Both Carnival and Royal Caribbean have recently made major changes to their main dining room (MDR) menus but the two cruise lines took very different approaches.
Royal Caribbean (RCL), which has rolled out its changes fleetwide, slimmed down its menu getting rid of its "Classics" choices which were a selection of appetizers and main courses available every night. Those menu items still appear, but only on some nights as the cruise line now offers a different theme each night (although not every dish adheres to that theme).
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Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) has only reached the testing phase of its new menu. It has also slimmed down, but not eliminated, its selection of items that are available every day. It has also, on a broader level, added more choices.
The cruise line's new MDR menu, which is being tested on Carnival Dream right now, was developed with the cruise line's Chief Culinary Officer Emeril Lagasse. The famed chef has not only consulted on the menu, but each night's offering includes an appetizer and an entree created by the "bam!" chef.
Carnival plans to complete its test, make some tweaks, and then roll the menu out fleetwide later this year. That, however, is not the only major MDR change the cruise line will make this year. The company has been listening to its passengers and it plans to make another key change, according to a Facebook post from Brand Ambassador John Heald.
Image source: Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival Cruise Line Adding More Vegan Choices
Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and every other major cruise line have to balance serving thousands of people at each meal with the dietary wants and needs of those customers. Some passengers have food allergies, while others follow special diets for health or personal choice-related reasons.
That leaves every cruise line open to criticism about the choices it offers for any specific diet. Heald shared one recent critique that he received.
John Heald. I sailed on the Panorama for 7 nights as a vegan. The lack of respect for my lifestyle was evident from the get go. There were no options in the buffet. There was only one or perhaps two choices at dinner and one of them was an Indian dish can you believe.
The oatmeal was not vegan, the salad was very small and you had to hunt for almond milk. Carnival is being discriminatory by not to have enough plant-based options on their menu. A ————like you won’t understand John but he rise of veganism has fueled demand for more choices. Carnival is not a vegan friendly cruise line.
Heald often fields complaints that sound similar to that one but in this case he had more than an answer for the passenger.
Thank you mate and the reason I am posting this is that it gives me a chance to let all my Vegan friends know that something special is coming. We are designing distinct Vegan menus for breakfast, Bruch and dinner. I cannot share the menus yet as the beards are still putting the final tofues …….sorry, touches to them.
However, we know that many now follow this lifestyle and we will do our very best to accommodate them when they cruise with us. I will share these brilliant new menu as soon as possible.
Heald did not share a timetable for the new menus to be rolled out across the fleet. He updated his first post with a second one a few hours later.
"Just to clarify, the new vegan dining room menu will be coming in the days ahead, and I will share it as soon as I can. We truly want to look after those who lead this healthy lifestyle, and I promise we are all working so hard on this," he added.
