Cruise lines often have special menus for holidays. For example, I took a Christmas-week cruise a couple of years ago, and Carnival’s menu offered several traditional Christmas-style choices that weren’t typically in the dinner rotation.
However, Carnival’s upcoming Thanksgiving menu seems to take things to the next level. The cruise line recently gave its loyal fans a glimpse of this year’s special menu, and the reception was overwhelmingly positive.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line Changes an Unpopular Beverage Policy
While you can’t please everyone, as Carnival brand ambassador John Heald often finds out when he posts seemingly universal good news like this, the response to the Thanksgiving menu is overwhelmingly positive. That’s especially true since some cruise lines don’t modify their dining options whatsoever for Thanksgiving.
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Carnival offers special menus for most major holidays.
Image source: Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival Cruise Line offers a holiday feast
Brand ambassador John Heald recently shared Carnival’s special menu for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
On the top, the menu featured some festive and traditional dishes, such as a roast turkey entrée with stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and cranberry relish. There was also a honey-glazed ham entrée with mashed potatoes, carrots, asparagus, and more. And of course, there was pumpkin pie for dessert.
Beyond the featured selections, the menu had an overall upgraded tone, with starters that included lobster and crab soup, a short rib and yam croquette, and a “surf and turf” appetizer with crab salad and beef tartare. There were several other entrees that don’t appear on Carnival’s typical dinner menu, as well as an alternative “festive maple wedge” dessert.
Of course, the menu also features Carnival classics such as a flame-grilled striploin steak, a shrimp cocktail appetizer, and the cruise line’s famous melting chocolate cake dessert.
Overall, cruisers seem to be big fans of the menu.
One comment on Heald’s post from Karyn Shuffler Green said “This sounds amazing!!! I wish I was cruising this Thanksgiving.”
Kayleigh Hilliard said, “We will be on the Mardi Gras for thanksgiving this year! Seeing this menu is making me even more excited!”
Several commenters said they’d have a tough time deciding what to order with several unique choices available. Kendra Blazi said that it’s a “good thing my whole family is there so we can share and I don’t have to order this much solo.”
As mentioned, Carnival typically does something special for the holidays. But this year’s menu takes it a step further. As Cheryl Keny commented, “I’ve sailed over Thanksgiving a few times. The menu never had near as many great choices. I think I would have to go to dinner twice to have everything I would like to try!”
Some cruisers would love to see it more often
Obviously, Thanksgiving is a major food-centric holiday, so it makes sense to roll out a unique and upscale menu for it. However, some cruisers like the menu so much that they’d like to see it more often, and some are now disappointed that they aren’t booked on a Thanksgiving cruise.
In fact, the biggest negative criticism seems to be that people who aren’t cruising over Thanksgiving won’t get to try it.
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Several commenters said that they’d love to see this menu – or at least some of the unique options on it – available year-round. Another suggested Carnival should offer the menu on several days of Thanksgiving week cruises so guests could try more of the options.
To be clear, we have no idea if Carnival has any plans to offer some of these items on a more regular basis, or if the cruise line’s future holiday menus will be as impressive as this one. But this was certainly welcome news for those who are planning to sail over the Thanksgiving holiday.
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