In the case of onboard eating places and eating, cruise ships usually get a foul rap. There is a storyline on the market that cruises are little greater than gorge fests, prioritizing amount over high quality.
After writing about cruising for practically 30 years, I can inform you that is removed from the reality. High quality eating has all the time been a giant a part of the cruising expertise, and cruise ship restaurant choices solely have improved through the years.
You may now discover stand-alone eating places on high-end cruise ships created and overseen by a few of the world’s most well-known cooks, together with Nobuyuki (Nobu) Matsuhisa, Alain Ducasse and Jacques Pépin.
However even on the biggest mass-market cruise ships, the meals is getting ever extra elaborate and numerous. Norwegian Cruise Line brags that its greatest vessel, Norwegian Encore, has greater than 20 completely different meals venues — the whole lot from an off-the-cuff barbecue restaurant (with dwell nation music) to a high-end Italian spot from the creators of New York Metropolis’s Scarpetta.
Some mainstream strains, resembling Princess Cruises and Celebrity Cruises, have even known as in cooks from Michelin-starred eating places to assist design whole culinary packages.
Over time, as a part of testing and reviewing practically 200 vessels operated by 41 completely different strains, I’ve eaten at just about each cruise ship restaurant.
Similar to at resorts on land, there’s unimaginable range on the market. Some are nice. Some aren’t. Some are too dear for what they’re. Others are bargains.
However the backside line is that there are a whole lot of fantastic eating places on cruise ships. Under are my picks for the very best cruise ship eating places at sea. As you may anticipate, lots of my favorites are on higher-end ships, however a number of of the highest eating places might be discovered on the larger, extra reasonably priced cruise ships.
Manfredi’s
The place you may discover it: All Viking ocean and expedition ships
Day by day E-newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Day by day publication
Be part of over 700,000 readers for breaking information, in-depth guides and unique offers from TPG’s consultants
Discovered on each Viking ocean and expedition ship, Manfredi’s is our hands-down decide for the very best Italian restaurant at sea. It serves up genuine and hearty Tuscan and Northern Italian specialties, resembling bistecca fiorentina and osso buco alla Milanese. Appetizers vary from hand-cut beef tartare to — our favourite — a calming asparagus and polenta dish that is served with a wonderfully poached egg, Parmigiano-Reggiano and truffle dressing.
Here is a little bit of trivia: Manfredi’s was named after Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, who as soon as owned one in all Viking’s rivals, Silversea Cruises, and now owns the recently relaunched luxury line Crystal. Viking chairman Torstein Hagen and Lefebvre are associates. Should you’re a cruising aficionado, you’ll want to hunt among the many pictures on the wall for the photographs of Lefebvre and Hagen experimenting with recipes throughout the restaurant’s creation. The Italy-born Lefebvre supposedly shared a few of his favourite childhood recipes for the venue.
Price: There is no additional cost to dine at Manfredi’s, however reservations are required. Passengers are entitled to at least one go to per voyage (these staying in larger cabin classes obtain as much as 4 precedence reservations).
Associated: The ultimate guide to cruise ship food and dining
Umi Uma by Nobu Matsuhisa Restaurant and Sushi Bar
The place you may discover it: Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony
In the case of sushi at sea, the gold normal for years has been Umi Uma by Nobu Matsuhisa Restaurant and Sushi Bar. Discovered on each of Crystal’s ships, the venue is the creation of famed Japanese chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa — sure, that Nobuyuki Matsuhisa — and provides sushi in addition to Matsuhisa’s trademark Japanese-Peruvian fusion delicacies. We’re speaking dishes like Nobu-style lobster with truffle-yuzu sauce and miso-glazed black cod.
Should you’ve been to Matsuhisa’s Nobu eating places in New York, Las Vegas or different cities, what we’re speaking about. That is Japanese delicacies remodeled into excessive artwork. On the 2 Crystal ships, it is also among the best offers on sushi anyplace.
Whereas it is easy to rack up a $150 per particular person invoice at a Nobu on land (a single piece of toro sushi prices $17 at Nobu New York Fifty Seven), an evening at Umi Uma on a Crystal ship is included within the fare. That fare, in fact, is not insignificant. Crystal voyages can run as a lot as $1,000 per particular person, per day.
Price: There isn’t any additional cost to dine at Umi Uma. Passengers are entitled to at least one go to per voyage, with reservations required. Further reservations could also be requested on a space-available foundation for a $50 per particular person reservation payment.
