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Master Chef sees food as the way to the guests’ hearts.
Princess Cruise has announced the appointment of Rudi Sodamin as their Head of Culinary Arts. Jan Schwartz, group President said in a statement, “Chef Rudi is a hands-on leader with proven ability to motivate teams to achieve new levels of creativity and inspiration. Princess is already well-known for its strong culinary culture. We are bringing in Chef Rudi to build the kind of excitement and dining experiences that will impress our guests. He is the perfect person to bring an entirely new level of excellence and innovation to our culinary product, environmental dining experience, and service delivery.”
According to their press release, Sodamin is the most highly-decorated chef working on the world’s oceans and is widely considered one of the most innovative, energetic, and influential chefs in the hospitality industry.
Among his most recent accomplishments has been the highly successful launch of Rudi’s Sel de Mer restaurant onboard three Holland America Line ships. Carnival Cruise Line leadership commissioned Sodamin to create Rudi’s Seagrill for its new Excel class ship Mardi Gras, which was inaugurated in August 2021.
Sodamin began his career at the age of 14 with a kitchen apprenticeship in Kurhotel Heilbrunn in Bad Mitterndorf, Austria. Under his stewardship in the 1990s, the food served by the historic Cunard Line was widely acclaimed as the best in the world. By 23, Sodamin was appointed Chef de Cuisine on the luxury line Vistafjord with Norwegian American Cruise Line—he was the youngest chef in the cruise line world to have responsibility on that scale. By 26, he was named corporate executive chef on board the legendary Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2)—again, the youngest chef at sea to attain such a title.
After a dozen years at Cunard Line as vice president of food and beverage and corporate executive chef, Sodamin joined Royal Caribbean Cruise Line as director of corporate food and beverage operations and culinary spokesperson. He built an international culinary team from across 50 nations and launched the brand’s first test kitchen during his tenure. Sodamin has continued his impactful tradition of innovation with Holland America Line, instituting the line’s first Culinary Council (of which he is Chairman) as well as spearheading the Holland America Line Culinary Art Center. Additionally, Sodamin championed professional development of all Holland America Line culinary staff and led the development and launch of a residential Culinary Training Center in Manilla, the Philippines, working with the Culinary Institute of America to develop curriculum.
“I see food as the way to our guests’ hearts, and the individuals on the Princess Cruise culinary team bring great heart to what they do and take tremendous pride in their work,” said Sodamin “My goal is to grow that pride and lead the culinary workforce to new performance heights through innovative approaches to teamwork and creativity, collaboratively creating new signature interactive dining experiences, and motivating this talented team to new levels of culinary artistry.”