(Related: How Genting Group Scion Loui Lim Is Putting His Own Stamp On The Family Business) 

Chef Li, an interior designer by training from Australia’s Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, has loved calligraphy and painting since he was a child. But his deepest passion is for Chinese Imperial Cuisine. In 1985, he helped his father Li Shanlin, a professor in mathematics, start the first Family Li Imperial Cuisine in Beijing. This was followed by a second restaurant in Melbourne, Australia in 1991.

His third restaurant in Roppongi, Tokyo was awarded a coveted two Michelin stars. Since then he has opened other branch restaurants in Paris, Taipei, Shanghai, Tianjin and a new outlet in the Shunyi District in Beijing, where the multi-talented chef himself took charge of its interior design.

What is even more unique about the culinary craft of Chef Li is that the recipes that started the Family Li Imperial Cuisine restaurant were handed down from his great grandfather who was in charge of the kitchen of the last Qing emperor, as his family lineage served the courts of the Qing dynasty in China.

Chef Darren McGrady is also royally connected. Trained at London’s celebrated The Savoy Hotel, he was the chef to Queen Elizabeth II, the late Princess Diana, her sons Princes William and Harry for fifteen years.

During his time at the Buckingham Palace, he also cooked for the Queen’s distinguished guests, including Presidents Bush, Clinton, Reagan and Ford.

The owner of “Eating Royally” fine dining is not only a culinary consultant, event planner and public speaker. He is also an author, having written two cookbooks: Eating Royally, which offers a glimpse into English royal kitchens; and The Royal Chef at Home: Easy Seasonal Entertaining. Royalties from both books are donated to charities.

After he left the royal household, Chef McGrady became the first private chef invited to cook at the prestigious James Beard House in New York.

Travellers can expect a royal feast like no other under the culinary wizardry of these two celebrated chefs. Which would you choose: would you want to experience Chef Darren McGrady's British feast (literally) fit for the Queen on the three Langkawi-Phuket cruise from 10 November 2019? Or would you join Chef Ivan Li Xiaolin and partake of his Chinese imperial culinary art for the three-day Penang-Langkawi cruise, which sails on 17 November 2019? 

(Related: How To Make The Most Of A Short Getaway Onboard Genting Dream)

For the ultimate experience, live in The Palace, the liner’s “all-inclusive, all-suite” luxury concept. With the Palace, the Genting Dream offers the discerning traveller the charm of a boutique hotel with the exclusivity of a private clubhouse. Occupying up to 10,000 sqm, this unique concept has the largest, dedicated “ship-within-a-ship” area at sea, including luxury accommodations like a two-bedroom villa with private sundeck or a spacious penthouse with its dedicated living and dining spaces.

Palace guests enjoy exclusive privileges, such as a VIP check-in lounge, round-the-clock butler concierge services, and access to a private club, spa, and pool. 

(Related: How I Travel: Michael Goh Of Genting Cruise Lines)

Offering the definitive Asian luxury cruising experience, expect an unprecedented level of service and comfort through its dedicated staff-to-guest ratio of one crew member for each guest, as well as its space ratio of over 80 gross tons per guest.

Bookings for the Palace Suite during these two exclusive voyages above will include meals by Chef Li or Chef McGrady for guests. To add to the cultural experience, guests can also enjoy thematic performances and activities, such as Peking opera, British garden tea party, fascinator-making workshop, and more.

This ultimate luxury cruise liner has been lauded with “The Top 10 Large Resort Ships” in the 2019 Berlitz Cruising and Cruise Guide, and voted Asia’s Best Cruise Ship in the 2018 Asia Cruise Awards, is beginning a new leg of journey here at our shores.

It is an eye-catching stunner clad with features that set it apart from other liners—the waterslide park offers six different waterslides that promise an afternoon of fun in the day; while guests can indulge in some of the finest whiskies at the first Johnnie Walker House at sea, or even catch the cruise line's spectacular fireworks from the Zouk Beach Club by night.

Join a voyage and be part of the royal culinary journey here.