Food and Drink

Where Local is a Requirement

The Ecuadorian government requires cruise ships to fly the Ecuadorian flag, hire Ecuadorian citizens and use food grown and raised in Ecuador whenever possible. The variety and quality of fish is superb. They locally grown produce is also excellent, and while the local beef is quite tough and not to everyone’s liking, it was pretty tasty. We generally opted for the fish because it was so good. The main dining room, where we ate most meals, is located on deck 4. Each lunchtime there was a different theme to the offerings from different countries. The Ocean Grill on deck 7 is outdoors and serves a casual lunch, and with reservations, dinner under the stars. Drinks are included in the cruise fare. Most of the drinking occurred in the evening starting at Happy Hour after the last excursion. Drinking before snorkeling in rough waters is not the best idea. We enjoyed a number of the ‘drinks of the day’, custom cocktails, and local wines and beer after returning to the ship.