Dining on Board Your Cruise Ship

Many ships contract the running and staffing of dining rooms to a specialist maritime catering organization. Ships that cruise far from their home country find that professional catering companies do an excellent job. However, ships that control their own catering staff and food often go to great lengths to ensure that their passengers are satisfied.

The Captain’s Table

The captain usually occupies a large table in or near the centre of the dining room on ‘formal’ nights. The table seats eight or more people picked from the passenger or ‘commend’ list by the hotel manager. If you are invited to the captain’s table, it is gracious to accept, and you will have the chance to ask all the questions you like about shipboard life.

Dining room staff

The Restaurant Manager – also known as the Maître ­d’Hôtel and not to be confused with the ship’s Hotel Manager – is an experienced host, with shrewd perceptions about compatibility. It is his responsibility to seat you with compatible fellow passengers. If a reservation has been arranged prior to boarding, you will find a table assignment/seating card in your cabin when you embark. If not, make your reservation with the restaurant manager or one of his assistants immediately after you embark.

Unless you are with your own family or group of friends, you will be seated next to strangers. Tables for two are a rarity; most tables seat four, six, or eight. It is a good idea to ask to be seated at a larger table, because if you are a couple seated at a table for four and you do not get along with your table partners, there is no one else to talk to. And remember, if the ship is full, it may be difficult to change tables once the cruise has started.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of the dining room operation, the sooner you tell someone the better. Don’t wait until the cruise is over to send a scathing letter to the cruise line – it’s too late then to do anything positive.

The best waiters are those trained in European hotels or catering schools. They provide fine service and quickly learn your likes and dislikes. They normally work aboard the best ships, where dignified professionalism is expected and living conditions are good.

Alternative Dining on Board Your Ship

More than 60 ships now have ‘alternative’ restaurants, for which reservations are needed for dinner (make them early aboard large ships).

These typically incur an extra charge ($12–$30 a person, although some have only a cover/gratuity charge of about $6 a person), for which you get much better food, presentation and service than in the ship’s main dining room(s), which tend to be large and noisy.

The costs can quickly add up, just as when you dine out ashore. As an example, take David’s Supper Club aboard Carnival Pride. The food is excellent (but the portions are large), and the ambiance is quiet and refined, but if you are a couple, have just two glasses of wine each (Grgich Hills Chardonnay, for example, at $12.50 a glass), and pay the cover charge, that’s $100 for dinner (if you want caviar, add $29 for a 1-ounce serving).

Celebrity Chefs in the Galley

Celebrity chefs have long been involved with cruise lines, particularly with the small, upscale ships, where quality control works best. Celebrity Cruises, for example, had a contract with three-star Michelin chef Michel Roux from the line’s beginning in 1989 until 2007. The partnership worked only because Roux insisted on the cruise line purchasing higher quality ingredients, and making everything from ‘scratch’ (no pre-made sauces or soup mixes, for example). In reality, only the (extra-charge) alternative restaurants can provide the quality that Roux demands or come close to what is prepared in his superb Michelin three-starred Waterside Inn at Bray, near Windsor.

Major alliances include:
Carnival Cruise Lines with Georges Blanc;
Celebrity Cruises with Michel Roux;
Cunard Line with Todd English;
Ocean Village with James Martin;
P&O Cruises with Gary Rhodes and Marco Pierre White

The executive chef plans the menus, orders the food, organizes his staff, and arranges all the meals on the menus. He makes sure that menus are not repeated, even on long cruises. On some cruises, he works with guest chefs from restaurants ashore to offer tastes of regional cuisine. He may also purchase fish, seafood, fruit, and various other local produce in ‘wayside’ ports and incorporate them into the menu with a ‘special of the day’ announcement.

Berlitz Guide © Apa Publications 2008