Simplified Sailing: Casual Dress, Eat Any Time

A decade ago, few would have predicted the significant changes that have come about in traditional cruising. One passengers are welcoming is in dining. There are alternatives now to dressing up for dinner, sitting at reserved tables with strangers and defined mealtimes.

Perhaps the revolution started with the introduction of 24-hour room service, or with Crystal Cruises’ 1990 debut of a pair of alternative dining rooms open nightly at no extra charge, or Carnival’s 24-hour pizzeria, which opened aboard the Inspiration in summer 1995 and has now been installed throughout the fleet.

Perhaps the fullest adaptation to an eat-anytime, wear-anything concept is aboard the two newest Princess ships, Dawn Princess and Sun Princess, and currently being installed aboard the line’s other vessels. Every evening, a large center area of the self-service restaurant turns into a waiter-served casual dining room between 7 p.m. and 4 a.m., with a wide-ranging menu, no specified dress code and live music for dancing between courses. We wouldn’t be surprised if some hearty appetites manage to fit in a post-midnight meal after dinner at their regular dining room seating.

Disney Cruise Line was quick to pick up on the new dining trends, decreeing that passengers will be directed to assigned tables and times on the new Disney Magic, debuting in March, but they will switch dining rooms every evening to experience each venue. In Animator’s Palate restaurant, passengers arrive in a room decorated in black and white, but as the meal progresses, color appears on the walls and ceiling, accompanied by orchestrations. Lumiere’s offers a more sophisticated French restaurant and Parrot Cay a tropical ambience with Caribbean cuisine.

The Crystal Symphony followed up on the Crystal Harmony’s alternative Prego (Italian) and Kyoto (Japanese) restaurants with its own Prego and Jade Garden (Pacific Rim). There’s no additional charge except a suggested tip to the server but reservations must be made.

Most of the alternative restaurants are presenting Italian food, including The Grill on the Radisson Diamond, the Royal Viking Sun’s Venezia, the Vistafjord’s Tivoli and Angelino’s on the Song of Flower.

Carnival has squeezed in an Italian trattoria and a deck grill restaurant on the Carnival Destiny and also offers casual evening bistro meals, such as grilled sirloin steak, in the Seaview Bistros, the self-service Lido cafes, which will be reopened evenings from 6 to 9:30.

Norwegian Cruise Line’s alternative dining venue, Le Bistro, aboard most of NCL’s ships, features romantic candlelight dinners with continental cuisine.

Renaissance Cruises will introduce the first of four new 690-passenger vessels in late 1998 with four restaurants on board, all open seating. The Grill Room serves steaks, chops, chicken and fish, along with a traditional Caesar salad. The Club restaurant promises sophisticated continental cuisine and music for dancing between courses. The Italian Restaurant serves--guess what--Italian meals, and the Main Restaurant is a casual buffet that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Royal Caribbean International plans 24-hour sidewalk cafes on the new Project Eagle 130,000-ton ships due in 1999, supplemented by a dedicated fast-food burger joint styled from the 1950s.

Even the tradition-bound Queen Elizabeth 2 has buckled under, promising casual-dress buffet dinners in the Lido cafeteria “most evenings” during a cruise. The room seats 250 passengers, and meal service is offered between 7:30 and 9 p.m. Reservations are not necessary. A special chef and wait staff are assigned to the Lido, and the dinner includes hors d’oeuvres and soups, a pasta, fish and meat entree, a chef’s special entree and several desserts.

However, Cunard warns, while guests may wear casual attire in the Lido, if they wish to go into any of the other public areas on board in the evening, they must adhere to that evening’s dress code to “ensure that the more formal, upscale on-board ambience remains intact.”

To soften the blow for young soda pop fans, Royal Caribbean International has come up with some new beverage plans, including a “Kid’s Coke Special” for anyone 18 or under. Pay $2 for each day of the cruise, plus $1--$7 for a three-day sailing--and the buyer gets as many fountain soft drinks as he wishes all day long. The “Tattoo Program,” also for kids, features a wash-off tattoo that gives the wearer the frozen fruit drink of the day ($1.95 a drink, including the tattoo).

For adults, a “Wine and Dine” beverage program has a pamphlet listing a selection of wines available at $12 a bottle, or by-the-glass drinkers can order for $8 a person two glasses of wine selected to accompany that evening’s menu.

Slater and Basch travel as guests of the cruise lines. Cruise Views appears the first and third week of every month.