Oceania Cruises has formally welcomed its newest vessel, Oceania Allura, during a pierside ceremony in Miami that introduced an unconventional approach to the maritime tradition of naming a ship. The company appointed a collective of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs—Tavel Bristol-Joseph, Katie Button, Calvin Eng, Aisha Ibrahim, George Mendes and Lawrence “LT” Smith—to serve jointly as godparents. The chefs carried out the customary act of breaking a bottle of Champagne over the bow, signifying safe passage for the ship and her future guests.
The celebration began with a shipwide reception and dinner before attendees moved ashore for the naming event. Remarks were delivered by senior Oceania Cruises executives, including Chief Luxury Officer Jason Montague and Chief Commercial Officer Nathan Hickman, along with Food & Wine publisher Tom Bair. Guests subsequently returned to the vessel for a short inaugural sailing, a three-day round trip from Miami.
The ceremony drew notable figures from the culinary and cruise sectors, among them former Oceania godmothers Giada De Laurentiis, Cat Cora and Claudine Pépin. Montague noted that the company viewed Miami—its home port—as a fitting setting to introduce the ship, and he indicated that the selection of Food & Wine’s chefs as godparents reflected the line’s long-standing culinary partnerships. Bair observed that the collaboration between the publication and Oceania Cruises was grounded in shared values of craftsmanship and culinary excellence, and he suggested that naming the Best New Chefs collective as godparent underscored the line’s commitment to the future of gastronomic innovation at sea.
Oceania Allura enters service with an inaugural season spanning more than 90 destinations on voyages ranging from one to five weeks. A sister ship to Oceania Vista, launched in 2023, the 791-foot vessel becomes the eighth ship in the fleet. She accommodates 1,200 guests at double occupancy and carries a crew complement proportioned to maintain the line’s focus on culinary and service standards. Allura features what the line describes as the most spacious standard staterooms in the sector, each exceeding 290 square feet.
The dining programme includes twelve venues, among them the Grand Dining Room, which debuts 270 new recipes across all meals, and the Crêperie, an entirely new concept offering French crêpes, waffles and gelato sundaes. The ship also reintroduces Jacques, the line’s signature French restaurant named for Chef Jacques Pépin. The refreshed menu reflects a collaboration between Pépin and the line’s current Executive Culinary Directors, Alexis Quaretti and Eric Barale, combining new dishes with long-established favourites first presented when the venue debuted on Oceania Marina.