As to the catering service on board, usually the breakfast, lunch and dinner are included in your cruise trip package. Nevertheless, some food still requests for extra charge , such as seafood which is not covered in your cruise package. Usually, a set of seafood for 2 persons is around 60 USD, so it is up to your personal choice whether you will pay for the extra meal.
Besides, many cruise ships provide live band show during the lunch and dinner time for passengers, which is definitely a great experience for passengers to enjoy music while having meal. You may also suggest your favorite song(s) for the band to play, but it is better to inform the staffs in charge earlier since the musical band needs to prepare for playing your favorite music as best as they can.
But if you want to enjoy your food in private room, instead of an open area, you may request for room service which provides food delivery to your cabin. Many cruise lines provide free room service for food delivery, however, some of them still charge for food delivery service, such as Norwegian and Royal Caribbean, which charge a per-order fee for middle-of-the-night orders ; other lines, like Princess Cruises, charges for pizza delivery. Indeed, you can bring your food back to your own cabin , which is 100% free of service charge.
Another great experience of food and drink during your cruise trip is the gorgeous dinning room, which are typically large, sit-down restaurants with waiter service, where multi-course meals are included in your cruise fare . You can enjoy your meal in a big and grand dinning room with your friends, relatives and other passengers from all over the world. More specifically , eating in the main dining room is a cross between dining at a nice restaurant and eating in a banquet hall at a wedding or conference. Depending on the room and where you’re sitting, it can be quite loud at dinner.
If you have meal in the dinning room, usually there are two different types of F&B offerings, either it is in buffet style or in “waiter-delivery” style. As mentioned before, if the meal is a buffet, you can bring your food back to your cabin if you prefer a private place for meal, yet if it is in “water-delivery” style, it is better for you to have your food in the dinning room.
As to the seating in the dinning room, usually it is open-seating. Sometimes the waiters may suggest a seating place for you to have meal, yet you can still choose the seating place you favor. Of course, if your group is small, it is better to choose a smaller dinning table ; and if your group is big, it is reasonable to choose a bigger dinning table.
Your First Cruise Trip 