Always Avoid Ordering These 12 Foods On A Cruise

Along with seeing the world in comfort and taking advantage of fun, onboard activities like waterslides and ziplining, one of the best parts of going on a cruise is the food. From restaurants serving cuisines from around the world to Vegas-sized buffets, cruises offer endless ways to eat your way from stem to stern.

But that doesn't mean that you should just dive in willy-nilly. You may have heard cruises likened to floating Petri dishes; cooping thousands of people up in an enclosed space, germs and illnesses can spread like wildfire. Foodborne illnesses have sparked large outbreaks on cruise ships in the past, which is why, along with regular inspections, cruise lines have high standards of hygiene, storage, and preparation to keep food safe throughout the entire voyage.

But even with precautions, there are still risks. You're still packed on a ship with hundreds or thousands of people, some of whom may not be as rigorous about handwashing as they should be. Sneezes and coughs can spread germs over buffets, and people can inadvertently cross-contaminate food while serving themselves. Motion sickness and eating unfamiliar foods can also cause upset stomachs or illness. Even if you're sailing on the cleanest ship on Earth with a stellar food safety record, food poisoning or eating something that upsets your stomach can still happen. Avoiding these food and beverage items reduces the risk of contracting a stomach bug while on the high seas and ruining your cruise vacation.

Cruising can be just as much a gastronomic journey as a geographic one. Traveling around the world on a cruise gives you the chance to try cuisines and dishes from different countries and cultures at onboard restaurants and buffets. This includes sampling dishes from spice-heavy cuisines like Mexican, Indian, and pan-Asian. But even if you're excited to try that curry vindaloo or eat your fill of salsa-drenched tacos, cruises are not the time to increase your spice tolerance. It's best to wait until you're back on dry land.

Spicy food often uses ingredients like hot chili peppers, which contain the compound capsaicin. This chemical compound can irritate your stomach lining, causing all sorts of health issues like vomiting, diarrhea, and acid reflux. While these are short-term afflictions, they can still damper your cruise experience. So, it's best to keep the heat-heavy dishes to a minimum. Even if you love spicy food and don't generally have issues with it, you're traveling in a new and unfamiliar environment. That can sometimes throw off your body's equilibrium. Add the potential seasickness, and you could be in for a nasty combo.

When your stomach may already be queasy from being on a cruise, you don't want to give it more excuses to act up. That means avoiding dishes or types of food that can cause gastronomic distress, like fatty foods. Not only do high-fat foods like hamburgers, creamy pasta, cheesy dishes, bacon, or pizza feel heavy in your stomach, but they also create digestive problems since they take longer to digest. They can cause indigestion, diarrhea, nausea, and general stomach pain. They can also make you feel bloated, which is generally unpleasant.

If you have a sensitive stomach, lay off the high-fat, high-calorie foods during your cruise vacation. You don't want to spend your trip laying in bed with an upset stomach or shut up in the bathroom. You want to be relaxing by the pool, trying out cruise amenities, and heading off-ship in port to explore new countries and cities. That doesn't necessarily mean you need to avoid them full-stop. You can still indulge, enjoy your favorite foods, or try new dishes, but be mindful of portion control so you don't feel overly full. As the saying goes, everything in moderation.

Although cruise ships now offer a variety of dining concepts from sit-down, à la carte meals to gourmet experiences, the buffet remains a core part of cruise dining. But this isn't "Below Deck," where staff cook custom meals perfectly curated to your liking. Kitchen staff on cruises feed thousands of people every day. Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas can hold up to 7,600 passengers in a single departure. That's a lot of people to keep fed, and buffets are one of the most efficient ways to do that.

Waking up in your stateroom with its ocean views and heading to the buffet to eat a hearty breakfast to prepare for a day lounging by the pool or exploring a new port, you may be tempted to reach for the mound of scrambled eggs. A good source of protein, they're a filling and nutritious way to start the day.

But not so fast. Due to the high volume of people to feed, cruises often opt for powdered eggs instead of the real deal. They're easier to transport and store, which is important on a ship where space is limited. While they may not necessarily be bad for you, powdered eggs usually don't have the best texture or taste. If you want eggs for breakfast, take the extra time and order an omelet or other made-to-order egg dishes.

