Carnival Cruise Line Details Special Dining Options Every Night

In an effort to make the dining experience easier for everyone, Carnival Cruise Line has now put together a “Featured Gluten Free” menu for each evening in the Main Dining Room. This gives guests a smoother, more convenient way to meet their dining requirements without risk of contamination.

While Carnival Cruise Line has always offered gluten-free items on its menu, it has occasionally been difficult for passengers to note which items truly are gluten-free. At times, some icons or notes on the menu would indicate gluten-free items, though this has not always been consistent.

Now, guests can request the “Featured Gluten Free” menu to easily see all the options at once, without needing to puzzle out individual dishes or ask many questions about each night’s menu.

“Every ship now has a gluten-free menu each night,” confirmed John Heald, Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador. “You will need to ask your waiter for this because it is not on the app or the QR code yet.”

Carnival’s wait staff is so expertly trained and attentive to guests’ needs that it is likely that passengers may only need to ask for the gluten-free menu once or twice before their servers remember to bring it automatically, depending on whether guests are using a fixed time dining (early or late) or choose Your Time Dining, when their servers may vary from night to night.

There is no timeline for when the special menu may be available to browse in the Carnival Hub App or through the QR codes on each dining room table, but that functionality is certainly under development to make finding this special menu even easier.

Delicious Selections Available

The “Featured Gluten Free” menu is filled with just as many delicious options as found on regular dining room menus, but designed to meet guests’ special dietary needs or preferences.

For example, appetizers include such tantalizing options as spaghetti carbonara with bacon, shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, and pasta fagioli soup, followed by entrees like roast leg of lamb, beef steak salad, and broiled striploin steak. Accompanying sides include items like fingerling potatoes, grilled squash, vegetable biryani, and buttered parsley potatoes.

Passengers will be able to finish up a delicious meal with decadent desserts such as banana cream pie with salted caramel cremeux, cappuccino pot de creme, fresh tropical fruit, and a gluten-free variation of Carnival’s signature melting chocolate cake.

Heald confirms that the menu will vary, offering different gluten-free options for guests to enjoy throughout their cruise.

“There is a different gluten-free menu every night,” Heald said.

The addition of more gluten-free items follows the recent expansion of vegan and vegetarian options as well. Carnival Cruise Line began rolling out vegan menus fleet-wide in late 2023.

“Plant-based food options are a rising preference on our ships just as they are on land, and so the new dishes we’re introducing are a direct response to that shift,” said Richard Morse, senior vice president of food and beverage at Carnival Cruise Line.

By offering specific menus for vegan diets and now for gluten-free diets, Carnival Cruise Line is making it easier than ever for all travelers to enjoy delicious dining that meets their needs.

“Our skilled chefs work to accommodate all dietary needs and preferences,” said Morse. “Emphasizing them with specific menus will help to make ordering easier in the dining room and preparation more efficient in the galley.”

Carnival Cruise Line also offers Menu Mate, a software designed to help diners avoid allergens, across the fleet, an innovation that was introduced in June 2022. Crew members can use the software to track guests’ needs when placing orders, and Menu Mate kiosks are also available at self-serve dining venues, such as the Lido buffet.

With so many options available to find the best possible menu selections, no guests with dietary allergies or sensitivities need to worry about unknown dishes on any Carnival cruise ship.