Key Aspects:
- Carnival Cruise Line is offering classic favorites with elevated flair for the 2025 Thanksgiving Dinner menu.
- Vegetarian options are also available, as well as favorite Steakhouse Selection menu items.
- Holiday menu items are also on the Lido Marketplace buffet, along with turkey carving stations.
More than any other holiday, Thanksgiving is all about food. While different families have their own favorites, classic fall flavors like turkey, pumpkin, vegetables, and apples are all common choices for a Thanksgiving meal.
Carnival Cruise Line’s special Thanksgiving menus for 2025 do not disappoint and hit all the most popular tastes while giving guests even more elevated options to enjoy for their holiday meal.
To whet the appetite, guests in the Main Dining Room restaurants across the Carnival fleet can begin with warm baked brie with a spiced pear, cranberry, fig, and pecan crumble; deviled eggs with candied bacon and a ham, pea, and potato salad; or smoked ham and split pea soup.
Classic favorites are also available. This includes wild mushroom soup in a buttery puff pastry crust, a beef tenderloin tartare with horseradish cream, and a crab cake with lobster creole sauce.
For lighter fare, Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail, and “holiday salad” with cherry tomatoes, peaches, pickles, and orange herb dressing are available as appetizers.
Moving on to the main course, guests may be hard pressed to choose between these mouth-watering options:
- Roasted tom turkey with stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green beans, gravy, and cranberry relish
- Maple-glazed pork tenderloin served with apple compote, brussels sprouts, and sweet potato gratin
- Seared duck breast with cherry port sauce alongside red cabbage, fingerling potatoes, and asparagus
- Roasted lamb duo of loin and chaps with a potato rosette, carrot puree, and rosemary reduction
- Beer-braised beef short ribs served with a mac and cheese croquette garnished with pomegranate
- Blue cheese-crusted filet mignon with black truffle jus, mustard potatoes, and roasted vegetables
- Salmon wellington and spinach with tarragon cream sauce in a baked puff pastry enhanced with dill
Guests who prefer vegetarian dishes will be able to enjoy spinach and ricotta ravioli with a pumpkin and tomato cream sauce, a hearty lentil and vegetable pie with tomato brioche, or the flavors of India with a paneer tikka with fragrant spices and biryani rice.
The classic Steakhouse Selection entrees will still be available on the Thanksgiving dinner menu, including the surf and turf combo of grilled filet mignon and lobster tail, a New York strip steak, and more. An extra fee does apply for these choices.
The crowning glory of a holiday meal (at least for guests with a sweet tooth) is dessert, and Carnival’s Thanksgiving menus certainly deliver.
The swirled pumpkin pie cheesecake with spiced crisp and the caramel apple cobbler with butter pecan ice cream are sure to be top choices, but guests can also indulge in the seasonal taste of the maple pot de creme with caramelized pecans.
Classic favorites, including the warm chocolate melting cake, fresh tropical fruit, the iconic cheese plate, and a selection of ice cream and sherbet, are also available. It’s a holiday, try more than one dessert!
Buffet Also Offering Holiday Fare
Carnival guests don’t have to eat in the Main Dining Room to enjoy top holiday treats. While the presentation will be less elaborate and there may not be as many options available, guests who prefer the casual vibe of the Lido Marketplace buffet won’t be missing out.
Carved tom turkey and all the fixins will be on offer at the buffet, along with beer-braised short ribs, salmon wellington, maple-glazed ham, striploin steak, and more.
Read Also: Christmas on a Cruise Ship – What to Expect
The buffet does have a special difference that guests won’t find in the Main Dining Room, one that can matter a great deal to diners who like their turkey a certain way – or more specifically, who like a certain part of the turkey.
“Do they carve the meat at your table? If not why not?” one guest who will be on Mardi Gras for Thanksgiving asked John Heald. “Can anyone tell me how this works. Can you request the leg?”
Turkey legs can be a hotly contested delicacy for diners, but every turkey does, unfortunately, only offer two of these treats. With thousands of guests onboard every Carnival ship, who gets the legs?
“The meat is not carved at your dinner table in the dining room although it is carved on Lido at the buffet,” Heald confirmed.
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He does suggest asking the dining room server for a turkey leg if preferred and they will try to fulfill the request, but it may not be possible to give everyone the exact cut they wish.
Nevertheless, with so many delicious options available, every guest is sure to find a way to stuff themselves with a wide menu of tasty treats to celebrate the season. What would you choose?
