Just as cruising was once regarded as a pastime of the upper classes, so was afternoon tea; the term brings to mind aristocratic ladies nibbling on crust-free cucumber sandwiches and sipping from china cups. Indeed, afternoon tea was invented in the early 1800's by Anna, Duchess of Bedford as a light snack between lunch and dinner. ("High tea" is something entirely different. A much heavier repast traditionally eaten by working classes in the early evening, it got its name because it's eaten at the "high," or dinner table. The aristocratic afternoon tea is traditionally eaten at the much lower lounge table.)
The aristocratic pleasure of afternoon tea naturally found its way into the first-class sections of the great ocean liners, and as cruising replaced crossing in the 20th century, it was retained as an example of the sort of tradition one might not have the time to keep up on land but that could still be enjoyed aboard ship.
While cruising in the 21st century comes in a bewildering array of styles, the prevalence of afternoon tea as a shipboard ritual shows that most cruise lines aren't quite ready to completely throw tradition overboard. You might expect to see a big deal made of afternoon tea on luxury lines, or those with a British heritage like Cunard and Princess, but who would have thought that "fun-fun-fun" Carnival offers its own rather genteel version complete with classical music and cucumber sandwiches?
In fact, just about every major cruise line offers afternoon tea in one form or another, and the different styles offered fascinatingly mirror the differences in other areas of cruise lines' products. Unsurprisingly, luxury lines tend to offer elaborate tea menus, often with gourmet selections from upscale specialty tea purveyors. On the other end of the spectrum, some mass-market lines simply offer an unpretentious afternoon buffet in their ships' casual restaurants, geared more to passengers who missed lunch than to those looking for an elegant snack.
Carnival Cruise Lines
When & Where: On afternoons at sea, Carnival offers afternoon tea (generally from 3 to 4 p.m.) in the ships' dining rooms or cigar bars.
Style of Service: Waiter service is featured for both tea and treats.
That's Entertainment: The cocktail pianist plays during Carnival's afternoon tea.
Food, Glorious Food: Traditional teatime treats such as cucumber sandwiches, scones and various desserts are offered.
Celebrity Cruises
When & Where:Celebrity Cruises offers "Elegant Tea" in their specialty restaurants (or in the main dining room on ships that don't have specialty restaurants) during sea days. On other days, afternoon tea is offered in the ships' buffet restaurants, but this is really more of an afternoon snack than a true afternoon tea service.
Style of Service:Celebrity's Elegant Tea features waiter service.
That's Entertainment: Live background music is featured at Elegant Tea.
Types of Tea: Twinings English breakfast, earl grey, chamomile, green tea, orange pekoe and fruits of the forest.
Food, Glorious Food: Offerings include finger sandwiches including salmon, fresh cream cakes, mini doughnuts and chocolate and strawberry mini tarts.
Costa Cruises
When & Where:Costa offers afternoon tea every day, excluding days of embarkation and disembarkation, in one of the lounges (varies depending on the ship).
Style of Service: Afternoon tea is serviced by waiters on Costa.
That's Entertainment: A band usually performs during afternoon tea.
Types of Tea: A selection of Tisane teas is offered.
Food, Glorious Food: Petit Fours are passed by waiters.
Crystal Cruises
When & Where: Afternoon tea is offered daily from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Palm Court aboard Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony. On every voyage, in addition to the regular teas, the company offers fabulously themed teas such as Mozart Tea, English Colonial Tea, Chocolate Tea and American Summer Tea.
Style of Service:Crystal's afternoon tea is mostly served by waiters, but there is an elaborate buffet from which guests can choose snacks.
That's Entertainment: A classical music trio provides entertainment -- occasionally there will be a harpist or tea dances.
Types of Tea: Crystal offers teas from Mighty Leaf, including English Breakfast, Himalayan Peak Darjeeling, Earl Grey Organic, Leaves of Provence black teas, Hojicha and Green Tea Passion green teas and Chamomile Citron, Verbena Mint and Ginger Twist herbal treas.
Food, Glorious Food: All of Crystal's teas include a wide variety of freshly made pastries and tea sandwiches, but the selection varies depending on the theme. For example, pastry selections include warm viennese apple streudel (Mozart Tea) or chocolate whiskey tart (Chocolate) while sandwich selections include a stilton cheese and pear pocket (English Colonial Tea) or avocado and bacon sandwich (American Summer Tea).
