If you are taking a Princess cruise you might be wondering what the food will be like. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included at no extra cost on a Princess cruise.
I took a cruise on Emerald Princess, and in this post we will look at everything I ate in the main dining room, buffet and poolside grill. Menus are also provided.
Buffet – Included
The buffet on the Emerald Princess was open from early in the morning until late at night.
The buffet is split into two sides and is relatively small due to the small size of the ship.
Below are some examples of my buffet meals. All of the food in the buffet is free and unlimited.
The great thing was that during the changeover times, between breakfast and lunch, or lunch and dinner the buffet didn’t have to close completely because they would close one side and open another.
The buffet at dinner time consisted of:
- A Carvery Section (Roast Meat etc.)
- Pasta
- Salads
- Indian, Chinese or Mexican Dishes
- Breads
- Desserts
The sections would be different for breakfast and lunch.
Below is a photo of my breakfasts and one of my lunches.
I loved the number of things that were in small grab-and-go cups, this made it very easy to pick up a snack or to have a small portion of something.
We usually ate breakfast in the buffet and although I am not a big buffet fan, there was lots of choices. I mostly had bread and fruit as seen below.
There were lots of waiters around who would ask if we wanted a drink as soon as we sat down.
The buffet was always very clean and the tables were cleaned between each group of guests.
The below photos show my Dad’s breakfast (he’s much more into breakfast than me) and my fajita and nacho lunches. These were very yummy!
Main Dining Room – Included
There are multiple main dining rooms onboard the Emerald Princess.
Guests can either choose fixed dining, where you have the same table at the same time each night or flexible dining. We opted for flexible dining and it worked well.
Flexible dining meant that we could book different restaurants and eat at different times.
We did also have the option to table share so, if you were cruising solo, this would be a good way to meet other passengers.
| Starter #1 | Duck Liver Pate |
| Starter #2 | Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes |
| Main #1 | Curry (Off Menu) |
It wasn’t uncommon to find that there were extras available not on the menu.
Most nights there would be at least two specials, and one of them was usually vegetarian. The majority of the time the specials would be pies or curries.
The below vegetable pie and chips were an off-menu special.
| Main #1 | Vegetable Pie (Off Menu) |
| Main #2 | Smoked Pork Loin |
| Starter #1 | Sesame Chicken Bites |
| Starter #2 | Mexican Salad |
There was also an “always-available” section on the menu, these are called Princess’s favourites and they don’t change.
The dessert menu also has an always-available section. My favourite in this section is the Love Boat Dream, it’s a chocolate brownie/mousse and I ate it multiple times.
| Main | Penne Pasta |
| Dessert | Lemon Meringue |
| Starter #1 | Field Greens |
| Main #1 | Chips/Fries and Vegetable Samosas (Off Menu) |
| Main #2 | Jerk Chicken |
A plate of chips/fries wasn’t on the menu but when I ordered the vegetable samosas, our waiter asked me if I could like some chips as the portion was small, I didn’t expect a whole bowl of chips!
If you’d ever like something extra, just ask.
| Starter #1 | Field Greens |
| Main #1 | Chips/Fries and Vegetable Samosas (Off Menu) |
| Main #2 | Jerk Chicken |
Caesar salad was always available as a starter, as you’ll find on most cruise lines.
It is possible to order a starter as a main or a main as a starter if you’d prefer.
There aren’t any limits on how many courses you can order, so if there are multiple things that take your fancy, order them all!
Many people order a couple of starters and a couple of mains. The waiters are very used to it.
The below menu was from Gala night, this is Princess’s formal night of sorts.
Many people do dress up for dinner and there is a dress code that’s in place.
It isn’t as strict as other cruise lines like Cunard, but compared to other American cruise lines like Carnival or Royal Caribbean, it is taken more seriously.
| Starter #1 | Marinated Tofu |
| Main #1 | Beef Wellington |
| Dessert #1 | Chocolate Bomb |
| Starter #1 | Wedge Salad |
| Main #1 | Ravioli |
| Dessert #1 | Cheesecake |
We always found that the food was well presented, the portion sizes were good and the food hot. The service was great too.
| Starter #1 | Steamed Asparagus |
| Main #1 | Eggplant Timbale |
| Dessert #1 | Baked Alaska |
Other Included Food – Pool Side Grill
In addition to the food in the buffet and the main dining room, there was freshly made pizza, burgers and hot dogs served on the pool deck.
The pizza restaurant was called Slice and the poolside grill was called Salty Dog.
The above might not look like much, but they were very tasty!
My brother said that his poolside burger from Salty Dog was the best that he’s ever had on a cruise.
I understand how gross the loaded fries (right) look but they were amazing. There was one vegetarian and one meat option.
Sadly there were no meat-free hot dogs available but there was a veggie burger.
To find out more about what is included in a Princess cruise beyond the food, check out this post:
Princess Cruises – What is Included? Food, Gratuities and More
Other Included Food – Room Service/Bar Service
Princess cruises have taken room service one step further by letting all guests order from the room service menu to their location, even if they aren’t in their room.
We were able to order sandwiches, desserts, and drinks to our location just using the app.
Realistically the app worked about 50% of the time, but when it did work, it was amazing.
I didn’t order room service on this cruise but have on Princess cruises in the past. Below are a couple of photos from my room service on Sky Princess.
Other Included Food – International Cafe (Cookies)
In the atrium of Princess cruise ships, there is a cafe called the international cafe. Here they have snacks that are available 24/7.
These are mostly small sandwiches and cakes but they do also have cookies here!
The cookies are usually behind the scenes so you have to ask for them, either when you order your drink or you can just walk up to the food area and ask.
We had three different types of cookies on this cruise and they were all fantastic.
Our waiter would often bring us plates of cookies so that we could keep them in our cabin for snacks, it was amazing!
Tea and Coffee are served here but these do cost extra.
Tea and Coffee are also available for free in some other places around the ship, to find out where and when, check out this post:
Princess Cruises Tea and Coffee Guide – Free and Premium Options
Speciality Restaurants
I didn’t go to any speciality restaurants during this cruise (restaurants that cost extra) but in the past, I have tried almost all of Princess’s speciality restaurants.
To find out what those are like, check out this video:
Before You Go
Have a look at everything I ate on my luxury river cruise with Uniworld here:
Here’s Everything I Ate on a Luxury River Cruise (Main Meals, Buffet and More)
Find out what I ate on my Bargain Costa Smeralda cruise below – it wasn’t all Pasta:
Everything I Ate on my Costa Cruise (Photos and Menus) – Food Review
Free Insiders Cruise Line Guide
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