Associated: Best cruise food: These are the 6 cruise lines with the best food at sea
Pink Ginger
The place you may discover it: Oceania Cruises’ Marina, Riviera, Sirena, Vista and Allura (coming in 2025)
Pink Ginger is likely to be essentially the most attractive restaurant you may ever see on a cruise ship. With a nod to feng shui, it radiates concord and tranquility with ebony woods, a soothing waterfall wall and hanging, trendy Asian artworks. However it’s not only a fairly place: It is a den of yumminess, too.
Discovered on 4 Oceania Cruises ships — Marina, Riviera, Sirena and Vista — Pink Ginger provides basic Asian dishes with a up to date twist, all dreamed up by Oceania’s well-regarded, in-house culinary group with enter from famed chef Jacques Pépin. We’re speaking about miso-glazed sea bass wrapped in a hoba leaf, and sole tempura with an orange ponzu sauce and spicy daikon. For dessert, do not miss the lemongrass creme brulee.
Pink Ginger will debut on a fifth Oceania ship, Vista, when it begins crusing in 2025.
Price: There isn’t any additional cost to dine at Pink Ginger, however reservations are required. Passengers are entitled to at least one go to per voyage (these staying in high suites can go twice).
Fahrenheit 555
The place you may discover it: Carnival’s Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration, Carnival Venezia, Carnival Breeze, Carnival Vista, Carnival Horizon, Carnival Panorama, Carnival Sunshine, Carnival Dawn, Carnival Radiance, Carnival Luminosa, Carnival Jubilee and Carnival Firenze
One of many nice paradoxes of the cruise world is that one of many lowest-cost operators — Carnival Cruise Line — has one of many best steakhouses at sea. At a set worth of $49 per particular person, Fahrenheit 555 can be a relative cut price in comparison with related steakhouses on land.
Discovered on Carnival’s six most not too long ago constructed ships, plus a couple of others, Fahrenheit 555 provides all of the steakhouse staples, from a 14-ounce New York strip to a 9-ounce filet mignon (each USDA Prime, aged 28 days). Different entrees embrace an appropriately marbled hunk of Australian wagyu beef, grilled lamb chops and Dover sole. Starters embrace Heritage Berkshire pork stomach, bone marrow, hand-cut beef tartare and — in fact — jumbo shrimp cocktail.
Carnival has a protracted custom of providing high-end steakhouses on its ships. The road started rolling out steakhouses in 2001 with the debut of its Spirit Class ships (the place, in one of many nice quirks of cruise ship design, the steakhouses are situated in crimson domes that kind the ahead parts of the ships’ funnels).
There now are steakhouses on 25 of Carnival’s 27 vessels, with various names and decor (solely Carnival Elation and Carnival Paradise lack one). In the case of culinary choices, they’re all just like Fahrenheit 555.
Price: $49 per particular person
Associated: 7 reasons you should splurge on a cruise ship specialty restaurant
Nuna
The place you may discover it: Ponant’s Le Commandant Charcot
The latest temple to gastronomy at sea is Nuna on Ponant’s epic new icebreaking expedition ship, Le Commandant Charcot. Elegant and refined, it is a high-end French restaurant that serves dishes designed by Alain Ducasse, the famed French chef.
You may discover the whole lot from French-style beef fillet served with a pepper sauce to veal tenderloin with a vegetable matignon and potato cake to monkfish medallions on the menu, with some worldwide dishes blended in with the basic French delicacies. Dessert choices embrace a collection of French cheeses that quantity into the handfuls — maybe essentially the most spectacular cheese choice discovered on any cruise vessel.
The setting itself is beautiful, in the back of the vessel overlooking the wake and that includes furnishings from iconic French furnishings design home Ligne Roset, Bernardaud French china and glassware by Elne.
Price: There isn’t any cost to dine at Nuna.
La Dame
The place you may discover it: All Silversea ships besides Silver Origin
The premier restaurant on Silversea Cruises ships is a temple to high-end French delicacies. Named after La Dame de Paris, aka the Eiffel Tower, it serves such basic dishes as filet of Limousin beef, grilled rack of lamb and pan-fried Dover sole. The menu contains two completely different types of foie gras, in addition to caviar.
As you may anticipate from a flowery French venue, the service is all white-glove magnificence in a refined however modern setting. Nevertheless, as you won’t anticipate from an upscale all-inclusive cruise line, the restaurant does have a hefty cowl cost.
Price: $60 per particular person for all ships, except for the brand new Silver Nova and Silver Ray. The duvet cost for La Dame on Silver Nova and Silver Ray, the place the expertise contains an unique collection of French wines and digestives, is $160 per particular person.
Pacific Rim
The place you may discover it: Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas Explorer, Seven Seas Splendor and Seven Seas Grandeur
One other one in all my favourite cruise ship eating places is Pacific Rim, discovered on the three largest Regent Seven Seas Cruises vessels. Serving pan-Asian delicacies, it is elegant and upscale — as you’ll anticipate from one of many world’s main luxurious strains — and has a mouthwatering menu.
