All hail Julia Child! It was she, a generation ago, who shook Americans by their palates and made them realize that “gourmet" French cuisine was well within the scope of anyone’s taste and pocketbook, lifting us from the white bread doldrums.

All hail James Beard! He wouldn’t let us forget our culinary patrimony. We Americans take pride in and enjoy our native cookery and Mr. Beard helped return us to those roots.

All hail the international travel and immigration! Without them, it would be unthinkable that we would have so many exotic dishes to enjoy - Thai, Mexican, Chinese, Argentinian, Italian, Japanese, Armenian, Swedish, Indian, Hungarian - most available in our cities and towns across North America.

And finally, all hail the cruise lines! For they have integrated all these lessons into the cruise experience, and thus a journey on a cruise ship is truly a culinary cornucopia, needing only your imagination and taste to be complete.

There was a time when fine dining came only with a "First Class" ticket; the folks down in steerage knew nothing of the fine linen, the highly polished silver, the vintage wines up above. Today, fine dining is available to anyone who steps aboard a cruise ship. Luxury and Ultra-Luxury lines offer 5-star dining throughout; those who select Mainstream or Premium lines may, for a nominal fee, experience the pleasure at one of the ship's alternative, reservations-only venues. Yet regardless of the cruise line, passengers today enjoy choices unimaginable even ten year ago!

One mainstream line, Norwegian Cruise Lines boasts of ships with upwards of TEN dining rooms to choose from; most at no additional cost. Steakhouse, Italian Trattoria, French Bistro, Asian, Mexican, Hawaiian and more! Aboard Crystal's Cruise Line's Crystal Serenity you can dine at celebrated chef Nobu Matsuhisa's Silk Road & Sushi Bar; just across the hall is Prego, the line's signature Italian restaurant. Royal Caribbean's larger ships offer five or more restaurant choices, plus a specialty branded coffee house and ice cream parlor.

Aboard the larger Princess ships you're afforded no less than six restaurants including the line's signature Italian trattoria, Sabatini's. 24-hour dining is available in the buffet-style Horizon Court. Holland America offers up their traditional dining venues but now adds their specialty restaurant, the "Pinnacle Grill" serving award-winning cuisine. Speaking of accolades, Carnival, the so-called "value-priced leader" in cruising, offers a Supper Club on many of its newest ships that has topped the list on a recent travel magazine's reader poll.

Aboard Disney there are three main cruise dining rooms, each with its own ambiance and cuisine. Plus, the line offers an upscale "adults-only" restaurant! Perhaps some of the most beautiful restaurants afloat are Celebrity's alternative dining sanctuaries, including "Normandie," which includes design themes and original artifacts from its French ocean liner namesake. Cunard offers its famous "Grill" restuarants, among the most luxurious at sea. That line also offers a host of alternative restaurants from English pub-style to Asian fusion.

Or how about Seabourn's deliciously decadent "caviar in the surf" experience whereby fully uniformed dining staff wade into the offshore waters at a remote beach to serve their privileged guests caviar and champagne as they drift by on rafts! Oceania's ships accommodate fewer than 800 guests yet offer no fewer than five, 5-star dining venues! Radisson's restaurants are staffed by chefs wearing the blue ribbon of Paris' famed Le Cordon Bleu and Silversea offers her guests the ultimate luxury: complimentary course-by-course meals served in the privacy of their own suites - or on their private balconies!