New food trends are cropping up all the time and more and more people are getting creative in the kitchen.

Thomson Cruises has just launched a competition to give people the chance to show off their culinary creativity by challenging them to come up with a three course dinner fit for the a la carte restaurant, the Grill, on board the Platinum Thomson Dream. 

The Cruise Kitchen menu creator allows entrants to choose from a selection of ingredients to build a masterpiece dinner, deciding on the central element of the dish, such as duck, scallops, or venison, and choosing the perfect cooking style and accompaniments. Entrants are also invited to describe their dishes to make them sound as mouth-watering as possible. The interactive menu creator also allows entrants to see the menus others have designed for a bit of inspiration.

Three finalists will be selected from the entries, and will be chosen by an expert panel. The finalists will be invited to a seven night cruise on the Thomson Celebration in March 2014, to experience the Colourful Coasts tour of the Canary Islands. On board, the chef will cook up each menu at a special event for the ship’s captain, Thomson Cruises Director, and Thomson Cruises Manager, who will choose an overall winner. The lucky winner will be given the trip of a lifetime on the Pride of Panama cruise around the Caribbean, sailing on board Thomson Dream from new home port Montego Bay, Jamaica. Their menu will also feature in the a la carte restaurant during the cruise. 

Fraser Ellacott, Customer Operations Director for Thomson, First Choice and Thomson Cruises, said: 

“We are hoping that this competition will really raise awareness among our customers about how much dining variety we have available on board our ships. From high end a la carte to cooked to order restaurants, we really do have something to suit a range of tastes. The new technology being used to develop this cruise kitchen menu creator is yet another way we are modernising the holiday experience for our customers as well as giving them the chance to really feel part of life on board our ships. The fact that they have the chance to win a trip of a lifetime on board the Pride of Panama itinerary sailing from the Thomson Dream’s new homeport of Montego Bay, Jamaica, is also fantastic and should encourage loads of people to enter. ” 

The competition closes at 23:59 on 12th January 2014.