TRAVEL
Allura by Oceania Cruises Brings Gourmet Travel to the High Seas
by Grace Ma
12 Nov 2025
12 Nov 2025
Oceania Cruises’ newest ship Allura brings foodie adventures to new heights with fresh recipes, luxury accommodation, and cultural excursions.
Just when you think you have seen everything from the “finest cuisine at sea”, Oceania Cruises ups its tagline to another level.
Their latest 804-foot, 1,200-passenger Allura is billed as the most luxurious among the eight vessels under Oceania Cruises, a subsidiary under Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which also operates Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line. New dishes and refreshed dining spaces aside, the artwork decorating Allura is stunning, and the staterooms are among the largest of their kind on luxury liners.
During a four-night media and trade showcase cruise from Italy’s northwestern city of Genoa to northeastern Trieste, with a stop in Split, Croatia, I had a preview of the tasty meals and insightful excursions one could have on board Allura.
- A WORLD OF FLAVOURS
- FINEST ROOMS AT SEA
With 12 dining venues, including four specialty restaurants requiring reservations, I was spoilt for choice. Among my favorite dishes were the bouillabaisse and Crêpes Suzette from French restaurant Jacques, whose refreshed menu included new offerings like sea bass en croute and deviled eggs with toppings of smoked trout rillette and sturgeon caviar. There is also a new pairing luncheon with vintages from celebrated French winemaker Gerard Bertrand.
At pan-Asian Red Ginger, the famous spicy duck and watermelon salad and lobster pad thai were as good as ever. The restaurant has also rolled out new Japanese-Peruvian dishes. Must-tries included braised short ribs in the style of a lomo saltado (Peruvian beef stirfry and crispy soft-shell crab tempura in fluffy bao buns.
Buffets at all-day diner The Terrace offered variety for the undecided, while the new Creperie was the hip teatime hangout for Belgian and bubble waffles topped with Italian ice-cream sundaes. The Grand Dining Room was the place to try more than 270 new international dishes and the debut of a rare wines selection. At Italian Toscana, handmade pasta and hearty mains like tender osso buco and Dover sole sautéed in lemon and butter and finished tableside made for charming sunset dinners. Over Old-Fashioned riffs served in smoked glass domes and colourful martinis at the Founders and Martinis bars, our international media group bonded. Only wellness-inspired Aquamar Kitchen assuaged my calorie guilt with the likes of banana oat pancakes, avocado toasts with Mexican spiced prawns, and pita wraps.
Besides the sumptuous meals, there were nightly performances, art classes at the Artist Loft, and mobile photography and videography sessions at the new LYNC Digital Center. The most fun class still ended up being food-related: Executive chef Kathryn Kelly captivated us for two hours as she shared her exciting life stories while teaching us how to make cocktails, pastas, and desserts inspired by Allura’s upcoming ports of call.
At the Aquamar Spa + Vitality Center, I tried the Zero Gravity Wellness Massage, one of Allura’s specialty treatments, which involved a bed that was inclined at various angles during the massage to simulate a sense of weightless relaxation, a hilarious irony given my food intake. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself drifting off to sleep before I knew it.
- A WORLD OF FLAVOURS
- FINEST ROOMS AT SEA
Finest Rooms at Sea
Oceania recently revamped the room interiors to a lighter and brighter palette, from the 291-sq-ft Veranda Staterooms to the opulent 2,400-sq-ft Owner’s Suites. A notable change: Only the Oceania, Vista, and Owner’s Suites still have bathtubs. The rest of the rooms have theirs replaced with spacious rainforest shower cubicles. I had no complaints, but I did miss the full-length mirror for final fit checks that used to be near the front door. Otherwise, my Penthouse Suite was a cozy cocoon with neutral tones accentuated by marine-coloured textiles.
Beyond the ship, there were enticing local shore excursions. At Split, I visited the village of Radosic, where couple Marko and Ivana Škopljanac have restored 20 traditional Croatian houses to showcase over 1,700 artefacts and costumes that shed light on what life used to be like centuries ago.
Around a long table we enjoyed a simple lunch of meat soup, roast chicken, salad, and charcuterie, finishing off with addictive fritule (mini doughnuts) and grappa. Marko, his father, and his son performed the ojkalica, a form of polyphonic folk singing that is personally taught from one generation to the next. We listened quietly to the throaty melodies, raw yet hauntingly beautiful. In that moment, I discover once again how food bridges different cultures and turn strangers into friends.
For more information, visit oceaniacruises.com
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