Carnival Cruise Line massively overhauled its main dining room (MDR) menu in 2023 under the guidance of Chief Culinary Officer Emeril Lagasse. Unlike Chief Fun Officer Shaquille O’Neal, Lagasse’s role isn’t just symbolic.
The famed celebrity chef was brought in by the cruise line to help it up its MDR game while adding some of his signature dishes to the menu. That revamp has been largely successful as while some people miss an item that has been taken away, the overall menus actually got bigger.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line’s John Heald reaches a breaking point
That’s markedly different from what Royal Caribbean did with its MDR menus, which now follow a nightly theme. The cruise line also got rid of its “Classics” section that offered basics like grilled salmon, New York Strip steak, and pasta bolognese every night.
Royal Caribbean said they did this to speed up service and cut down on food waste. They also will very clearly save some money, and maybe drive more people to specialty restaurants, but the cruise line has said that wasn’t why the changes were made,
Carnival passengers may largely like the new MDR menus, but they are unhappy with another change. The cruise line used to offer unlimited free entrees. Now, the first two entrees will be free while each one after that costs $5.
Now, Doug Parker of Cruise News Today has shared that the cruise line has made another dining pricing change passengers won’t like.
Carnival raises a key food price
Transcript:
This is Cruise News Today with Doug Parker.
Carnival Cruise Line has quietly raised the price of its Steakhouse Fahrenheit 555.
Now, multiple guests with reservations for next spring have emailed our tip line showing us screenshots of $52 per guest. That’s a $3 hike. Last December, Carnival raised the Steakhouse price from $48 to $49. This new hike takes it to $52.
This is the third increase in two years, reflecting a 24% hike since 2022 back when it was $42 per guest. There’s also other noticeable differences such as Banzai Teppanyaki for both lunch and dinner are higher, Chef’s Table and Rudy’s Seagrill.
And Carnival Panorama is back in Long Beach after a 24-night trans-Pacific cruise that started in Singapore and included stops in Manila and Hawaii.
Now when you consider crossing the international date line, Carnival broke a record for the most consecutive sea days on the way back to Long Beach with 11 in a row. That’s after skipping Guam due to high seas. I asked the guests on board if 22 days were too much.
He said, quote, I thought it would be, but it made me realize how much I love the ocean and crew.
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Very cool. Welcome home.
And Seward Alaska will introduce shore power for cruise ships by 2026, thanks to a $47.5 million grant from the EPA to reduce emissions. Now, the new infrastructure will let ships connect to Seward’s electric grid while docked rather than running diesel generators. City Manager Pat Sorensen noted that the power for one ship in eight hours equals what the town goes through in just one day.
Now, the funding from the EPA’s Clean Ports Program will cover 90% of the project’s costs with additional funds coming from Royal Caribbean.
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