MONFALCONE, Italy -- A la carte pricing for restaurant menu items -- a relative rarity in the cruise world -- may be coming to Cunard Line.

Cunard president and managing director Peter Shanks tells USA TODAY the line is considering by-the-plate pricing for The Verandah, the top eatery on its soon-to-debut, 2,092-passenger Queen Elizabeth.

Under one plan under consideration, the high-end French restaurant would charge roughly $6 to $7 for appetizers and $16 to $18 for main courses. Desserts would be an additional $6 to $7.

The cost of dining in many restaurants on cruise ships is included in the base fare of a voyage, and those restaurants that do charge generally levy a flat fee on diners -- usually in the range of $15 to $30 per person. Eateries that charge by the plate only are found on a handful of ships.

A revival of a famed eatery found on the original Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary, The Verandah will debut on the new Queen Elizabeth in lieu of the celebrity chef-run Todd English restaurants found on the line's two other ships.

"A lot of cruise lines have celebrity chefs, and we thought long and hard about it," says Shanks, speaking during a preview tour Friday of the new vessel at the Fincantieri shipyard near Trieste, Italy. But, in the end, "given our reputation for cuisine, we thought we would create it ourselves."

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