Carnival Cruise Line makes a passenger-friendly menu change

After the covid pandemic, both Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean made huge changes to their dining programs. 

In many cases, even if the reasons behind the changes were noble, the moves had a negative impact on customers' experiences.

Royal Caribbean arguably made the biggest change when it overhauled its main dining room menus. Under the guise of speeding up service and cutting down on waste, the cruise line streamlined those menus.

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The biggest change Royal Caribbean (RCL) - Get Free Report made was to eliminate its Classics menu section. These were basic entree choices like NY strip steak, salmon, and grilled chicken that were offered every night. In addition, the cruise line also cut its nightly recurring appetizer offerings, meaning that fan favorites like escargot, french onion soup and shrimp cocktail were offered only on select nights.    

Carnival Cruise Line also overhauled its main-dining-room menus last year, but it added items rather than cutting them. Working with Chief Culinary Officer Emeril Lagasse, the cruise line redid its nightly menus, adding some of the celebrity chef's dishes and dropping some others.

While Carnival's changes were more additive than Royal Caribbean's, the cruise line did make changes that some passengers did not like. The cruise line, for example, started charging $5 for customers who wanted a third entree. when previously main-dining-room entrees were unlimited.

Now, however, the cruise line has decided to make another MDR change that's a positive for passengers.

Carnival expands access to a popular dish 

Many cruise ship passengers have favorite dishes that they look forward to. Those menu items tend to be the higher-end ones.

That's why there has been endless debate over both Carnival and Royal Caribbean's lobster night policies and why passengers are always looking for which night items like prime rib appear in the main dining room. In some cases, people will make dining choices based on which night a favorite is offered.

If the MDR has lamb, duck, or another favorite on the menu, that might be a night when passengers don't book specialty dining. One popular favorite menu item, Beef Wellington, appeared only on certain cruises. 

That's going to change soon, according to Carnival Cruise Line's brand ambassador, John Heald.

“One favorite for sure is the Beef Wellington,” Heald wrote on his Facebook page. “Previously only available on cruises of 8 days or more, my friend and our senior beard of food and beverage Richard has made [Beef Wellington] available on 7-day cruises as well, starting very, very soon.”

That change is likely to be very popular as Beef Wellington is generally considered a higher-end dish that appears in specialty restaurants. Royal Caribbean serves a Lamb Wellington in its Central Park 150 added-fee restaurant while its Celebrity Cruises line offers it as an MDR selection on some sailings. 

Carnival welcomes new customers

Dining-room changes get debated by recurring passengers, New cruisers come in with fewer expectations as they're not comparing their experience to past cruises.

Carnival hit a milestone with new cruisers in the fourth quarter.

"In the fourth quarter, we carried more new-to-cruise and more new-to-brand guests than we did in the fourth quarter of 2019," CEO Josh Weinstein said.

The company has had an explosion of new cruisers, not just on its namesake cruise line but across all its brands.

"In 2023, we captured over 3.5 million new-to-cruise guests and remain well-positioned to continue to take share from land-based alternatives. In other words, we are gaining momentum in our ability to close the unwarranted value gap to land-based alternatives," the CEO said. 

Weinstein also pointed out that cruises offer higher levels of included services than traditional vacations do.

"And to aid in that effort, we can further champion the fact that while many land-based alternatives have pulled back on service levels, we still deliver incredible service to our guests, thanks to our amazing crew," he added. "This pairs exceedingly well with the expansive amount of guest-pleasing amenities offered on board our newer fleet."

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