Seawind to send isle chefs on faraway cooking cruises

Honolulu-based Seawind Tours & Travel Inc. is exploring a new way to set itself apart from the industry’s big players — with small, intimate, celebrity chef-led tours. This year’s inaugural ventures will feature chef-restaurateurs Beverly Gannon of Maui and Alan Wong of Honolulu. Both are founding members of the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement.

Usually a celebrity chef on a cruise ship leads the cooking for the entire ship or selected on-board restaurants. These two cruises will differ greatly, said Randy King, Seawind president.

The idea is to have a relatively small group of 50 to 60 people go on a tour "starring" the chef, so they can experience the ports of call through the chef’s eyes — and eat meals the chefs prepare with just-picked or just-purchased ingredients from a local port of call. The dining experience will be exclusively for the Seawind group.

"You don’t need to be a foodie. This is about seeing the world and being a part of something special," said King.

Gannon will lead the Tapas & Treasures Cruise to Spain, France, Italy, Turkey and Greece from Aug. 25 through Sept. 6, and she’s excited about it.

"I’ve never been to Barcelona," she said. "I’m doing major homework on Barcelona, so on the first day of me showing people the food end of the city, it’ll be a cool learning experience for all of us."

Gannon has been to Bonifacio and Corsica, France, three times; she used to go to Athens while in her 20s, "eating souvlaki and feta cheese omelets."

She visits flower markets, food markets and food halls when she travels, and explores to find "the best place to get" this or that — and it needn’t be high-end, she said.

"One of the best meals I ever had" was served in a small cafe between Cannes and Portofino, run by the woman whose son ran an adjoining auto repair shop, Gannon said. The lunch she fixed for Gannon and companions included homemade pappardelle pasta that she fetched down from atop "a really old refrigerator."

That is the type of experience she hopes her fellow travelers will have, whether or not they consider themselves foodies.

"It’s interesting to get out there and really see where things come from — where food that we eat here, where it comes from."

"We really don’t know spaghetti," she noted. In America it’s "way oversauced and overcooked."

"I just think it’s going to be a whole lot of fun."

The Connoisseur’s Cruise with Chef Alan Wong, Nov. 4-18, will take travelers to Venice, Sicily, Naples, Rome and Florence, Italy; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Rhodes and Athens, Greece; Ephe­sus, Turkey; Valletta, Malta; Provence, France; and Barcelona, Spain.

Wong could not be reached, but "he wants to mingle" with the group, King said. And mingle he will, at a bon voyage cocktail party departing Venice, a barbecue and other events aboard the Celebrity Reflection, for which it will only be the third sailing.

Seawind does all the typical travel agency things one might expect, and through its corporate travel accounts, also wound up handling personal travel for some captains of industry.

The company led a tour to Belgium and Rome for the canonization of St. Damien in 2009, a task that included preparation of personalized itineraries for 535 travelers, many of whom had special medical needs.

The Kona Music Society and Windward Chorale Society will take a June tour during which members perform in cathedrals, including the historic Church of St. Stephen in Prague, Czech Republic.

On all such trips, Seawind works to fit in as many cultural experiences as possible, "because this could be the only time they go," King said.

The company also has made a name for itself leading school groups, including bands, to far-flung places for events and performances. Mililani High School students went to China with Seawind and this year will be going to Italy. Seawind also was the travel provider when the Punahou School band performed in London.

As do many travel agencies, Seawind provides service for those coming to Hawaii. At the same time, "I love to take kids and adults from Hawaii to see the world," said King. "We try to put together trips of a lifetime."

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On the Net:

» www.seawindtours.com/chefalanwong

» www.seawindtours.com/chefbevgannon