Hop aboard a cruise ship for your next vacation, and you can have food 24 hours a day if you so desire, in multiple venues ranging from grand dining rooms and extravagant chocolate buffets to poolside grills and themed bars. Even passengers on special diets such as vegetarian, kosher, or diabetic restrictions don't have to miss out on the tastier options. Many cruise lines have called in the experts to create healthful alternatives that taste just as good (or better) than calorie-laden meals and snacks.

Serious food lovers choose their cruise based on dining options. The tantalizing offerings are more than can be listed here, but outlined below are some of the highlights for each cruise line. Gone are the days when a fixed dining time and table are the only options. Get ready--your cruise food fantasy is about to become reality.

• Carnival Cruise Lines' Total Choice Dining program includes flexible seating times, casual eating at bistros with eye-popping views, pizza around the clock, and, of course, elegant main dining rooms. Specialty restaurants vary by ship, and run the gamut from New York delis to French patisseries. Some ships feature fancy late-night supper clubs with live entertainment. Other ships serve late-afternoon sushi. On all ships, the SpaCarnival menu offers low-fat and other healthful options.

• Master Chef Michel Roux sees to it that each meal is a special experience onboard Celebrity Cruises' fleet of ships. Passengers get the star treatment in restaurants serving gourmet cuisine along with ocean views and soft music, and Celebrity's newest class of ships feature specialty restaurants. Among the highlights are dine-in wine cellars, demonstration kitchens, and restaurants modeled after the great oceanliners of days past.

• Talk about a celebration of eating and drinking, Crystal Cruise Line's Wine and Food Festival cruises feature the dishes of world-famous chefs along with sommeliers who provide education on select vintages. Each day, waiters in period costumes make teatime a memorable occasion, with wait staff wearing velvet and lace at the Mozart Tea, white ties and tails at the English-Colonial Tea, and charming southern styles during American Tea. Specialty restaurants vary by cruise ship, and include Japanese and Italian options.

• Three uniquely themed restaurants make eating as fun as it is delicious on Disney Cruise Line®'s ships. Parrot Cay offers a taste of the islands. Animator's Palate features fine foods and classic Disney animation. On the Disney Magic®, there's also the elegant Lumière's restaurant named for the candelabra in Beauty and the Beast, and on the Disney Wonder®, the Little Mermaid-themed restaurant Triton's serves seafood. Casual dining takes place at Pluto's Doghouse or Pinocchio's Pizzeria, and special buffets include the TROPICALIfragilisticexpialidocious dinner where muumuus and flowered shirts are encouraged. When adults are in the mood for romance, they can steal away to the intimate and child-free Palo restaurant.

• On Holland America Line, extensive options include "light and healthy" items, vegetarian dishes, and continental and ethnic cuisines. In addition to the candlelit main dining room, there are also several formal alternative restaurants to choose from. But when you're not in the mood to dress up, there are stir-fries, deli sandwiches, and Mexican dishes at the sun-splashed Lido Restaurant, and burgers and hot dogs at the Terrace Grill. Plus, you never know when you'll stumble upon an impromptu pasta or taco bar.

• Norwegian Cruise Line's ships offer enough restaurants to dine somewhere different each night of the week. Options include gourmet French, traditional Italian, Spanish tapas, Hawaiian, Asian fusion, and sushi, plus there are pizzerias, sports bars and grills, ice cream parlors, and the much-celebrated chocoholic buffets. While dieters should probably avoid the aforementioned buffet, healthy selections are always available elsewhere on board and Freestyle Cruising allows the flexibility to follow your hunger pangs whenever they arise and with whomever you please.

• Personal Choice Dining, a Princess Cruises hallmark, brings the choice of Anytime Dining in addition to traditional fixed seating. From poolside burger grills and ice cream parlors to premium steakhouses and caviar bars, guests have the ultimate control over what crosses their palate, and can opt for a five-course luncheon in the main dining room, afternoon tea with finger sandwiches, or alternative restaurants.

• Just follow your nose--the pastas, pastries, and bread are fresh on every Radisson Seven Seas journey. Extensive wine collections ensure that there's always a perfect pairing for decadent meals served on fine china and surrounded by flowers. Open single-seating dining allows passengers to choose their own tablemates, and all ships also offer alternative restaurants. Room service is available 24 hours a day.

• Royal Caribbean International's specialty restaurants include steakhouses, Italian restaurants, snack bars with a view, and Johnny Rockets '50s-style diners. Five-course meals are available in the main dining rooms with assigned tables, although passengers can request to sit with friends or change tables based on availability. Midnight delight and late-night snack buffets include sinful chocolate extravaganzas. Kosher meals are available upon advanced request.

• Signature Windstar Cruises cuisine is complemented by spa alternatives developed by health guru Jeanne Jones, including Sail Light menus (meeting American Heart Association guidelines) and vegetarian options. Master Chef Joachim Splichal displays a dazzling array of appetizers before dinner, and all meals take place amidst an atmosphere of casual elegance.