Enjoying room service or bringing some extra treats back from the Lido Marketplace buffet can be a great part of a cruise, but what are you supposed to do with the dirty dishes afterward?

Cruise ship staterooms are notoriously small, and keeping dirty dishes inside your cabin can add to already cluttered spaces or just be an icky mess to contend with.

Carnival Cruise Line’s policy to place these used dishes outside one’s stateroom is well known, but not often well understood. Now, the cruise line’s official Brand Ambassador, John Heald, has offered a bit of insight into the reasoning behind the policy.

The issue was brought up by a guest who wasn’t sure about the policy and was receiving conflicting information from different sources – always a hazard when asking social media groups for tips.

“What is Carnival’s protocol for room service dishes and trays, leave [them] in the cabin for the room steward or place [dishes] in hallway?” the guest asked. “I want to follow what is proper not what some are telling me.”

Heald has previously explained that Carnival’s policy is to leave dishes outside so they can be collected, as there are crew members assigned to visit stateroom hallways and tend to this task. He has reiterated that policy, but also explained in a bit more detail why the policy is in place.

“The proper protocol is to please leave it outside of your cabin. If there is any uneaten food there if you could cover it that would be great,” he confirmed. “This way we can get all the plates and cutlery, etc. back into service. Thank you for asking.”

Covering any uneaten food helps keep the hallway looking tidier, and helps make sure the food isn’t accidentally stepped in or kicked about.

The mention of getting “all the plates and cutlery, etc. back into service” is a new detail that isn’t often noted, however, but it does make good sense.

Years ago, when Carnival Cruise Line offered twice daily stateroom service, dishes might only be left in guest cabins for a few hours before a steward would be able to collect them when tidying up the stateroom.

Worth Reading: Carnival Guest Wants Trays Back But Not Everyone Agrees

With only one daily service now offered, however, many more plates, coffee mugs, silverware, glasses, and other dishes could potentially be unavailable for a full day.

With thousands of guests onboard an individual ship and multiple meals served in multiple venues each day, it is imperative that dishes be able to be cleaned and sanitized so they can be reused right away.

Do Guests Actually Follow the Policy?

To be clear, it has always been Carnival Cruise Line’s policy for these types of dirty dishes to be moved into the hallways to be collected, no matter how often staterooms might be serviced or when the dishes are used.

Not all travelers agree with the request, however, and they don’t always put their dishes in the hall. Many guests feel the policy can give the cruise line a very low-class look and reputation, or they can potentially cause a trip hazard for guests with mobility issues.

To check how guests feel about the policy, Heald included two responses in his daily poll. Guests could disagree and vote “to stop being K-Mart Cruises people should not put their plates and trays outside of the cabin door. They must be kept inside the room.”

Out of more than 48,200 votes cast, just 6% of travelers (roughly 2,900) agree and claim to always keep their room service or Lido plates inside their room until otherwise collected.

Read Also: How Not to Overeat on a Cruise – And Why It Matters

On the other hand, an overwhelming 28% (approximately 13,500 voters) state, “I put my plates and cutlery outside of the room as per Carnival Cruise Line policy.”

Admittedly, on my first Carnival cruise or two I did leave such dirty dishes inside the stateroom, until I learned what the policy is. Since then, we stack any dishes as carefully as possible and place them outside our door, far enough from the door so we don’t accidentally kick them as we go in and out of our stateroom.

Many guests do wish there was a compromise, perhaps a cart or other collection station in hallways, so dirty plates aren’t scattered about. This is especially true when some dishes may be left in the hallway for several hours.

This might even be easier for crew members to collect used dishes, but with space already at a premium in the sometimes narrow corridors, it may simply not be possible.

Of course, guests can always return the dishes to the Lido Marketplace themselves – which will not only get dirty dishes out of halls, but will ensure they get cleaned and back into service as soon as possible!

Three Southern Caribbean cruises and one Eastern Caribbean sailing onboard Carnival Vista will be ending with a different port of call than expected.

Guests sailing on Carnival Cruise Line’s Vista-class flagship on 8-night cruises that are due to embark from Florida’s Port Canaveral on April 19, 2025, May 3, 2025, May 17, 2025, and June 14, 2025, all received a notice of the change.

All of these sailings were supposed to visit Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos, as their final port call of the trip. But in each case, this visit has been replaced with a day in Amber Cove, Dominican Republic – which is home to a private destination that is owned and operated by Carnival.

“Replaced Grand Turk with a visit to Amber Cover and adjusted time in port. Purchased Carnival shore excursions for Grand Turk will be cancelled and refunded to the original form of payment. Tours for Amber Cove will be available for purchase on Carnival.com and on board,” Carnival wrote to booked guests.

The May 3, 2025, sailing, which is the only Eastern Caribbean itinerary in the mix, will also be getting modified port times for the visit to San Juan, Puerto Rico, that is scheduled for May 8, 2025.

“Port times for San Juan have been modified,” the cruise line’s letter states, without elaborating on the new times.

Currently, cruise tracking data lists the time in port as 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time, but this is subject to change.

Aside from Grand Turk and San Juan, the remaining calls on the Eastern Caribbean sailing, which are on Charlotte Amalie, US Virgin Islands, and Philipsburg, St. Maarten, will go ahead as originally planned.

The other three Southern Caribbean itineraries will call on Oranjestad, Aruba, and Willemstad, Curacao, in addition to Amber Cove.

A Perplexing Change

Since Carnival did not provide a reason for the change to these itineraries, cruise fans will, unfortunately, be left scratching their heads.

This tweak may also be particularly confusing, as the 3,934-guest Carnival Vista will be operating the same and similar itineraries through July of 2025 – and will be calling on Grand Turk as part of voyages before and after the impacted sailings.

After July, the 133,500-gross ton vessel will pivot to operating Caribbean itineraries that include calls on Celebration Key – which is Carnival’s new island destination that is debuting this summer.

At the end of the day, cruise lines modify itineraries for a variety of reasons that could be at play here, such as congestion within ports or altering course for fuel efficiency.

Safety is also very likely not the issue either, considering other calls are not cancelled and the port is only under a Level 2 Travel Advisory from the US Government, which indicates that guests should exercise caution during their visit.

Read Also: Amber Cove, Dominican Republic: Everything You Need to Know

It also makes sense that Carnival might want to direct more tourism to Amber Cove, especially if they already needed to alter these itineraries for other reasons, as the cruise line owns and operates this private destination.

The 30-acre retreat, which opened in 2015, is located at Maimón in the province of Puerto Plata and is used exclusively by Carnival Cruise Line and its sister brands.

The destination is known for bringing the fun of the Fun Ships to the shore with watersports, dining opportunities, shopping, pools and splash zones, and adrenaline-filled shore excursions, such as ziplining.