Cunard Line
When & Where: Aboard Queen Mary 2, afternoon tea is held daily (except for embarkation day) in the Queen's Room, the Queens Grill Lounge (for Grill-class passengers only) and King's Court. Onboard Queen Victoria, tea is held in the Queen's Room, Grills Lounge (for Grill-class passengers only) and Lido. Tea time on both ships is from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Style of Service:Cunard's white glove waiter service occurs in the Queen's Room and Grills Lounges, and a more casual buffet service is available in Queen Mary 2's King's Court and Queen Victoria's Lido.
That's Entertainment: Featured entertainment during afternoon tea in the Queens Room varies and includes live performances from a harpist, string quartet, or a pianist. On Queen Mary 2 a Tea Dance is held once per voyage.
Types of Tea: Twinnings and Wedgewood Teas (English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Chamomile, Mint, Darjeeling, Celon, Black China, Green Tea, Decaffeinated Tea, Jasmine, Lemon, Apple and Orange Pekoe). In Queen Mary 2's Queen's Grill Lounge, the brand is Wedgewood.
Food, Glorious Food: Scones with cream and jam are offered every day. In addition, Cunard offers a wide variety of pastry selections such as black forest cake, fruit tart, raspberry cream pastry, chocolate eclairs and banana cake, and sandwiches including salmon cream eheese, sliced cucumber with butter, sliced roast beef with mayo, mustard and horseradish, shrimp Marie Rose salad and egg mayonnaise with chopped chives.
Discovery World Cruises
When & Where: Afternoon tea aboard Discovery is offered daily at 4:30 p.m., usually in the Palm Court and occasionally on the Lido Deck.
Style of Service: Food is served at a buffet, however waiters usually serve the tea, especially in the Palm Court.
That's Entertainment: Classical concerts are sometimes scheduled to coincide with tea.
Types of Tea: A selection of teas is offered.
Food, Glorious Food: Food offerings include cakes, scones, tea sandwiches and petit fours.
Disney Cruise Line
When & Where:Disney offers afternoon tea in their adults-only alternative restaurant, Palo, from 3 to 4 p.m. on days at sea on seven-night or longer itineraries. Plus, Tea with Alice & the Mad Hatter for the whole family is offered on sea days in Studio Sea. Both teas occur only on Disney Magic.
Style of Service: Waiter service is featured at both tea times.
That's Entertainment: During Tea with Alice & the Mad Hatter, beloved Disney characters entertain and interact with guests.
Types of Tea: Masala Black Chai, Imperial English Breakfast, Thunderbolt Darjeeling, Russian Earl Grey, Floral Jasmine, Darjeeling, Exotic Iced Tea.
Food, Glorious Food: Tea sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream, mini eclairs and English trifle are offered. Caveats: Afternoon tea in Palo costs $5 per person, making Disney Cruise Line the only cruise line we know of that charges for afternoon tea. Because Palo is an adults-only space, only passengers 18 and over are admitted. Tea with Alice and the Mad Hatter is free of charge, but reservations are required.
Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines
When & Where: Tea is served from 3:30 to 4:30p.m. each day in the cafe onboard or the relaxed, informal dining room.
Style of Service: Passengers help themselves to the food, while waiters bring the tea.
That's Entertainment: Background music, not necessarily live music, plays during tea time.
Types of Tea: Black, flavored and green teas are available.
Food, Glorious Food: A buffet-style assortment of cakes, sandwiches, crepes, scones, sugar cookies, etc. is offered.
Hapag-Lloyd's Europa
When & Where: Afternoon tea is served in the Europa's refined and elegant observation lounge, Club Belvedere.
Style of Service:Europa's afternoon tea is in the form of a buffet.
That's Entertainment: A pianist provides music.
Types of Tea: Europa offers offer more than 10 varieties of tea and coffee.
Food, Glorious Food: There is a wide selection of cookies, pastries, cakes and sandwiches served buffet style.
Holland America Line
When & Where: A few different types of afternoon tea are offered on Holland America -- the daily casual tea, the special Royal Dutch High Tea, and the Indonesian Afternoon Tea -- all in the main dining room. (Never mind that "high tea" is a misnomer for an elegant affair....) The hotel manager and culinary staff set the tea schedules for each sailing, so your cruise could include a combination of some or all of these types of afternoon tea.
Style of Service: All of the tea sittings offer both buffet- and waiter-style service.
That's Entertainment: Strings quartets are featured at tea times.
Types of Tea:HAL offers a broad range of packaged teas.
