Florida icons Cindy Hutson, Les Standiford enthused about Sea Cloud Spirit

Hutson will be aboard the Feb. 5-16 Costa Rica-Panama cruise while Standiford is the featured historian on a special Miami round-trip March 3-12 calling Key West and the Bahamas. The voyages promise lively cooking demonstrations, curated menus, intimate lectures and storytelling beneath Sea Cloud Spirit’s 28 hand-hoisted sails.

'Cuisine of the Sun' and tales of Sea Cloud's original owners

Hutson will showcase her ‘Cuisine of the Sun,’ tapping into the bounty of Central American ingredients as Sea Cloud Spirit calls on Costa Rican and Panamanian ports and transits the Panama Canal.

Standiford joins Sea Cloud Cruises' only Florida and Bahamas sailing in 2024 to share tales of Henry Flagler, the gilded age of Palm Beach and original Sea Cloud owners E.F. Hutton and Majorie Merriweather Post.

Ortanique fame

Hutson is the executive chef and owner, along with partner Delius Shirley, of the longtime acclaimed Ortanique on the Mile — frequented by such notables as the late Sandals Resorts founder Butch Stewart, Island Records' Chris Blackwell and former Carnival Cruise Line President/CEO Bob Dickinson, among other cruise executives. Currently it's a limited-time pop-up in Coral Gables.

Hutson's culinary career began at Norma’s on the Beach, in honor of Shirley’s mother Norma, who was known as the 'Julia Child of the Caribbean.' She's been featured on more than a dozen cruises as guest chef/lecturer, including Queen Mary 2's inaugural and ships of Silversea Cruises, Celebrity, Regent Seven Seas and Crystal.

'Who could resist?' a trip on Sea Cloud Spirit, Hutson told Seatrade Cruise News after meeting Kevin Smith, VP sales for the line's newly opened US office, for dinner at Fox’s Lounge in South Miami. He made an impression as a 'young, tall, good-looking man' (like ZZ Top's 'Sharp Dressed Man,' she quipped), 'so enthusiastic about an amazing company and the opportunity he presented to us.'

Les Standiford's dream come true

Standiford is the founding director of the creative writing program at Florida International University and the author of 25 books and novels, including 'The Last Train to Paradise,' a definitive history of Henry Flagler and the Florida East Coast Railway that's approaching its 40th printing.

His 'Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, and the Rise of America's Xanadu' chronicles E.F. Hutton and Marjorie Merriweather Post, who nearly a century ago commissioned the schooner Hussar, renamed Sea Cloud.

It was the largest privately-owned vessel of its kind, 'and I suspect that something of their larger-than-life, other-era spirit still lingers there,' Standiford said. He's served as a guest author on cruises aboard QE2, Queen Mary 2 and Celebrity, adding it's a 'dream come true' to sail with the company that operates 'one of the most storied yachts of all time.'