Cruise food tends to get a lot of criticism on social media.
Cruisers often turn to online message boards and Facebook pages to grumble that cruise food isn’t what it used to be. They say that things have changed after the pandemic or that the food they were served on their latest cruise just didn’t seem as good as what they enjoyed in the past.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line begs cruisers to follow a crucial rule
These kinds of complaints are no surprise to Carnival Cruise Line, but there’s an important message that the cruise line’s brand ambassador, John Heald, wants to get across to passengers.
Recently, Heald dedicated a Facebook video to cruisers who complain about cruise food, especially those who only make their complaints after their vacations have ended.
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Carnival offers fresh-made pizza until midnight.
Image source: Carnival Corp.
Carnival brand ambassador takes on cruise food complaints
Transcript:
John Heald: Good morning, good afternoon and to my friends in New Zealand, Australia and Cleveland, Ohio, good evening and welcome to today’s three-minute video and it’s all about my stomach. No, it’s not, it’s about food. This is an off-the-cuff thing that I wanted to say.
You know, we’ve put roller coasters on the ships over the years. Back when I was a cruise director, we had all the bells and whistles and [as] every ship…got bigger and bigger, we put new things on. But at the end of the day, it was all about food.
It always has been, and it always will be.
Apart from the fun and the crew, I still believe that probably food is what’s on most people’s mind when they cruise, and that is absolutely normal. I used to do jokes when I was a cruise director that used to say things like, “You came on as guests and you’ll be leaving as cargo,” and I would make mooing noises.
Anyway, can’t do that these days. Every day when I answer hundreds of questions, I do get asked about food. I get many, many, many compliments about the food, but let’s be honest, I also get comments that are not complimentary, and that’s understandable.
Food is very much a personal choice, and it’s something that is and…always will be a very important part of the cruise experience.
I want to say two things. Sometimes, occasionally, I get a comment saying there was nothing to eat on board and I left hungry. Well, that’s nonsense. I mean, you may not like everything, but there is always something to eat.
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Cruise food complaints can be addressed during the cruise, not after
And then I get very frustrated when people write to me after the cruise and say, I didn’t like this, or I didn’t like this, or this chicken, or this main course, or I didn’t like the buffet or something.
And then I write to the ship, show them, which I do each and every time, and then they check and they say, “Well, the guest didn’t say anything to us in the dining room or at guest services or to any of the management.”
I urge you, I implore you, please, please, please, if you’re not happy with something, tell your waiter. He or she will tell the dining room team or the chef directly and they will do everything they can to do better for you.
Telling me after the cruise, there’s nothing I can do. But as always, [anytime] you’re not happy, please, I beg you, I really am begging you, talk to somebody on board. The crew want to help you.
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And then I get even more frustrated when people like yesterday sound off to me with all sorts of comments that this chicken was this and the pasta was not al dente. And then I say, right, I get somebody and I get the food and beverage director on the ship to come and speak to this gentleman.
And he turns around and says to them, “Oh, no, everything’s fine. I just wanted John to know that there were a couple of dishes that we weren’t very happy with.”
And you know what? That drives me crazy because it doesn’t matter. What the food and beverage director did was then went to the galley, got a brand-new plate of pasta cooked exactly how the guests wanted.
And that was all it took. So, what I’m trying to say is, if you’re not happy with something like anything else, please, please speak to somebody on board.
Carnival doesn’t pretend to serve five-star cuisine
Yesterday, and yes, I’m looking at you, sir. You know who you are. You ripped into me saying that Carnival no longer has five-star cuisine. We’ve never had five-star cuisine. We’re not a five-star cruise line. We’re not. We’re America’s cruise line. We’re a family cruise line.
And even in the 40 years that I’ve worked, I have never, ever seen anybody, a senior beard or crew member or me, say that we’re a five-star cuisine cruise line. We’re not.
So, if you want five-star cuisine, then Seabourn, perhaps, or the Queen’s Grill on Cunard. You know, we have the brilliant steakhouses and all the specialty restaurants. They are fabulous.
And I want to finish by saying a big thank you, because we don’t say thank you enough, or I don’t. So, I’m going to say some names that will mean nothing to you. But I want to say thank you, first of all, to Richard, to Damir, to Ramesh and all of the chefs, all of the food and beverage and culinary teams, because I know the budget they have to work with. And if you did, you would be astonished.
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Dining will always be a cruise highlight
And surely one of the best things about cruising is still the fact you don’t have to cook the food. You don’t have to serve the food, and you don’t have to do the washing up.
So, to all who are involved in the food, preparation, service on the ships, and back at the mothership in Miami, thank you for all you do.
And yes, they are always looking at doing better, whether it be the Lido deck buffet or the dining room menu or new things. And stay tuned through the months ahead. And we’ll tell you more about that as and when it happens.
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And also, of course, thanks to the waiters. Did you know the waiters in the old days would be trained in the crew, in the staff mess? And we still have a wonderful waiter working with us now. He’s done, I think, coming up to 30 years.
And he was my waiter when I was a cruise director on the Carnival Triumph. And I will never forget him. He was wonderful. Jamaican guy, I believe now. Devin is his name.
I believe he is currently on the Paradise, I think, but I’m not sure.
But I will never forget you, Devin. I remember the time when I was in the staff mess and I ordered my food from you, my wonderful Jamaican friend.
Devin brought in my food. And as he did, I noticed that he had his thumb right in the middle of my steak. I said, Devin, you’ve got your thumb on my steak. He said, “I didn’t want to drop it again, man.”
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