Boarding the Halcyon means being part of an immersive Star Wars experience. As such, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser brings in-universe (or in-galaxy) food, drink, and merchandise offerings. Imagine the kind of things you eat and buy in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and then elevate it. Galactic Starcruiser’s food and merchandise fit in with the upscale vibes of the Halcyon, a luxury space cruise ship. Nerdist joined a small group of reporters in viewing a sampling of the merchandise and trying out some of Galactic Starcruiser’s lunch offerings.
If you’d like to learn more about Galactic Starcruiser’s characters, read this. Or if you want to hear about our hands-on experience playtesting aboard the Halcyon, check out this article.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Food
Your stay aboard the Halcyon comes with the hallmarks of a cruise schedule, including a set time and location for meals. Guests will eat all their meals, the cost of which are included in their stay, in the Crown of Corellia Dining Room. The crew serves breakfast and lunch as buffets, but buffets with small individualized plates, ensuring perfect presentation. Dinner on the first night of your two-night stay is a supper club type event, complete with a performer. Then the second night, you’ll get a Taste Around the Galaxy showcase, which Chef John Prieto described to us as a “luxurious, fancy experience.” That’s where the Mustafarian Bread Service (pictured below) and the Felucian-inspired blue shrimp come into play. Different planets around the Star Wars galaxy inspired the menu.
Walt Disney Imagineering portfolio creative executive Scott Trowbridge told us that the Halcyon‘s food offerings focus on high-end cuisine. Chef John Prieto and his team have been developing the food for about a year or so. Some of the team members even got matching tattoos depicting the Chandrila Star Line logo to represent their time working on Galactic Starcruiser’s menus.
Prieto said they put a lot of thought into elegantly bringing Star Wars to the plate. He told us, “People eat with their eyes first. So at first, Star Wars is very colorful. That’s the first thing we tried to nail down—how to make it visually appealing and different at the same time. We have this motto, ‘unique but familiar.’ Then we started playing with textures and flavor profiles, again, to keep the guests guessing a little bit.”
Trowbridge added that if someone in your party is a finicky eater, they’ll have something to take care of them. Case in point, one of the dishes we tried was a bubble waffle made with cheese and served alongside a thick tomato soup—essentially a grilled cheese with tomato soup. Though I enjoyed all the dishes I tried, this take on a grilled cheese stands out as one of my favorites.
We sampled a number of dishes, all from the lunch menu, none with official names (though they told us they do plan to have Earth-friendly names alongside the in-universe ones). A colorful salad with couscous, Romanesco broccoli, and olives accompanied a tart ceviche with corn nuts, carrot pieces shaped into spheres, calamari, and squid. Both tasted wonderful while delivering on the unexpected textures aspect. Ube focaccia came next, a rich purple bread I thought was dessert at first. Light and foamy with a side of blue bantha milk butter (a sweet, silky concoction we didn’t learn the ingredients of), I’m already dreaming about eating as much of this bread as I can fit into my Jedi robes.
Next we tried the bubble waffle grilled cheese I mentioned above, the bubbles giving the cheese beautiful pockets to get melty and perfect. Along with this dish, I devoured miso salmon with a crunchy seaweed crust topped with bonito flakes—simmered, smoked, and fermented tuna. The flakes react to steam so they move as they’re served to you, bringing a level of “what is happening” to the meal. A savory pâte à choux filled with a curried chicken arrived too, also delectable and blending sweet and salty flavors. A dessert, lemon cheesecake with a yuzu Chantilly cream finished our tasting on a satisfying note.
As for drinks, I sampled two and they were fine. One beverage, a Hoth Frost came with spun sugar “ice” over the top of the blue-green liquid with lemon foam. Tart and a touch too sweet, it wasn’t for me. But with the food, everything I tried made me feel optimistic about the Halcyon will serve.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Merchandise
While touring the under-construction Halcyon, we viewed the ship’s unfinished gift shop, The Chandrila Collection. As in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the merchandise is in-universe. Nothing says “Star Wars.” Brand merchandising vice president Brad Schoeneberg told us they focused on three pillars for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser merchandise: transformation and roleplay, a ship logo line that celebrates Chandrila Star Line and the Halcyon, and the ship experience. They brought a variety of items to show to us.
For transformation and roleplay, they have costume options available. Guests can buy Togruta or Twi’lek lekku in adult or youth sizes. Senior merchandiser Tracie Alt explained they figured out how to create clothing items to encourage you to play in your own Star Wars adventure. In some cases Star Wars content inspires the pieces, and in others, characters on the Halcyon influence the looks. But they also have never before seen Star Wars fashion aboard the ship. That includes the black dress above, a galactic spin on the classic formal black dress. Guests can remove the cowl and style the dress in a few customizable ways. The shop has a whole formal jewelry line to accent the apparel, and the jewelry incorporates the Chandrila Star Line logo.
A look from Bail Organa in the prequels inspires the olive green ensemble next to the black dress. Disney visited the Lucasfilm Archives and scanned the wrist gauntlets from that costume to replicate them here. Similarly, they took cues from Padmé Amidala’s wardrobe for a cloak. The captain’s and mechanic’s outfits come right from the crew member uniforms.
Just like guests can bring home items from Disney Cruise Line, they can do so with the Halcyon. That includes a ship model, glassware, pins, an ornament and more. The wine glasses absolutely have Solo: A Star Wars Story vibes. The model of the Halcyon starcruiser features light-up cabin windows and engines.
We only saw highlights of Galactic Starcruiser’s merchandise. However, we did confirm they will not have the “real” lightsaber teased in May available for sale. They do not have prices set for the merchandise yet.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser will open on March 1, 2022.
Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist and the author of A Kid’s Guide to Fandom, available now. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.