BOCUSE D’OR CHEF EXPERIENCES, MASTERS OF WINE, AND OTHER CULINARY STARS TO SPICE UP CRYSTAL’S 2012 WINE AND FOOD FESTIVALS

Renowned for providing intimate access to the cream of the international culinary crop, ultra-luxe Crystal Cruises is bringing aboard esteemed chefs, wine experts, and mixologists to enlighten guests on Europe’s culinary arts and host a US$1,000/person rare wine experience, with mentors including:

• Norway’s upcoming Bocuse d’Or contender, ?rjan Johannessen, and his coach, past Bronze winner Odd Ivar Solvold, giving an insider’s peak into, and taste of, training to become the best chef in the world.

• Christian Moueix, scion of the French winemaking family behind Chateau Petrus (one of the most expensive wines in the world) and a dozen other wineries in Bordeaux and Napa.

• Hans Peter Fink, an award-winning master chef and winner of Lyon’s Bocuse d’Or.

• Doug Frost, wine author and one of only three people in the world to achieve both Master of Wine and Master Sommelier certifications.

• André Rochat, Las Vegas’s original celebrity chef (the Palms’ Alizé, Monte Carlo Hotel’s André’s, and more) and owner of one of the most extensive collections of wine, armagnacs, cognacs, vintage ports, and spirits in the world.

• Robin Kelley O’Connor, a 30-year wine expert and former Head of Wine for Christie’s Americas’.

• Dr. Patrick Farrell, a Master of Wine who has helped create instant decanters that decrease bitterness in wine and whiskey.

Complimentary cooking lessons, hands-on classes, wine tasting, cocktail-mixing instruction, and special dinner menus for all will be offered:

• 18 September: 12-day Mediterranean cruise from Istanbul to Venice on Crystal Serenity

• 17 November: 11-day Canary Island voyage from Barcelona to Lisbon on Crystal Serenity

• 14 August: 11-day Baltic/North Sea sailing from Stockholm to Dover/London on Crystal Symphony.  Moueix and Solvold will also serve as chef/wine expert hosts for this cruise’s pièce de résistance: a 7-course, US$1,000 “Ultimate Vintage Room” fete, with Moueix sharing rare wine pairings from his private collection.