We boarded the Radiance on Saturday and were set for 7 days of food from the same team. There were 15 of us on a full ship of 110.

Breakfast and lunch are served buffet style. I only eat breakfast if someone will serve me a seafood Benedict so I have no opinion on breakfast. I heard the muesli was good.

Lunch was by far, the best meals on the ship.

The Portuguese crew gets to go all out with creativity, variety and local specialties. Great salads, breads, fabulous roasted potatoes, several hot entrees and delicious local cheeses you’ll never find at home. Local made quince jelly was a big hit with the cheeses.

Chef João Marinho was rightfully especially proud of a whole salmon baked in salt.

The dessert table was amazing. Daily house made ice-creams along with a changing array of features that the staff were clearly proud of. It was hard to walk by them empty handed.

The BBQ lunch on deck was a highlight. Grilled ribs, chicken and sardines were all excellent. They even converted some non sardine eaters. I think it was the best meal of the cruise.

Dinner was hit and miss. Some trainees weren’t going to survive as restaurant stewards but others did their best to make up for that. It’s hard to serve 110 people 3 courses and get it right.

The breads and wines were always good. There were 3 choices of appetizers and entrees and desserts each night, as well as the standard salmon, steak or chicken. Sadly the cheese plate at night, my standard dessert, wasn’t as good as the lunch offerings.

For the Captain’s dinner the fish was a difficult Turbot dish and 2 out of three were very undercooked. Mine was okay but you’ll see below it was visually unappealing and those Brussels sprouts were cooked beyond repair.

For the Gala dinner David said the polenta was the best he’d ever had. The eggplant on top was undercooked though.

For the most part we were happy with the food. Emerald is a value cruise line and it is definitely good value.