As fun, easy, and convenient as buffets are, they're not the best option when it comes to food safety. Instead of going straight from the kitchen to your plate, food sits out for lengthy amounts of time, which can both diminish the quality and give bacteria time to grow. Even with heating lamps or ice storage, food can reach unsafe temperatures. On top of all this, buffets serve hundreds of people at a time, with hundreds of chances for people to grab utensils with unwashed hands, accidentally cough over the food, or use the same serving utensil for different dishes.

For all these reasons, treat the cruise ship buffet with an amount of caution and try to avoid some dishes. Try to pick dishes that have just come out of the kitchen to ensure freshness and quality, and make sure to wash or sanitize your hands after serving yourself. Some items, like raw fish, should be avoided and instead ordered at onboard à la carte eateries.

During long days cruising the open ocean, watching the world slide by from the sundeck, a nice, cold ice cream hits the spot. Plus, as lots of cruises cater specifically to families, it's a hit with the kids. That's why many cruises offer easy, accessible soft-serve ice cream that you can serve yourself during designated hours. Everyone can grab a cone or cup and enjoy some swirly soft serve. No problem, right?

Wrong, actually. As many cruises, like Carnival and Disney, provide self-serve ice cream instead of having staff serve people, it creates a breeding ground for germs. Staff generally have to follow more strict food safety guidelines, like regular hand-washing or wearing gloves. At a communal machine, used by hundreds of people, all it takes is one person with unwashed hands handling the cones or using the machine for germs to quickly spread. This is especially true when it comes to kids. During the excitement of a cruise, kids may not be as mindful about washing their hands as usual. Since young children also love touching things and ice cream, the soft serve machine could be ground-zero for germs.

While many cruisers like the ease and convenience of self-serve, others have pointed out the drawbacks and requested that staff members serve ice cream instead to reduce the risk of germs. If you find yourself tempted by the soft serve siren, wash your hands before and after.

Similar to self-serve ice cream stations, communal condiments are also risky. Whether at condiment stations or in self-serve bottles in the dining room, having many people use the same items always creates a risk of germs spreading or cross-contamination. People like adding condiments to their meals, especially favorites like ketchup, which means lots of people handling the same bottles at the same food station.

No one wants to catch a cold from using a ketchup bottle. If you're dining at the cruise buffet or in a restaurant with condiments on the table, err on the side of caution and ask staff members for single-serving packets. If single-serving packets aren't available, thoroughly wash or sanitize your hands before using communal bottles or serving stations.

Avoiding communal condiments isn't just to prevent the spreading of germs. It's also for general food safety. Most popular condiments like ketchup can be left unrefrigerated for up to a month. But they can spoil early through accidents like being too close to a heat lamp or air exposure. As with any other restaurant or dining establishment, cruise ship kitchens and dining areas need to meet certain for food safety, like regular cleaning, temperature control, and proper storage. While you can rest easy knowing that stringent steps are taken to ensure food stays safe, accidents can still happen. If something smells bad or looks unsafe, avoid eating it and report it to a crew member.

This one may hurt to hear — you're on a cruise and want to treat yourself — but be wary of the sushi. Raw fish requires meticulous storage, handling, and preparation and can lead to food poisoning or sickness if done incorrectly. In keeping with food safety guidelines, cruise kitchens take extra pains to be careful with raw fish and sushi, storing and serving it at the proper temperature and making sure to not leave it sitting out at serving stations too long. The main health risk from eating cruise ship sushi comes from other passengers, who may leave germs on serving surfaces or utensils.

For this reason, it's best to skip the buffet sushi spread and stick to à la carte options where you'll have the freshest choices and it's made to order. As cruise dining has elevated over the years, ships have added top-tier sushi spots like Kaiseki on luxury cruise lines Silversea or Tamarind onboard select Holland America ships. Even with strict handling and prep, raw fish always carries some risk, so use your best judgment and check for quality before indulging.

Sushi isn't the only raw food that should be treated with suspicion on a cruise. Other raw foods like shrimp cocktails, shellfish, poke, ceviche, raw meat, carpaccio, and steak tartar risk harboring bacteria or growing bacteria if stored or served improperly. Sorry to oyster lovers, but nothing will ruin your cruise like food poisoning from a bad batch of oysters.

