Put your culinary imagination to the test to win a Caribbean cruise

There’s no denying that cruises make fantastic holidays, offering the perfect way to relax and let your troubles float away in the wake of a luxury liner. Of course, they’re even better if they’re free. If you’d like to head off on a waterborne adventure like this without having to shell out for the privilege, it’s worth checking out the latest competition being run by Thomson Cruises.

Be warned: this is one for the foodies out there. The company has launched a Cruise Kitchen Competition and, to enter, you have to submit a three-course menu of your own design.

Three finalists will be shortlisted, and, each with a guest in tow, taken on a cruise around the Canary Islands for seven nights in March. A professional chef on board will cook up each of the three menus during a special dinner and the ship’s captain, Thomson Cruise’s director and manager will pick an overall winner. You can’t be camera shy if you want to stand a chance of success either – the whole thing will be filmed by PEEL entertainment!

If your menu strikes the right chord with the judges, you’ll win yet another vacation. This time, you and a partner will get to experience a Pride of Panama cruise around the Caribbean in January 2015. Your menu will also feature in the à la carte restaurant while you’re aboard.

To take part, you’ll need to get your recipe ideas in by January 12th next year, so it’s a good time to start getting creative in the kitchen. After all, you’ll have to justify your choices in the meal descriptions, so it makes sense to select tried and tested dishes that you’re passionate about.

This said, being asked to create a three-course menu fit for a cruise ship is the perfect chance to let your culinary imagination run wild! Whether it’s deep fried soft-shell crab with aioli and lemon, zingy Thai beef strips served with crushed peanuts or chocolate chip soufflé, the fact that you’ll have a world-class chef doing the actual dishing up leaves you free to speculate about ingredients you may not normally be able to afford or have access to.

So if you fancy starting 2014 with a Caribbean cruise – and let’s face it, who wouldn’t? – start researching recipes, dabbling in experimental cuisine and of course, doing lots of taste tests along the way…