Cruise ship room service: A line-by-line guide to in-cabin dining

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There are few better places to be when hunger strikes than on a cruise ship. If the buffet is busy with people or packed away, 24-hour room service is always available to fill your belly. It’s one of the greatest cruising amenities that’s uniformly offered on all major cruise lines. No need to dress up for dinner — just order food, flip on your cabin TV and wait for your meal to arrive.

Wondering what you can order and how much it will cost you? Here’s a line-by-line overview of room service options and pricing across the major cruise lines, along with in-cabin dining menus.

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How do I order room service on a cruise ship?

Just pick up your in-cabin phone and dial the room service number to order food. Easy!

Some cruise lines offer the option to order your food and drinks through your in-cabin TV or a smartphone app, which populates photos of the menu items. Some cruise line apps even have location-specific features that allow you to order food and drinks for delivery almost anywhere on the ship.

Breakfast is often ordered by filling out a pre-printed menu card left in your cabin and hanging it outside your door before you go to bed. Crew members collect the orders during the night and deliver your food the next morning at the time you specified.

Related: The ultimate guide to cruise ship food and dining

What types of food can I order to my cabin?

Many cruise lines offer a complimentary continental breakfast delivery, which typically includes pastries, bread, fruit, yogurt and coffee and tea. You can order hot breakfast items like eggs, pancakes and bacon, but they cost extra on select lines or in specific cabin categories.

After breakfast service ends in the late morning, all major cruise lines offer an all-day room service menu of salads, sandwiches, snacks and desserts. Most cruise lines have special in-room dining menus separate from what you’d find that day on the buffet or in the main dining room.

However, some of the more upscale lines and some select concierge cabin classes offer comprehensive in-suite dining menus, often with the convenience of ordering off the menu from the main dining room or specialty restaurants on board. This elevated in-room dining experience might include a white tablecloth setup and your meal delivered course by course to your cabin or suite.

You can access additional specialty food experiences from room service operations. These include fresh pizza delivery as seen on Carnival Cruise Line and MSC Cruises, a cutting-edge app feature for Champagne delivery on Virgin Voyages and lobster and caviar deliveries from luxury cruise lines such as Silversea Cruises.

Is room service free on a cruise ship?

MARINA113/GETTY IMAGES

While most land-based hotels charge a premium for any food delivered to your room, cruise ships have a long legacy of including room service in their fares. Many cruisers’ favorite amenity is the 24-hour complimentary access to generic yet classic menu items such as fresh fruit, a cheese plate or a club sandwich, not to mention continental breakfast.

Recent changes in the economics of cruising have sunset the glory days of unlimited, complimentary room service on several of the most popular cruise lines. Service fees and menus dominated by a la carte options are now the new norms across the industry.

Still, the fees are often considerably less than at comparable land-based resorts, and continental breakfast items are commonly free of charge (with the exception of MSC’s lowest cabin class, which charges a per-item and service fee for breakfast service).

Related: 11 extra charges on cruise ships that will drive you nuts — and what you can do about them

How much does room service cost?

Depending on the cruise line and your cabin class, room service can be a complimentary all-inclusive service, billed per item or charged at a flat delivery fee. Most lines will offer complimentary continental breakfast options through room service with no service fee, even if other options cost extra.

Luxury lines, including Seabourn, Silversea and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, always include 24-hour room service as a standard amenity.

Delivery service fees per order can reach up to $9.95, the per-order rate currently on Norwegian Cruise Line’s non-suite class cabins. A la carte prices average around $5 per item, whether that’s a hot breakfast or a midday sandwich.

For example, on Carnival’s new a la carte room service menu, salads cost $4 to $5 (with additional fees for adding proteins), sandwiches $5 to $7, snacks like pizza and chicken tenders $6 to $8 and dessert $3 to $5.

Do you have to tip for room service on a cruise?

On no-tipping lines, such as Seabourn and Silversea, crew members are compensated appropriately, and you do not need to tip for room service. On lines where guests are expected to tip crew members, determine first if a gratuity is automatically included in your room service order or delivery fee. If it’s not, a small tip is always appreciated.

Depending on what you order and the line, you might not have the chance to sign a bill for your room service order, which could be a missed opportunity to add a tip. Come prepared with small bills to offer in appreciation of the service, as you’ll find the room service staff works hard to expedite many meals around the ship.

