Fun Shop Treats From Carnival Cruise Line Now More Expensive

Carnival Cruise Line has quietly increased prices for several food items guests can purchase prior to setting sail, making these popular treats more expensive but without any corresponding changes to the size or quantity of the items.

Among the now-more-costly treats are celebration cakes, chocolate-covered strawberries, freshly baked cookies, and assorted party trays.

Carnival Cruise Line offers a variety of decadent sweets and treats available for pre-cruise purchase through the online Fun Shops, but guests are noticing prices that aren’t quite as much fun as several items have become more expensive in recent weeks.

For example, the popular 6-inch cake – available in “Happy Anniversary,” “Bon Voyage,” “Happy Birthday,” and other celebratory sentiments, is now priced at $12.50, compared to a price of $10 as recently as January 2023. The very similar 9-inch cake is now available for $17.50, whereas it used to be priced at just $14.

Freshly baked cookies, available in chocolate chip, chocolate chunk, honey oatmeal raisin, and macadamia nut are now $10 for four cookies, compared to the previous pricing of $6 for the same cookies.

The fruit and cheese party tray, an assortment of small bites great for snacking or as a delicious appetizer before dinner, now starts at $30 for the small tray, but used to be $26 in February 2023.

Read More: Carnival Cruise Line Addresses Another Recent Price Increase

Orders of chocolate-covered strawberries, popular for formal nights or to celebrate special moments onboard, have also increased in price, from $15 to $18 for a small tray (six decorated berries) and from $27 to $30 for a large tray (12 decorated berries).

Pastry trays and other party trays have also increased along similar lines, as have many other food items. Beverages, including soda and bottles of alcohol, have not increased at this time.

Why Price Increases?

There has been no official announcement or explanation for these increases, but they are likely related to overall economic concerns and the impact of inflation on foodstuffs, including the ingredients necessary to make many of the treats.

Cruisers and non-cruisers alike are most definitely noticing the rise of grocery and restaurant prices, and continued shortages in different regions may make it difficult to get proper ingredients for some items.

Delivery of ingredients to cruise ports, the labor to create fresh-made gourmet treats, and arranging delivery of the items to individual staterooms also impacts overall costs.

Other Recent Price Increases

These shopping increases come just as Carnival Cruise Line guests are also noticing other cost increases, such as dramatic increases for private beach rentals at Half Moon Cay in The Bahamas as well as at Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic.

Carnival Cruise Line has also recently increased the costs for Wi-Fi access and gratuities for all guests, changes that took effect on April 1, 2023.

The frequency of the price increases and how many items are being increased is of concern to cruise guests who may feel the Carnival is not necessarily offering the best value for their vacation dollars.

Yet, with the cruise line recently reaching the monumental milestone of 100 million guests, it is clear that Carnival continues to dominate the cruise market, and will likely keep that momentum as additional ships join the Fun Ship fleet in the coming months, with Carnival Venezia debuting in May 2023, followed by Carnival Jubilee in December 2023 and Carnival Firenze in May 2024.