Celebrity Cruises is not only known for offering its guests a luxurious, modern cruising experience or its commitment to quality; above all, the cruise line is known for culinary excellence. In laymen’s terms: if you want to eat really well, go on a Celebrity cruise.

The company has now managed another feat: it has signed up John Suley as its new director of Culinary Operations. Readers will remember Suley as the 2007 “Rising Star Chef of American Cuisine.” In 2010 he also won a coveted “Rising Star Chef” award from the James Beard Foundation.

One can certainly expect culinary masterpieces when Suely teams up with the company’s VP of Culinary Operations, Jacques Van Staden – another James Beard “Master Chef” award winner.

Suley is widely recognised as one of the rising stars of the culinary world. Before joining Celebrity he was executive chef at the famous Gotham steakhouse at the classy Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami. This is the Florida incarnation of Alfred Portale’s famous “Gotham Bar and Grill” in New York. Portale himself, of course, won the James Beard award no less than three times.

After graduating at the Culinary Institute of America, Suley worked with some of the world’s finest chefs, including Jacques van Staden and Daniel Boulud. He became head chef at the Ritz Carlton in South Beach and later at the Waldorf Astoria.

What does this mean to ordinary cruise lovers? It simply means that Celebrity Cruises will continue to offer some of the best food one can find anywhere on earth – on land or at sea.