Forget the buffet line packed with tasteless fruit trays and warmed-over hamburgers. In fact, forget everything you thought you knew about cruise ship cuisine.

Today's travelers are following their gut, ushering in a foodie-centric renaissance across the industry. On cruise ships, this has translated into a complete overhaul of dining options across nearly every line you can think of. But some lines have gone above and beyond in their attempts to entice the epicurean traveler.

Holland America Line has announced the 15 winning guest finalists who will compete on the "Dancing with the Stars: At Sea" Champions Cruise Jan. 10, 2016, aboard ms Nieuw Amsterdam. Each winner represents one of the ships in Holland America Line's fleet (including the former ms Ryndam and ms Statendam) and was selected via the onboard "Dancing with the Stars: At Sea" dance competitions held throughout the past year on every sailing.

The 15 guests and their professional shipboard dance partners will perform and compete in the main show lounge for guests. The winning couple will walk away with the coveted Holland America Line "Dancing with the Stars: At Sea" Mirrorball Trophy and title of Holland America Line's "Dancing with the Stars: At Sea" Champion.  

"The onboard dance competitions have been fierce this year and we've seen incredible talent among our guests throughout this program," said Orlando Ashford, Holland America Line's president. "These 15 guests rose above the rest to earn their spot on the Champions Cruise, and we look forward to awarding the Mirrorball Trophy to the best of the best at the end of the cruise. Good luck to all of the competitors."

Walter Christen's insight:

If your a fan of the "Dancing with the Stars" TV show. this Holland America theme cruise would be fantastic. I find it very interesting that the contestants are representing the different Holland America cruise ships.

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The cruise line Anteros Cruises announced that it will be the first to cater exclusively to the LGBT market. While its website doesn’t reveal much information, it does offer a form to fill out to submit if you’re interested in signing up for one of its voyages on its intimate 400-passenger luxury liner in April 2017 that will sail from Barcelona and Athens’s port Piraeus in summer and fall with Mediterranean itineraries ranging from five to 14 days.

Winter itineraries will focus on the Caribbean with cruises from St. Maarten and Colón, Panama. The cruises will offer the usual shore excursions along with special sightseeing options geared specifically for the LGBT crowd.

As cruise lines continually compete to appeal to new customers, dining remains forever in the spotlight, and one of the biggest differentiators in play are partnerships with celebrity chefs, from Guy Fieri to Nobu.

This year in 2015, Norwegian Cruise Line’s collaboration with Geoffrey Zakarian ended, but they added Jose Garces on the new Norwegian Escape. Also, Seabourn Cruise Line picked up Thomas Keller, and Princess Cruises signed Curtis Stone.

William Shatner will soon be taking fans where they've never gone before, to sea, hosting the first ever officially licensed Star Trek cruise.

Star Trek: The Cruise will embark January 9, 2017, on the Norwegian Pearl from Miami. The six-day cruise is part of the 50th anniversary celebration for the Star Trek franchise, which first hit the airwaves in 1966.

Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk, says on the cruise website that he's excited about the enterprise.

Theme cruises are very popular and I suspect that this cruise will be a big hit. Additional stars from other Star Trek series (The Next Generation, Voyager and Deep Space Nine) will also be on hand for the cruise.

The Norwegian Pearl will leave out of Miami and visit  Cozumel, Nassau and Norwegian Cruise Line's private island, Great Stirrup Cay