Very interestingly, when people think of vacations, many automatically include great dining experience as one essential component of the vacation. It doesn't matter what cultural/ethnic background people are from, food just seems to have such a universal popularity. Leveraging this huge potential customer base, many tourist destinations use great food as one of their appeal. After all, food is one of the essential needs of life, and to improve its quality beyond the bare necessity just seems to be a calling so deeply encoded in our genes, that it is almost irresistible to many. Moreover, there is no physical limitation applied, or rigorous training required, to enjoy eating great food. Everybody can just sit and enjoy, and no one can escape from that for long - You just have to eat everyday. Putting all these facts together, there is no wonder cruise lines strive to provide good dining service - it appeals to all and applies to all.
在這一點上，我覺得他們是非常成功的。在遊輪上，食物幾乎是永遠不缺乏的，每天二十四小時，只要是想吃東西的時候，都可以很輕易地得到品質不錯的食物 - 事實上，得到食物的管道太多了，如何讓自己不要一直吃，反而變成了行程中的困擾。而這些食物，絕大多數都已經包含在船費裡面，一趟遊輪坐下來，感覺就像是在吃到飽的餐廳裡住了七天，是相當奇妙的經驗。以下我依船上可以取得食物的管道，分類介紹。
From what I saw, I think the cruise lines are highly successful in providing good dining experience. On the ship, food is just sumptuous - any time around the clock, as soon as you crave for something, quality food is always there. In fact, food is so accessible that holding back from over-eating is a big problem. Most of the food is already included in the package, thus taking a cruise makes me feel like living in an all-you-can-eat buffet for seven straight days. It is not necessarily healthy, but a very interesting/unique experience. I will introduce the dining on board based on the available food sources:
1. 自助餐廳：
這應該是船上吃東西最方便的地方了。二十四小時營業，依據時段的不同，供應正餐、點心、或宵夜。自助餐廳的座位不是很多（我估計頂多四五百個位子，和全船乘客近兩千五百比起來，真是小兒科），但很神奇的，除了一兩次午餐時間之外，我們幾乎都可以很順利地找到位子。大概是因為，自助餐是最有效率餵飽食客的方法（拿了就吃，吃了就飽，飽了就走），所以桌子的使用效率很高的關係吧？
1. Buffet:
This is probably the most convenient place to eat on board. It is open 24 hours, providing meals, snacks, or light food depending on the hour. There are not many seats in the buffet (I estimated 400~500 seats are available, and that is really small compared to about 2500 passengers on board), but we almost never had problem finding a table other than during a couple of crowded lunch. Probably that is because buffet is the most efficient way to get people filled (you grab food, you sit, you get stuffed, and you get lost - in a very mechanical, assembly line fashion), thus the turnover rate of the tables are pretty good.
至於自助餐的品質，老實說我是有一點點失望的。當然它比一般的廉價自助餐好上不少，但如果拿船上的自助餐和 vegas 的豪華自助餐相比，那馬上又輸了一截。在船上，螃蟹任你吃到飽這種事，是不會發生的。菜色雖然是每天更換，但總有一些不合口味的選項，而讓我想一拿再拿的菜色，在七天裡幾乎沒有出現過。不過，這樣也好，才不會每天吃得跟豬一樣。
As for the quality of the buffet, honestly I am slightly disappointed. Of course, it is definitely better than the cheap buffets in town, but comparing to the high end buffets (for example, in Vegas), the buffet on the ship is definitely inferior. There won't be all-you-can-eat crabs available in this buffet. Dishes are changed for every meal, so I did not get bored, but within the seven days there was hardly any dish that I really wanted it appear again badly. That's a good thing I guess, so I didn't end up eating all the time.
我對自助餐廳的評價是 - 早餐最優，和一般在家吃的簡單早餐相比，有這麼多樣式可以選的早餐 buffet，簡直是天堂；午餐普普，時好時壞，就像是家裡附近的小餐廳，不會特別想要去吃，但也不會讓我排斥不想去；晚餐時段，因為有明顯更好的正式餐廳，幾乎沒有任何理由來吃自助餐；宵夜、點心通常提供三明治和水果，每天有吃不完的水果讓人非常開心。
My overall comment for the buffet - Breakfast is the best, having so many options available for breakfast is almost heaven, compared to the simple breakfast we typically have at home due to the lack of time. Lunch is just so so, like a small restaurant close to home, I don't crave for it, but I don't mind going again. For dinner, since there is a by-far-more-superior formal dining room, there is almost no reason to come to buffet. Snacks are typical sandwiches and fruits - fresh fruits available 24/7 is such a nice thing to have!
【 Photo at the buffet - I really enjoyed the view here】
【The buffet is open day and night, 24 hours a day】在遊輪上，大家都可以很明顯地感受到，一天最被重視的是哪一餐 - 船上的正式餐廳，在晚餐的時段，提供豪華的套餐，無疑是船上所有和吃東西相關的事件當中，最讓人期待的事。
2. Formal dining:
On a cruise ship, it becomes pretty obvious which meal is the most important one during a day - the formal dining rooms on board serve deluxe set dinners every evening. It is the meal that everybody looks forward to the most.
