Next time you moan about forking out $20 or $25 to eat in a cruise ship's speciality restaurant, spare a thought for the poor souls on Silversea vessels.
On Silversea's Silver Wind (and actually all the ships in the Silversea fleet except Prince Albert II), a night out in the speciality restaurant will set you back $200 a head. Yes really. But boy, do you get a night to remember for your $200!
As you sit down you are presented with a menu bearing your name (a copy is waiting for you later in your suite) and Bharati, the excellent maitre d' and sommelier - and also a bit of a dab hand when it comes to taking photos - and Raj, the waiter in Le Champagne, start to work their magic. Between them can't do enough to make the evening really special.
And then there is the wonderful food, all carefully prepared by Ryan, chef of Le Champagne, and the excellent wines. After a welcome glass of Champagne, you launch into the food and Bharati serves a specially-picked wine to go with each course. Pouring only after explaining its finer qualities, of course.
As you can see, by the end of the evening I was disappearing behind the glasses - there were another two wines to come after this picture was taken!
I was there for the Burgundy night, but there is also a Bordeaux one, an Italian one, a North American one and a Spanish one. Menus change every two days.
Whichever you choose, Bharati won't book more than 16 people per evening, spread out over a maximum five tables, so the experience is very special. In fact, when I dined there it was just me and two friends. Brilliant.
If the $200 price tag sounds just a little too high (actually it doesn't even cover the cost of the wine), you can pay just $30 per person to enjoy the food, but with this option you also have to pay for the wine (whereas it's free everywhere else on the ship). "We have wine for $1,800 a bottle," Bharati tells me.
Makes the degustation menu sound a bargain.
Jane Archer
