Gourmet meals on cruise ships were once unheard-of. A new breed of vessels, and itineraries, have made this a thing of the past

Crystal Symphony
Line: Crystal Cruises
Passengers: 940
Itineraries: Asia, Central and South America, Europe, Transatlantic, Transpacific
Given the Crystal Symphony's two Nobu Matsuhisa restaurants, sushi fans might be tempted to spend their voyage in a haze of miso-glazed black cod. But this ship is no one-dish wonder. For wine-and-food sailings, Crystal Cruises wrangles high--profile experts such as chef Michelle Berenstein of Miami hot spot Michy's, and access to cult wineries and restaurants. The vessel also offers Ultimate Vintage Room dinners, perhaps the most over-the-top option at sea: seven-course meals, accompanied by 13 extremely rare wines, for $1,275 per person. Finance manager Beverly Rodine and her husband recently sailed on the Crystal Symphony. "We asked them to make our fantasy dinner—morels, veal, and spaetzle—and they did, within twenty-four hours." You can also get your calories the old-fashioned way: Scoops, on deck 11, stocks 30 different ice creams (888-722-0021; crystalcruises.com; seven-day Baltic Getaway trip from $3,400).

Eurodam
Line: Holland America
2,104 passengers
Itineraries: Caribbean, Europe, North America
The cuisine aboard the Eurodam is impressively daring for a mass-market line like Holland America, which is fitting for a sleek, month-old ship. The Culinary Arts Theater hosts demonstrations, cooking classes, and lectures on everything from preparing offal with chef Chris Cosentino (whose Incanto, in San Francisco, is famous for its yearly "Head to Tail" dinner) to hands-on candymaking with Garrison Confections founder Andrew Shotts. The restaurant Tamarind draws upon multiple Asian cuisines for dishes like baked snapper in rice paper, and the dinner-only Cana-letto serves gussied-up Italian. A top-deck nightclub with water views, a teens-only loft, and private poolside cabanas illustrate the ship's wide appeal (877-932-4259; hollandamerica.com; ten-night Norway and Scotland trip from $2,165).

Norwegian Jade
Line: Norwegian Cruise Line
Passengers: 2,376
Itineraries: Europe
Picky eaters will have no excuses aboard the Jade, which has 12 restaurants, including a French bistro, an Italian cucina, a Tex-Mex grill, a Spanish tapas bar, a Japanese teppanyaki bar with a ten-seat communal table, an Asian fusion eatery, a sushi café, a steak house, and a sprawling buffet. The cuisine isn't Michelin three-star but the range is impressive for such a good-value cruise. Passengers eat whenever and wherever they want, and helpful monitors give a sense of wait times (on popular itineraries, you might find the restaurants overbooked at popular times). At the top end of the cabin spectrum, courtyard villas come with exclusive access to a private pool and fitness area, as well as butler service and priority boarding and disembarking (866-234-0292; ncl.com; seven-day Western Mediterranean trip from $800).