When you tell your friends you’re off on a cruise what is the first thing they say? ‘All those lovely excursions or ‘ Oh, the entertainment will be wonderful’. No, ten to one the first thing they mention will be the food. The benchmark of good cruise holidays is the standard of the food, the selection of eating-places and the availability. Nothing is worse than feeling like an early meal – or a late one and having to wait for a restaurant to open, or finding it closed.

Princess Cruises offer you dining when you want, not when the restaurant decides to serve it, and in this they are the only cruise line to offer its passengers a flexible dining experience. They call it Personal Choice Dining, and it offers a wide choice of specialty restaurant options, or casual dining venues. So where and when you wish to sample Princess Cruises award winning cuisine is entirely up to you.

Traditional Dining times are unchanged, with a first seating for dinner at 6pm, and the second seating at 8.15, but if you would like more flexibility you can eat at any time from 5.30 in the evening until 10pm, just like in a high street restaurant

If this freedom appeals to you, it’s best to book the Personal Choice Dining option when you are booking your cruise. However, if you change your mind, once aboard you can switch choices, but they will be subject to availability.

As well as the formal dining options there is a 24 hour buffet, a late night bistro, a burger bar and 24 hour room service, so Princess Cruises have food availability to suit everyone.

Should you begin to worry that all this delicious food is stretching your waistline, Princess Cruises have introduced Lotus Spa Cuisine to the dinner menus – they’ve been created to provide delicate, well balanced, but nutritional dishes that won’t leave you feeling too full for the evening entertainment for which the Princess line is rightly famous.

The company realises that passengers like variety on their cruise holidays, so the ships have a traditional steak grill – The Sterling Steakhouse serves the sort of steaks you’d find in the USA – for lovers of Italian cuisine Sabatini’s Trattoria is so authentic you will think you are in Rome – while the Bayou Cafe’ will give you a real taste of Cajun cooking. For those who appreciate ‘surf and turf’ The Crown Grill serves delicious seafood and prime steaks.

You’re bound to make new friends so perhaps you’d like to throw a drinks party for your new cruise chums? Tell Passenger Services about it and they’ll arrange it for you… they’ll send out the invites, prepare the canapes and mix the cocktails. All you have to do is play the perfect host and mingle.