by Sheree Zielke

Created on: May 06, 2007   Last Updated: May 18, 2007

Dining on a cruise ship is a nod to old-fashioned elegance and excellence. If you are not familiar with dining in expensive restaurants, you may be unprepared for cruise ship dining. The following information will give you some insight into dining on the high seas.

There are less formal ways to eat your supper on a cruise ship, but none are as festive or as fastidious as the meal you will be served in the ship's formal dining room.

Many ships' dining rooms are two-tiered; you will access the room from either of two floors. All ships serve dinner at two set times. Passengers will be assigned both a table number and a dinner time. Either or both of these can be changed if a passenger is unhappy with the arrangements. Or a passenger can ask about "any-time" dining.

Clothing for most cruise ship evening dining is semi-formal, however, there are some nights when business-casual is also acceptable. And depending upon the length of the cruise, there will be one or two formal evenings. The ship's printed itinerary, that's placed into your cabin every night, will advise you as to the next evening's dining dress code.

Passengers should expect to be seated with a group of strangers, unless their own group is large enough to fill a table of 8 or 10.

Service and table settings are very formal; that formality increases with the exclusivity of the cruise line. For example, the Princess ships are a bit more formal than the Carnival ships. While the luxury Cunard and Radisson Seven Seas cruise lines are far more formal than other lines. And far more costly.

All passengers choose any or all of the options presented on their table menus (many passengers opt for one of all three kinds of desserts or main courses). The waiters don't even blink at this; it's perfectly acceptable. But a great deal of food is offered, so eating one of everything is highly unlikely.

Meals begin with drinks, breads, and appetizers. A wine steward is available to assist with wine selections. Liquor, beer and pop are also available.

As the meal progresses, some ships serve palette cleansers, refreshing citrus sorbets, in between courses. Courses will include soup, salad, main course and dessert. (Tip from a veteran cruiser? It's fun for each member of your party to order different items and then taste from each other's plate.) The meal wraps with tea, coffee and specialty liqueur drinks.

Wait staff is extremely attentive and very efficient. Even when the boat is rocking, the experienced staff doesn't miss a beat

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