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The variety of food, luxury setting, full waiter service and fellow cruisers make dining on a cruise a great and unforgetable experience. For a foodie, cruising is the ultimate experience in cuisine. For an experience seeker, there is nothing to match the presentation of the midnight buffet, the themed menus and the number of choices and courses on a morning, noon and night basis.

The number of meals and the number of courses and variety of food depends on the cruise ship or company and the value of the cruise. The more expensive cruise companies offer better variety and more opportunity. The following descriptions apply to the upmarket cruise companies, however, some of the cheaper companies also offer plenty of variety and numbers of meals.

The day can be a round of food experience, if that's how you like it, or you can choose to eat when it suits you. We found ourselves eating all the courses on the fist cruise we went on and as it was a Princess cruise, the food was superb and the number of courses for the evening meal numbered seven. We put on a stone in a week...even my husband, who has hollow legs and normally stays skinny however much he eats.

Food opportunities start at 5am, with tea and croissants, usually on the top deck. Formal breakfast starts around 7am and on some ships there is an option of a buffet which may start a little earlier. The formal breakfast or the buffet are available for a couple of hours, so people can rise to suit their schedule. If we were going ashore for the day, we would fill up on breakfast to save us feeling hungry when we were off the ship. Some ships have an ommelette chef, all have the choices of cooked, cereal, fruit or pastry breakfast ingredients.

Morning coffee (elevenses) is accompanied by delicious cakes worth staying on board for.

Lunch can be a formal restaurant affair with a choice of up to six courses or there will be the option of a buffet. All buffets are eat as much as you like, so there's plenty of opportunity to try everything on the menu. All tastes are catered for, often days are themed and food reflects these themes. People going on formal tours will have meals included in those tours.

Afternoon Tea is just that, coffee is of course available and sandwiches or cakes are on the menu.

Evening meal is the biggee! How many courses out of up to seven can you manage? The first course is usually quite light, fruit juice or similar. Next comes the soup or starter. A salad course is available, as us a pasta course, usually. Mains and other courses come in all possibilities; fish, a variety of meats or vegetarian. Sweets are magnificent and tempting, as is the cheese board and coffee or tea. Water is served and wine is offered. Every evening is different. The evening meal is a great time to meet fellow passengers too and if you're booking a cruise, don't turn your nose up at sharing a table, meeting folks from around the globe is part of the adventure!

After that, if you're still hungry, bar snacks can be found around the ship, otherwise, hold on for the Midnight Buffet, a magnificent and artistic food display with plenty of delicious and tempting treats on offer, plus a choice of teas or coffee! By the time you've finished that, you're ready for bed so you can be up for coffee and croissants on top deck at 5am!

Learn more about this author, Wendy Bradley.
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