Food, Glorious Food: Cookies are offered at the casual daily tea, while the more formal Royal Dutch High Tea features a wider array of cookies, petit fours, scones, finger sandwiches and pastries.
MSC Cruises
When & Where: Every day a self-service tea is offered, and on some vessels an afternoon tea will be held in the lounge on sea days.
Style of Service: Afternoon tea is a buffet-style for the self-service tea. and waiter service is offered at teas held in the lounges.
That's Entertainment: Music is offered during tea time, thus the line has coined it "Musical Tea."
Types of Tea: A wide assortment of Twinings teas are available; some include English Breakfast, Prince of Whales, jasmine green tea, and a selection of infusions ranging from chammomile and honey, tiglio and mint.
Food, Glorious Food:MSC buffet-style tea includes petit fours and occasionally a variety of finger sandwiches. For the full-service teas in the lounges you'll find petit fours, cut cake and sometimes finger sandwiches.
Oceania Cruises
When & Where: Aboard Oceania's ships, tea is featured daily, with the exception of embarkation day, in the Horizons observation lounge.
Style of Service: Waiter service is featured, with food brought on tiered pastry carts.
That's Entertainment: A classical string quartet provides background music.
Types of Tea: A range of Twinings teas are offered including 1. Pure Camomile, Earl Grey, Earl Grey decaffeinated, Dardjeeling, Ceylon Orange Pekoe, English Breakfast, English Breakfast decaffeinated, Pure Peppermint, Green Tea and English Afternoon.
Food, Glorious Food:Oceania's afternoon tea service features a wide assortment of pastries, at least two different types of scones, several cakes, a variety of cookies and freshly made finger sandwiches.
P&O Cruises
When & Where: Afternoon tea is offered daily between 4 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. in one of the main dining room and also in the buffet.
Style of Service: Waiter service is featured at afternoon tea in the dining room on P&O, and the buffet is a casual, self-service style.
That's Entertainment: Classical music is played in the dining room over the sound system.
Types of Tea: Twinings teas are offered in the main dining room. Selections include Earl Grey, Ceylon, Darjeeling, Traditional Afternoon, Lapsang Souchong, Assam and Traditional English. In the buffet Assam, Smile, Earl Grey & Vanilla, Earl Grey, Green Tea & Lemon, Peppermint Punch and Summer Berry teas made by Tetley are available.
Food, Glorious Food: If you head to the main dining room for tea, you'll find a selection of dainty finger sandwiches; traditional homemade British cakes, biscuits and fruit tartlets; plain and fruit scones served with jams, butter and Devonshire clotted cream; toasted spiced currant teacakes; and warm English crumpets. In the buffet finger sandwiches, cakes and light snacks are served.
Peter Deilmann's Deutschland
When & Where: Tea, coffee and pastries are served in the Lido Gourmet Restaurant every afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Elegant Tea is served in the Lido Terrace, also at 3:30 p.m. Tea, coffee and pastries are also served from a rolling cart by waiters on the Lido deck to passengers relaxing in lounge chairs reading or sunbathing.
Style of Service: The Lido Gourmet is a buffet restaurant with partial waiter service. There is waiter service in the more formal Lido Terrace.
That's Entertainment: Each day, a different pianist or members of the ship's orchestra perform at Elegant Tea in the Lido Terrace.
Types of Tea: A wide variety is offered but the company's response stated that they were unsure of what specific brands are used.
Food, Glorious Food: Tea time features a wide variety of pastries, cakes and sandwiches.
Princess Cruises
When & Where: Afternoon tea is offered daily from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., with the exception of embarkation day, in one of the ships' main dining rooms.
Style of Service: Waiters serve afternoon tea.
That's Entertainment: Live background music is provided from a string quartet, guitarist, violinist or other musician.
Types of Tea:Princess offers regular Lipton tea and a selection of Bigelow teas that include chammomile, Earl Grey, mint, herb and fruit, lemon, English Breakfast, Darjeeling, Orange Spice and green tea.
Food, Glorious Food: Passengers can enjoy open and closed finger sandwiches, scones, cookies and French pastries.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises
When & Where:Regent Seven Seas Cruises offers afternoon tea everyday aboard most of its sailings (depending on the itinerary it will be held from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. or 4 - 5 p.m.). The setting varies from ship to ship; for example, aboard Seven Seas Voyager and Seven Seas Mariner, tea is held in the Horizon Lounge; on Seven Seas Navigator it is held in the Galileos Lounge.
