A cruise lends itself well to trying out new foods. We recall eating with another couple who stated that they hadn’t ever heard of some of the dishes presented on the menu. If you don’t know what something is, simply ask your server who will gladly explain the ingredients. If you have always been dying to try lobster, lamb or escargot, you can try it on a cruise ship without worrying about paying a large fee for the dish and not liking it. If you like, you could taste everything on the menu and we are convinced that some people don’t only sample everything on the menu, but finish the entire course.

The buffet-style dining room beats out the main dining room in the number of dishes available. You can serve yourself a tasting size portion and not worry about wasting a full plate of food. Buffets typically offer a full range of foods including vegetarian and international options. Some people place high importance on the food on the cruise ship and enjoy cruising for the variety of foods available.

The ship has a variety of options, but the ports have the best opportunity to try the local food. As lovers of Mexican food, we seek out authentic dishes when we visit the ports in Mexico. Cozumel has several options that we enjoy. On our last cruise we finally tried the Parrilla Mission, the third of the three restaurants under the Mission name. Closest to the center of Cozumel is La Parilla, which opens for lunch and also serves dinner. If your ship is in port late, don’t mission the Casa Mission. When reading the online menus, remember that the prices are in pesos unless otherwise indicated. Don’t think that something costs 224 dollars.

If you want to get some typical and inexpensive food, head over to the mercado (market) on Ave. 25 and Rosado Salas. There are many counters serving food and you will see the ubiquitous Coke as the beverage of choice. Try the cochinita pibil, pork marinated in sour orange juice.

Other restaurants that we recommend in Cozumel include: La Choza, La Cocay and La Kinta.

Happy Travels