Walking on-board the Emerald Princess, I admired the 19 deck cruise ship with almost 900 glass balconies attached the 1,539 guest rooms. What makes this ship extra special is Executive Chef Curtis Stone’s fine dining restaurant SHARE. It’s featured on only three Princess Cruises ships, to provide passengers an celebrity chef culinary experience while at sea.

Chef Curtis Stone creates an inviting dining room with walls of glass windows for ocean view dining in an opulent setting. Inside a private dining room are photos of Stone and memorabilia, including his first recipe Orange Cake that he wrote out in crayon. Families or loved ones celebrating a special occasion will appreciate the finest farmers market ingredients, ultra premium meats, seafood and beautifully executed desserts.

Curtis Stone is an award-winning chef, restaurateur and author. He began his cooking career in his homeland of Australia and later honed his skills at Michelin-starred restaurants in London under renowned chef Marco Pierre White. His first solo restaurant in the United States is Maude in Beverly Hills, CA. It opened in 2014 to rave reviews from numerous culinary publications.

While meeting Princess Cruises Marketing & Sales Head Gordon Ho on-board Emerald Princess, I learned that while he was dining at Curtis Stone’s Maude, he had an epiphany to open a similar culinary experiences on some of the Princess Cruises ships. When he approached Chef Curtis Stone about his idea, Stone embraced it and they moved forward quickly meeting the Princess culinary team and working together in the ship’s kitchen.

Besides Maude (named after his beloved grandmother), Curtis opened another restaurant in Hollywood Gwen Butcher Shop & Restaurant. He incorporates the recipes and meats from this restaurant to his six course menu at SHARE by Curtis Stone.

Guests will enjoy Nduja (spicy, spreadable pork salumi from Italy) with Duck Speck to top on slices of Epi Baguette for a starter. The salad course is Kanpachi Crudo with avocado puree and shredded almonds. The pasta dishes are made fresh daily. The day I dined, Stone and his team made a heavenly Ricotta Cavatelli with Brussels sprouts leaves, beets and sunchokes. Course four is soup of the day, a lobster bisque with pieces of lobster and minced shallots. The main course Duroc Pork Chop is served with broccoli puree and carrots. Dessert is a decadent Toffee Cheesecake with dried apple chips and grapes soaked in a red wine reduction.

For those with dietary restrictions, Stone and his team make a vegetarian-friendly menu that includes Tomato and Burrata, Ricotta Cavatelli, Corn Veloute soup, Braised Lentils, and Toffee Cheesecake.

Princess Cruises and Curtis Stone make a great team. Even though Stone has appeared on a number of top rated programs including Take Home Chef (TLC), Top Chef Masters (Bravo), and Food Network’s All-Star Academy. He is also a New York Times bestselling author with six cookbooks, his most recent titled Good Food, Good Life, and is a regular contributor to several magazines and television shows in the United States and Australia.

Needing to get away with his family, they took a Princess Cruise vacation last summer through Asia and enjoyed the Princess Promise #ComeBackNew.

To cruise on one of the Princess Cruises and experience SHARE by Curtis Stone, go to https://www.princess.com