Best Alternative Restaurants at Sea Home > Cruise Styles > Gourmet > Best Alternative Restaurants at Sea
Eating well at great restaurants is one of life's guilty pleasures, whether it's leave-you-speechless haute cuisine or roll-up-your-sleeves grazing. And there's good news for true gourmands. Some of the world's stellar chefs/proprietors of those so-hot-you-can't-get-a-table citadels are jumping onboard.
What's fresh and enticing is that cruise lines are raising the food bar by developing partnerships with such storied chefs as Jacques Pepin, Wolfgang Puck, Nobu, Todd English and Charlie Palmer. While you may rarely find these chefs in a cruise ship kitchen -- er, galley -- they do create menus, train chefs, and consult on front-of-the-house operations ranging from wait staff training to ambience.
Check out a few of our favorites:
Carnival Cruise Lines
Venue: Carnival's Supper Club concept -- found on its newest ships -- is unique at sea for combining a superb alternative restaurant with its own dance floor (and live entertainment nightly). The restaurant's wine list is also excellent.
At the Helm: Georges Blanc, the Michelin-starred chef based in Vonnas, France, took on the job as Carnival's first-ever celebrity chef and has taken the line's cuisine to new heights -- from the main dining rooms to Supper Clubs that are among the best restaurants at sea. His partnership with the line has since ended -- no word yet on whether another celebrity chef will take his place.
Palate Pleasers: The Supper Club offers superb steaks, veal chops, lobster, fish of the day, lamb chops.
Sea for Yourself: Supper Clubs are found on Carnival's Spirit and Conquest class ships, as well the new Carnival Splendor. Open for dinner only; cost is $30 per person.
Oceania Cruises
Venue: The Polo Grill
At the Helm: Master Chef Jacques Pepin, personal chef to three French heads of state, including Charles de Gaulle.
Palate Pleasers: The Polo Grill's very good steaks, dry-aged for 35 days, are rare, cool in the middle and charred and slightly grainy on the outside. The chubby shrimp cocktail is impressive, never chilled into flavorlessness.
Sea for Yourself: Polo Grill and Tapas on the Terrace are located on Regatta, Insignia and Nautica. There's no cover charge.
Celebrity Cruises
Venue: The continental-themed, uber-formal alternative restaurants on most ships in the fleet (save for Galaxy and Mercury) offer a traditional European dining experience.
At the Helm: At this point, Celebrity is one of the few cruise lines that doesn't have a celebrity chef partnership (its longtime relationship with Michelin-starred chef Michel Roux ended a few years ago).
At the Helm: Nobu, creator of the world renowned Matsuhisa in Los Angeles, has now developed restaurants around the world. Silk Road and the Sushi Bar are his only sea-going ventures.
Palate Pleasers: Exquisitely grilled black cod bathed in sake, mirin and miso with sweet and rich flesh, a fine example of Nobu's signature Japanese cuisine with an international flair, is among our favorites. Don't miss the sushi and sashimi at the sushi bar.
Sea for Yourself: Silk Road and the Sushi Bar are on both Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity. There's a $7 per person recommended service charge for the restaurant. There's no cover fee for dining at the sushi bar.
Seabourn Cruise Line
Venue: Tastings@2, located aft on all three ships (and featuring outdoor seating), features a different theme, ranging from tapas to trattoria to bistro, each night.
At the Helm: Chef-restaurateur Charlie Palmer, known for his progressive American cuisine, oversees recipe creation and menu planning at all the eateries on Seabourn's ships. Palmer's claim to fame? New York's Aureole, California's Dry Creek Kitchen, and Charlie Palmer Steak (numerous locales from Las Vegas to Washington, D.C.).
Palate Pleasers: Butter-braised lobster and sweet pea leaf ravioli matched up with a carrot-ginger emulsion and sauteed escallops of foie gras with savory corn cakes. Pink roasted rack of veal gets the full treatment with a calvados cream on the side, and perfect potato tian -- baked sliced potatoes with herbs -- flatters the entree like good lighting. With a delicate browned sugar seal over the plushy custard, Palmer's creme brulee is a contrast of dark, milk and white chocolates.
Venue: Todd English offers Mediterranean-influenced cooking in a funky, contemporary atmosphere.
At the Helm: Todd English, celebrated for his Olives restaurants in Boston, Washington D.C., New York and Las Vegas, oversees the eateries.
Palate Pleasers: English's oven-fried asparagus and morel tart dazzles with a three-ingredient topping of caramelized onions, double-smoked bacon and creamy Fontina cheese. Sit at the bar and order wine and you'll receive complimentary tastes of tapas. This eatery is also open for lunch on sea days; definitely order the lobster salad if it's on the menu.
Sea for Yourself: Todd English is on Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. There's a $20 cover charge for lunch; it's $30 for dinner.
P&O Cruises
Venue: The White Room
At the Helm: Marco Pierre White, the youngest British chef to be awarded three Michelin stars and head chef in ITV's "Hell's Kitchen," takes his creative cuisine to sea.
Palate Pleasers: Try the Spaghetti Lobster, a starter of salami mistadella Toscana (Italian tapas, really) and a hot raspberry souffle. Other crowd favorites include roasted veal chop with porcini mushrooms and pan juices, as well as the sardine starter.
Sea for Yourself: The White Room is found on P&O's Ventura. The cost to dine there is £20 per person on two-week voyages, £25 per person on seven-day holidays and £30 per person on short-break cruises. Or for £100 per couple, you can order from The White Room's full menu and dine on your balcony; the dinner comes with a bottle of champagne, a butler and flowers.
--updated by Carolyn Spencer Brown, Editor in Chief, and Erica Silverstein, Senior Editor
Eating well at great restaurants is one of life's guilty pleasures, whether it's leave-you-speechless haute cuisine or roll-up-your-sleeves grazing. And there's good news for true gourmands. Some of the world's stellar chefs/proprietors of those so-hot-you-can't-get-a-table citadels are jumping onboard.
