy oat bars, and pastries at breakfast, and a selection of sandwiches, quiches, and daily specialties at lunch—don’t miss the fat, salt sprinkled pretzels!

Most staterooms aboard World Traveller fall into the Veranda Deluxe and Horizon Deluxe categories.  While both measure a comfortable 300 square feet (and both include a gorgeous marble bathroom and spa-like shower with rain head and hand-held shower fixtures as well as body jets), the Horizon Deluxe Stateroom offers a top-drop Juliette balcony which allows more living space. In contrast, the Veranda option includes a traditional balcony with two chairs and an end table.  All staterooms include Nespresso coffees and Kusmi teas, L’occitane amenities, a wall-mounted TV, binoculars, a stocked mini-fridge, a sitting area, and a fabulous Atlas water bottle and high-end backpack that are yours to keep!

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