You’ll dine in the most beautiful restaurants at sea,happily matched by the quality of ingredients and dishes. Salads,breads,cheese,pastries and tarts are outstanding,and there’s no stinting on upmarket ingredients,from seared scallops to foie gras. Among memorable on-board dishes are lobster bisque with cognac cream,eggplant involtini stuffed with mozzarella and smoked ham,and a simple grilled mahi-mahi.
For modest-sized ships,the restaurant range is impressive and includes buffet-styleLa Veranda,evening Italian restaurantSette Mari,andCompass Rose,surely the best main-dining restaurant of any cruise line.
Most Regent ships also feature speciality restaurantsPrime 7 steakhouse andChartreuse for French bistro-style and fine-dining dishes. Three of the ships,Explorer,Grandeur and Splendor, also offerPacific Rim. Pan-Asian restaurants on cruise ships seldom satisfy savvy Australian palates;you’ll find better at your local Thai or Indian. Pacific Rim is an exception,with a clever menu unified by Japanese influences but running the gamut from duck-confit spring rolls to pungent Thai coconut soup and black Angus beef with negi mash and bulgogi sauce. Even the simple seaweed and wakame salad is outstanding. Seerssc.com
When “the finest cuisine at sea” is your marketing slogan,you’d best not disappoint. No surprise,then,that half the 800 crew on Oceania ships is dedicated to its restaurants,whose menus are overseen by French-American celebrity chef Jacques Pepin.
Oceania’s mid-sized ships (with 1250 guests or fewer) operate in the premium niche,with a luxury feel on board and excellent service,but relatively modest fares. All but one speciality dining experience is included.
The added-cost experience atLa Reserve provides a seven-course French menu with matched French wines,bracketed by two sensational dishes,a poultry veloute and a baked Alaska studded with Williams pears and chestnut ice-cream.
Speciality restaurants areJacques– a French bistro with the best cheese trolley afloat –Toscanafor Italian,Polo Grill,and (on Allura and Vista) contemporary American restaurantEmber. The most popular is pan-Asian venueRed Ginger,whose miso-glazed sea bass and lobster pad Thai are among the most-ordered dishes on the ship.
Even the standard venues have superior food. PoolsideWaves Grill tempts with wagyu burgers and lobster medallions,Grand Dining Room has satisfying four-course evening meals,andTerrace Cafe provides quality buffets with upmarket choices such as seafood,sushi,Dover sole and lamb chops,produced in small batches or to order. Desserts are excellent:blueberry trifle with shortbread crumble or light-as-a-cloud yuzu-lime eclair. Seeoceaniacruises.com
Azamara isn’t a cruise line that wows you with size,decorative bling,or foam and fuss on the plate. This is a premium cruise line,a notch below luxury,and operating small,pleasant ships carrying around 700 passengers. Yet Azamara wows anyway,particularly in its restaurants,which demonstrate that middle-of-the-wave doesn’t have to mean bland.
For mid-sized,mid-budget ships,the dining is outstanding for the wide variety of its cuisine – you can expect Mexican and Indian nights,for example – and for Azamara’s effort to present regional cuisines as it sails.
In France,you’ll enjoy escargot-filled vol-au-vents,confit duck leg,cassoulet and a scrumptiously caramelised tarte tatin. In Slovenia,you’ll get an education in bograc (a wine-simmered meat stew) and sirovi struklji (cheese dumplings flavoured with poppy seed) at buffet venueWindows Cafe.
In common with many cruise lines,Azamara’s speciality restaurants are a grill (Prime C) and Italian (Aqualina). The latter is one of the best on any ship,abandoning pretence for unfussy food big on flavour,whether a classic caprese,Tuscan white-bean soup,or mushroom risotto.
Usually,American-style coffee poured from flasks disappoints Australian cruisers,but Azamara’s coffee is excellent ship-wide,andMosaic Cafe has baristas who produce proper coffees,including several types of iced coffee and some spiked with alcohol. Seeazamara.com
French-flagged Ponant specialises in remote expedition cruising,but you won’t be surviving on hard tack or survival rations in the Arctic or Papua New Guinea. Its luxury ships,which carry 184 or 270 passengers,feel like billionaires’ yachts. The interior design by Jean-Philippe Nuel is stylish and minimalist,the cuisine elegant,and the wine cellar well stocked with Bordeaux and Beaujolais.