If you are craving seafood or meat, stick to cooked variations like steamed mussels, sauteed shrimp, seafood stews like hearty clam chowder, and grilled steak. Cooking or boiling food to a certain temperature (usually 149 degrees Fahrenheit) is enough to kill foodborne bacteria and render it safe for consumption. Uncooked and left raw, foods like oysters or steak can contain bacteria like salmonella, E.coli, and listeria, all of which can cause food poisoning with nasty effects like vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea. If you're already struggling with seasickness or queasiness from being on a ship, adding food poisoning to your list of ailments is an unpleasant combination.

Like raw meat and seafood, raw vegetables and fruits also carry some risk. They can contain harmful bacteria like listeria, salmonella, and E.coli, which can find their way onto your plate if the produce hasn't been properly washed or prepared. Sometimes, foodborne bacteria on produce can come from the farm where it was grown. But other times, it can find its way into your food through bad preparation like using dirty cooking utensils or cross-contamination. Believe it or not, vegetables are among the top causes of food poisoning outbreaks.

While that nice, crisp salad may look enticing, it's best to stick with cooked vegetables while on a cruise. For fruit, options like oranges or bananas that you can peel yourself, where you're not consuming the potentially contaminated exterior of the fruit, are safest. When it comes to raw produce while traveling, the "Boil It, Cook It, Peel It, or Forget It" rule is a good benchmark. If it hasn't been cooked or boiled or you can't peel it, it's best to avoid it.

However, it bears repeating that cruise kitchens have strict food safety protocols, which include properly cleaning and preparing produce. But there are still the other passengers. A person could sneeze or breathe over the salad bar, or pick up an apple with dirty hands, decide they don't want it, and put it back. These are all ways germs can find their way onto your food.

Temperature is part of what makes food so appetizing. No one wants to eat lukewarm soup or a slightly warm oyster. But temperature plays a far more important role than making our food appealing. It also helps keep food safe for consumption.

Just as cooking food to 149 degrees Fahrenheit helps kill foodborne bacteria, temperature also plays a critical role in keeping food safe during serving. Food has to be kept at the proper temperatures to prevent bacteria from growing. This is known as the Danger Zone: if a food is between 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, there's a risk of bacteria growth. To put it differently, cold food needs to be kept at or under 40 degrees Fahrenheit to stay safe for consumption. Hot food needs to be kept above 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

At a cruise ship buffet, it's normal to see hot foods kept under heat lamps, and cold food served over beds of ice. But how can you make sure they're actually at the proper temperature, or how long they've been left out and affected by the ambient room temperature? If a dish doesn't seem hot or cold enough, err on the side of caution and avoid it. Use your best judgment and examine dishes to see if they smell strange or have weird coloration, which are signs of spoilage.

From the endless debate over whether or not to get the alcohol cruise package to finding creative ways to sneak booze aboard in hidden containers to avoid upcharged drinks onboard, alcohol and drinking are some of the hottest topics for cruise-goers. It makes sense; getting to kick back with a drink like a cold, zippy margarita (or two, or many) on a sunny ship sailing across the ocean is a fun part of the cruise experience.

But before you metaphorically throw me overboard for suggesting that you should avoid drinking alcohol on a cruise, let me state my case. Since alcohol dehydrates you, it can make the effects of seasickness like nausea and headaches feel worse. Drinking also causes you to feel woozy and unbalanced, which can exacerbate your motion sickness. Also, if you're suffering from seasickness and are taking medicine to combat it, inadvertently mixing medication and alcohol can have nasty side effects like dizziness or drowsiness. These could be especially dangerous on a cruise, where you could fall and hurt yourself or even worse, go overboard. It's an extreme example, as cruise ships make it really hard to fall off accidentally, but it does happen.

So if you're suffering from motion sickness while out at sea, skip the booze until you feel better or keep your imbibing light. Once you get your sea legs and adjust to life on the ocean, you can (safely) indulge more.

Since its invention in 1862, pasteurization — which is a process of heating and rapidly cooling raw food products like milk or eggs to kill dangerous bacteria like E.coli and listeria and make them safer for consumption — has been widely practiced and implemented around the world for food safety. However, it's not a universal standard. There are many parts of the world where you can still find unpasteurized products like raw milk or cheese.

Because cruise ships travel all over the world and source food from different ports, there's a chance they could bring unpasteurized goods onboard. Granted, it's a small chance, as governments and ruling bodies all over the world generally require that mass-produced food be pasteurized for public health reasons. But it still never hurts to ask and confirm that the milk, eggs, and cheese have been pasteurized. If it hasn't been, you'll have to decide for yourself if it's a risk worth taking.