Is food included on a Royal Caribbean cruise?

When you go on a Royal Caribbean cruise, there are several restaurants to choose from throughout the day. So what food is included and what is the additional cost?

While not all food on Royal Caribbean is included, there is enough food and drink for you to enjoy, so you won’t need to pay extra for food. However, you may be inclined to pay for drinks or meals anyway in order to enhance your cruise.

Depending on the ship you’re sailing on, the exact locations with free food (included) will vary, but here are a few basics you can expect on any Royal Caribbean ship:

• Main dining room
• Windjammer Café (buffet)
• Take-away coffee (Café Promenade, Café Latte-tudes or Café Patisserie)
• Fast food on the pool deck (El Loco Fresh, Boardwalk Dog House, Park Cafe)

The two main places where you’ll find the largest selection of food included with your cruise are the Main Dining Room and the Windjammer.

Main dining room

The main dining room is open for breakfast and dinner on all days of your cruise, and for lunch on sea days. The main dining room is a sit-down restaurant where you have assigned seating.

For dinner, there are two types of seating in the main dining room: Traditional and My Time Dining.

Traditional dinner is choosing between seating sooner or later. Every day your mealtime is the same, and your waiters and table mates are the same.

My Time Dining offers flexible meal times, where you can book times in advance or show up and wait for an available table. You will likely have different waiters and table mates each day, unless you request otherwise.

Read more: My Time Dining versus Traditional

Almost all of the food available in the main dining room is included in the price of your cruise, with the exception of alcoholic beverages, non-alcoholic beverages, and some extra items at dinner (steak or lobster).

Windjammer

The Windjammer Cafe is the classic cruise ship buffet, and it’s open for all meals every day of your cruise (The Windjammer is currently closed for dinner in 2021 when capacity is limited, but will eventually reopen for dinner. ).

The Windjammer has the widest selection of foods to eat, with different buffet stations you can go to and choose from.

All the food you see in the Windjammer is included. Like the main dining room, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are extra.

Read more: Royal Caribbean Windjammer Cafe Buffet Guide

Room service

There is a service charge for room service, where you pay $ 7.95 per order. Whether you order one or ten items, the cost of the service is the same.

You can order a continental breakfast option at no service charge in the morning, which consists of coffee, tea, and an assortment of breakfast choices.

Drinks

Royal Caribbean includes drinks with your cruise fare, which covers the basics to keep you cool and hydrated.

The drinks included in the price of your Royal Caribbean cruise are:

• tap water
• Milk
• tea
• coffee (regular and decaffeinated)
• lemonade
• iced tea
• flavored waters
• fruit juices (at breakfast and not freshly squeezed)
• Hot chocolate (via instant sachets)

Read more: What drinks are included with your Royal Caribbean cruise?

All other drinks are chargeable, including alcohol, sodas and juices.

Royal Caribbean offers its customers drink packages which can be purchased to save money on these additional drinks. Beverage packages are worth it if you drink enough each day of your cruise to break even on the cost of the package.

Snacks

In addition to meals, there is also a good assortment of food that you can snack on between meals.

Depending on the Royal Caribbean ship you are sailing on, the exact locations will vary, but there are common options for something small to eat at no additional cost.

• Café Promenade, Café Latte-tudes or Café Patisserie
• Park cafe
• El Loco Fresh
• Walking dog house
• Sorrento

These places are open most hours of the day and night, and you’ll find sandwiches, pizzas, desserts, and more.

Not only are these take out restaurants included, but they offer some really tasty choices that many cruise enthusiasts really enjoy.

Some of the favorites include:

• Park Cafe Kimmelweck Roast Beef Sandwiches
• Slices of pizza from Sorrentos / Café Promenade
• Biscuits from Café Promenade, Café Latte-tudes or Café Patisserie

Perfect day at CocoCay

Perfect Day at CocoCay is Royal Caribbean’s private island in the Bahamas, and there’s a surprising amount of food included with your visit to the island.

Lunch is served on the island, and there are a few different restaurants you can go to that should be quite close to anywhere you relax.

Not only is there a lot of food included at Perfect Day at CocoCay, but it’s also very good.

• Captain’s Grill
• Fry the grill
• Snack Cabin

Cups of water are available at no additional cost at these sites.

Labadie

Royal Caribbean also has a private destination on the coast of Haiti called Labadee.

Just like CocoCay, lunch is served for the enjoyment of all guests.

• Columbus Cove Cafe
• Cafe Labadee
• Dragon Cafe

Cups of water are available at no additional cost at these sites.

More information