Often in a restaurant, I have gotten one look at a companion’s dinner and thought it looked better than mine. The Ocean Diamond cruise ship has an answer for that problem.

On our Iceland cruise, the chef had several of the evening’s menu offerings placed on a decorative front table as we entered the ship’s dining room. That is a great way to give a glimpse of some of the specialties on the night’s menu. It’s really quite helpful and makes choices somewhat easier.

The Ocean Diamond has two main dining spots. The main dining room on Deck 3 is where breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served. Breakfast is usually served from 7:30 to 9. Cooked-to-order eggs are available as is a huge buffet with plenty of fresh fruit, yogurt, cheese, hash brown potatoes, pancakes, bacon, sausage, beans, oats, pastries (the pastry chef is a wizard), smoked salmon, and much more.

Early riser breakfast is served in the Club Lounge, as well as afternoon tea and a late night snack.

Lunch is usually from 12:30 to 2 p.m., always a buffet with chef specialties and familiar dishes. Dinner is usually 7 to 8:30 p.m. and the food is much better than I thought it would be on a small ship. The chef does an excellent job in creating such a great menu that it’s hard to choose. The menu is in German and English.

On Deck 4 is a smaller dining room. The only difference between the smaller place and the main dining room on Deck 3 is that the Deck 4 dining room has real windows, big ones, and I like being able to see the scenery as we cruise. The main dining room has large portholes which are nice but the view isn’t quite as spectacular.

Story and photo by Jackie Sheckler Finch