Can You Bring Snacks on a Carnival Cruise?

When preparing for a cruise vacation, you may struggle to figure out what you can and can’t bring onboard. This is especially true if it’s your first cruise, and it can be an intimidating process if you’re going on an extensive cruise line such as Carnival Cruise Line. 

Many people often need clarification on whether they can bring food on a cruise, particularly whether they can bring snacks on a cruise. If you have a Carnival cruise lined up and are wondering whether you can bring your favorite snacks, you’ve come to the right place. 

Can you bring snacks on a Carnival cruise? Let’s take a look to help you prepare your meal plan for your next cruise vacation.

Can You Bring Snacks on a Carnival Cruise?

Let’s jump right into it: can you bring snacks on a Carnival cruise?

The simple answer is yes, you can bring snacks on a Carnival cruise. However, there are limits on the type of snacks you can get, and you may even be limited in how much you can bring onboard.  It’s important to note what snacks Carnival Cruise Line allows to avoid accidentally bringing something prohibited onboard.

Snacks Prohibited on Carnival Cruise Ships

To start, let’s look at the types of snacks prohibited on Carnival cruise ships.

Carnival Cruise Line prohibits homemade or pre-cooked foods from being brought onboard. What’s more, you can’t bring anything that needs to be refrigerated onboard, as Carnival does not provide guests access to refrigeration.

This policy is similar across all major cruise lines. This food policy is due to safety concerns to avoid problems arising from fresh and unpackaged food, such as pests and diseases.

So it’s safe to say that you should leave the snacks at home for your return, such as homemade cookies, meats and cheese, fresh fruits and vegetables, and dairy. Any leftover food you don’t finish before your cruise

Now that you know what you can’t bring onboard, let’s look at the types of snacks you can bring on a Carnival cruise.

Types of Snacks You Can Bring on a Carnival Cruise

While Carnival Cruise Line prohibits a wide variety of foods from being brought onboard their ships, you are allowed to bring a variety of foods.

Carnival Cruise Line’s food policy states that any food brought on board must be pre-packaged and unopened. Excluding anything that needs to be frozen or refrigerated leaves you with several options for foods you can bring on board.

If you want to bring snacks on your Carnival cruise, consider bringing non-perishable, packaged snacks, including cookies, crackers, beef jerky, dried fruit snacks, mixed nuts, pre-popped popcorn, bags of chips, and candy.

Why Bring Snacks on a Carnival Cruise?

While every Carnival cruise ship is abundant with a variety of food options, there are multiple reasons why you may want to bring your own snacks onboard.

The simplest reason may be to have your favorite snack with you. This may provide you with comfort during your cruise or guarantee that there’s something on board that you’ll like.

Let’s look at common reasons to bring snacks on Carnival Cruise.

Appease Young Picky Eaters

Bringing snacks onboard a cruise is very popular among parents of picky eaters. This is especially true for small kids who go through phases of only eating certain foods and refusing everything else.

Bringing some of your kids’ favorite snacks ensures that you have a few alternatives to sustain them throughout your cruise when their picky eating habits follow them onto the ship.

Don’t Stray Off of Your Diet

Another reason to bring snacks on a Carnival cruise is to ensure you stick to your diet. If you are going on a week-long cruise but don’t want to stray too far off your diet, bringing some snacks on board can help.

It’s important to note that Carnival doesn’t allow fresh foods on board, meaning you may not get away with bringing fresh fruits and veggies. What’s more, there would be no refrigeration to preserve fresh foods. However, you can still bring healthy, pre-packaged snacks such as crackers, rice cakes, or nuts.

Save Money

Your Carnival cruise ship may have your favorite snack available or something similar. However, you can expect the price to be higher than if you bought it at your local supermarket. For this reason, some people prefer to bring their favorite snacks onboard to save a few bucks during their cruise. 

Minimize Exposure to Allergens

The last reason to bring snacks on a Carnival cruise is to minimize allergic reactions. While Carnival Cruise Line is relatively accommodating regarding allergies, some prefer not to risk it. Bringing a few snacks onboard minimizes your exposure to snack foods you may be allergic to. This is especially true for people who have many allergies or experience severe allergic reactions from small traces of allergens. 

Carnival Cruise Snacks FAQ

Wrap-Up: Leave the Snacks at Home, If You Can

Can you bring snacks on Carnival cruise ships? Yes, you can. It is essential to understand the limits on snack items, in that everything must be pre-packaged and sealed on embarkation day.

However, just because you can bring your own snacks doesn’t mean you should. Carnival cruise ships are abundant with options when it comes to food.

Read Also: Are Carnival Cruises All Inclusive?

From the main dining room to the next specialty restaurant and 24-hour room service, you’ll likely find all types of food on your cruise ship. You’ll likely be too full after each delicious meal to even think about the bag of chips in your room. You’re doing yourself a disservice if you aren’t taking advantage of the variety of foods you’ll find on your cruise ship.

Plus, you’ll definitely want to leave room for the variety of port dining experiences you’ll encounter!