每位乘客在上船的時候，都有一個指定的晚餐時間和坐位，時候到了，就要去餐廳報到用餐。雖然這樣的做法稍嫌軍事化，不夠有彈性，但要讓全船兩千五百名乘客，都很有秩序地吃到飯，實在是不得不存在一些制度上的不便。
Each passenger is assigned a seat and time slot in the formal dinning room for dinners, so people dine according to this schedule. This sounds inflexible, but in order to feed 2500 people in an orderly fashion, some structure and logistics is indeed necessary.
每天晚餐至少都是三道菜以上，可以自己從開胃菜、主菜、甜點裡選擇一或多項。最棒的地方是，如果今天出現了自己喜歡的菜，也可以不只點一項：有興趣的話，我可以點兩道前菜、兩道主菜、三道甜點（大家可以把它想成 "點菜的自助餐"）。餐廳裡食物的品質和調理，無疑是船上最出色的，大約和我在陸地上去過最好的餐廳相去不遠；更出色的，是它的服務 - 每張桌子都有固定的服務生，服務的水準比我去過的任何餐廳都還要優秀。
Each dinner is at least a three-course meal, and I can choose my appetizer, main course, and dessert from a long list of options. The best part is, if there are more than one item I like from the menu, I don't have to settle with one choice. I can order as many appetizers, main courses, and desserts as I feel like to. The best description I can think of is this is "a buffet that takes order and serves to your table". The quality of food here is no doubt the most outstanding among all available options on board, and it is about as good as any restaurant I have been to on land. The service is even more impressive - by far, I have received the best service from the waiters in the dining room than any place I have been to.
去坐船之前，我最擔心的一件事就是吃晚飯要穿正式服裝。我一向很討厭穿正式服裝，特別是打領帶就像要被吊死一樣難過，不過去過之後，我只能說，因為正式餐廳的食物實在是太優秀了，就算是要打個領帶才能入場，那也划算。而且，除了 formal night 一定要盛裝打扮之外，其它幾晚的服裝規定並沒有很嚴格地執行。頭幾晚我還有穿有領子的衣服，後來因為下船去玩，回到船上來不及換，就 T-shirt、牛仔褲上桌，甚至還有一天穿運動褲，也沒有被趕出來。當然，這是不良示範，我只是想說，就算不喜歡打扮的人，也可以享受到很好的食物，兩者是不衝突的。
One thing really concerned me before taking the cruise trip was the dress code at the formal restaurant. I hate dressing up; for me, to wear a tie is about as bad as to hang me from the neck. However, I have to admit, the food at the formal dining is so good, that I am willing to dress up for it. It turned out good for me, that the dress code is not really strictly enforced other than the "formal nights". At the beginning of the trip, I started with collared shirts without wearing a tie; later, the standard of my clothing kept going down - as we became busy during the day for on-land trips, I went to dinner with T-shirts, jeans, and boots at times. A pretty bad example, but at least I was not thrown out from the dining room. I guess, even if I don't feel like seriously dressing up, I can still enjoy great good at the dining room.
【 The formal dining room】
【Dress up for the formal nights - ideally, this is how it should be every night. But they admitted me anyway with much less formal clothing on other nights.】
【I didn't take many pictures in the dining room (it is impolite to have flashes firing off all the time). One sample picture for my dessert.】船上許多公共空間，像游泳池邊，都設有小吃攤，可以點簡單的食物，例如漢堡、pizza、鬆餅等等。這些小吃攤的品質有時候出乎意料的好，不過船上什麼地方藏有攤位，攤位又有什麼東西好吃，倒是要一一去探險、發現，也算是一項有趣的活動啦。
3. Other options:
There are many more food options throughout the boat. There are bars and little food booths around the public spaces. Hamburgers, pizza, or waffles are served. Some of these are surprisingly good, and it is definitely a fun thing to explore and hunt for good options.
遊輪上的飲食，最讓我不能理解的一件事是，飲料都是要收費的，而且很貴。例如，如果想喝可樂的話，要付一天大約十美元，買一個無限暢飲杯，之後才有可樂可以喝。我想大概船公司有做過研究，發現大部分人都受不了只喝開水，所以用這個機會狠敲一筆。不過，對我這種最愛喝開水的人，這種策略就無效了。
One thing I am not happy about is that all drinks (including soft drinks - soda, juice, and coffee) are not free; on the contrary, drink is the most expensive on board. If someone wants simply a coke, he will buy a "unlimited refill drink cup", paying about 10 dollars per day, for the whole trip. This is apparently a very common practice among cruise companies to charge crazy fee for drinks. Probably they have done the research and realized people just cannot be satisfied with water. But, for me, water is always the favorite drink, so the drink tax won't apply. For soda lovers, however, this adds a $70 or so to your cruise trip.
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