by Donna Heiderstadt | Dec 18, 2024
Photo: Courtesy of Silversea
A perennial complaint about cruising — mostly by people who don’t cruise — is that it’s difficult to get a true taste of a region or city when you’re only in port for eight to 10 hours at a time. But what if you could savor local ingredients and preparations onboard your ship — and book specialized shore excursions designed to explore the region’s food culture? That’s the idea behind S.A.L.T. (Sea and Land Taste), Silversea Cruises’ culinary immersion program, which is unlike any other at sea. It’s designed to celebrate the flavors of the itinerary and connect guests with the cultures of each destination via a multi-prong approach to dining and touring. Spearheaded five years ago by former Saveur magazine editor-in-chief Adam Sachs and his vast network of chefs and food experts, S.A.L.T. has evolved and grown with every new ship. I was able to sample several aspects of S.A.L.T. during a recent cruise onboard Silversea’s newest 728-guest, all-suite ship, Silver Ray. The vessel is the fourth to feature the S.A.L.T. program and the second ship in the cruise line’s innovative Nova Class. Here’s how I used the multiple food-centric offerings of S.A.L.T. to savor the flavors of Greek and Turkish cuisine as Silver Ray island-hopped on an 11-day roundtrip sailing from Athens that called on Mykonos, Rhodes, Crete, and Nafplion in Greece and Kusadasi and Bodrum in Turkey, as well as the island of Cyprus.
