Inside Belmond's $170,000 Bet On Dominique Crenn And Floating Fine Dining

Forbes

2 days ago

Aboard Belmond's Coquelicot
The only thing rarer than a three-Michelin-starred meal on water? One designed by Dominique Crenn, the first woman in the US to earn such a distinction and a regularly-nominated James Beard Award 'Best Chef' recipient. In the past month, Crenn has become the first-ever Culinary Curator for Les Bateaux Belmond—a move that places one of the world's most celebrated chefs at the helm of a high-end river cruise.
Best known for her poetic, politically charged cuisine at Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, Crenn's new role signals more than a guest chef partnership. She's curating signature menus for Belmond's Burgundy, Champagne and South of France itineraries, with dishes rooted in the regions themselves. According to Crenn, the menus celebrate 'the finest local ingredients and time-honoured techniques,' but make no mistake: this is a chef not known for simply recreating the past.
The appointment comes at a time when high-end hospitality is increasingly turning to chefs to deepen storytelling. Belmond, now part of the LVMH portfolio, has already invested heavily in experience-driven travel, from restoring vintage trains to transforming heritage properties into design-led destinations. Food, particularly food with provenance, is a logical next step. With Crenn involved, the culinary side of Les Bateaux Belmond is no longer a feature, but its main draw.
And it needs to be, because these are no ordinary cruises. The 'Epicurean Burgundy' itinerary, aboard the six-passenger Lilas, includes a week-long dining tour that amasses 12 Michelin stars across some of France's most storied kitchens. Guests begin at La Côte Saint-Jacques (two stars), before moving through Lameloise (three), Aux Terrasses (one), Georges Blanc (three), and finally Paul Bocuse (two) — a cumulative arc that tells the story of French fine dining from nouvelle cuisine to modern terroir expression. The €135,000 ($153,883) charter includes private wine tastings along the Route des Grands Crus and interiors designed to echo the soft palettes of the region's wildflowers and limestone hills.
There are no restaurant pop-ins here, either. Each meal is part of the arc. And, unlike most luxury cruise programmes, the onboard dining—shaped by Crenn's seasonal menus—is intended to hold its own against the marquee names.
Dominique Crenn
Other itineraries take a quieter approach. A new Bordeaux voyage aboard Alouette — one of the smallest boats in the fleet, with just two ensuite cabins — focuses on wine, wellness, and slow luxury. Guests travel from Agen to Castets-en-Dorthe with stops at the UNESCO-listed vineyards of Saint-Émilion, a vinotherapy session at the Caudalie spa, and a visit to Château d'Yquem, where the world's most coveted sweet wine has been produced since the 16th century. There's also a detour to the Latour-Marliac waterlily garden that inspired Monet, offering one of the few moments where this trip feels overtly romantic. Everything else is crafted for calm, competence, and access. Prices start from €41,000 ($46,739) for four guests.
For Burgundy devotees, there's 'La Semaine des Grands Crus,' a route designed to immerse guests in the region's most prestigious vineyards. Aboard Amaryllis or Fleur de Lys, travellers explore all 33 Grand Cru designations—a feat nearly impossible to recreate privately—and take part in cellar tastings at revered producers like Maison Joseph Drouhin. In Beaune, they're given rare access to the Hôtel-Dieu and a tour of Drouhin's medieval wine caves, followed by dinner onboard with Chevalier-Montrachet and Clos des Lambrays poured alongside local specialties. These charters begin at €135,000 ($153,886) for up to six guests—arguably, the sort of trip designed not for wine lovers, but for wine investors.
Some of the food available on-board
And then there's Coquelicot. This five-night cruise through Champagne includes exclusive access to Veuve Clicquot's 24km of UNESCO-protected crayères in Reims and a behind-the-scenes look at Maison Ruinart's historic Taissy vineyard. The headline, though, is a five-course dinner cooked by Ruinart's in-house chef, Valérie Radou, served on deck as the boat drifts through late-summer vines. In partnership with the world's oldest champagne house, it's priced accordingly: €150,000 ($170,979) for the full charter.
It's tempting to frame all this as a cruise programme for the ultra-wealthy—and it is—but it's also part of a broader movement within the luxury market, where status is no longer signalled through things, but through access. Who's cooking your dinner. Who's pouring your wine. Whether you're behind the scenes at Yquem or simply buying the bottle. For Belmond, which has spent the past decade refining its brand identity around art de vivre, bringing in a chef like Crenn is both an aesthetic and strategic move. LVMH has always understood how food and fashion speak the same language of aspiration. This is that, played across a culinary itinerary rather than a catwalk.
Les Bateaux Belmond river cruises
What makes the Crenn partnership especially compelling is that it avoids the trappings of most chef-collaborations. There's no 'Crenn at Sea' concept, no slapdash signature dish, no photo ops. Instead, there's a framework. She creates the menus. The boats serve them. They change with the seasons and regions. And they're designed, crucially, to support local ingredients and traditions —not just put her name on the masthead. In that sense, it's closer to a residency model than a marketing campaign.
And yet, the decision to work with Belmond is also telling. Crenn is known for working on her own terms—she doesn't court brands easily. The combination of heritage, hospitality, and quiet creativity would understandably appeal. She's long spoken about her summers in Brittany, her connection to water, and her desire to create food that reflects more than geography. For her, this partnership is as personal as it is professional.
It's not just the price tag or the chef's name that signals luxury here—it's the pacing, the sourcing, the sense that you are not being dazzled but invited in. These aren't cruises. They're moving, multi-course love letters to France. And if you can afford one, you'll likely come back more fluent in both its flavours and its philosophies.