Nothing Beats Iron Chef’s Masterclass in Art of Making Sushi

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Day 99, 2026 Grand World Voyage

Monday, April 13, 2026; Shimizu, Japan.

If you want to learn to make sushi, why not take a master class?

Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto and his team guided us through the steps to make maki and nigiri. (Maki is what most of us think of as rolled sushi, or rice and fillings rolled in nori, or seaweed. Nigiri is fish or other topping on pressed sushi rice.)

So started our Omakase dinner for 30 lucky passengers in the Pinnacle Grill. Following our sushi class, Chef Morimoto served seven more courses based on the fresh ingredients he sourced during our cruise through Japan and inspired by spring and the famous cherry blossoms. He is living up to his reputation for fusing Japanese dishes with others from around the world.

After eating our sushi, we moved on to toro, or the prized fatty bluefin tuna, served two ways, including with prized – and expensive — osetra caviar. Even the use of the dinner knife to serve the condiments was striking. Next was “toroscuitto,” a take on a more traditional prosciutto and melon, this time with house-cured toro with a Japanese musk melon.

Oysters also came two ways: Panko-crusted with a tonkatsu glaze and with tartar sauce – and served in a shell with seared foie gras. A pickled ginger and yuzu-sour ice served as a palate cleanser before the main surf and turf course: Wagyu chateaubriand and yuzu butter poached lobster tails.

Finally, a matcha souffle with warm vanilla crème anglaise was followed by a selection of petit fours inspired by cherry blossoms.

Omakase is Japanese for “I’ll leave it up to you,” and generally describes gourmet meals at which the chef decides what to serve rather than leaving it to the customers to order from a menu. I would let Chef Morimoto decide what to serve me at any time.

I’ve been fortunate to eat in his presence once before, on the 2024 Majestic Japan cruise at his pop-up dinner. This experience raised the bar significantly; I’m so glad we signed up the minute we could back in January. There was a long waiting list, I hear.

Earlier today we docked in Shimizu and were fortunate to see Mount Fuji. It’s the first time in four stops here that it has been visible from this port, mainly chosen for its proximity to Japan’s tallest mountain. Today was a bit hazy, but snow near the mountaintop was still clearly visible.

I walked to an older area of the port town, where I toured an example of the machiya style of house popular in Japan since the 8th century. It’s a narrow-style house valued for ventilation and low taxes, as the tax rate was based on frontage.

The bright vermillion torii gates of the Minowa Inari-jinja Shrine made for great photographs, but I also was struck by the many fox statues. A volunteer guide told me that the Inari deity is associated with foxes and rice, because foxes eat the mice that eat the rice so central to the Japanese diet.

On my 2018 visit I sketched the tree by the entrance to the nearby Myokei-ji Temple.

I don’t usually like to repeat the same sketches, but this time I was inspired to try a different technique: a detailed pen and ink drawing of the temple building with watercolor limited to the trees, shrubs and vibrant azaleas blooming.

I am enjoying this cruise to Japan so much that I decided to spend the fall of 2027 cruising back here. Originally I booked Holland America’s Oosterdam to sail in the Mediterranean Sea from September to November, but the company has announced plans for extensive renovations during a 45-day dry dock sometime in the back half of 2027. I am too impatient to wait until early May for the exact dry dock days, but decided it didn’t matter as I want to return to Japan. Five previous cruises here aren’t enough, I guess.

Meanwhile, late this month we will be the first to hear the 2028 World Cruise itinerary. I haven’t grown tired of cruising yet.