NEW ORLEANS -- Four new restaurant concepts. Updates to main-dining menus. Faster meal times. Healthier bites. Nonalcoholic beverage options.
As Emeril Lagasse would say: "Bam!"
In fact, Lagasse did say this during a reveal of dining concepts bound for the Carnival Festivale and Carnival Tropicale, ships coming in 2027 and 2028, respectively. As Carnival's chief culinary officer, Lagasse is not merely a famous name on a menu; he is involved in several layers of Carnival's food and beverage operation, from design choices to meals.
And with Lagasse onboard, Carnival is embarking on its largest dining revamp of its Excel-class ships to date.
Three of the four new restaurants -- the fine dining Emeril's Coastal Seafood, the pan-Asian and Hawaiian-influenced Uku Lei Lei (say it fast so it sounds like "ukulele") and the Greek-and-Italian eatery Fetaccine -- will grace the Carnival Festivale and Tropicale. The restaurants will take the place of Rudi's Seagrill, ChiBang and Cucina del Capitano, which are on Carnival's other Excel-class ships.
A fourth establishment, the Parisian-esque a la carte bistro and bakery called Le Bistro Musicale, will be unique to the Festivale and sit where Emeril's Bistro 1396 is on other vessels.
The restaurant unveiling, which Carnival held on Lagasse's home turf of New Orleans and termed "The Next Course," included tastes of apps and entrees, a mixology class and mini displays of each new restaurant and menu.
The latest culinary trends
Cruise dining is no small matter. Juan Fernandez, Carnival's vice president of food and beverage, said the line serves more than 100 million meals a year. That includes 12.5 million burgers served via the partnership with another major celebrity foodie, Guy Fieri.
Fernandez identified key elements and guest preferences that the line was incorporating into its food offerings.
Even within the fast five years, he said, consumer preferences "have really come a long way."
Carnival is keenly aware of the need for what Fernandez called "experiential dining," aka Instagrammable moments and attention to restaurant design and food presentation.
Diners are also looking for faster meals and, perhaps surprisingly, earlier dining times. Carnival is now opening its main restaurants at 5:30 p.m., "and guests are lining up," he said. On some ships, Carnival even has gone to a 5 p.m. opening.
"People want to eat earlier," he said. "We see it across all demographics."
Guests also want to eat faster, he said, a possible result of having multiple dining and entertainment options on offer. And, of course, on-demand dining is key. The Carnival app enables passengers to ping the restaurant when they're ready to eat and get a text back when their table is ready.
Fernandez also brought up Carnival's attention to value, and it comes through in the new offerings. Passengers will be able to dine at both Uku Lei Lei and Fetaccine free of charge once per cruise; after that, the cover charge is $8 per passenger.
Emeril's Seafood will be $50 per person.
Big money in zero-proof
Another trend is guests' desire to cut back on or eliminate alcoholic beverages. Assistant vice president of beverage operations Zachary Sulkes said that alcohol sales were up 3% fleetwide -- but that nonalcoholic sales were up 15%.
Nonalcoholic, he said, "is through the roof."
People still want to gather and drink, boozy or not, so Carnival is bringing out new bar concepts on the upcoming Festivale. An expansion of the Alchemy Bar means its most popular cocktail bar will now have a lounge component.
Spark will tie in a music component and will feature live music and cocktails inspired by singers. Festival Grounds will pour coffee and cocktails, depending on the time of day. At Mix, guests can craft their own drinks.
And Scenic Overlook will take over an aft space to provide excellent sailaway views.
Emeril educates and entertains
Of course, it's hard to compete onstage with Lagasse, who is as comfortable in front of a camera as he is in the kitchen.
After a cooking demo of one of the starters at Emeril's Coastal, barbecue shrimp, and a delivery of his signature catchphrase, he talked about setting culinary trends, the difference between Creole and Cajun cooking and how he took his role at Carnival seriously.
He said a strong asset was "to be a great listener."
"I run into a lot of people; there's a lot of people on the ship, as you know. I don't solicit. But I listen to people [say], 'I had this last night,' or 'I wish I could have had this,' or 'Why isn't this on the menu?' I think that's a key to bring the information back to the chefs," he said.