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Ospitalità Italiana Certifies Alfredo's on Sun Princess

Ospitalità Italiana Sun Princess pizza, stone oven scene highlights certified Italian pizzeria dining at sea
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5 min read

Princess Cruises says Alfredo's Pizzeria on Sun Princess and Star Princess has been awarded the Ospitalità Italiana Certification, a designation the line is positioning as a top tier global marker for authentic Italian cuisine and hospitality. The update matters most to travelers who choose a ship based on dining, because it adds a recognizable, third party verification point when comparing similar itineraries and price points. The practical next step is to treat Alfredo's as a likely high demand venue on your sailing, then plan meal timing and any reservation strategy before sea days and early evening peaks build lines.

The change for trip planning is simple, Ospitalità Italiana Sun Princess pizza is now being marketed as a verified onboard option, not just a well reviewed one. Princess says the venue serves made to order, Neapolitan style pizzas that are hand stretched and baked in a stone Moretti Forni oven, using fresh ingredients and traditional techniques.

Who Is Affected

Cruisers booked on Sun Princess and Star Princess are the immediate audience, especially anyone who plans specialty dining as part of the value of the trip. For these travelers, the certification is a decision input on two levels, it signals that Alfredo's is intended to meet defined authenticity standards, and it suggests the cruise line will keep the concept consistent rather than treating it as a rotating, ship by ship interpretation.

Travel advisors and groups are also affected, because dining credibility can be a tie breaker when two sailings look similar on ports and price. A certification does not automatically mean a restaurant is every guest's favorite, but it does reduce ambiguity about whether the food is meant to track Italian culinary norms versus a broad, Americanized "pizza night" product. That is useful when clients ask for an "authentic Italian" experience at sea and want a concrete reason to pick one ship over another.

The certification program itself is designed to be a verification process, not a popularity contest. Ospitalità Italiana describes a multi step path that includes an application, a verification visit tied to a local Italian chamber of commerce, analysis by an evaluation secretariat, and a time limited grant period before renewal. That structure matters because it explains why the designation is more comparable to a standards based seal than to a media award.

What Travelers Should Do

Travelers who care about food should treat Alfredo's as a planning item, not an afterthought. If Princess offers reservations for Alfredo's on your sailing, book early, and if it is walk up, aim for slightly off peak timing, for example earlier lunches on sea days, or an early dinner slot before the theater rush. The upside is less waiting and a better chance of ordering at your preferred pace.

If the sailing is otherwise sold out, or if you are choosing between similar itineraries, use the certification as a tiebreaker only if dining is a true priority. When ports, cabin category, and price are the main drivers, a single venue should not outweigh schedule fundamentals. A useful decision threshold is whether you would trade one shore dinner in port for an onboard Italian meal you can reliably repeat, if the answer is yes, the Alfredo's credential may be meaningful for your trip.

Over the next 24 to 72 hours before you depart, monitor the Princess app and your booking documents for practical details, such as venue hours, any cover charges, and whether Alfredo's is included in a package or is priced a la carte. Once onboard, check the daily program for themed food events tied to the announcement, because lines sometimes add limited run menu features around promotions, which can change crowd patterns and wait times.

Background

Ospitalità Italiana is a brand and certification program aimed at identifying restaurants, pizzerias, and gelato shops that uphold Italian culinary heritage outside Italy. The program is promoted by Unioncamere, the Italian chamber of commerce system, and was created with ISNART, Italy's tourism research institute, according to Italian chamber of commerce materials describing the certification framework.

In travel system terms, an onboard dining credential can ripple beyond the restaurant itself. The first order effect is demand concentration, a widely promoted venue tends to pull guests from other dining rooms, which can change peak period traffic flows, staffing allocations, and reservation availability across the ship. The second order effect shows up in port behavior, when a ship is perceived to have a strong food product onboard, some guests will shift one paid meal from shore to sea, which can subtly change dining spend patterns in port cities and compress demand into lunch hours instead. A third ripple is commercial, lines use dining differentiation to support pricing power, especially in Wave season periods when ships compete on inclusions and perceived quality rather than on steep discounting.

Princess paired the certification announcement with National Pizza Day messaging and highlighted its relationship with chef Tony Gemignani. Princess says Gemignani created five pizzas that are served across its fleet of 17 ships, and it referenced a USA Today recognition for "Best Pizza at Sea," a claim that functions more as brand positioning than as a traveler decision rule. For travelers, the more actionable takeaway is that the line is standardizing specific pizza recipes fleetwide, which increases the odds you can replicate a favorite order on future sailings, even when itineraries and ships change.

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