Overview

Hosts: Pam Starr of Crocker & Starr Winery and Chef Ken Frank of La Toque in Napa Valley, California
Planned Complimentary Activities: dinner in Le Champage, 2 receptions, 2 dinners, cooking demonstration, food and wine pairing  and a wine tasting
Special Offers: Onboard Spending Credit ($500 per person, max $1,000 per suite)
9 days (May 7 to 16, 2012) aboard the Silver Wind

This is the first Silversea cruise for both Pam Starr and Chef Ken Frank.  This exquisite 9-day sailing begins with an overnight in the heart of  Venice. We then sail  along the Dalmatian Coast to 3 of Greece’s most enchanting islands and 3 memorable ports in Turkey, through the Bosporus before disembarking in fascinating Istanbul.  At sea, we’ll cherish our luxurious accommodations and offer private receptions, dinners, cooking demonstrations and wine tastings.  This culinary and wine voyage is certain to be a delight that you won’t want to miss!

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Itinerary

Date	Day	Port	Arrive	Depart
May 7, 2012	Mon	Venice, Italy		11:00 PM
May 8, 2011	Tue	Venice, Italy		5:00 PM
May 9, 2012	Wed	Day at Sea
May 10, 2012	Thur	Corfu, Greece	8:00 AM	11:00 PM
May 11, 2012	Fri	Day at Sea
May 12, 2012	Sat	Santorini, Greece	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
May 13, 2012	Sun	Kusadasi, Turkey	8:00 AM	11:00 PM
May 14, 2012	Mon	Mykonos, Greece	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
May 15, 2012	Tue	Cannakale, Turkey	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
May 16, 2012	Wed	Istanbul, Turkey	7:00 AM

Pricing

Suite Categories	Published Fares	Cruise Only/No Air
Owner’s 2 Suite	$42,895*	$16,199*
Grand 2 Suite	$39,895	$14,999*
Royal 2 Suite	$38,395	$14,399*
Owner’s 1 Suite	$34,895	$12,999*
Grand 1 Suite	$30,395	$11,199*
Royal 1 Suite	$28,895	$10,599*
Silver Suite	$27,395	$9,999*
Medallion	$22,795	$8,099
Midship Veranda	$15,995	$5,399*
Veranda Suite	$15,195	$5,099
Vista Suite	$12,195	$3,899*

*Fares are per person based on double occupancy.  Rates increase as ship fills.
Single Occupancy starting at: Vista – 200%; Veranda – 200%. Single, Triple or 2-bedroom rates available on request.

*wait list available.  Silversea’s Promotional flights for this voyage are sold out.  The above listed fares includ an air credit.

Port Descriptions

Venice is a city in northern Italy known both for tourism and for industry, and is the capital of the region Veneto.  The name is derived from the ancient people of Veneti that inhabited the region as of 10th century B.C. The city historically was the capital of the Venetian Republic. Venice has been known as the “La Dominante”, “Serenissima”, “Queen of the Adriatic”, “City of Water”, “City of Masks”, “City of Bridges”, “The Floating City”, and “City of Canals”. Luigi Barzini, writing in The New York Times, described it as “undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man”. Venice has also been described by the Times Online as being one of Europe’s most romantic cities.

Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands. The island is connected to the history of Greece from the beginning of Greek mythology. Its Greek name, Kerkyra or Korkyra, is related to two powerful water symbols: Poseidon, god of the sea, and Asopos, an important Greek mainland river. According to myth, Poseidon fell in love with the beautiful nymph Korkyra, daughter of Asopus and river nymph Metope, and abducted her. Poseidon brought Korkyra to the hitherto unnamed island and, in marital bliss, offered her name to the place: Korkyra.

Santorini are islands that are the remnants of a volcanic caldera located in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from Greece’s mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name. It forms the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands, with an area of approximately 73 km² (28 sq mi)

Kuşadası is a resort town on Turkey’s Aegean coast and the center of the seaside district of the same name in Aydın Province.

Mykonos is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos.

Çanakkale is a town and seaport in Turkey, in Çanakkale Province, on the southern (Asian) coast of the Dardanelles.The city is the nearest major town to the site of ancient Troy. The “wooden horse” from the 2004 movie Troy is exhibited on the seafront. Çanakkale is the second city to be situated on two continents after Istanbul.

Istanbul historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople is the largest city in Turkey. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural, economic, and financial centre of Turkey.  It is located on the Bosphorus Strait and encompasses the natural harbour known as the Golden Horn, in the northwest of the country. It extends both on the European (Thrace) and on the Asian (Anatolia) sides of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world that is situated on two continents. Istanbul is a designated alpha world city.

Pam Starr Full Bio

Pam Starr - Owner and Winemaker, Crocker & Starr

Pam Starr has been the co-owner, manager and winemaker of Crocker & Starr since its inception in 1997 when she helped resurrect the vineyards on the Crocker Estate in St. Helena and established a winery to create world-class wines. After toiling as a winery employee for 18 years, Pam’s transformation at a relatively young age into owner, manager and winemaker was unique and remarkable. It required a special mix of skill, passion and dedication. All of which describe Pam Starr.

