Key Aspects:
- Carnival will serve classic holiday favorites for the Christmas Gala Dinner.
- A special Christmas Lunch menu has been prepared for ships in Australia.
- Other dining options will remain available fleetwide to satisfy all guests’ holiday cravings.
With Christmas just two weeks away, many families are planning their special meals and sweet treats. But what if you will be celebrating on a Carnival cruise?
Special holiday menus will be featured for Christmas dinner across the fleet, and for guests in Australia, both a festive Christmas Day lunch and a Christmas Eve dinner will be offered.
The North American fleet’s menu has all the classic holiday favorites. Guests will whet their appetites with outstanding starters such as warm baked brie with a spiced pear, cranberry, fig, and pecan crumble, wild mushroom soup in a buttery puff pastry crust, smoked ham and split pea soup, and beef tenderloin tartare.
Classic appetizers are also still offered, such as the ever-popular shrimp cocktail and Caesar salad.
For entrees, the holiday features are roasted tom turkey with sweet potato casserole, giblet gravy, and cranberry relish or maple-glazed pork tenderloin served with apple compote and a sweet potato gratin.
Guests who prefer vegetarian options can enjoy the spinach and ricotta ravioli, vegetable quiche with tomato beurre blanc, or a delicious Indian vegetarian dish with bhindi masala.
Other entrees for the Christmas Gala Dinner include salmon wellington with a tarragon cream sauce, grilled filet mignon with black truffle jus and fingerling potatoes, or a lamb duo of roasted loin and grilled chops with a rosemary reduction.
It wouldn’t be a holiday meal without phenomenal desserts, and Carnival’s Christmas dinner menu does not disappoint. The featured selection is a warm toffee pudding with mascarpone cream and butterscotch sauce, or guests can enjoy a gingerbread financier or deconstructed cheesecake with mixed berry compote.
Of course, the classic Carnival melting chocolate cake is always on the menu – it’s Christmas, why not enjoy two (or three!) desserts!
Australian Holiday Menus
It’s no surprise that holiday traditions and festive favorites vary in different parts of the world. Carnival has tweaked the Christmas menu for its ships in Australia, including Carnival Encounter and Carnival Luminosa from Brisbane and Carnival Splendor and Carnival Adventure from Sydney.
Carnival Cruise Line’s brand ambassador, John Heald, noted that the new menus were especially created for the Australian ships.
“Christmas Lunch is a long-standing tradition in Australia, offered on Christmas Day,” he explained. “This year, we will also introduce a special dinner on Christmas Eve, adding more variety and enhancing the festive experience for our guests down under.”
Read Also: Free Carnival Cruise Dining Options You’ll Want to Know – With Menus!
The Christmas Eve dinner is similar to the Christmas Gala Dinner menu for the North American fleet, but includes some notable changes.
A featured entree will be Korean gochujang pork ribs with a macadamia kimchi, while there are some substitutions in the menu to appeal to Aussie tastes. The grilled filet mignon, for example, will be a grilled sirloin steak in Australia.
The Christmas Day Lunch is a very enticing menu for Australian guests, beginning with miso-glazed yellowfin tun, beetroot tartare, a winter citrus salad with pomegranate vinaigrette, and other appetizers.
For mains, guests can enjoy a crispy skin barramundi with a red curry beurre blanc, apricot and maple-glazed ham with oven-roasted sweet potatoes, tender lamb shank with hasselback potatoes and grilled mushrooms, or a pumpkin and feta tart with caramelized onion.
Dessert truly shines with both classic and modern treats. The traditional Christmas pudding is topped with vanilla custard and icing sugar, while a peach pavlova is accompanied with mascarpone whipped cream and passion fruit curd. The wild berry trifle looks especially enticing with golden pound cake, raspberry jam, and vanilla pudding.
Other Options Available
Of course, if nothing on the special menus appeals to guests or they prefer more casual fare, the Lido Marketplace buffet will also be available with some of the same dishes and other favorites.
Casual dining options – pizza, deli sandwiches, burgers – will also remain available, giving travelers plenty of choices to indulge in all their favorites as they celebrate the season.
What classic treats are your favorites for the holidays? Would Carnival’s special Christmas menus satisfy your seasonal cravings? Share your favorite holiday treats on the Cruise Hive boards!