Related: Tipping on a cruise: What to know about cruise ship gratuities

Line-by-line guide to cruise ship room service

Azamara Cruises offers room service 24 hours a day at no additional charge for all cabins and suites. A full breakfast menu is available from 6:30 to 10 a.m., while lunch, dinner and late-night snacks include fresh salads, soups, pizzas, burgers and desserts.

Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival‘s 24-hour room service is now an a la carte menu, with free continental breakfast service. Access the room service menu through the Carnival Hub app on your smart device or by scanning the QR code in your cabin.

Complimentary continental breakfast can be arranged the night prior by calling the room service line from your cabin and delivered to your room in the window of time you designate (available from 6 to 10 a.m.). The breakfast options include a selection of fruit, cereal, baked goods and yogurt, along with coffee, tea, milk and select juices. Four breakfast sandwiches are available for an additional fee, including a biscuit, egg, sausage and hash brown sandwich ($5) and a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese ($6).

Daytime dining runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the salads, sandwiches, snacks and desserts are also priced a la carte. The menu includes a Greek salad ($5) to which you can add grilled chicken ($3), a roasted turkey wrap ($6), a Philly cheesesteak ($7) and firecracker shrimp ($8).

Some of the late-night favorites include wings ($7), a pan pizza ($6) and devil’s-food cake ($5). Soft drinks, as well as beer, liquor and wine by the bottle, are available 24 hours a day with pricing based on the ship’s bar rates and free delivery.

The Carnival Hub app offers more flexibility when ordering, allowing you to customize items like a free pizza and request delivery to any place you pinpoint on the ship for a $5 service charge.

Celebrity Cruises

Room service on Celebrity Cruises is complimentary from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. for non-suite-level and AquaClass passengers and is available to suite passengers 24 hours a day at no charge. Outside of the daily complimentary hours for non-suite passengers, room service orders incur a $9.95 service fee (plus an 18% automatic gratuity).

The standard non-suite room service menu includes the soup of the day, chicken skewers, seared salmon and warm cookies with milk. Breakfast room service for non-suite cabins is complimentary and can be ordered ahead nightly with a breakfast order card. The menu includes scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and hash browns, along with coffee, tea and select juices.

AquaClass passengers have more expansive options on their breakfast menu, including custom omelets, French toast and pancakes. AquaClass also has a few more options on its room service menu, including a chicken Caesar salad, a salade nicoise with grilled tuna and a Beyond burger.

Top suites on board offer an enhanced room service breakfast menu (New York strip steak and eggs, a black truffle omelet and more), along with a robust menu that includes shrimp cocktail, crabcakes, filet mignon and sea bass, plus canapes delivered each day.

Cunard

Cunard‘s room service is a complimentary amenity included in your fare.

The 24-hour service includes a robust breakfast menu that must be ordered the night prior via an order card in your cabin. The daytime room service menu is globally inspired with items such as chicken fajitas, a Mediterranean quesadilla, and chicken or shrimp Thai green curry. Dessert items include comfort food favorites like warm apple pie a la mode and vanilla cheesecake.

Passengers sailing in one of the Grill Suites can order from the full Princess Grill or Queens Grill restaurant menus. They can also order some luxurious treats for an extra fee, including caviar ($60) or caviar with a half bottle of Laurent-Perrier La Cuvee NV Brut Champagne ($100) and a gourmet canapes tray ($34.50).

Disney Cruise Line

DISNEY CRUISE LINE

Complimentary 24-hour room service is included with all fares on Disney Cruise Line. The extensive menu, which is available until 1 a.m. on the day of your departure, can be found on the Disney Cruise Line Navigator App, with plenty of food options for all ages, from macaroni and cheese, chicken tenders and burgers to more sophisticated items like a Greek salad, grilled salmon and a New York steak panini.

Snack items like salted peanuts, M&Ms and popcorn are available for an additional fee. Specialty coffee, sodas, bottled waters and all specialty juices and spirits are also available at an additional cost.

For in-room breakfast, complete the request card in your cabin the night prior and leave it outside your cabin for a complimentary continental breakfast with options that include bread, pastries and cereal, along with coffee and tea.

Concierge-class passengers have a special complimentary menu available from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. that includes a seared ahi tuna salade nicoise, potato gnocchi and Mickey-shaped sandwich cookies.