Style of Service: Passengers help themselves to small bites from the buffet, while waiters serve tea.
That's Entertainment: A pianist plays until halfway through the tea when trivia begins.
Types of Tea: Twinings Tea is offered, and depending on availability, selections may include Earl Grey, black currant, chammomile, Darjeeling, decaffeinated English Breakfast, decaffeinated Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, jasmine green tea, lemon scented, orange picot, peppermint, peach and Japanese green tea.
Food, Glorious Food: On the buffet, a variety of finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jelly, cookies and cakes are featured.
Royal Caribbean
When & Where: Traditional afternoon tea is not offered on Royal Caribbean. Instead, an "afternoon snack" service is offered in the Windjammer Cafe (casual buffet restaurant) daily between 3 and 4:30 p.m.
Style of Service: The Windjammer afternoon snack service is buffet style.
That's Entertainment: On some ships, a guitarist plays.
Types of Tea:Royal Caribbean features Lipton teas except on cruises from the UK, where Tetley teas are offered.
Food, Glorious Food: The afternoon tea portion of the afternoon snack service features pastries, scones and cookies. Other selections also on offer at the afternoon snack service include hamburgers, hot dogs and salads. This is part of an effort to offer a wide variety of food to passengers who may have missed lunch (especially when the ship is in port).
Star Clippers
When & Where: While afternoon tea is not regularly offered on Star Clippers, the hotel manager may elect to offer it depending on passenger demographics. There is an afternoon buffet every day, but this is not normally a proper afternoon tea. When afternoon tea is offered, it's held both indoors in the Piano Bar and outdoors in the Tropical Bar.
Style of Service:Star Clippers' afternoon tea is buffet style.
That's Entertainment: Live music is featured.
Types of Tea: Star Clippers features teas from Twinings of London.
Food, Glorious Food: Afternoon tea on Star Clippers features traditional teatime treats such as pastries and finger sandwiches.
Seabourn Cruise Line
When & Where: Afternoon tea is offered each afternoon in the ships' observation lounges (the Constellation Lounge aboard Seabourn Pride, the Horizon Lounge aboard Seabourn Spirit and the Midnight Sun Lounge aboard Seabourn Legend).
Style of Service: Food items are served in a buffet, while waiters serve the tea.
That's Entertainment: A live pianist is featured every other day; on the alternate days, recorded classical music is featured.
Types of Tea:Seabourn recently introduced new "Seabourn To a Tea" service, with a menu of more than a dozen rare estate teas, blends and tisanes (herbal teas). Teas and blends include Bleu Peacock, Green Tea Passion, Jasmine Downy Pearls, Mandarin Rose Petal, Earl Grey, English Breakfast and Himalayan Peak Darjeeling while the tisane selections include Chamomile Citron, Mint Melange, Ginger Twist and Verbena Mint. The un-brewed loose teas are presented in corked glass vials in a leather tea chest, allowing passengers to sniff each tea before selecting one to be fresh brewed in a heated pot.
Food, Glorious Food: Sandwiches, pastries, scones with clotted cream, jams, cakes, cookies and tarts are offered to complement the Seabourn to a Tea selections.
Windstar Cruises
When & Where: On the Windstar ships, tea is served daily from 4 - 5 p.m. On Wind Surf, afternoon tea in the Compass Rose bar, while on the smaller Wind Star and Wind Spirit it's served on the Pool Deck.
Style of Service: Afternoon tea is a buffet on Windstar.
That's Entertainment: Musicians playing the electric piano appear during tea time.
Types of Tea: There is a variety of Bigelow teas available, however the line will be switching ot Tazo teas in the near future.
Food, Glorious Food: An array of treats accompanies the tea each day; for example, fresh fruit, assorted cookies, petit fours, scones, finger sandwiches and refreshing sorbets are commonly served.
--by Douglas Newman, a maritime writer in New York specializing in passenger ships and ferries.
Just as cruising was once regarded as a pastime of the upper classes, so was afternoon tea; the term brings to mind aristocratic ladies nibbling on crust-free cucumber sandwiches and sipping from china cups. Indeed, afternoon tea was invented in the early 1800's by Anna, Duchess of Bedford as a light snack between lunch and dinner. ("High tea" is something entirely different. A much heavier repast traditionally eaten by working classes in the early evening, it got its name because it's eaten at the "high," or dinner table. The aristocratic afternoon tea is traditionally eaten at the much lower lounge table.)
