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 Roy Kelly is the First Purser, Food & Beverage aboard the Golden Princess. He has spent more than 22 years aboard cruise ships, and recently shared some tips about how to get the most out of a nautical noshing experience: 

1.  Select your style of dining in advance: Some cruise lines like Princess offer an “Anytime Dining” option that lets you eat when you want as opposed to the traditional fixed seating where you are assigned a dinner table for an early seating (typically at 6:00 pm) or a late seating (usually 8:30 pm) for the duration of the cruise. Some passengers prefer to eat at the same table, with the same company, with the same waiters every night – in which case, the fixed dining option is best. On the other hand, some people prefer complete flexibility to accommodate their daily schedule even if it means a short wait to get a table.  Whatever your preference, Roy says it’s best to let the cruise line know when you book your passage as opposed to waiting until you board the ship.  

2.  Experience the full range of dining options: Many mid-sized and large ships have a wide variety of free dining options including formal dining rooms, pizzerias, deli counters, outdoor grills, poolside theme lunches, ice cream bars, spa cuisine, pastry bars, and buffet-style cafeterias. Roy suggests passengers scout out all the options early on in their cruise and then try as many different options as they can during the voyage.   

3. Celebrate in style:  Most ships have specialty restaurants that offer a more intimate and upscale dining experience for an extra fee. These alternative restaurants are great for special occasions or just to have an extra-special dinner. At Princess, there’s even something called the “Chef’s Table,” which includes a tour of the galley, a discussion with the executive chef, a specially designed menu, and an exclusive table ($75 per person). If these options sound appealing, Roy says book them as soon as you can – either before you board the ship or on the first day when doing a tour of the ship.   

4. Special dietary needs: Cruise lines like Princess go out of their way to accommodate special dietary needs including gluten-free, low sodium, lactose free, low calorie, and kosher foods as well as accommodating people with food allergies. They even stock baby food and can cater special orders such as wedding cakes to your personal design. Roy says that passengers should advise cruise lines in advance of any special dietary needs so that the ship can stock and prepare the necessary dishes.

5. Theme lunches and dinners:  Some cruise lines organize special international lunches and dinners based on national menus from countries like Japan, India, China, France, Germany, Mexico and Indonesia. On our last Princess cruise, they even held a series of English Pub lunches in the upscale Crown Grill (no extra charge) that included typical British fare such as bangers and mash, fish and chips, Scotch Eggs, and cottage pie. Theme meals are typically held outdoors by the pool, in a section of the buffet cafeteria, or occasionally in one of the upscale alternative restaurants.

6. Room service: Most ships provide a range of complimentary food that can be delivered to your room at any time. Some cruise lines like Princess also provide a romantic champagne breakfast or a multi-course dinner menu that can be served on a table in your cabin or on your balcony for a small fee.

7. Snacks: In the old days cruise ships used to serve a variety of standard, pre-made hors d’ouevres in all of the bars before dinner. Now some cruise lines offer a range of freshly prepared snacks like sushi, tapas, cheese selection and shrimp in some of their bars. For example, most Princess ships feature an International Café serving freshly made shrimp cocktail, salads, pastries, cheese, and grilled sandwiches; and a Vines Wine Bar that serves freshly prepared sushi and tapas – all for free. In addition, ships usually have an afternoon tea service with hot beverages, finger sandwiches and cakes.

8. Check out daily menus in advance: Cruise ships usually post their lunch and dinner menus in various places around the ship including during the day. Some ships also post their daily menus on one of the closed circuit television stations available in your stateroom. Roy suggests that passengers check out the various options in advance to help them decide where they would like to dine later that day.

 9. Wine tasting: Most cruise ships have one or more wine tastings during the voyage where passengers pay a small fee to attend a presentation of special wines with commentary from the ship’s wine stewards and head waiters. This event is worth attending not only for the quality of wine that’s provided, but also because it provides some great insight into the dining room’s wine list that can make ordering wines with evening meals a lot easier.

10. Cooking Demonstrations: Some cruise lines like Princess hold free cooking presentations where the ship’s executive chef demonstrates how to cook some of the dining rooms main specialties including a wide range of appetizers, mains and desserts. These are typically held in one of the ship’s lounges or theatres, come with step-by-step commentary, and include close-up video footage projected on large screens so that passengers can follow the cooking process in detail. Roy says these are “must see” for anyone who likes to cook and wants to pick up some great techniques.

Once upon a time cruise passengers had limited choices when it came to dining at sea. There were usually two sittings for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the main dining room (early and late), and some sort of pool-side grill where hot dogs and hamburgers were available for lunch. In addition, passengers were assigned a table and tablemates in the main dining room, and were usually stuck there for the entire cruise.

Over the past 20 years, however, the variety of food and places to consume it aboard most cruise ships have expanded to the point where the choices can be mindboggling. In fact, it’s possible to eat in a different place each night during a seven-day cruise and never return to the same location. Furthermore, cruise passengers can dine on just about every popular variety of food that exists, and never sit with the same people more than once.

In order to help guide you through this smorgasbord of options, here are some of the key things you should be aware of before trying to eat your way across the Seven Seas:

1. Traditional Fixed Dining: Some people enjoy sitting at the same table, with the same people at the same time every night. If that sounds like you, just ask your agent to request the size of table you’d prefer (usually 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 people), and the time you’d like to dine (early dinner seating typically starts at 6:00 pm, and the late seating at 8:30 pm). However, don’t be afraid to request a change to a smaller table if you end up in a situation like our friends from Saskatoon did. They sat by themselves at a table for 12 for most of the cruise because their tablemates rarely showed up!