Related: Is Disney Cruise Line concierge level worth it? We tested it to find out

Holland America Line

Holland America Line offers complimentary 24-hour room service for all cabins and suites.

The room service breakfast menu includes bagels and lox, a vegetable frittata and an American breakfast that features eggs, hash browns, bacon and sausage. Premium a la carte options include lobster Benedict ($12.50) and steak and eggs ($15), subject to an automatic 18% gratuity.

Fill out the breakfast menu in your cabin the night before, mark when you want it delivered and hang it on your cabin door for collection.

Holland America’s all-day 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. room service menu includes a cheese and fruit plate, three-bean chili, roasted chicken, a barbecue pulled-pork sub sandwich and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. A late-night food menu from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. has select items such as a chicken quesadilla, a caprese panini and a chocolate layer cake.

The room service menus highlight a few dishes created by the line’s Culinary Council, a group of six celebrity chefs. You can order items like a 10-ounce filet mignon ($15), a 12-ounce Maine lobster tail ($20) and a Japanese sushi bento box ($4.95 per item) to your room from 5 to 9:30 p.m. nightly.

MSC Cruises

MSC Cruises offers four tiered pricing packages, referred to as “experiences,” which delineate service levels and additional fees. The base package, MSC’s Bella Experience, includes room service but at a charge of $4.99 per delivery. The menu includes free items like sandwiches, minestrone soup, a salad and chocolate chip cookies. A fresh fruit basket (with five fruits) is $4.90. A service charge of $7.95 is applied to dinner menu items (think: Atlantic salmon, wings, steak and more).

The room service menu is the same for all four sailing experiences, though MSC Yacht Club suites incur no fee for any room service items and room service delivery. The Fantastica and Aurea experiences include complimentary delivery.

MSC Cruises is known for its Neapolitan pizza delivery service, with custom pizzas made to order and delivered to your cabin. The Margherita pizza is $6 with a $3.50 delivery fee for Bella passengers, no delivery fee for Fantastica and Aurea experience guests, and completely free for guests sailing in the Yacht Club.

Norwegian Cruise Line

You can start each day on a Norwegian cruise with continental breakfast room service (fruit, pastries, bread, cereal, coffee and tea) available from 6 to 10 a.m. A $4.95 room service breakfast fee is charged on all ships for all breakfast room service orders, but there’s no per-item charge. (In-cabin breakfast is not available on the morning of disembarkation day.) Guests staying in suites and The Haven do not have to pay the room service delivery fee.

All-day menu items incur a higher per-order fee of $9.95 for guests not staying in suites; again, all items on the room service menu are available for no additional fee. They include breakfast options like a spinach and tomato omelet and steak and eggs, along with all-day menu items with highlights that include chili con carne, a veggie burger and shrimp creole.

All non-complimentary beverages ordered through room service (alcohol, specialty juices, bottles of water) incur a 20% gratuity on the cost of the drink. These fees are in addition to the delivery fee.

Oceania Cruises

Room service throughout the entire Oceania Cruises fleet is included in all fares and available 24 hours a day. Concierge-level suites have the option of ordering room service off The Grand Dining Room menu for lunch and dinner, so favorite items like the line’s signature rack of lamb and a molten chocolate lava cake can be enjoyed in the privacy and comfort of your own suite.

Princess Cruises

Princess Cruises offers 24-hour room service delivery for various food, drinks and cabin amenities with the line’s OceanNow feature on the MedallionClass app. The service lets you order food to your location anywhere on the ship, whether it’s your cabin or poolside. However, you will need to pay an access fee of $14.99 per guest, per voyage, plus a $5 delivery fee for all room service orders. Passengers who purchase a Princess Plus or Princess Premier package get these two fees waived.

Princess offers a mix of complimentary and a la carte menu items on its room service menu. The long list of no-fee items includes staples like burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, fries and a fruit cup; upcharges kick in for items like shrimp cocktail ($8), pizza ($3) and an 8-ounce filet ($19).

The complimentary room service menu includes a continental breakfast (fruits, bread and pastries, yogurt, coffee, tea and select juices). Order the service ahead by filling out the breakfast card in your cabin portfolio and leaving it hanging outside your cabin door before you go to bed.

You can also use the app to order extra towels, ice bucket refills or even aloe to soothe sunburns.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Regent Seven Seas’ cruise ship room service is complimentary and offered 24 hours a day to guests in all suites. Highlights from the extensive room service menu include a charcuterie and cheese platter, beef medallions, grilled tiger shrimp and creme brulee.

