Carnival is rolling out a new main dining room menu – but will they come to Australia?

• Carnival is rolling out a new elevated main dining room menu across 14 of its ships.
• However, there has been no indication that the new menus will be available on the Australian fleet.
• The new menu includes special chef and crew recommendations, from coffee-glazed roast duck to Peruvian lomo saltado.

Carnival Cruise Line has been rolling out new main dining room restaurants across its fleet, however, there’s no indication yet on when or if these menus will come to Aussie ships.

These menus were originally tested on Carnival’s first adults-only cruises and received great feedback, and are now rolling out in about half of the ships across the fleet.

The new menus include a range of refreshed classic Carnival dishes, as well as some new additions. The classics you can expect include the whale tail, shrimp cocktails, Caesar salads, chicken parm, lasagna bolognese, slow-roasted prime rib and more.

Menus will now feature special picks from the chefs onboard the ships, with the menu highlighting even the favourite dishes of the crew. Some of the crew favourites include Peruvian lomo saltado, kung pao chicken, butter chicken, beef bourguignon, chicken satay and more. Chef favourites include coffee-glazed roast duck, BBQ salmon with andouille potato and more.

The new menus were a huge hit on the first cruises and were consistently mentioned as one of the highlights of adults-only cruising with Carnival.

However, many Australians will be waiting to hear whether these menus ever come to the fleet Down Under. Carnival has been contacted for comment on whether these menus will come to Australia.

No Australian ships were among the 14 vessels where the new menus will be served.

Over recent years, many new Carnival products or innovations simply haven’t been made available for the Australian market.

For example…

• Carnival’s new zero-alcohol drinks packages have less inclusions for Aussie cruisers, the most controversial being that specialty teas and coffees are not included for Australians.
• Carnival Adventure and Carnival Encounter still do not offer 24/7 pizza or free soft serve like other Carnival ships do, even after Encounter went into dry dock.
• After Carnival’s recent data breach, two years of free credit monitoring was offered to affected cruisers in the USA, but not for Australians.
• Carnival Rewards, the new loyalty program for Carnival, has a credit card that American cruisers can use to earn points and get benefits onboard, however, this will not be accessible to Australians.

Given that Australia is a huge market for Carnival and there’s a very loyal fanbase here, sometimes cruisers feel let down by Carnival. The new menus arriving quickly to Aussie ships would surely make local cruisers feel more appreciated by Carnival.

Would you like to try these new menus? Tell us what you would like to see served on Carnival in the comments.