Food photos posted on social media by your average restaurant guest can offer a helpful glimpse at what to expect when dining at an establishment, and a cruise ship restaurant is no exception.
Carnival Cruise Line is known as a cruise line for the average Joe, so naturally, its Brand Ambassador, John Heald, is an average Joe kind of guy who posts average food photos.
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The much-adored cruise director turned brand ambassador sailed on his annual “For Fun’s Sake” fan cruise this week aboard the Carnival Magic cruise ship, documenting the experience along the way with posts shared on his popular Facebook page. Posts highlighted the activities and events on board the ship, as well as the meals.
While the posts were intended to involve Facebook followers in the cruise and get their input on Carnival’s onboard offerings, one post from the dining room invited some unwanted feedback.
“Barbecue spareribs and chips. One of the most popular dishes tonight,” Heald wrote in a post that included a photo of his meal. “Is this something you would order?”
“sorry, not chips, fries,” the English brand ambassador clarified.
Chips vs. fries was not what got fans talking, however.
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Heald may not have picked the best picture to share.
Image source: John Heald/Facebook
Carnival cruise fans think meal looks like a ’90s TV dinner
Comments started rolling in about how terribly unappetizing the barbecue spare ribs looked — so many that Heald decided to delete the post.
But of course, the internet never forgets, and screenshots of the unpalatable post began circulating on social media. One of Heald’s followers shared the post in the Carnival Cruise Fans community on Reddit, sparking more than 200 more comments about the miserable look of the dish.
“The photo in question appeared to be a sad, congealed mess of what was supposed to be a culinary masterpiece. I mean, we’ve all seen some questionable cruise food in our time, but this one took the cake,” Reddit user gofordrew wrote as they shared “John Heald’s Epic Facebook Fail: A Cautionary Tale of Cruise Food Gone Wrong.”
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Many people thought the spare ribs looked like a brownie and that the entire meal looked like a Kid Cuisine-style frozen TV dinner or bad school cafeteria food.
“I thought it was a brownie and the whole thing was one of those tv dinners we used to get as kids as a “treat” that came with the brownie. Ugh,” wrote speshuledteacher.
One Carnival passenger joked about a way to poke fun at Carnival and its brand ambassador on future cruises with a Kid Cuisine-inspired meme.
“pov: you see this photo, screenshot it, crop it, and photoshop a penguin on it and put it on your cabin door on your next VIFP sailing,” suggested imaislandboiii.
Passengers defend Carnival Cruise Line food
Some passengers jumped in to defend the cruise line’s food, explaining that Heald’s photo didn’t match their experiences ordering the same dish.
“I’ve had this meal once or twice and the ribs never looked like that. They were an actual rack of ribs. And they were good,” wrote Mentalcomposer. “Were they the best bbq ever? Of course not. But I don’t expect that for any meal I have on any ship really.”
“Honestly it looks ugly but it was really tasty (I’m on this cruise with him),” noted SL13377.
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While some other passengers did take to the comments to complain about declining food quality on Carnival cruise ships, the original poster pointed out that they shared the tale strictly for its entertainment value, not out of concern for Carnival’s food.
“I should add that I’m not trying to bash John Heald or Carnival Cruise Line here,” gofordrew clarified. “We’ve all had our share of social media mishaps, and this one just happened to be particularly entertaining.”
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