You’re Hungry. It’s Late. Where You Gonna Go?

It’s midnight—a whole three, four, five or more hours since you’ve last eaten. You’re itching to nosh again. So, where you gonna go?

One thing the ships know is food and you can count on them to keep you fed, no matter when you want to consume. Here’s a sample of what’s around way after the sun’s gone down*:

Princess

International Café. You can’t beat the International Café in the piazza, the hub of the Princess ships. It’s all it’s rumored to be—good variety, good quality, always open and ready to serve you. There are great sandwiches, quiches, salads and desserts. And did I mention, they’re all free?

The sandwiches are always changing in the International Cafe

Horizon Court. I’m adding Princess’ buffet to the list because it stays open long after the ones on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Carnival close. Horizon Court serves full dinner up to 11 p.m. Which means you can eat in the main dining room at 6 and have a second dinner in Horizon Court at 10. Or a cookie or two.

 

A Regal spread

Room service: You can get free ‘round the clock chow delivered to your door, but note there’s a fee for some menu items.

Royal Caribbean

Promenade Café. Royal Caribbean’s café in the Promenade neighborhood is the place to go for free sandwiches and sweets when the restaurants have shuttered. The quality isn’t as good as the International Café, but what it loses in cuisine it gains in entertainment. Sit at a “sidewalk” table in the front and watch the cruise crowd go by. And it’s open 24/7.

 

Some of the free offerings at the Promenade Cafe 

Pizza for your pleasure.  Also along the Promenade is Sorrento’s, where you can get pizza by the slice—cheese, pepperoni, the style of the day or one custom made. That beer, though, will cost you extra. It’s open until 3 a.m., so you can grab a slice—and then breakfast just three and a half hours later at Windjammer.

Pizza and people watching on the Allure of the Seas

Room service:  There’s a service charge of $7.95 (and 18 percent tip) for any room service other than continental breakfast. RCI has upgraded their menu selections and it now includes items like hamburger, Philly cheesesteak and salmon. Available 24 hours.

Celebrity

The only free choice on Celebrity after the dinner hours is the Oceanview buffet, which has pizza, pasta and salad until midnight, and Café al Bacio with pastries and cookies, also to midnight.

Room service: Late night munchies off the menu will cost you a $4.95 fee. Any other time, it’s free.

Carnival

Pizza, pizza, who wants pizza? You can always be sure to find pizza on a Carni ship, as both Pizzeria Del Capitano and Pizza Pirate do them all day and night. You can finish off your off-hours meal with soft-serve ice cream or frozen yogurt on Lido deck, which runs as long as you do.

Room service: Room service from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. will cost on Carnival, with prices for menu items ranging from $2 to $6. Choices include grilled cheese, turkey wrap and brownies.

Musing’s Top Tip: Don’t like any of the late night options? Take back nibbles from the buffet and you can have just what you want, when you want it. The crew doesn’t mind—they even give you a frig to make it easier.

* Restaurants and hours vary by ship; verify with your onboard newsletter.

Cruising on $10 a Day

Well, now that I’ve gotten your attention, I’ll own up. This posting is not about how you can cruise for $10 a day. Sorry, that will run you somewhat more.

What it is about is what you can still get for $10—more or less—once you get onboard.

Though we spend thousands to climb that plank to paradise, we still count our pennies, do we not?

So, take comfort in knowing there are still some things that $10 will buy:

Malt shop on the sea. For $6.95 at Johnny Rockets, which is on 13 or so of Royal Caribbean’s ships, you can get burgers, shakes and fries, as well as the oh-so-lovely nostalgic experience of peeling your thighs off vinyl seats.

Some nostalgia with your fries on Oasis of the Seas

Bottoms up. Thankfully, drinks on a ship are still under that magic number. But they are getting awfully close. They ran, on average, about $8.95 for a tropical drink recently on the Regal Princess. The drink of the day will run you less, and so will beer.

That’s a novelty. The gift shop has goodies galore. Mind you, not much can be had for $10 or less, but you can still pick up magnets, a deck of cards or a tee shirt. If you’re really lucky, while you’re on your Caribbean cruise, you might even get something on Alaska, since the ships love to tempt you with low prices on stuff from places you haven’t been.

The bargain bazaar. Otherwise known as the $10 Sale. There’s at least one a cruise and sometimes more. You’ll get what you pay for, but it’s fun just the same. Hats and wraps, watches and chains, piles of stuff for picking through. But be prepared for a crunch of cruisers. Look for the sale in the ship newsletter or ask the shop sales folks.

 

Piles for the picking on the Regal Princess

Sidewalk sales. Just about every day, one of the ship’s shops has something or other out there where you see. And it comes with a big sale sign.  We’ve actually picked up simple glass figures for about $10, which made for inexpensive souvenirs. Mostly, these sales are promoted in the ship’s newsletter, but sometimes you just stumble on them.

Bets on the house. You can quickly blow $10 (alas, as well as substantially more) in the casino, but there’s always that chance…

Ways to blow $10 on the Regal Princess

It may only take just one. Speaking of gambling, you can usually get a single Bingo card for $10. But if you want to improve your chances, you’ll need to shell out more.

Going through Downton Abbey withdrawal? Bring back the memories with the Royal Afternoon Tea on the Royal or Regal Princess, where $10 will get you tea, nibbles and prime viewing for all the action in the piazza. Just don’t forget to sip, not slurp, if you want to impress Lady Mary.

 

Tea in Regal style

Scoop it up. If you’d rather spend your dough on sweets, you’ve got lots of choices. There’s a Ben and Jerry’s on most Royal Caribbean ships, where scoops range from about $2.50 to $4. Then there are the gelato cafes, like the one on the Regal Princess, at about $2.75 for three scoops.

 

Gelato on the Constellation

Wash, pay and wear. Spilled red wine on your jacket? The chocolate cake missed your mouth and ended up in your lap? Celebrity will wipe it clean it for you. To laundry a jacket, it will cost $8 and for pants, $7. Dry cleaning will run you a few bucks more.

Bedside manner. Royal Caribbean’s room service continental breakfast is free, but getting something more substantial will cost you $7.95. Carnival’s room service is free, but there’s a charge for its expanded in-room options. Celebrity’s service is free, but food between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. comes with a $4.95 fee. 

So what will Alexander Hamilton get you? From tee shirts to tea cups, burgers to beers and cones to cleaning—in short, more than you might think.