New Carnival Cruise Line Menus Offer Delicious Dishes

Carnival Cruise Line announced last week that new menus were being tested aboard Carnival Dream, with the changes to be rolled out to the entire Fun Ship fleet later this year. The new menus offer a great variety of updated and carefully curated dishes, with options to satisfy all tastes and dietary preferences.

New Menus Debut on Carnival Dream

Carnival Cruise Line is redesigning its fleetwide main dining room menu, with changes already debuting in a test phase aboard Carnival Dream. Nearly 60 new entrees are premiering with the changes, bringing fresh tastes and new options for delicious dining.

“We’ve been looking at every aspect of the main dining room offerings,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “I think our guests are gonna be very excited as we plan to bring more variety with nearly 60 new entree presentations that will rotate through.”

Included on the new menu are special selections designed by the cruise line’s chief culinary officer, Emeril Lagasse, as well as entrees from different specialty restaurants to give guests even more opportunity to sample the wide variety of dining available aboard Carnival ships.

The new menus are divided into Appetizers, Entrees, and Desserts. The daily “Featured Salad” as well as “Emeril Selects” appetizer and entrée choices are carefully highlighted, and the “Everyday” options, as well as “Steakhouse Selections” are also noted.

Appetizers

A wide range of appetizers are available, including daily salad, soup, and small bite options.

Notably, each day’s appetizers includes a smaller portion of the entrée pasta, such as pappardelle with braised lamb in a tomato cream sauce, linguini alfredo with grilled chicken, and spaghetti carbonara.

Simple salads are classic appetizers, including Caesar salad with house made dressing, Greek salad, and seasonal mixed lettuce.

More exotic tastes are also part of each appetizer menu, with choices such as roasted duck rolls, BBQ beef spring rolls, Hawaiian shrimp poke, and the Emeril Selects options that include Girod street salad, crab and shrimp cake with charred corn and apple slaw, and crawfish strudel.

Entrees

It is the entrees that are most refreshed on the new menus, with appealing vegetarian choices, “Everyday” classics, and more tantalizing options as the “Emeril Selects” choices.

Vegetarians or those who prefer a somewhat lighter option will favor the grilled tofu steak with a spinach and mushroom medley, the vegetable wellington, or the herb crusted stuffed Portobello mushroom.

The entrée salads may seem to be an additional option for vegetarians as well, but each one features a meat protein, and it is unclear whether they can be ordered without the meat. Southwestern quinoa baby shrimp salad, the ultimate cobb salad with chicken and bacon, and the beef steak salad, while all sounding delicious, are not vegetarian-friendly.

Guests interested in the most exciting tastes will certainly want to sample the Emeril Selects choices such as cast iron bronzed fish with Charleston-style grits, firecracker snapper with horseradish cream sauce, and chicken roulade with prosciutto and sage.

Comfort-food everyday options remain a staple of the new menus, allowing guests to choose grilled chicken breast or broiled striploin steak every night.

Desserts

For travelers looking for a sweet finish to every meal, decadent dessert options include cheesecake, pie, ice cream, and sorbet, as well as the classic tropical fruit salad and the ever-popular melting chocolate cake and bitter ‘n blanc.

Guests have noticed, however, that the cheese plate is no longer offered as a dessert option for those who prefer a more savory, lighter conclusion to their meal.

So many guests have expressed dismay at this deletion that Carnival Cruise Line brand ambassador John Heald is taking notice and discussing the change with company executives.

It is likely that the new menus will continue to be tweaked in the coming weeks, and guests aboard Carnival Dream are sure to be asked what their favorites are or what they enjoyed most from their selections. Dining room staff is also likely to be taking note of what items are ordered most or least in order to provide data-driven feedback on the new menus.

New Options to Roll Out Across the Fleet

It is the goal for the new, updated menus to be rolled out across the entire Carnival fleet later this year, though no exact date for when these new menus will appear on different ships has yet been announced.

Guests will also still have a variety of specialty dining restaurants to choose from on most Carnival ships, as well as the casual Lido buffet and grab-and-go options from Guy’s Burger Joint, BlueIguana Cantina, the Carnival Deli, Pizza Pirate, and other tasty options. No changes are planned at the moment for these other dining venues.