When Royal Caribbean changed its main dining room menus earlier this year it greatly reduced the number of choices offered to passengers. Each night has been given a theme like "Mexican," "Italian," "Welcome Aboard," and more with many of the dishes offered following that genre.
Every night has a meat, chicken, fish, pasta, and vegetarian option, but the cruise line got rid of its "classics" section of the menu. On the previous menus, that section offered some basics including New York strip steak, spaghetti bolognese, salmon ,and a simple chicken that were offered every night. In addition, the "classics" offering included some popular appetizers with escargot, shrimp cocktail, and French onion soup being offered each night.
DON'T MISS: Royal Caribbean Makes a Dining Change That's More Severe Than Carnival's
Royal Caribbean (RCL) executives said they made the changes in order to cut down on food waste and to improve the speed of service in the maim dining room (MDR). Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) has been testing MDR changes of its own on one ship, the Carnival Dream with plans to roll the menus out across the fleet relatively soon.
Carnival's changes were not as much about slimming down the menu as Royal Caribbean's were. The cruise line actually worked with famed chef Emeril Lagasse to add new items to its menus, but that does not mean some favorites were not removed.
In the feedback on the new menus posted on Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald's Facebook page, there were three things his followers were notably upset about. One item was returned immediately, while the cruise line has not commented on the other two.
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Carnival Takes Some Items Off the Menu
The biggest complaint about the new Carnival menu appears to be similar to the core complaint about Royal Caribbean's. In this case, Carnival did not eliminate the basic choices that appear on the menu each night, but it did eliminate one of those dishes.
"So disappointed they’ve taken salmon off nightly menus. That was my go to meal when I didn’t want anything else. I had it 3 nights on my 7 day Cruise in June," Vanessa-Doug Nelms wrote on Heald's page.
That was a popular refrain as while the basic chicken and steak choices are still being offered, salmon has been dropped.
Carnival has also dropped the "rare finds" section of its menu. This was a nightly dish that people may want to to try, but generally haven't.
"I'm sad that the rare finds are gone. I like trying new and unusual things. The wild boar was wonderful!" wrote Wanda Campbell on Heald's page.
In addition, some of Heald's followers also expressed dismay that another unique-to-Carnival choice did not make the new menus.
"I do miss the chilled soups. I always looked forward to them on a Carnival cruise. I always consider it one of your signature items. They really stood out because it’s not something you normally see at a land based restaurant," wrote Trixie Carpenter.
Some of the chilled soups and some of the "rare finds" are being offered on the new menus, but some items in those categories have been cut as well.
Carnival Does Listen To Its Passengers
Right now Carnival is only offering the new menus on Carnival Dream and changes could be made before they're rolled out across the fleet. Heald did already have success in getting one everyday item brought back to the new menus.
"While thousands of you have said how much you love the new dinner menu there have also been hundreds, yes hundreds writing to me asking, requesting and demanding that we have the Strawberry Sodding Bisque back on the menu and the cheese plate," he shared.
Heald, who refers to the company's executives as "the Beards," did bring those requests to the cruise line's leadership.
"We will talk about soup later but as for the cheese plate, I can tell you that Richard and the Beards saw how popular it was so the cheese will be included in the new menu," he shared.
Carnival President Christine Duffy, who announced the menu changes in a video posted on Heald's page, has made it clear that changes could be made before the menus are implemented fleetwide.
