P&O Cruises Dining | Restaurants & Dining Options
Dining aboard P&O Cruises brings together familiar favourites, destination-inspired flavours and restaurants for every style of evening. Your fare includes main restaurants, international buffets and selected casual venues, while speciality choices range from Indian cuisine and modern British dining to tapas, seafood and gastropub classics. With Freedom and Club Dining, family-friendly options and advance restaurant reservations, it is easy to shape meals around the way you prefer to holiday.
What Dining Is Included?
Every P&O Cruises holiday includes a choice of restaurants for breakfast, lunch, dinner and casual snacks. Exact venues differ between ships, but guests can enjoy main dining, international buffets and selected cafés, poolside venues and family options without paying extra for every meal.
Freedom & Club Restaurants
P&O’s main restaurants serve changing breakfast, lunch and dinner menus combining home comforts with global flavours. Choose flexible Freedom Dining across the fleet or traditional Club Dining on selected ships.
Buffet Restaurants
Enjoy relaxed dining throughout the day with international dishes, British favourites, salads and desserts. Each ship has its own buffet, including Horizon, Belvedere, Verona, Venezia and Waterside.
The Quays
Available aboard Iona and Arvia, The Quays brings global flavours together beneath one roof. Live cooking stations serve everything from Asian-inspired dishes to classic British fish and chips in a lively setting.
The Olive Grove
Exclusive to Iona, The Olive Grove celebrates the flavours of the Mediterranean in relaxed surroundings. Enjoy fresh seafood, pasta and colourful sharing dishes inspired by the region’s most inviting cuisines.
Taste 360
Taste 360 offers street-food-style dining beside the pool aboard Iona and Arvia. Rotating menus draw inspiration from the destinations visited, alongside burgers, pizzas, hot dogs and other casual favourites.
Poolside Grill & Pizzeria
Freshly prepared burgers, hot dogs, pizzas and changing daily specials make poolside dining an easy option between activities. Availability and venue names differ across the P&O Cruises fleet.
Afternoon Tea
Enjoy finger sandwiches, freshly baked scones, cakes and tea in selected main restaurants or a more casual buffet setting. Premium afternoon tea experiences are also available aboard selected ships.
Children’s Tea
Family-friendly ships offer an early Children’s Tea in the buffet, with pasta, pizza, nutritious choices and tempting desserts. It provides a convenient evening meal designed around younger guests.
Freedom Dining and Club Dining
P&O Cruises offers two approaches to evening dining in its main restaurants.
Freedom Dining allows you to eat during the restaurant’s opening period without attending the same sitting each night. You can request a table when you arrive or, on applicable ships, join a virtual queue through My Holiday and relax elsewhere until your table is ready.
Club Dining provides an assigned early or late sitting, normally at the same table and with the same dining companions each evening. It can be a sociable option for guests who enjoy a traditional cruise routine and getting to know their waiting team.
Iona and Arvia offer Freedom Dining exclusively. Arcadia, Aurora, Azura, Britannia and Ventura allow guests to choose between Freedom and Club Dining, subject to availability
How Your Fare Type Affects Dining Priority
Your P&O Cruises fare type can affect the priority given to your dining request. Preferences remain subject to availability and are not confirmed until they have been allocated. Club Dining sitting and table-size priority do not apply aboard Iona and Arvia because both ships offer Freedom Dining only.
Select Price
Select Price guests receive first priority when choosing between Freedom and Club Dining on ships offering both options. They also receive first priority for their preferred Club Dining sitting and table size.
Early Saver
Early Saver guests can provide dining preferences where applicable, but requests are considered after Select Price bookings and cannot be guaranteed.
Saver
Saver fares provide the core cruise inclusions at the lowest available price, but offer the least flexibility. Dining arrangements are made by P&O Cruises and preferences remain subject to availability.
Signature Speciality Restaurants
P&O Cruises’ speciality restaurants add a change of atmosphere and more distinctive menus to your holiday. Venues may use a cover charge, individually priced menus or supplements for selected dishes, while availability differs considerably between ships. Restaurant reservations and optional all-inclusive dining credit can help you plan these experiences before or during your cruise.
Sindhu
Sindhu takes guests on a delicately spiced journey through contemporary regional Indian cuisine. Elegant surroundings, colourful presentation and aromatic flavours make it one of P&O Cruises’ most distinctive restaurants.
Epicurean
Epicurean transforms classic British ingredients through modern techniques and imaginative presentation. Sophisticated service and beautifully composed dishes create a memorable setting for celebrations and special evenings.
The Glass House
The Glass House pairs Mediterranean tapas, sharing plates and hearty main courses with wines chosen by Olly Smith. Relaxed surroundings make it equally inviting for lunch, an afternoon glass or an informal dinner.
The Keel & Cow
The Keel & Cow brings the warmth of a British gastropub to Iona and Arvia. Settle in for expertly cooked steaks, fish and chips, hearty pub favourites and a choice of British ales, beers and cocktails.
