He and the guests are in Uluru as part of SALT (Sea and Land Taste),a Silversea Cruises program that gives guests a chance to have more meaningful food and drink experiences.
You’re right to think that Uluru is not on the coast,so to get the diners to the Red Centre,Silversea chartered two planes from Darwin,where the ship is docked. Guests stay at the Sails in the Desert hotel and visit Uluru,experience art installationField of Light and a show by First Nations performers.
Silversea was launched in 1994 as the first all-inclusive,luxury global cruise line,but this shore excursion is an extra cost. It’s proved popular regardless,prompting the company to introduce an Asian program earlier this year alongside its mature northern hemisphere offering.
This was the first Australian SALT event,but there are more planned.
SALT sees guests foraging for wild plants in Iceland,visiting Welsh vineyards,doing cooking classes in Northern Ireland and diving into Latvian food during a tour of a Riga market with a top chef. In Japan,guests watch artisans make Japanese knives,and in Singapore,they visit a private home with one of the country’s most impressive collections of Peranakan artefacts.
SALT was conceived by three-time James Beard Foundation Journalism Award winner Adam Sachs,the former editor-in-chief of US magazineSaveur. He also wrote forBon Appetit.
The excursions complement the on-board programs,which include cooking classes,a bar and a restaurant whose drinks and dishes constantly change to reflect the ship’s specific location.
It’s ambitious,but Silversea’s travelling fleet executive chef,Anne-Mari Cornelius,says that,much like the land-based excursions,the evolving menus give guests a more genuine sense of place,as if they were travelling through the countryside rather than skirting the coast.
Sarah Norris travelled courtesy of Silversea.