There’s nothing like food, glorious food to get over your pandemic blues. So Oceania Cruises have taken to the kitchen, announcing a series of  updates to their revered menus. 

The Miami-based cruise line has traded wrestling with government regulations for dreaming up dishes such as caramelised duck foie gras, zuppa fagioli and tortino di cioccolata. Whether you can picture these dishes exactly or don’t know what more than half of those words mean, they still sound pretty mouth-watering. 

The Oceania Grand Dining Room has had a significant menu makeover, adding more than two dozen salivating new dishes.

These include one of the more hyphenated meals you’ll eat, French monkfish with saffron-tomato-cognac-cream sauce and wild-rice, to the extravagant carnaroli truffled risotto with smoked ricotta and the lavish veal piccata with glazed pearl onions and Parisian potatoes. 

Head to the Grand Dining Room for Sunday Brunch and the room will feel like a lonely planet guide come to life as you choose from an Asian Noodle Bar, a gourmet Taco Corner, a prepared-to-order Pasta Station, smoothie and salad bar and plenty more options from around the world. 

This is only the beginning of what passengers can now experience when the cruise line resumes in August, with the Italian restaurant Toscana adding 21 new dishes, as well as the Terrace Cafe and Waves Grill expanding their menus. 

New additions to the Toscana include agnello arrosto, which is stuffed roast lamb loin with spicy soppressata sausage, tagliolini carbonara and for dessert, tiramisú ai fruitti di bosco, which is red berry tiramisú with mascarpone cream. 

By this point you might feel a bit inundated with the names of exotic dishes, but the underlying messages is that stepping onto an Oceania Cruise will be an entirely new culinary experience when the line resumes operations. 

These menu updates were announced as the first of OceaniaNEXT enhancements, which will be a series of inspired new product enhancements for its luxury fleet. Announced alongside the menu updates were service improvements such as an electronic ordering system and increased staffing. 

Bob Binder, President and CEO of Oceania Cruises is excited about the roll out.  “We’ve undertaken this ambitious brand initiative to elevate every facet of the Oceania Cruises guest experience to new levels. From thoughtfully reimagined menus to enhanced service levels to the dramatic re-inspiration of our six ships, guests will find that the Oceania Cruises experience is better than ever.”