Know The Ins And Outs Of A Cruise Vacation, Part 4, Specialty Dining

In this series on knowing the ins and outs of taking a cruise for a vacation, I have already told you about a lot of things. The best part of cruising, there is still more, especially when it comes to enjoying life on board while at sea (or even at port).

On a side note, not really related to what I am about to discuss, one of the biggest fallacies about cruising is that you when you are in port, you must get off the ship. That just isn`t true. Believe me, many people I was around on a couple of my cruises thought you "had" to get off the ship. No you don`t if you really have no interest in where the shipped is docked.

In any event, I thought I`d throw that out there for many of you who may have thought that. Today I want to talk about the on board specialty restaurants. A lot of people have the same attitude that I use to have when it came to these speciality restaurants, and that is, why pay for food when your package includes your meals?

Some, not all, ships have what are called specialty restaurants. They serve certain foods exclusively, Italian, french, etc., and for a small per person fee you get a 5 to 7 course serving from their menus. Let me tell you why it is worth the extra money to go.

On our 3rd cruise a couple of years ago, my wife and I who normally treat ourselves to something special, usually a massage, or something along those lines, and we decided not do that and try out a specialty restaurant. On the ship we were on, they have a really nice Italian restaurant. At that time, for $25, you get a full 7 course meal, starting with a salad all the way up to dessert.

Let me tell you the food is incredible. It is 5 star quality food unlike what you will receive in the regular sit down dining or in the buffet. Now that is not to say that they are bad, but the cruise line puts a little extra into the specialty restaurant.

You get great service pretty much anywhere on a cruise ship, however at this particular Italian restaurant we were treated like royalty. The staff were extremely friendly, kind, courteous and attentive to all of our needs.

The menus vary from restaurant to restaurant and ship to ship. But rest assured the food is great, the service is excellence, the ambiance and the mood are a perfect setting if your are celebrating something special, like an anniversary or birthday.

Another wonderful part of this dining experience was the fact that you still were able to pick many items off the menu. For instance, lets say you couldn`t choose between the prime rib or the duck. No problem, order both of them. Will that be touch much food? Again, not a problem, they will cut down the portion size so you don`t feel like you are wasting a lot food. This came in real handy during dessert time, hint, hint.

If you are going on a cruise, and by now, you should be fairly excited about going on one, spend the extra $25 (per person cost) for you and your partner, you will definitely enjoy it.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author: Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows travel agents, cruise lines, and vacation desitnation businesses to post their products and services for sale and in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world.

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