Cruising - Food and Beverages

 

One of the important pleasures for many when cruising is the food served onboard. Years ago, I enjoyed Baked Alaska on the final day of the cruise.  Even now, I find that the chefs on cruise ships still have goodies in their menus that make me salivate at the thought of eating them.

There are several types of dining venues on the average mass market ocean-going cruise ship:

• Buffets (Complementary)
• Lido Deck Grills (Complementary)
• Main Dining Rooms (Complementary)
• Specialty Restaurants (Extra Charge)

Each of these venues have things I like about them.  For example, the buffets are usually open from early morning until late evening, with minor closures to allow for switch-overs from breakfast to lunch to dinner food during the day.  One usually can find many kinds of foods in the buffets, from “American favorites” (such as: Pizza, Hamburgers, and Carved Meats), Indian Dishes (such as: Chicken Tikka Masala), Wok cooked dishes, and others.  If one wants to sample many different food types, the buffets are for you.

To me, there is nothing like sitting near the pool and eating food from the Lido Deck grills.  In warm sunny weather, these grills are open to serve people wanting to eat in the open air.  However, they are not open all day.  They are typically open around lunch time, and serve a simple set of dishes which might be found in a backyard barbeque.

Each cruise line has a different policy regarding its main dining rooms.  For example, NCL is very casual in both personal appearance and when a person arrives at its dining rooms.  There is no dress code, save for the specialty dining restaurants. Additionally, one is not required to sit at the same table (with the same dining companions) at the same time for the length of the cruise.  Most cruise lines have some formality, as the cruiser must select a time to dine, and dress (formally or informally) based on whether it is gala night or not.  For example, Cunard is a model of formality, and cruisers are required to be dressed formally (“Black Tie” preferred, Dark suits are OK) on gala nights when in public areas.  I recommend that every cruiser checks the dress code for each ship before cruising, as this will help the cruiser plan what to pack before the cruise.

I have often travelled solo.  This did not mean that I dined alone.  Much of the time, I requested to be seated at a “shared table” where other cruisers were seated.  Dining this way helped me make several new friends, people who I hope to again cruise with some day.

Most major cruise lines have specialty restaurants that are an upcharge from the base fare.  In general, one should expect to follow the cruise line’s wardrobe requirements being used for the main dining room (and other public areas).  Prices for these restaurants will vary from cruise line to cruise line and from restaurant to restaurant.  This where a cruiser gets to see the best from a cruise line’s chefs.

Almost all major cruise lines have a steakhouse as one of its ship’s specialty dining options.  Other specialty offerings may include Seafood, Continental/Italian Cuisine, French Cuisine, Barbeque, Hibachi rooms, and Sushi bars.  The best meals I have had when cruising have been at a ship’s specialty restaurants. Of these restaurants, the Steakhouses and the French restaurants are my favorites, as they prepare food that I would not usually eat at home.

Every good meal needs a beverage to go with it.  Most cruise lines only include juice, coffee, tea and tap water for free.  Other beverages are usually covered by individual serving sales or by the sale of beverage packages.  When I started cruising, I limited myself to these beverages, as I did not like paying “big city” restaurant prices for soft drinks.  And then I found the value of soda packages. For a “nominal” cost, I was able to drink as much soda as I liked – all I had to do was pay an upfront fee for that package.  On my last cruise, I got the drink package for the price of its gratuities and broke even on the deal.  (In NCL’s “Free at Sea” promotion, the drink package is free, but you pay the gratuities.)  Some cruise lines offer coffee packages, and if I were a specialty coffee addict, I might have bought one of these packages as well.

Please note that the terms and conditions of each beverage package will vary by cruise line, as well as the beverages that are included in the base cruise fare.  One should compute how many drinks in each category one usually consumes and compute whether purchasing a beverage package is a worthwhile deal.