We’ve just returned from the first ever, pizza cruise, “Pizza Summit on the Seas” and I’ve got to say that it was the best pizza seminar I’ve ever attended or had the pleasure of participating in. There were morning sessions starting at 10 a.m. so you could sleep in late, enjoy a leisurely, pool side or ocean side breakfast to start the day off , then break for lunch at one of the ship’s great lunch buffets, before we were back in the afternoon session from 1:30 until 4 p.m. with lively discussions continuing nearly until dinner time at 6:15 p.m. Come to think of it, there were a couple of evenings at the dinner table when the topic of discussion centered around our favorite food, pizza or store operations.

Each attendee was issued an official t-shirt identifying the wearer as a member of the Pizza Cruise. These really came into play while in the different ports of call. The bright aqua and white colors enabled us to instantly recognize each other in the tourist shops much in the same way as “birds of a feather” all recognize each other. I also soon came to notice that the shirts were great conversation openers too. In shops where the shopkeepers must see literally hundreds of tourists every day, I kept getting asked what the “Pizza Cruise” was about, or while walking down the street, I can still hear the voices saying “Hey! Pizza Cruise! What’s that all about?” For some reason I don’t think that “Widget Cruise” would have attracted the same level of attention. There must be some magic in the word “Pizza” that really caught the attention wherever we went.

While we were on shore at St. Thomas the group had the opportunity to visit a pizzeria called Pizza Amore, located in the Al Cohen’s Mall at Havensight Harbor. Pizza Amore is owned by John Bertouchi, a 25-year transplant to St. Thomas from the northeast U.S. I have to admit that John makes one mean pizza. All you have to do is to close your eyes when eating one of his pizzas and you are instantly transported to New York City. Yes, John makes a New York style pizza; it’s slightly crispy on the bottom, bready in the middle and has a great, chewy texture. The pizza can be picked up and folded at the heel (crust) and eaten in the traditional New York fashion too. In case you’re wondering, John does this using ingredients that are available to him, which are not necessarily the to the specifications that he wants, and if you are wondering about the water he uses to make his dough, it doesn’t come from New York City, John said it comes from either cisterns (captured rain water) that is processed by the city, or ground water that is processed by the city. In either case he has occasional problems with over chlorinated water, which raises havoc with his yeast activity, and yes, I did spend some time talking to John and giving him some tips as to what he can do to reduce the affects of excess chlorination on his doughs.

After our visit to St. Thomas we were off to our next port of call, St. Maarten where we once again enjoyed playing the part of tourists and supporting the local economy for the day. As this was our last port of call, our ship now headed back home to Port Canaveral. During the two days voyage back to homeport had morning and afternoon pizza sessions on both days with great fellowship and lively pizza conversation during dinner on each of the two days.

If you are looking for the opportunity of a life time to mix business with pleasure and to get to know more about our great industry while enjoying the fellowship of other independent and chain store operators, don miss out on the next “Pizza Cruise/Pizza Summit on the Seas” Next years cruise is already in the planning stages, and I hope to see you there.