If you’re dining during the operational hours of the Compass Rose, the line’s main restaurant, you can also order from that rotating menu, with dinners served course by course in your suite.

Royal Caribbean

ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Royal Caribbean offers 24-hour room service with complimentary continental breakfast (pastries, bread, cereals, fruit and yogurt, along with coffee and tea) served from 6 to 11 a.m. If you’re looking to add a heartier entree to the order, the American breakfast option (an assortment of eggs, buttermilk pancakes, sausage and so forth) on the menu is available for a $7.95 per-order charge plus an 18% gratuity, which brings the total service fee to around $9.40.

The daily room service menu is offered from 11 to 6 a.m. with meals for all times of day, from grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch and chicken tenders for an afternoon snack to grilled salmon or rigatoni bolognese for dinner and fried chicken wings and chocolate cake for a late-night snack. Room service costs $7.95 per order with an added 18% gratuity.

Guests sailing in one of Royal Caribbean’s Grand Suites or higher can order in-room dining from the main dining room during the hours of operation and order room service from the standard room service menu without a service fee.

Seabourn Cruise Line

SEABOURN

Seabourn Cruise Line‘s gourmet dining experience extends to its room service with a menu of luxe delicacies available around the clock. Room service on board is always included and complimentary, with the option to order from the ship’s main restaurant.

Highlights from the room service menu include a shrimp cocktail, prosciutto and melon, a New York sirloin steak and homemade cookies. While it’s not advertised, guests can order complimentary caviar and Champagne anywhere, anytime on board.

Silversea Cruises

Silversea‘s butler service for every guest includes complimentary around-the-clock room service. The line’s room service menu is extensive, with various dishes from a shrimp cocktail, spring rolls and New York strip steak to burgers, pizzas and ice cream.

If you’re looking for a more complete dining experience in your suite, multicourse meals (highlights include lobster salad, Chilean sea bass and hazelnut chocolate cheesecake) are available to order from Atlantide, the ship’s main restaurant, during regular dining hours. Complimentary caviar and Champagne can be ordered at any time by any guest.

Viking

Viking provides complimentary 24-hour room service for all cabins on all of its ocean and expedition vessels. The room service menu includes a selection of cheeses, plant-based and beef burgers, New York strip steak, poached Norwegian salmon and a bourbon pecan brownie served with vanilla ice cream.

An extensive breakfast menu printed on an order card includes fresh breakfast pastries, custom eggs, pancakes, corned beef hash and smoked salmon. Grand suites can order from the main dining room menu for in-suite private dining and dinner parties.

Viking does not offer room service for any cabin category on its river cruises.

Virgin Voyages

VIRGIN

Virgin’s 24-hour room service is an extension of the ship’s on-trend cuisine, with many contemporary food options you’re not likely to find on most other cruise lines. Room service orders can be placed through the Virgin Voyages app or by dialing the room service extension in your cabin.

Each room service order incurs a $7 delivery fee, though you can order as much food as you like. Certain items (such as specialty coffee, alcoholic beverages and fresh orange juice) carry an additional a la carte fee. However, your delivery fee is waived if you order an extra-fee item. The fee is also waived for all RockStar Quarters suites.

Breakfast delivery is from 5 to 11 a.m. The menu features contemporary items like a Nutella-stuffed French toast, an egg white frittata and a housemade date and almond protein bar. The shipwide room service menu from 11 to 5 a.m. has lunch, dinner and late-night options, with favorites that include a charcuterie and cheese plate, a New York strip steak, a blueberry-green tea vegan cheesecake and confetti cake pops.

Shaking things up, literally, Virgin’s first-of-its-kind “Shake for Champagne” feature adds the convenience of Champagne delivery no matter where you are on the ship. Simply open the Virgin Voyages app and shake your phone three times to see a button pop up to order a $95 bottle of Moet & Chandon Imperial Champagne with flutes delivered to you anywhere on board, not just in your cabin.

Windstar Cruises

Windstar‘s 24-hour room service is included with your fare. The line has a room service menu that includes a full breakfast, along with salads, burgers and sandwiches available until 10 p.m. nightly. The line also lets passengers order off the ship’s main dining room’s lunch and dinner menus during dining hours.

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