Royal Princess Dining Guide: Restaurants, Costs, and Best Choices

On Royal Princess, let the main dining rooms, café, buffet, and pool counters handle most meals, then choose the paid restaurant that gives your group something different.

Book Crown Grill for a steakhouse evening, Sabatini’s for a slower Italian meal, and Alfredo’s when you want sit-down pizza rather than a quick included slice.

Start with the included meals before choosing a package

Royal’s dining options include the main dining program, buffet, International Café, Prego, Trident Grill, Swirls, and afternoon tea. You can eat well around that network without making every evening a paid reservation.

Choose an optional meal for the menu or atmosphere you want. The fact that a restaurant costs extra does not make it necessary to have a complete cruise.

For a family with different tastes, the included choices also reduce the pressure to agree on one specialty concept. Save the reservation for a meal everyone actually wants to share.

Our Royal tips help fit meals around scenic cruising and port days. The best restaurant loses its appeal if it forces you to miss the reason you chose the itinerary.

Main dining: choose the arrangement, then learn the route

Allegro, Concerto, and Symphony are Royal’s main dining rooms. They support the included Princess dinner program rather than giving you three completely different restaurant cuisines.

Choose the offered Traditional, Flexible, or Walk-in arrangement that fits your group, then confirm the room and actual availability. Breakfast and lunch service can vary, so use the current schedule instead of assuming every dining room is open for every meal.

Allegro is the route worth learning early: it is aft on Deck 6 and is reached from the stern bank. Walk aft on Deck 7 before descending instead of trying to cross the Deck 6 galley footprint from midship.

Our deck guide explains that shortcut. Finding the right entrance is more useful than memorizing every restaurant name before boarding.

International Café: the smaller meal that saves another buffet trip

International Café is in the Piazza and operates around the clock. Its food choices include pastries, quiche, sandwiches, salads, and desserts, making it useful when you want a small meal outside ordinary dining hours.

Try it for an early pastry, a light lunch, or a late snack. It is a different hunger level from a full restaurant dinner, which is why it can become a repeat stop without feeling repetitive.

Selected food is included, while specialty coffee and other beverages follow their own purchase or package terms. An included sandwich does not automatically include every espresso drink ordered beside it.

Use the café as a specific meeting point as well. It is much easier to find a group at International Café than to search three Piazza levels for someone who said near the music.

Buffet: flexible food, with timing doing the hard work

World Fresh Marketplace is the current marketing name for the ship’s buffet offering, while the deck plan retains Horizon Court and Horizon Bistro labels in the upper dining area. Think of this as the casual buffet network rather than several unrelated restaurants.

Use it when you need a varied meal without a reservation. Walk the available stations before filling a plate so the first visible choice does not become lunch by default.

On a port morning, allow time for the actual excursion meeting rather than treating the buffet as a leisurely stop. On a sea day, a slightly different meal time can be more useful than arguing with the busiest queue.

Choose a main-room meal when you want seated service and the schedule allows it. The buffet’s convenience is an option rather than an instruction to use the same room for every breakfast and lunch.

Prego, Trident Grill, and Swirls: the included pool-day plan

Prego serves pizza by the slice or whole pie, with familiar choices such as tomato, cheese, and pepperoni. It is the useful included pizza stop when you want a quick meal near the pool.

Trident Grill offers burgers, hot dogs, and chicken sandwiches, with a barbecue-style evening concept described on the ship page. Check the day’s operation before planning around a particular evening item.

Swirls is the simple soft-serve choice. It answers a different craving from a purchased Gelato order, so keep those dessert decisions separate.

These counters do not need to become three appointments. Use the food that fits the day, then save your planning effort for a meal where a reservation actually matters.

Alfredo’s: pay for the sit-down pizza experience

Alfredo’s is a seated pizzeria with individual pizzas and an open kitchen. Choose it when you want a relaxed meal at a table, rather than paying simply because you missed the included pizza counter.

The published Alfredo’s sample menu lists Margherita, Pepperoni, and a vegetable pizza among its examples. The sample cover is $14.99 for a pizza with an optional appetizer and dessert, plus a 20% service charge.

