Cruise with a chef on these seven Oceania voyages

Want to spend your next cruise learning from a top chef? Cooking cruise organizer Cruising with the Chefs is out with seven new voyages for 2015 and 2016 that could fit the bill.

The Naples, Fla.- and St. Louis-based organization has lined up such home town stars as Charles Mereday of Mereday's in Naples and Josh Galliano of Libertine in St. Louis to accompany participants on the sailings, which will take place on Oceania Cruises' 1,250-passenger Marina and sister ship Riviera.

The chefs will lead in-depth, culinary-themed excursions and offer cooking classes in the Bon Appetit Culinary Centers found on both vessels.

All but one of the sailings are in Europe. Mereday will be aboard a July 25, 2015 voyage from Venice to Barcelona. Galliano will sail on a Aug. 14, 2015 trip from Copenhagen to Istanbul.

Other chefs accompanying cruises include Lisa Boet of Naples' Chez Boet (a June 16, 2015 sailing from Rome to Monte Carlo), and Lou Rook of Annie Gunn's in Chesterfield, Mo. (a Sept. 14, 2015 sailing from Barcelona to Rome).

Star chef Jacques Pepin, the longtime executive culinary director at Oceania, also will lead one of the voyages (a July 7 sailing from Lisbon to Rome).

During the trips, the chefs will offer participants special access to local markets and restaurants, and they'll integrate local, fresh ingredients and indigenous culinary traditions into classes and hosted meals. Personal time with the chefs at welcome and farewell receptions, as well as at wine tastings, also are part of the program.

Fares for the sailings start at $2,899 per person, based on double occupancy and including airfare. More information is online at cruisingwiththechefs.com.

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