Finding Great Cheese at Sea

Given the scale of cruise ship dining, expectations for onboard cheese tend to be low. Prior to this year, my own experiences with cruise cheese plates had mostly involved industrial hunks masquerading as artisanal, with limited garnish or accompaniments to compensate. To be honest, I’d mostly written off cruise ship cheese altogether.

But more recent cruises have changed my mind. On two recent Holland America cruises, a mainstream, moderately priced brand in the same tier as Princess, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian, I found cheese genuinely worth having. On the right ships, in the right restaurants, and on the right itineraries, finding genuinely good cheese at sea is surprisingly possible — if you know where to look.

 

Where to Find the Best Cheese on a Cruise

• Specialty Dining Concepts

• The Buffet

• Room Service

 

Specialty Dining Concepts

Far and away, the best cheese I found onboard was in the ship’s specialty restaurants. Holland America’s Italian restaurant Canaletto offered burrata and Parmigiano-Reggiano, while the French-inspired Sel de Mer served a cheese plate featuring genuine Roquefort and wonderfully gooey Taleggio. At Pinnacle Grill steakhouse, even the wedge salad featured blue cheese that clearly hadn’t started its life as prepackaged crumbles.

These smaller specialty restaurants, which typically cost an additional fee, are increasingly common across mainstream cruise lines. Italian, French, and steakhouse concepts tend to be especially good bets for cheese lovers, and some lines go even further: one Norwegian ship even features a Spanish tapas bar that is sure to involve Manchego on the menu.

If specialty dining isn’t in your cruise budget, however, your cheese at sea dreams aren’t automatically man overboard.

 

The Buffet

Most mainstream cruise ships feature expansive buffets, and cheese is almost always part of the spread. While some selections still fell into the industrial-hunks category, I was pleasantly surprised by how often the offerings changed and by the appearance of legitimately good cheeses, including Gruyère with the rind intact and large-format blue cheeses.

Cruise ships also tend to maintain rigorous food safety standards, with buffet stations regularly refreshed throughout the day and cheese sitting out for no more than a few hours at a time. (If that sounds like a long time, consider that when I worked in fine dining in New York City with a tableside cheese trolley, health codes only required cheeses to be refreshed every four hours.) Earlier in the buffet service the cheese will naturally be less picked over, but it will become better tempered as it waits for you.

 

Room Service

There’s admittedly something appealing about a mid-afternoon cheese snack in the privacy of your own cabin, especially if there’s a balcony involved. Holland America’s room-service cheese plate leaned crowd-pleasing rather than adventurous — gouda, Emmental, brie — but arrived fresh, well tempered, and accompanied by thoughtful garnishes, including apricot compote and thin slices of toasted baguette.

Cruise lines also tend to make onboard wine service surprisingly easy. Holland America’s “Sommelier Suite” program, for example, allows guests to pre-purchase bottles and have them delivered anywhere on the ship, including staterooms. Partially consumed bottles will also be stored for you during your cruise. In my case, that meant pairing my cheese plate with the last glass of a Portuguese Alvarinho delivered directly to my room.

 

The Best Cheese Experiences Happen in Port

• Shore Excursions 

• DIY Cheese Adventures

Naturally, finding good cheese on a cruise depends heavily on where in the world you’re sailing. Finding good cheese increases exponentially when one is cruising to regions where cheese is made, location matters for both off-shore and on-board cheese experiences.

Stanley Dzousa, executive chef aboard Holland America’s Rotterdam, explained that the line’s Port-to-Plate program encourages regional sourcing for provisions beyond seafood. While cruise ships rarely find themselves in the Alps, plenty of Mediterranean, North Sea, and even Atlantic and Pacific itineraries create opportunities for quality cheeses to make their way onboard.

 

Shore Excursions

Some cruise lines even offer cheese-focused excursions in port. Holland America features a highly rated Gouda farm tour in Rotterdam, Norwegian offers an “Edam Delight” excursion in Amsterdam, and Seabourn runs a cheese-focused experience in Mykonos. Even when cheese isn’t explicitly part of the itinerary, food walking tours, particularly those throughout Europe, are often reliable opportunities to sample regional cheeses along the way.

 

DIY Cheese Adventures

Exploring on your own is often both the easiest and the least expensive way to add some new cheese to your life while in port. Carve out a strategy before you arrive by mapping out cheese shops, cheese museums, and restaurants worth visiting. (One practical tip: search for “cheese” in the local language whenever possible. I learned in real time that Ho Chi Minh City has a chain of coffee shops called Cheese, sadly unrelated to actual cheese.)

If you’re hoping to bring cheese back onboard, check your cruise line’s policies in advance. Perishable foods may be prohibited altogether, and permitted cheeses often need to be factory sealed. Local cheese purveyors in tourist destinations often provide a vacuum sealing option for any cheese you purchase.

 

Luxury Cruise Lines and Canal/River Cruises

Smaller and more luxury-focused cruise lines are generally more likely to offer artisanal cheeses rather than expected crowd-pleasers like industrial cheddar or gouda. If cheese is a meaningful part of your travel experience — and your budget allows for it — operators such as Oceania, Viking, Azamara, Regent Seven Seas, Silversea, and Virgin Voyages are known for more premium culinary programs overall.

Arguably, the best “cheese cruises” aren’t fully at sea at all. River and canal cruises, especially those throughout Europe, place travelers much closer to the source, with opportunities to experience regional cheeses directly within the landscapes and cultures that produce them.

Cheese Professor contributor Kristine Hansen’s experience on an AMA Waterways Burgundian cheese cruise. Another contributor, Hannah Howard, raved about her experience on a French Waterways canal barge cruise. 

“The chefs went to local markets to shop for gorgeous cheeses — and would bring us along if we asked — so we could taste the terroir of the places we traveled to on the boat,” she said. “I loved this part of the experience. It felt so special and delicious.”