That sample makes the comparison useful, but the menu and price on your voyage control the order. À la carte choices and package entitlements should be checked before you automatically buy the set meal.

Use an eligible casual-dining benefit when it fits your booking. Do not call Alfredo’s universally included just because Prego’s walk-up pizza is included elsewhere on the ship.

Crown Grill: the steakhouse dinner to choose deliberately

Crown Grill is the classic steak-and-seafood option. Published examples include filet mignon and rib-eye, with premium selections potentially carrying additional charges.

Choose it when a substantial steakhouse dinner is the evening your group wants. It is less compelling when half the table would be happier with a lighter included meal.

For Royal, Princess currently lists $55 per adult and $27.50 for children ages three through 11, plus service charge on applicable U.S.-dollar sailings. A 20% charge takes a $55 adult cover to $66 before separate drinks or supplements.

Australian-currency sailings use different published pricing, including the applicable service charge. Confirm the currency and total in your booking or onboard menu rather than applying the U.S.-dollar figure everywhere.

Sabatini’s: the slower Italian alternative

Sabatini’s Italian Trattoria centers handmade pasta and Italian cooking, with arancini and tiramisu among the published examples. Choose it for the progression of the meal rather than trying to recreate a steakhouse order.

Its current Royal cover follows the same published $55 adult and $27.50 child structure on applicable U.S.-dollar sailings, plus service charge. The live menu determines the dishes, supplements, and final total.

Give this dinner enough time on a sea day or a less demanding port evening. A slow meal is more enjoyable when nobody at the table is calculating how soon to leave for a show.

If you only want one specialty dinner, choose between the steakhouse and Italian meal by appetite. Buying both is worthwhile when both experiences appeal, rather than because the venue list makes them sound compulsory.

Ocean Terrace, Gelato, and Vines: keep small purchases visible

Ocean Terrace offers sushi and sashimi with à la carte choices overlooking the Piazza. It can be a useful smaller meal when you want a change without another full specialty dinner.

Gelato is a purchased frozen-dessert stop, while Vines focuses on wine and related offerings. A drink, dessert, casual-dining entitlement, and specialty dinner are different spending categories even when they happen near each other.

Check the actual order and package benefit before paying. Small separate purchases are easy to overlook when you are mainly tracking one large restaurant cover.

Our Royal overview puts those options in the context of the ship’s value. A good included routine makes optional spending easier to choose deliberately.

Chef’s Table Lumiere and other experiences: ask about the scarce option first

Chef’s Table Lumiere is a limited-capacity hosted multicourse dinner. If that format is the attraction, ask Guest Services onboard about the request process rather than assuming it works like an ordinary pre-cruise restaurant reservation.

Crab Shack is a scheduled seafood pop-up rather than a permanent dining room, and a wine-led dinner has its own format and availability. Choose by the experience you want and the actual sailing’s offering.

Ultimate Balcony Dining is private cabin service on a suitable balcony. Check the setup, weather, menu, and price before making it the celebration plan.

These experiences are separate from ordinary unlimited-specialty claims. Verify any exclusions instead of assuming a package covers every premium event or menu supplement.

Reserve dining and packages solve different needs

Reserve dining is an exclusive main-room area for eligible accommodation categories. If you have that benefit, try the routine before buying additional dinners simply to avoid ordinary main-room waiting.

The current package comparison lists four casual meals with Plus and unlimited casual and specialty dining with Premier. Your actual booking benefits still matter, especially if you purchased an earlier version.

Compare the package with the meals, drinks, connectivity, and other inclusions you will use. A guest happy with the ordinary meals may have a different value calculation from someone planning repeated specialty dinners.

The dining plan that makes the week easier

Start with a main-room dinner, learn the café and pool counters, then choose one optional meal your group wants. Keep the evening after a long port day flexible and give a special dinner a less rushed night.

For allergies or medical dietary needs, arrange requirements with Princess and speak with the dining team before ordering. A previous guest’s successful substitution does not establish the ingredients or cross-contact controls for your meal.

That gives you a varied week without turning every day into a dining reservation. The included choices can carry the routine, while the paid meal earns its place through the food or experience you actually want.