Kagehitokiri
I am probably not the best one to ask about the food compared to fine dining elsewhere. We don't do much of that.
We found the food in all the dining options very good to excellent. We ate in the Italian place several times (liked the food, the pace and the mix of service and self-serve portions). We ate in the Steak-seafood place twice (very good) and we at in the Cordon Blu?/fancy French food once. Wife had escargot and said it was very good. I don't remember what I had, just that I was less that comfortable with the menu. the main dining room always had something I wanted to have. They do require reservations for the fancy specialty dining, with some scoring system of past cruise status and current cabin category when room was not available. We found it was possible to "drop in" early and get a reservation/table. Service was paced, slow, but overly attentive. All beverages are included, but "upscale" brands do require some payment.
We have been on 10+ cruises, and this one had the best food by far. Fair to say we did pay for it. The price is very upscale, but it does included almost everything, more inclusive that any other I have even read about. You even get status credit for the cruise you are taking (phone minutes, computer time, etc).
THANK YOU FOR FINDING MY TRIP WRITEUP. For those that did not/have not, seen the write up, use the link from Kagehitokiri above!