Pam’s love affair with winemaking began as a harvest intern for Sonoma Cutrer in Sonoma after graduating from the University of California at Davis in 1984 with a degree in Fermentation Science. Headed down a different path, the daughter of an orthopedic surgeon who was planning to go to dental school quickly switched gears. Attracted by the fast pace, the pleasures of working the land and the wine itself, Pam knew she’d found her calling. “I was simply smitten – the way one is when falling madly in love. Winemaking is mysterious, it’s sexy, it’s magical.” And it’s been her life since.

After the internship, Pam worked for Edna Valley Vineyard in San Luis Obispo stacking barrels for a season. Her dream of becoming a winemaker began to take shape. For the next six years she was an enologist and assistant winemaker for Carmenet Winery in Sonoma, a job that taught her how to run a winery from cellar to bottle. In 1991, she became the winemaker for Spottswoode Vineyard & Winery in Napa Valley where she worked until she and Charlie Crocker established Crocker & Starr and she built the foundation of the business. At the same time Crocker & Starr opened its doors, Pam began wine consulting for Adastra Vineyard in the Carneros, Gemstone Vineyard in Yountville and Garric Cellars of Calistoga, among others.

Passionate about translating terroir into wine, Pam is known for her distinctive Bordeauxstyle blends that express a deep sense of place. For this enthusiastic and inspired winemaker who views her job as translating soil into wine, great wine must taste of the sun, of the earth it comes from and of the place it grows.

Pam is a member of the Napa Valley Vintners, Appellation St. Helena, American Society of Enology and Viticulture, Concierge Alliance Napa Valley and Wine Entre Femme, an international consortium of women winemakers. She is married, lives in Napa and embraces mountain biking, scuba diving, water skiing, sailing, gardening and motorcycling wine roads with her husband. Pam’s dog Griffin, a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, is her loyal vineyard companion.

Ken Frank Full Bio

Ken Frank, the chef-proprietor of La Toque restaurant in the Napa Valley town of Rutherford, has spent more than two- thirds of his life in the kitchen. At 21, he was a celebrity chef in Los Angeles, the demanding and perfectionist enfant terrible of nouvelle cuisine. By the age of 24, he owned his own restaurant, the original La Toque on Sunset Boulevard, which he ran for 15 years. Then, after more than two decades of critical acclaim and 100-hour weeks in the heady but fickle spotlight of LA, he relocated to Napa in 1998 and opened the new La Toque in a space leased from the Rancho Caymus Inn. Says Frank, “I didn’t want what I had to deal with in Los Angeles anymore—people who came in and wanted everything their way: a meal of grilled vegetables, with no sauce and no dessert and maybe a little diet soda.” In a small northern California town, he doesn’t have to worry about people coming to his restaurant to see and be seen; they come to eat. For a lifelong food fanatic, it was the ultimate lifestyle move.

What have become standards in today’s finest restaurants—combining classic technique with the freshest local ingredients, constantly changing menus, and designing menus around a single ingredient such as truffles, garlic, or foie gras—Frank has been doing since the 1970s. He has always felt the importance of the food far outweighed the need for theatrics or eye-catching ambience, and that holds true at La Toque. The space feels like a French country inn, open and unadorned, with one wall dominated by a large stone fireplace. Flower arrangements by his wife, Sherylle, provide splashes of color, but the overall impression is still one of a clean canvas upon which the chef will perform his artistry. The waiters, many of whom followed Frank from Los Angeles, are skilled, knowledgeable, and very accommodating. They seem as happy to be there as he is.

The menu is a five-course prix fixe offering, providing guests with a couple of choices for each course. Selections have included New England spotted skate wing with Zante currants, seared artisan foie gras with fresh corn polenta and chanterelles, oxtail ragout with Reggiano flan, and wild Atlantic striped bass with lobster Cabernet sauce. Controlling the size of the offering and changing it weekly allows the chef to pursue his passion for innovation. There are Mediterranean influences in some dishes and Japanese in others, born of his own love for sushi.

Each year, in season, the chef also offers his renowned Truffle Menus. They begin in November with the white truffles from Alba, then shift to black truffles in January as they appear on the scene. Last year, drought decimated the supply and quality of white truffles, so Frank simply cancelled the menu. In short, he cooks what he wants, when he wants. “Moving to Napa Valley was the smartest thing I’ve ever done,” says Frank. “La Toque is doing fine here. I couldn’t have this kind of restaurant just anywhere.”

The wine list already has over 900 selections, featuring the best of France, Napa, and Sonoma, but it continues to grow quickly as Frank explores the possibilities of his wine country locale. He refers to La Toque as a “wine restaurant,” a place where exploring and experimenting with great food and wine is not just possible, but encouraged. In fact, the optional four-glass wine pairing offered with the dinner menu provides ample support for this philosophy. The choices are bold and eclectic but unerringly successful.

One way of looking at Ken Frank’s move to Rutherford is that he was fleeing the nonstop pressures of the Los Angeles restaurant scene. But he wasn’t running away from anything. Rather, he was moving toward what, for him, had always mattered most—the food. It was the move of a man mature and confident in his talent, one who is clear about the environment required to let that talent shine. And if that means that people have to plan a little more and travel a little farther to enjoy one of his meals, that’s fine with him. Ken Frank knows that sometimes you have to go the distance to find just what you want.