But all that has changed. On ships today, particularly the newer ones, the trend is toward flexibility of dining times, variety of cuisine, and premium dining in intimate restaurant settings, for which a per-person surcharge is customarily assessed.
As inveterate foodies have fueled demand for culinary diversions, the cruise lines have responded with cooking demonstrations, wine tastings, chef's dinners, specialty buffets, and shore excursions that call at vineyards, markets and acclaimed restaurants.
Of course, cruise vacations have always had a strong emphasis on food consumption, but now the shipboard experience is prizing quality over simple quantity and frequency of opportunity.
"Food is playing a larger part in everybody's life these days, and not just on vacation," said Andrew Poulton, director of strategic marketing for Radisson Seven Seas. "What we're doing on the ships reflects what's happening on land."
Rai Caluori, senior vice president of fleet operations for Princess, added: "Expectation has changed. It speaks to the cruise vacationer who wants more flexibility, particularly the younger guests."
Norwegian Cruise Line is credited with pioneering the trend in 2000 with its launch of Freestyle Cruising. With a sweeping stroke, it did away with the large dining room, the two dinner seatings, the assigned tablemates, and the nightly dress code.
As others have rushed to mimic Norwegian's model, dining space has been carved up into multiple, restaurant-type venues. Now, just about every cruise line's brochures trumpet the opportunity "to dine when, where and with whom you please."
