American Jazz Dining

Food On American Jazz Is a Highlight of the Cruise

With few exceptions, food onboard American Jazz was delightful. The main dining room on deck one serves three meals a day, with open seating during set hours.

Breakfast options include eggs cooked in any fashion, choice of meats, omelets, hot cereal, a daily griddle special and a daily eggs benedict special. One morning on our cruise, the special was lobster benedict on cheese grits, obviously straight from their Mississippi River repertoire.

Lunch options are generally lighter fare, including soups, sandwiches, salads, and wraps.

Dinner menus are simple, yet elegant, featuring one soup, one salad, choice of three entrees, two desserts, and ice cream. Entrees were sometimes traditional in design, like a sirloin steak served with asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes. Other nights, the choices felt quite decadent, like the crab crusted tenderloin filet on night three, or the crab topped lobster tail on the final night. We appreciated the ability to order a half portion of the entrees.

For those wanting a more casual breakfast or lunch, the aft Sky Lounge serves a spread of pastries, cold cereal, bagels, and muffins beginning at 6:30 each morning. Cooked to order oatmeal, eggs, omelets, burritos, or breakfast sandwiches can be ordered just outside the lounge’s back doors at the Back Porch Café.  All afternoon, the Back Porch cooks hotdogs, hamburgers, hot sandwiches, and pizza, all with chips on the side.

Sky Lounge is also home to a self-serve coffee machine, ice, tea bags, packaged snacks, bottled water and soft drinks, all available around the clock.

Cookie time deserves serious attention on the food roster on American Jazz. At 3:00 each afternoon, the kitchen brings a basketful of individually wrapped cookies to each of the main lounges on deck four. Top choice is white chocolate macadamia nut, followed closely by peanut butter.

And if all of that is not enough food, a six-foot-long spread of appetizers is served during the 5:30 cocktail hour. It’s adequate as a light dinner if you care to make it such. You can always follow up with popcorn and a root beer float, which are served during the nightly entertainment.

Dietary restrictions are handled on day one with an afternoon meeting with chefs in the dining room. We found that almost any request for alternative food during the cruise was handled efficiently.