Chefs Making Waves Food Festival Plans To Set Sail Out Of Miami

Food festival fanatics, get ready, because something exciting is coming next year! Taking to the high seas, Chefs Making Waves is a brand new celebrity-filled food and wine festival that will happen over the course of four days sailing out of the Port of Miami to the Bahamas and back.

This unique festival is presented by Sixthman—known for curating experiences on both the sand and sea for the last two decades with festivals under their belt like The Rock Boat, Cayamo, and many others. They’ve announced they are teaming up with Agency 21 Consulting and EBG for the first-ever Chefs Making Waves.

This four-night all-inclusive culinary cruise will feature some of the country’s top celebrity chefs, personalities, authors, and more. Hosted by Norwegian Cruise Line, Chefs Making Waves will take place Monday, March 25 to Friday, March 29, 2024.

Passengers will get to mix, mingle with, and learn from a star-studded lineup including Michael Symon, Robert Irvine, Aarón Sánchez, Scott Conant, Marc Murphy, Buddy Valastro, Andrew Zimmern, Anne Burrell, Marcus Samuelsson, and Maneet Chauhan.

The part-cruise, part-food festival will feature walk-around tastings, cooking demonstrations, curated dinners, late-night parties, brunches, lunches, mixology experiences and more. Cruisers looking to learn a thing or two in the kitchen will love being able to grab a seat at one of the many cooking demos that will take place on board the ship. Fancy a beachside barbecue? This festival has it on the sands of Norwegian’s private island, Great Stirrup Cay.

The Pool Deck and Garden Cafe will host late-night takeover events with desserts set to a playlist from the ‘70s at the Dessert Disco, or getting their fill of everything from Mexican street tacos to savory samosas at International Street Eats; and experience the dancing, culture, and cuisine of Cuba at Cabana Cubana. Additionally, guests can plan to attend chef collab dinners every night in the dining room followed by post-dinner events including interactive culinary games and food-inspired movie screenings.

Unlike many other food festivals, this one will feature fun and interactive games that don’t just get the chefs involved, but the guests as well. For example Robert’s Culinary Chaos (hosted by Robert Irvine) is a multi-round game where guests from the crowd compete in a series of friendly food inspired games and challenges. Other games include The Chef Newly-FLAME Game where chefs and guest pairings will partake in food-related games and questions that require the duos to see how well they work together in and out of the kitchen.

Owner and Founder of A21, Brett Friedman shared that Chefs Making Waves is a collaboration that was inspired by attending the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. “We collectively had the lightbulb moment and said, we should create a culinary cruise,” says Friedman. “EBG has a tremendously successful partnership with Sixthman for the Broadway Cruise and they brought the concept to them for consideration. Everyone had an immediate meeting of the minds and we hit the ground running.”

Taking place on Norwegian’s Pearl cruise ship, guests will sail away on a 965-foot long award-winning Jewel class vessel with just over 1,000 cabins. Just like on a regular cruise guests will have access to the ship’s concierge service, spa, casino, nightlife options, and all of the bars and lounges.

The best part about this food festival that takes place out at sea is once you purchase your stateroom, you’re all set. Included in that one price, you’ll get access to all of the festivals events, plus a Premium Plus Beverage Package that includes top-shelf cocktails, spirits, beer, champagne, and wine by the glass, unlimited soft drinks and juices, unlimited still and sparkling bottled water, all Starbucks® coffee, specialty drinks, and energy drinks.

Recognizing that every guest’s preferred dining experience varies, you’ll be able to select your Nightly Celebrity Chef Dinner experience right at booking with the ability to choose an early or late seating, same or different dining venues each night, and whether you want to eat on your own or with another group you’re traveling.

The itinerary for Chefs Making Waves is as follows:

• Monday, March 25 – Depart Port of Miami
• Tuesday, March 26 – Fun Day at Sea
• Wednesday, March 27 – Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas
• Thursday, March 28 – Nassau, Bahamas
• Friday, March 29 – Arrive at Port of Miami

“Our goal is to provide guests with an immersive culinary experience unlike anything they’ve ever experienced before,” said Jeff Cuellar, Vice President of Sixthman Partnerships. “We are thrilled to partner with A21 and EBG to bring our first-ever Chefs Making Waves food cruise to life. We believe that food is an important part of any vacation experience, and we’re excited to bring together some of the most talented tastemakers in the industry aboard to offer guests the opportunity to indulge in world-class cuisine while enjoying all the amenities and entertainment that Norwegian Cruise Line has to offer.”

The first wave of pre-sale has already passed, but there’s still two chances to snag pre-sale tickets before tickets go on sale to the public on Friday, June 9 at noon EST. Interested guests are encouraged to register early to secure their spot on board as cabins are limited. Guests will be assigned an Early Booking Time (EBT) in two more waves, each with its own registration deadline window, as follows:

Second Wave Pre-Sale begins Wednesday, June 7 | Deadline to register: Monday, June 5 at 11:59 pm EST

Final Wave Pre-Sale begins Friday, June 9 | Deadline to register: Wednesday, June 7 at 11:59 pm EST

Cuellar shared that even though they’ve only been working on this project less than a year, hundreds of hours of work have gone into this journey to get here. And the team is already planning to expand this exciting idea into various culinary launches and initiatives from multiple ports in 2025.

This food-filled adventure will likely sell out quickly, so grab those tickets as soon as possible. Get your tickets here.