Carnival Urges to Use the Correct Term for Dining Room

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Carnival Cruise Line’s popular Brand Ambassador John Heald has been called out – in more ways than one – about the onboard dining rooms on Carnival cruise ships. Heald consistently refers to these as “dinning rooms” which has gotten criticism from both cruise line executives as well as guests. But why?

Heald recently revealed on his Facebook pageโ€”where he answers hundreds of questions, complaints, and requests nearly every dayโ€”that Carnival Cruise Line’s executives have repeatedly urged him to use a more official term for the dining venues.

“I am always under pressure from a few beards to stop calling the dinning room a dinning room and move to the ‘official’ term of restaurant,” he explained.

What is curious is that on the cruise line’s website, these venues are called the “Dining Room” when visitors explore various dining options. They are included with the cost of every cruise, and guests can choose from Early Dining or Late Dining reserved times, or the more flexible “Your Time Dining” for more personalized dining times each day.

Furthermore, the “Eating and Drinks” FAQ on the cruise line’s website also refers to the venues as the Main Dining Room.

Even on individual ship deck plans, each venue is labeled as a “Dining Room” with the appropriate themed names. For example, the Golden Olympian Forward Dining Room and Silver Olympian Dining Room are both found on Carnival Liberty, while the Destiny Aft Dining Room is found on Carnival Paradise.

Several ships, however, do use the term “Restaurant” instead. On the Excel-class Carnival Celebration, for example, the Carnivale Restaurant and Festivale Restaurant are the two main dining venues. Similarly, the recently updated Carnival Legend has the Truffles Restaurant on Deck 3, but her sister ship in the Spirit class, Carnival Miracle, has the Bacchus Dining Room.

Carnivale Restaurant on Carnival Celebration
Carnivale Restaurant on Carnival Celebration (Photo Credit: Melissa Mayntz)

The switch in naming may be to help modernize or standardize the language used onboard, or else to show the elevated nature of the venue following Carnival Cruise Line’s revamping of the menus over the past two years.

For many cruisers, however, the “official” name means very little, as “MDR” – Main Dining Room – is firmly entrenched with most experienced cruisers.

Spelling Noticed

In addition to the name dining room versus restaurant, some cruise guests have also questioned Heald’s spelling of the venue, which he refers to as a “dinning” room.

“Why do you insist of spelling dining room as dinning room. Do not tell me itโ€™s the English way as that is false. I have checked. It is infuriating,” one guest wrote.

Read Also: Free Carnival Cruise Dining Options

While Heald is well known for his humor and good nature when responding to all types of comments with tongue-in-cheek explanations even for rude comments, he only offered a minimal explanation for this eccentricity, yet still with his unfailing politeness.

“Thanks mate, and you are right, I do spell it that way and it is because my Father did the same. I wonโ€™t waste your time in explaining why as I am sure you have better things to do. I will say that I wonโ€™t change this out of respect and love I have for my late Father,” he said.

Whatever you call it, great meals and delicious desserts – don’t miss the signature warm chocolate melting cake – are always a hit at the Main Dining Room / Restaurant.

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Melissa Mayntz
Melissa Mayntz
Melissa has been offering her expertise on cruises since 2017 and reporting on cruise news since 2021. her work has been featured in newspapers, blogs, and websites on a wide range of subjects, but cruises remain her favorite topic to cover. She has been on more than 40 voyages to the Caribbean, Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, and more, and always has at least one more sailing booked on the horizon.

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