The holidays are here, and you certainly can’t say that Carnival Cruise isn’t getting into the spirit.
Recently, Carnival rolled out its plans for the holidays, which include special activities on all 24 of the ships in Carnival's fleet.
While the specifics will vary by ship, all of them will have a large, fully-decorated, star-topped Christmas tree in an easily accessible public area. Additionally, there will be a special tree lighting ceremony before each embarkment, all scored by classic holiday music.
There will obviously be caroling, because what would the holidays be without caroling? And these days, ugly holiday sweater parties are all the rage, and Carnival isn’t going to be left out of the fun, and there will be prize for the best/worst garment.
Carnival (CCL) will also be hosting non-denominational Christmas and Hanukah services on board, with prayer, hymns, and fellowship on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The Hanukah services start on December 18 and continue through every night of Hanukah, and will include traditional food, songs, and prayer to commemorate the occasion.
That’s not all that Carnival has in store, though. John Heald, Carnival Cruise Line brand ambassador, is in a pretty festive mood, because now he’s announced even more details about how the line is celebrating the holidays.
Carnival Announces Its Holiday Menu
Via his Facebook page, Heald has revealed further details about the holiday menu. Here’s what you can expect:
Appetizers
- Shrimp cocktail American cocktail sauce
- Roasted winter vegetables & cheese avocado vinaigrette, marinated haloumi, manchego
- Rib eye tartare* mustard aioli, caramelized onion, balsamic and red pepper aioli
- Roasted stuffed beet dressed quinoa, feta, mint maple dressing
- Truffled dates & tomatoes cucumber, avocado, pomegranate juice dressing, torn herb salad
- Caesar salad traditional preparation, house-made dressing, shaved parmesan
- Seafood risotto crab, shrimp and mussels, crawfish butter
- Ale house cheese soup brisket, sausage, turkey, roasted vegetables, jack cheese
- Sweet potato soup buttermilk, caramelized butter, croûton
Main Course
- Slow-roasted tom turkey sweet potato, Christmas stuffing, gravy, cranberry relish
- Crisp veal parmesan pickled cabbage, pear mostarda, salsa agrodolce
- Roasted barramundi corn succotash, pickled tomato and shallots, chive sauce
- Garlic butter shrimp potato and cauliflower gratin, lemon sauce
- Steamed mussels chorizo, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, buttered grits
- Ny strip steak* mashed potato, broccoli, crisp onions, creamy pepper corn sauce
- Guava glazed stuffed chicken mozzarella, basil, corn relish, shallot herb beurre blanc
- Stuffed pork belly cranberry apple stuffing, bacon jam, braised cabbage
- Vegetarian/vegan
- Tortellini whipped ricotta, eggplant ragu
- Caramelized onion and heirloom
- Tomato tart queso fresco, dressed corn
- Shahi paneer, achari baingan dal makhani, onion kulcha, pappad & raita
Dessert
- Melting chocolate cake vanilla ice cream
- Buche de noel hazelnut pate, spearmint moss, eggnog anglaise
- Pear and cheese cinnamon cheese core, creme fraiche, rhubarb chutney, yam crisp lower calorie, no added sugar
- Classic pecan pie delicious pie crust, plenty of pecan and caramel ice cream
Image source: Carnival
Carnival Changes a Beverage Policy
In other Carnival news, the company has recently made a change to an unpopular beverage policy. Or more accurately, they’re undoing a policy that disallowed passengers to order liquor bottles in their cabins, due to passenger safety concerns.
But now this policy has been rolled back, and now full-bottle liquor sales will be available on some sailings.
"From Dec. 1, 2022, guests will be able to prepurchase bottles for their staterooms, with a limit of one bottle per stateroom (no matter how many guests are in the stateroom). The policy will not be available on all cruises, however, but only on itineraries of 7 nights or longer," the website reported.
