Even when a cruise line gives passengers more choices, any dining changes will anger some passengers.
That happened last year when Carnival Cruise Line overhauled its menu for the main dining room.
Unlike the changes made by rival Royal Caribbean, which greatly thinned its nightly offerings, Carnival expanded its nightly menus. That effort was led by the celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, who serves as Carnival's chief culinary officer.
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But while some items were added, a few were removed. For people who love the items that are no longer offered, the losses can create a negative impression even when the menu overall has more choices.
The same thing happened with the cruise line's new midnight buffet, which added more choices beyond the late-night pizza that had been the sole choice. Some passengers were upset that the new offering, which also features soups, sandwiches, chicken fingers and snacks, offered a different style of pizza.
That has led some passengers to complain to Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald.
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Image source: Carnival Corp.
Carnival hears midnight buffet complaints
"I promised to give the midnight buffet a chance before lodging my complaint," wrote Vonavie Leonard. "This buffet is the same (or extremely similar) as the one that was on my last two cruises with Carnival. The pizza is not edible. I threw all but my chicken tenders away. It was all trash."
The new midnight buffet offers a different style of pizza than what's offered until midnight at the Pizza Pirate or Pizza Del Capitano counters.
"This cut goes too far for me. First, I was sad because my late-night pizza, followed by an ice cream option, was cut. Now, not even edible pizza after midnight. Very disappointed," she added.
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Heald pushed back on the complaint.
"Thank you. Well, I have to be very honest, and I mean this with the greatest respect to hear that you took all that food and threw some of it away," Heald wrote. "It's very disappointing. And certainly not what we are hearing from the fleet."
While people may not love the food, they're certainly eating it.
"On average, they are serving between 400 to 600 people, and we’ve had very few, hardly any negative comments," Heald added. Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful time. I will share this with the chef, but at this time, there are no plans to change anything."
Carnival has a bigger dining change coming
Heald also answered a recent question and shared some very surprising news.
"I wanted to take a moment to share some concerns from a recent Carnival cruise I enjoyed," wrote TeTisha Aycth. "While I appreciate the variety of options on the buffet, as someone with a severe seafood allergy, I noticed a significant increase in seafood dishes.
"This has made it challenging for me — and I imagine others with similar allergies — to find safe and satisfying options,"
She also questioned how the buffet is laid out.
"Additionally, I’ve observed that seafood items are often placed very close to non-seafood dishes, which raises concerns about cross-contamination," she said.
"This makes navigating the buffet stressful, as even the smallest trace of seafood could pose a serious risk to my health. I truly love Carnival and the experiences you provide, but I wanted to reach out to see if there’s any way to address this issue."
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Heald answered kindly, earnestly and with a surprise.
"Thank you so much, you’re very kind," he said. "Seafood is very popular, and that’s why I think perhaps we have a lot of it.
"However, I do know that my colleagues at the mothership are this coming year going to be working on a new menu for the Lido deck buffet, and I will make sure this comment from you is included in my report so they see it."
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