Is all food and beverage included in your cruise fare?

Dining on board - what's included?

As a crew member aboard ships in Hawaii, I offer the following advice:

First, check your cruise paperwork for what's included on your particular cruise line's fare. Generally speaking, your cruise fare includes the following food & beverages: Coffee, Tea (hot or iced), Milk, Juices (during breakfast only) and filtered water. Food includes the buffet (soups, salads, entrees, carving stations and dessert bars), generally 1 or 2 'main dining rooms' which offer unique menus each evening for traditional sit-down dining, 24-hour room service, with a very limited menu and (depending on the ship) a burger bar, a pizza parlor and the occasional pool-side BBQ - usually at a sail-away party out on deck.

Many ships are offering alternative dining in addition to these free options, usually based on a cover charge for all-you-can-eat. These restaturants could include: Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese. Sushi, a Steak House and more. Cover charges generally range from $5 to $25 per guest (for a meal that would run you easily $60 at a land based resort!). These cover charges are necessary as the smaller specialty restaurants cannot accept the volume of guests that the main (free) dining rooms can offer. Additionally, the food and dining experience are of a premium quality, and therefore should be worth every penny of the small cover charge required.

(I personally only dine at Specialty Dining restaurants, and don't partake of the Main Dining Rooms for dinner).

Last word of advice - make your dining reservations as soon as you get on board. They fill up fast, and you can always cancel them!

Happy sailing and bon appetite!

First answer by MmmDietCoke. Last edit by MmmDietCoke. Contributor trust: 444 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 49 [recommend question]