It’s remarkable that one can now have some of the best meals of one’s life far away from land. For the last ten years or so, the top end of the cruise industry has made culinary excellence at sea a key focus of its development, with the result that there are some truly wonderful dining experiences available at an extraordinarily reasonable cost. But ‘as ever’ choice characterises what is on offer.

The classic traditional ship offers a single dining room with two seatings for dining. This means that you have a set dinner time (usually 6.30 or 8.30) and you are seated at the same table each evening.

The smaller and more exclusive ships tend to offer single open seating dining, which means that you dine when you please (within a time frame) and with whom you please, booking a table in advance if you are very particular about the time at which you eat and the type of table you require.

In recent years we have seen a huge increase in the alternative dining options aboard ships, with Italian, Asian or gourmet speciality restaurants being the most common. These smaller private restaurants offer a completely different ‘dining out’ option. In the mainstream, a supplement is often payable for these options.

More and more ships in the mainstream are offering increasingly flexible dining, with the opportunity to choose to dine anytime, any place, anywhere.

For big foodies, there are some wonderful opportunities on certain ships to travel with high profile guest chefs from around the world, who offer cookery demonstrations, market visits, and special menus. Chefs such as Nobu, or Charlie Palmer, Raymond Blanc or Ken Hom.

Whatever you go for, do remember that if you are interested in fine dining, then nowadays you need not compromise that interest simply because you are far from land!