The downside of small ships is a limited choice of restaurants,and Ponant ships have just two apiece. The casual buffet venue tends towards international comfort foods,ranging from salads and soups to a selection of hot dishes and always excellent cheeses,breads,and pastries.
The mainGastronomic Restaurant is the standout,dishing up fine French dining you’d pay extra for in a speciality French restaurant on many cruise ships. Menus are overseen by a company run by legendary Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse.
The style is superior French,but not overly fussy. Small portions compensate for rich sauces and reductions,and allow you to enjoy four-course degustation menus nightly – five if you care for the cheese plate.
Dishes range from lobster tail with ginger and carrot jelly to veal tenderloin with forest mushrooms or an adventurous escargot ravioli or frog-leg terrine. The complimentary wine is nearly always satisfying. Seeponant.com
Seabourn is upmarket but breezily informal,with a focus on onboard wellness,dining and cheerful but attentive service rather than attention-grabbing interiors. Its small luxury ships carry 450 or 604 guests,although Seabourn also operates 264-guest expedition ships.
Main dining venueThe Restaurant’sfour-course evening menus lean towards the Mediterranean,featuring dishes such as black truffle risotto,Iberico pork chop,or grilled swordfish with capers.
Indoor-outdoorThe Colonnade offers one of cruising’s best buffets whose browsing choices are supplemented by made-to-order hot dishes. It’s often big on seafood such as chowder,crab cakes,expertly cooked fish,and poached jumbo shrimps.
In the evenings,the pool grill transforms into an informalEarth Ocean,one of the most inventive and whimsical restaurants at sea,featuring an ever-changing range of international cuisines. It might be a rich bouillabaisse one day,orecchiette pasta with Italian sausage,olives and aged pecorino another,or a vegetarian dish of warm glazed tofu with kimchi.
Seabourn is retiring its steakhouse,The Grillby Thomas Keller,which will be replaced during 2024 with a new venue,Solis,which will focus on light,modern Mediterranean cuisine. Meanwhile, Sushi is an intimate venue with a handful of tables that serves sushi,sashimi,gyoza,and bento boxes based around miso salmon,teriyaki chicken or glazed mushrooms. Seeseabourn.com
River ships are better than ocean ships at providing cuisine that reflects the destinations they float through,and all upmarket river cruise lines do it well. For gourmets,another enticement to river cruise in Europe is that many itineraries sail through top wine regions,such as Bordeaux and the Rhone in France,Rhine and Moselle in Germany,and Portugal’s Douro valley.
Many itineraries are similar,but if food is your driving force,Uniworld delivers top-notch regional dining on luxury ships with impeccable service,gracious elegance,and often gloriously unrestrained decor.
In Provence,for example,you’ll enjoy cod loin in bouillabaisse,daube provencal (a wine-soaked beef stew) and soupe au pistou (vegetable soup freshened with pesto) – plus an impressive range of regional cheeses. Chefs aren’t afraid to challenge the palate on occasion by offering the likes of blue cheese ice-cream.
In Venice,menus might feature a delicate chicken broth with tortellini,spaghetti alle vongole (with clams) and vitello alla piemontese (veal with truffles).
River ships don’t have room for multiple dining venues,but many newer Uniworld ships have informal,limited-seating alternatives such asLe Cafe du Soleil andLa Brasserie on Bon Voyage in the Bordeaux region;the latter dishes up classics such as onion soup and beef bourguignon. Bon appetit. Seeuniworld.com
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From dinner under the stars at Uluru to foraging for wild plants in Iceland,Silversea’s onshore excursions are taking cruise dining to unexpected new heights.
A whisky’s being aged using the sea’s motion to help impart barrel flavours;a navy strength gin by Four Pillars and a Lord Nelson beer called Smooth Sailing.
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