I’m standing alongside 10 or so people on the banks of an estuary just outside Hobart, cracking open and downing a Pacific oyster pulled from the water this morning, before adding my emptied shell to the others lining the shore. It’s the kind of intimate food experience Tasmania is famous for, yet mine is happening as part of a 3000-person cruise.

As idyllic as my morning of epicurean solitude was, it turns out it wasn’t particularly unique. In fact, I’m told, these tailored, small-scale moments are a key part of cruising these days. “Excursions are no longer a bus tour of the sites and back to the ship. We carefully craft authentic experiences in each destination,” says the senior vice president of hotel operations for Celebrity Cruises, Keith Lane.

These escapades extend beyond the oyster farms, wineries, distilleries and other adventures me and my fellow cruisers have been shuttled off to on our day in Hobart. Cruise ships are shaking off their “all-in” buffet reputations, and replacing them with varied dining options that cater to a vast range of taste, preference and appetite.

Which raises the question for someone on their inaugural cruise trip: how do you cater to 3000 people three times a day without it feeling like you’re throwing mince into a piranha tank? On board the Celebrity Edge, the answer is by offering 29 restaurants, bars, cafes and other spots to grab a bite.

Headlining that list are the four complimentary main restaurants, each with a menu to match their designated theme. By splitting diners between the four eateries – Cyprus, Normandie, Tuscan and Cosmopolitan – no space felt too busy. “We want every dining experience to feel fresh, exciting and tailored,” Lane says.

Those with a more specific appetite, and a little more cash to throw around, can make a reservation at one of the other dining spots, including a French bistro, a sushi-slinging raw seafood bar and a New York-style steakhouse. I find myself at the latter after my shore excursion, a martini in hand and rib-eye on the way.

Of course, managing the task of feeding so many people takes a Herculean behind-the-scenes effort. Kitchens run 24 hours a day, prepping and dispatching food to venues and state rooms while computers monitor everything from stove and fridge temperatures to ingredient levels. Networks of hidden passageways allow food and booze to be ferried unseen from one end of the ship to another, and every harbour stop – like the one we’ve just had in Hobart – is an opportunity to restock.

Lane says that during an Australia/New Zealand cruising season, the ship will receive about 26 loads of food and beverages from local ports. “That’s fresh produce every six days.”

Menus also change with each sailing, Lane says, so what we’re being offered for our four-night Hobart trip is different to what passengers will get when the ship returns to its US, European and Caribbean jaunts. They incorporated dishes such as fish and chips, blackened cod and butter chicken, alongside things like Vegemite and Weet-Bix for breakfast. Drinks have taken on an Australian flavour, too: Penfolds wines, Four Pillars Gin, Little Creatures, Balter, 4 Pines, Stone & Wood and James Squire beers.

As I end my night with a little of that gin at one of the ship’s bars, I marvel at the seamlessness and scale of the operation. Before boarding, I had visions of cavernous buffet halls filled with queues of people shovelling food onto a plate like a prison cafeteria, but those days seem long gone. It turns out modern cruise ships are floating food districts, offering everything – in this case - from omakase sushi bars to Tuscan trattorias, each designed to make dining feel like an event rather than something to pass the time.

The writer was a guest of Celebrity Cruises.