Royal Caribbean International took a lot of stick from passengers when it started charging for steaks in the main dining room a couple of years ago - including from Carnival Cruise Lines' senior cruise director and ace cruise blogger John Heald.
Now it seems Heald going to have to eat his words (but maybe do without his steaks) because Carnival has started charging for top-cut steaks and lobster in the dining room on Carnival Triumph, Carnival Paradise and Carnival Inspiration.
Specifically you'll have to pay $18 for a 9oz filet mignon, an 18oz grilled prime rib chop, a broiled Maine lobster tail and a surf-and-turf combo (a half lobster tail and petite filet mignon).
The excuse is that these three ships don't have speciality steakhouses so Carnival is giving them the option to pay for a decent steak in the dining room.
The lesser-quality steaks on the always-available menu will still be there and still be free for those who don't want to pay, but if the responses on USA Today's Cruise Log are anything to go by, charging for food in the dining room is still the beginning of the end of the world as we know it.
This from TX_Dave
"Extra charges in a special dining venue is one thing, extra charges in the main dining room are another. I don't like it."
And this from missdew
"These cruise lines just keep giving me more reasons not to cruise."
It does go against the grain of all food is free in the dining room I know but personally I can't get too excited about it because:
a) you have a choice. If you don't want to pay, don't have the steak;
b) to me, the point of paying extra to dine in a steakhouse - or any other speciality restaurant for that mattter - is to have the more intimate surroundings, better service, with time to digest food between courses, and food that's cooked to order just as you want and served hot, something few cruise lines manage when serving several hundred people at once in the dining rooms.
Would you pay for a steak in the dining room or is this the start of the slippery slope? Let me know.
Jane Archer
