Top 10: cruise ship speciality restaurants

Onboard dining has improved so much in recent years, here are some of our favourites

Overnights and late sailings aside, cruise guests must eat on board the ship each night. Fortunately, the choice is greater than ever: from one or two dining options, the number has dramatically increased in recent years with the introduction of speciality restaurants: Silver Muse, Silversea’s new flagship, for example, has an incredible 12 venues for just 596 guests. Here are some of our favourites from across the industry:

1. Acclaimed Japanese chef Nobu Matsuhisa partnered with Crystal in 2003 to open the exceptional Silk Road and The Sushi Bar, serving some of the best food at sea.

2. Viking’s ocean product has some great venues – we love Manfredi’s – but we’ve picked Kitchen Table here, its specialist cookery school (where you can learn, or just watch the experts cook and eat).

3. Norwegian Cruise Line’s excellent Cagney’s Steakhouse also makes our list, proving that it’s not just the luxury lines with great alternative dining.

4. Rudi’s Sal de Mer, on board Holland America Line’s Koningsdam, is a French brasserie pop-up in the ship’s Pinnacle Grill. The low-lit restaurant serves top quality French seafood dishes.

5. Silversea’s Le-Champagne, the only Relais & Châteaux restaurant at sea, is one of the most opulent speciality restaurants out there. It even serves gold-leaf risotto.

6. Found on Marina and Riviera, Jacques (from French chef Jacques Pépin) is the  pick of the bunch from Oceania Cruises’ exceptional speciality restaurant collection.

7. Princess Cruises’ Crown Grill doesn’t get the headlines its Italian Sabatini’s gets, but we think serves ones of the best steaks at sea in an incredible space…

8… talking of which, Seabourn’s elegant Grill – a collaboration between three-star Michelin chef Thomas Keller and designer Adam D Tihany – serves incredible thick-cut prime NY strip steak.

9. Scenic Eclipse doesn’t launch until late next year, but this venue – Teppanyaki –
is among the most beautiful we’ve seen.

10. 150 Central Park is the most up-market restaurant on Royal Caribbean, serving a six-course menu developed by Miami restaurateur Michael Schwartz.

• For all the latest cruise news, including ship launches, fam trips, incentives and new hires, click here