2. Dine As You Please: Most cruise lines now offer a flexible dining option that allows you to choose on a daily basis when you want to eat dinner. The advantages of this program are that you can plan your evening meal around activities like shore excursions and onboard entertainment, and eat earlier or later depending upon how hungry you are. The disadvantages are that you have little choice about what sized table and tablemates you end up with each night – the staff will simply place you at whatever table is available when you show up. However, you can increase your chances of getting a better table by reserving in advance, or showing up before the peak demand period, which is typically from 7:00 to 8:00 pm. 

3. Alternative Restaurants: While the variety and quality of food is very good throughout most ships, the only place you’ll usually find gourmet-level cuisine are on the deluxe cruise lines and in the alternate restaurants in the main-stream lines.  These “alternative” restaurants are more intimate, have a limited number of tables, and typically specialize in regional cuisine such as Italian, French, and Asian, or in a variety of food like steak or seafood. There is a surcharge for dining in these specialty restaurants (usually $20 to $30 per person) and reservations are required. Since seating is limited, it’s wise to book a night or two before you board the ship or as soon as you board.

4. Casual Dining: Most ships have buffet-style cafeterias and other casual dining spots like pizza parlours, outdoor grills, and spa cafes that serve light cuisine. While these locations have always been busy at breakfast and lunch, they’re now becoming more popular at dinner, especially for people who don’t want a formal, four-course dining experience every night. In fact, when I cruise with my twenty-something daughters, on most nights they go for the buffet and its wider variety of menu items instead of the more limited selection in the dining room.

5. Special Dietary Requests: Just about every cruise ship has a variety of vegetarian and healthy-eating options that run the gamut from low-fat and low-sugar, to organic and low-sodium. In addition, if you advise the cruise line in advance, some can accommodate special requests such as kosher or other dietary needs.

6. Room Service: There’s nothing more relaxing than dinner in your cabin, especially after a tiring day ashore seeing the local sights. Almost every cruise line offers free room service, and some include an extensive selection of menu items that can be served as a complete multi-course meal in your cabin (depending on the level of ship and cabin category). If you have a balcony cabin, dinner can also be served out there, and you can watch a sunset while sipping chardonnay and nibbling on shrimp.

If it’s beginning to sound like there are more dining options at sea than you ever dreamt possible, you’re beginning to get the idea. However, there’s one more piece of advice about eating aboard cruise ships that I forgot to mention: make sure you bring a good appetite!

Michael Phelps, who just set a record at the Beijing Olympics winning eight gold medals in the pool, attributes part his success to his voracious appetite. Apparently, the star swimmer consumes over 12,000 calories a day, which is about five times what a normal adult eats.

For breakfast alone, hungry Mike takes in more than 4,000 calories. His typical breakfast consists of 3 fried egg sandwiches with cheese, fried onions and mayonnaise; a 5-egg omelet; a bowl of grits; 3 slices of French toast; and 3 chocolate chip pancakes.

But while that kind of eating may be impressive for Olympic champions, aboard a cruise ship it wouldn’t even get poor Mike a bronze medal. That’s because when it comes to serious chowing down, nobody does it better than a gang of passengers – especially when they’ve just spent all day on a shore excursion knowing there’s free food waiting for them back on the ship. Whatever you do, don’t block their path to the buffet table!

It might be the sea air, the salt water, the sunshine or just the fresh air. But every time I walk up the gangplank, everything becomes secondary to eating.

After all, there’s something special about starting my day with coffee and croissants in bed before strolling off to the dining room for a plate of bacon, eggs Benedict and blueberry pancakes. And there’s nothing more relaxing than lying by the pool while snacking on beef bouillon and cookies to satisfy my mid-morning cravings.

By the time the poolside grill opens at 11:00 am, I’m famished. So I usually get a temporary fix of cheeseburgers with fries before heading into the main dining room at 1:00 pm for a proper six-course lunch.

If that doesn’t sustain me until dinner, there’s always afternoon tea with a mouthwatering array of cakes and cookies, followed by a not to be missed array of pre-dinner canapés in the bar. And if my afternoon nap causes me to miss afternoon tea, I can order sandwiches – or perhaps a pizza if I am particularly peckish - from room service.

Naturally, all of this activity will have caused a ferocious appetite by 8:00 pm, which sometimes makes me indecisive in selecting my evening’s repast. Never mind. When I can’t decide, I just ask my waiter to bring me two of everything.

After knocking back several liqueurs in one of the bars, I’m usually ready for the midnight buffet. I try to sample as much as possible, but there’s just so many delectable items that my stomach doesn’t have room for all it. No matter. I just bring a nourishing plate of strawberry cheesecake and chocolate mousse back to the cabin in case I wake up hungry in the middle of the night.

So Mike, if you really want to get into some serious caloric intake, you need to switch your training camp to a cruise ship and start hanging out with me. Apparently, during a typical 10-day cruise on a medium-sized ship, some 35,000 eggs, 11,000 pounds of meat, 9,000 pounds of fish and 5,000 bottles of wine are consumed by passengers (most of it room service to my cabin). Just think what we could do to that record, Mike, if we worked together; you know, some kind of two-man relay race through the dining room.

By the way, did I mention that they have all sorts of ways for you to keep in top shape while you’re at sea? Not that I’ve tried any of them personally, but I understand they have jogging tracks, aerobic classes, rock climbing walls, training equipment, yoga classes and much more. And, of course, since you like water, you’ll be pleased to know that some cruise ship pools come with water slides, swim-up bars, and even surfing waves.

So Mike, I look forward to seeing you on my next cruise. You’ll find me at the front of the buffet line!