Signature dishes embrace grilled Korean barbecue lamb chops (served with wok-fried Brussels sprouts and gochujang sauce) and a miso black cod wrapped in a hoba leaf. Signature appetizers embrace a crispy soft-shell crab served with a kizami wasabi mayo.
For dessert, do not miss the Chinese language five-spice chocolate mousse. True to its title, it is infused with chile and splendidly spicy. For one thing extra impartial, my decide is the inexperienced tea panna cotta, served with mango and a lychee ragout.
Price: There is no additional cost to dine at Pacific Rim, however reservations are required.
Associated: A look at the over-the-top luxury of Regent’s Seven Seas Splendor
Eden Restaurant
The place you may discover it: Superstar Cruises’ Superstar Edge, Superstar Apex, Superstar Past and Superstar Ascent
Superstar Cruises has created a temple to gastronomy with Eden Restaurant, discovered on its new Edge Class ships. Situated in the back of every vessel in a whimsical glass-walled and plant-filled eating and leisure area known as Eden, it provides a fixed-price menu with a variety of decisions for appetizers, entrees and desserts.
In a pointy departure from Eden Restaurant’s authentic idea of mesmerizingly imaginative dishes with fanciful names, the menu now focuses on destination-inspired dishes ready with the highest-quality produce in entrance of diners by a group of cooks in an open kitchen.
Menu highlights embrace sheep’s milk ricotta gnocchi with smoked pecorino cheese; filet mignon; a miniature quick rib Wellington with mashed potatoes, greens, mushrooms and bordelaise sauce; and slow-cooked corvina — all cooked completely.
Along with the common menu, Eden provides two seven-course tasting menus — one with some dishes derived from animals and one that’s utterly vegan.
Price: $85 for the fundamental menu; the tasting menus price $120, plus friends have the choice so as to add a wine pairing for $100.
Remy
The place you may discover it: Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy
For essentially the most half, the meals on Disney Cruise Line ships is simply so-so (for my part, not less than). It is a line you ebook for its nice household leisure, not delicacies. However Remy is the exception — a eating expertise that’s among the many most interesting at sea.
Created by two famend cooks (Arnaud Lallement of France’s three-Michelin-starred L’Assiette Champenoise and Scott Hunnel of Disney World’s high-end Victoria & Albert’s), it provides exquisitely introduced, French-inspired delicacies of the very best high quality in a sublime setting at one of many highest costs of any cruise ship eatery.
Like just about all venues on Disney ships, Remy has some whimsical Disney touches. Named after the rat hero within the Disney animated movie “Ratatouille,” it has his stylized likeness labored into the artwork nouveau design.
However there’s nothing Mickey Mouse in regards to the restaurant’s refined decor and finishings, which embrace high-end Frette linens, Riedel glassware, Christofle silverware and gold-cushioned stools to carry women’ purses. This can be a advantageous eating institution the place you put on a jacket or cocktail costume to dinner whereas savoring mouthwatering small plates of turbot, quail, wagyu beef, king crab and the like.
Price: $135 per particular person for dinner, not together with wine. A brunch service can be accessible for $80 per particular person, and a dessert providing is $65 per particular person.
Steakhouse at The Verandah
The place you may discover it: All Cunard ships besides Queen Anne
Steakhouse lovers will discover one other nice possibility in Steakhouse at The Verandah, situated on all Cunard vessels besides the brand new Queen Anne (the latter has a special steakhouse known as Sir Samuel’s). It is a shrine to essentially the most indulgent, marbled and mouthwatering cuts of beef, from 35-day dry-aged Scotch grass-fed black Angus to Australian grass-fed wagyu beef (the latter for a $30 upcharge). It additionally serves seafood choices resembling grilled entire Dover sole and Maine lobster. Appetizers embrace clam chowder and lobster cocktail.
At a worth of $65, if booked on board (with a couple of supplemental expenses for premium objects), it isn’t fairly the worth it was a 12 months in the past when it price simply $50. However it’ll nonetheless in all probability price you lower than a go to to a advantageous steakhouse on land.
Price: $58.50 per particular person if booked upfront of crusing; $65 per particular person if booked on board. A number of premium dinner objects include additional expenses. The steakhouse can be open for lunch for $31.50 per particular person if booked upfront and $35 per particular person if booked on board.
Backside line
Good meals is plentiful on cruise ships, the place you can find a couple of really world-class eating places. Among the identical cooks behind the best-known eating places on land have turned their consideration to eating places at sea lately, making it simpler than ever to have a knockout meal throughout your cruise.
Planning a cruise? Begin with these tales:
