Alaska Cruise Dining: What to Expect on Board and Ashore
The ultimate all-inclusive dining experience
Getting to know the ship
There’s a lot of activity in the beginning when everyone is boarding the ship and getting excited to set sail. On our ship’s Lido Deck, we found welcome cocktails, music and snacks being passed out around the pools. This was a festive spot to wave bon voyage to Seattle as we set sail.
Dining options onboard the cruise ship range from super casual to fine dining. A word to the wise… Get to know your ship before diving in to dinner.
An overview of The Food onboard
Food on the cruise ship is plentiful and, with the pre-paid drink package, so were beverages. You can literally eat and drink your way through the week if you choose to, but I don’t recommend it (your clothes might not fit at the end!).
On the Westerdam, we had complimentary 24-hour room service which we took advantage of every day, waking up to coffee and a light breakfast snack that we enjoyed on our private patio.
For a quick snack (almost anytime), there was the Lido Market. This was a buffet restaurant situated between the two pool decks. When we first boarded the ship, our room had an invitation to a celebratory first-night dinner in the dining room. Not knowing yet where that was, we went first to the dining area at the Lido Market. Totally different! Moral of this story: learn your way around to maximize your experience.
Located around the pool deck were a few specialty diners, including the Dive In where we grabbed burgers and fries for a quick bite to eat.
The main Dining Room was more upscale than the Lido Market and offered breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. The staff here were exceptional! The hostess greeted us by name, the servers were personable and efficient, and the food was really good.
And then there were multiple fine-dining options, including the Pinnacle Grill and Canaletto restaurants. These were available for an added fee, but with our cruise package two complimentary upgraded dinner reservations were included.
Drink Package
Non-alcoholic beverages (water, tea, coffee, lemonade, iced tea and milk) are included with the price of your cruise fare. For alcoholic or specialty coffee drinks, you can pay as you go, but we opted to go with the pre-paid drink package. With that, we could enjoy up to 15 drinks (per person) daily which was more than enough for us. That gave us the freedom to enjoy whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted it.
24-hour Room Service
At the end of one day, we’d fill out our breakfast order and leave it outside our room door. The next morning, we’d magically wake up to breakfast. It was the absolute best way to start our days… Still in pajamas, sitting on our verandah, watching the early-morning misty Alaska coastline pass by while sipping hot coffee.
The Dining Room
This is where we enjoyed most of our meals on the cruise ship. There were designated times for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but reservations weren’t required. Each day had a custom menu and every day featured Alaska-native dishes.
Specialty Restaurants Onboard
Our cruise fare included two meal upgrades. We used on at The Pinnacle Grill, enjoying a multi-course surf-and-turf special with baked Alaska for dessert.
Our second upgraded dinner was a birthday celebration at Canaletto. We started with a champagne and Aperol Spritz toast at sunset, then ate our way through a multi-course meal with a sweet dessert surprise finale. The chef personally brought specialty dishes to our table and our server (from Bali) offered suggestions for the perfect meal while filling our imaginations for a future vacation.
The food was wonderful, but it was the personal interactions that made it much more than just dinner.
Dining onshore
Juneau, Alaska
Not far from the cruise ship dock, we found Deckhand Dave’s Wild Alaskan Fish Tacos - a cute little outdoor food court. There were several food trucks with fresh seafood and local brews. Since we had a bit of time before heading off to our dogsledding excursion, we sat down for some oysters and a beer.
After our adventure with the huskies on the Hubert Glacier, we had some time before we had to board the ship. Dinner onshore was a nice change of pace after a couple days on the ship. We stopped in at The Hangar on the Wharf. It was a casual restaurant overlooking the harbor. While we ate, we watched the sea planes land and take off.
Before arriving in Alaska, we dreamed about dining on Alaskan king crab while onshore, but we quickly found that it was too expensive for our vacation budget. So, instead, we enjoyed Alaskan halibut at The Hangar on the Wharf, prepared four different ways for our party of four!
Sitka, Alaska
After walking through the Tongass National Forest, we grabbed reindeer sandwiches from a food truck and sat people-watching on a sidewalk bench as we ate it
Continuing our tour of Alaska breweries, we found a spot to sit and sip a cold brew before catching the bus back to our ship
Victoria, British Columbia
After a nice dinner on the cruise ship…
We stopped in at the Empress Hotel for a “Sip at Sunset” tea-infused cocktail
We found a little patio restaurant next to the harbor where we enjoyed a Canadian beer before making our way the mile back to the dock
Final Thoughts…
Do you need to pack dressy clothes for dining on the ship? Maybe for some cruises, but not on the Westerdam. I brought a couple dresses, but spent most of the time in casual attire.
Should you buy the drink package? Absolutely. Even for casual drinkers like us, the freedom to choose what we wanted (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) was worth the added cost. Without the package, drink costs can add up by the end of the cruise to exceed the package price.
What about tipping? The cruise staff work hard, so tipping is not only appreciated, but appropriate. You can plan to tip as you go (don’t forget to tip your room steward at the end of the cruise, they take care of you every day) or pre-pay gratuities with your cruise fare.
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