The Beach House
The Beach House serves relaxed dishes inspired by Latin America and the Caribbean. Colourful flavours, grilled favourites and a laid-back atmosphere create an easy dining experience suited to families, couples and groups.
Green & Co feat. Mizuhana
Exclusive to Arvia, Green & Co feat. Mizuhana combines imaginative plant-led cooking with Japanese-influenced seafood and a dedicated sushi bar. Stylish surroundings and ocean views complete the experience.
The Limelight Club
The Limelight Club brings dining and live entertainment together in one intimate evening. Enjoy a multi-course meal before a special performance from a visiting singer, musician, comedian or well-known personality.
Ocean Grill
Exclusive to Arcadia, Marco Pierre White’s Ocean Grill specialises in steaks and seafood inspired by classic London grill restaurants. Refined flavours and relaxed service create an elegant evening at sea.
Market Café
Britannia’s Market Café offers Costa Coffee, pastries, cakes and savoury treats in an informal continental-style setting. Its position in the atrium makes it an inviting place to pause throughout the day.
Ripples
Available aboard Iona and Arvia, Ripples blends British and Italian influences through artisan gelato, sundaes, cookies and sweet treats. Its bright, family-friendly atmosphere makes every visit feel like a holiday indulgence.
Dining on Iona and Arvia
Iona and Arvia offer the widest dining choice in the P&O Cruises fleet, with Freedom Dining throughout and a combination of included and speciality venues spread across the ships. Both feature The Quays, Taste 360, Horizon buffet, Sindhu, Epicurean, The Glass House, The Keel & Cow, The Beach House, Ripples and The Limelight Club. Iona adds Mediterranean dining at The Olive Grove, while Arvia features Green & Co feat. Mizuhana and further ship-specific concepts. My Holiday can be used onboard to reserve selected venues or join virtual queues, allowing guests to plan meals around entertainment and time ashore.
P&O Cruises Food Heroes
P&O Cruises’ Food Heroes bring together four distinctive voices from the worlds of food, wine and hospitality. Marco Pierre White creates the Celebration Night menus and lends his expertise to special dining experiences, while Olly Smith shapes the wine selection and relaxed atmosphere of The Glass House. José Pizarro adds authentic Spanish flavours through vibrant tapas and sharing dishes, and Shivi Ramoutar brings the colour and warmth of Caribbean cooking onboard. Selected Food Heroes cruises may also feature demonstrations, tastings, hosted dinners and opportunities to hear directly from the experts behind the menus.
How to Book P&O Cruises Restaurants
Speciality dining normally opens for advance booking through My P&O Cruises from 120 days before departure. Once logged in, select Drinks and Dining, choose a restaurant and review the available dates, times, menus and charges.
Not every venue can be reserved before sailing. Coming soon means the booking window has not yet opened, Book now confirms that reservations are available, Please enquire onboard means the venue can be arranged through My Holiday or directly onboard, and No booking needed indicates a walk-in restaurant.
Once your cruise begins, existing reservations transfer to My Holiday. On applicable ships, the portal can also be used to make new bookings and join virtual queues. Virtual queuing is not currently available aboard Arcadia or Aurora.
Speciality Dining Credit
P&O Cruises’ Classic and Deluxe all-inclusive packages include credit to spend in speciality restaurants, with the amount determined by the length of the cruise and package selected. The Deluxe option provides a higher credit than Classic.
Dining credit is applied to your onboard account and can be used against eligible purchases made during the cruise. It cannot currently be used to pay for restaurant reservations booked in advance through My P&O Cruises, so guests should consider whether to pre-book and pay or wait to reserve onboard using their credit.
Family-Friendly Dining
P&O’s family-friendly ships offer children’s menus in the main restaurants, familiar buffet favourites and an included early Children’s Tea. Families can choose a casual meal around the pool, sit down together in a Freedom or Club restaurant or celebrate in one of the speciality venues. Baby food can be requested, while bottle warmers and a limited number of steam sterilisers are available aboard family-friendly ships.
P&O Cruises Room Service
Room service is available 24 hours a day, offering breakfast, meals, snacks, desserts and drinks inside your cabin. Continental breakfast is included and can be ordered using the breakfast card provided, while most other menu items carry an additional charge. A separate delivery charge also applies aboard Iona and Arvia.
Suite guests can order selected dishes from the main restaurant menus during the advertised breakfast, lunch and dinner hours, with standard food items included.
Dietary Requirements and Special Requests
P&O Cruises offers vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and pescatarian choices across many onboard restaurants and can support a range of allergies and dietary requirements. Allergies should be registered at least 28 days before departure, while kosher meals and baby food require at least 12 weeks’ notice.
Guests with registered requirements receive information about meeting the Food and Beverage team once onboard. Those with severe allergies are generally advised to use the Freedom and Club restaurants, where the culinary team has greater scope to tailor and pre-order meals while reducing the risk of cross-contamination.