Carnival Cruise Lines tried a new strategy when it announced its latest round of cutbacks and price increases this week: blame the customer!
In an email to customers published on 02 November 2022 and titled “Culinary Update,” Carnival tried to lay a foundation of empathy by citing how inflation, higher fuel prices, and supply chain challenges have affected Carnival, along with an assumption that it’s customers have also made changes to their “dining out patterns or shopping to stock the refrigerator or pantry.” Those justifications were used to announce an increase of Steakhouse speciality dining prices to $48 per person (a nearly 15% increase from $42), along with unspecified price increases for “speciality dining restaurants on specific ships, i.e., Rudy’s Seagrill and Bonsai Teppanyaki.” And, whilst the message stated that Carnival will continue to offer lobster in its main dining room on itineraries of six days or more, it will now be offered on the second elegant night instead of the first. (Perhaps they are hoping that guests are less hungry on the later days of their cruise?)
Nobody likes price increases, but we are all becoming accustomed to rising costs, supply chain issues, and inflation being used to justify them. However, Carnival made a bold wager by stating that that its customers should be more accepting of rising prices because they must be cutting back at home. One of the best things about a cruise vacation, and a vacation in general, is being able to put the worries of home aside for a time. But what Carnival are essentially saying by bringing this up is, “You get to think about cutting back on your vacation, too, because we’re also raising our prices.”
Additionally, Carnival are implementing a cutback to complimentary self-serve ice cream and frozen yogurt availability, and they’re adding a $5 (AU$7) charge for additional entrées in the main dining room. But instead of attributing these changes to rising costs, inflation, or supply chain issues, Carnival have decided to blame their customers directly by accusing them of wasting too much food. So now you’ll only have access to soft serve between 11am and 12 midnight instead of 24 hours, and if you want more than two entrées in the main dining room, you’ll need to cough up an extra $5 (AU$7) for each additional one. Remember when one or two kids acted out in school, and the whole class got punished? I can hear Principal Christine Duffy now–“You all brought this on yourselves!!” Well, the same thing is happening here, except that Carnival’s citing an effort to reduce food waste (i.e., calling its customers wasteful and laying the blame at their feet) as the reason for these cutbacks is disingenuous at best. Are Carnival guests suddenly less wasteful between 11am and midnight? Is cutting off soft serve for 11 hours a day going to make or break it for Carnival (those cartons of soft serve mix must be awfully valuable)? If the added charge for extra entrées in the dining room is really about curtailing waste, then why not charge for unfinished food past a certain number of entrées instead? After all, if I order ten lobster entrées and finish each and every one of them, then why am I paying an $40 for food that I *didn’t* waste at all? No, I don’t believe that these changes are about limiting food waste. Instead, I believe they’re one more step in Carnival’s transformation from a full service cruise line into an a la carte experience.
I am not the first to point out that Carnival’s target demographic and market positioning is shifting from full service to something more along the lines of low cost airlines, and that is what it is. There’s clearly a market for this, and that’s great. But, Carnival need to take ownership of their new identity instead of using its customers as the excuse as they continue to roll out unpopular changes, such as service cutbacks, price increases, and new charges and fees. Is Carnival becoming the “Spirit Airlines” of cruise lines? The evidence certainly supports that. Time will tell if Spirit Airlines is preferable to Walmart or not.
The full text of Carnival’s announcement is included below.
GUEST ADVISORY
CULINARY UPDATE – VOYAGES FROM NOV. 7, 2022 ONWARDS
November 2, 2022
Dear Carnival Guests,
We have all experienced the impact of inflation, higher fuel prices and supply chain challenges. The food supply chain challenges have been further complicated by global politics and a myriad of laws regarding how we source products and how crops and animals are farmed and handled. At Carnival, we have worked very hard to minimize the impact on our guests, committed to our promise to make Carnival the most memorable, fun, and best value vacation option on land or at sea. We have reached a point with our food costs, however, where we must take some modest but specific actions, which we know most of you have done yourselves, whether with your dining out patterns or shopping to stock the refrigerator or pantry.
Food is part of the fun on a Carnival cruise, and we have no intention of changing that. We have amazing complimentary dining options across the fleet. Many of our guests never spend anything on food once they get on board, and yet they never have to eat the same thing twice if they choose not to. Our specialty dining restaurants expand that variety and allow our guests to treat themselves to fine dining options at less than what they would pay for a comparable shoreside experience. All that will continue. But we ask for your understanding as we implement the following changes which will take effect immediately on sailings departing as of November 7, 2022.
DINING
Steakhouse prices across the fleet will increase to US$48, per person (from current US$42, per person). In addition, per person prices at specialty dining restaurants on specific ships, i.e., Rudi’s Seagrill and Bonsai Teppanyaki, will also increase. These changes reflect the higher costs we must pay for these fine menu items.
- For sailings departing through December 31, 2022 – Specialty dining reservations paid in advance of the sailing will be charged the current price. Reservations made on board will be subject to the new prices.
- For sailings January 1, 2023 and onward – Specialty dining reservations already paid as of today’s date will be honored at the current rate.
- You can reserve and pre-pay for your specialty dining on the “ManageMyBooking” tab on Carnival.com or the Carnival HUB App. (Please note that Steakhouse price adjustments are not applicable to Australian sailings.)
In the main dining room, we will continue to offer lobster on itineraries of six days or more, but it will be moving to the second elegant evening (instead of the current offering on the first elegant night). The lobster isn’t going to swim away, we just ask that you wait for it further into your voyage.
FOOD WASTE INITIATIVES
Across our fleet, including sailings from Australia, we will be implementing initiatives to help minimize food waste, which include the following:
Complimentary self-serve ice cream and frozen yogurt will be available from 11 am to 12 midnight (instead of 24/7). So, you can still have ice cream every day, multiple times a day, and as much as you want, but from lunch until a midnight snack. While ice cream for breakfast or at 2:00 am sounds like a great idea when you’re on vacation, the truth is that we are seeing lots of waste, and this is one of those times when we ask guests to join us in our efforts to reduce food waste in a way that will have a negligible impact on the overall vacation experience.
In addition, we want you to enjoy your favorites and sample offerings you haven’t tried before while dining with us in the main dining room, but we encourage you to follow the golden rule of dining: take what you want but eat what you take. And remember, you can always ask for a half-portion if something looks too enticing to pass up. Guests may continue to order a second complimentary entrée if they choose; however, effective immediately, a third entrée will incur a US$5 charge (AU$7).
Along these lines, we will continue to look closely at consumption habits and guest preferences so that we can meet our food waste reduction goals, while still offering you an abundance of delicious, high-quality casual and fine dining options. We want to make sure you are well fed and entertained as a guest on our ships, just as if you were a guest in our home. But we really hate to see food go to waste. If we see a menu item that is not popular or think of a better way to serve a food item that can reduce waste, we owe it to our planet to make the right change, while still assuring you plenty of food and tasty treats.
We will continue to do our very best to make sure the Carnival dining experience is a key part of your memorable vacation, but we wanted to provide this update, so you understood how we are managing the many challenges we are facing and to thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
We look forward to welcoming you aboard and meeting your every culinary whim and dining favorite!
Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Christine Duffy
President, Carnival Cruise Line
