Cook up a storm on these cruises

Cooking fans, take note: Oceania Cruises is expanding its culinary offerings with new classes in its shipboard culinary centers.

Oceania says the classes will debut in April on the 1,250-passenger Marina and sister ship Riviera and include a special two-day culinary immersion program and a session focused on the life and legacy of French chef Jacques Pépin. Pepin has had a long association with the line.

Oceania's Marina and Riviera are home to the first culinary centers at sea, equipped with individual induction cook top work stations. Graduates of the Culinary Institute of America teach classes in the centers during voyages.

The new offerings include a Culinary School Immersion Program on select itineraries that is designed to improve the skills of home chef by focusing on essential techniques. Participants will learn about creating basic sauces, grilling, preparing vegetables and other culinary skills over two days of morning and afternoon instruction.

The immersion program will include a competition where teams of four passengers are paired together to prepare a dish that is judged by the faculty and executives from the shipboard culinary team.

Other additions include new Gourmet Explorer Series classes that focus on regional cuisine from Morocco, Peru, the Pacific Northwest and other destinations. Depending on the itinerary, classes range from 45 minutes to three hours.

For a deck-by-deck look at Oceania's Riviera, including its culinary center, click through the carousel below.