The Five Best Things I Ate On My Cruise

When Carnival offered to take my family on an 8-day cruise to the eastern Caribbean, I jumped all over it. Sure, seeing beautiful sights and enjoying the great weather are wonderful perks, but do you want to know what I was most excited about?

The food.

Carnival doesn’t mess around when it comes to food options and there is literally something for everyone. Like I said before, if I had to attach a percentage to it, I’d say that 75% of the time we were awake on the ship, we were putting some yummy goodness into our mouths.

Here are five of my favorite things I ate on the ship.

#1 – Chicken Parmesan from Cucina Del Capitano: Look, this is not your run-of-the-mill chicken parmesan. It absolutely melted in my mouth and I still can’t get over how fantastic it was. I consider myself to be a pretty good cook and I spent months trying to duplicate the recipe, but failed miserably. All I know is I can’t wait for my next cruise to experience a second helping.

Also, the ambiance of the restaurant was amazing – and at times I completely forgot that I was on a ship floating in the middle of the ocean. If Italian food is your thing and you’re planning to cruise with Carnival, then you absolutely need to eat here. You won’t be sorry.

#2 – All of the burgers at Guy’s Burger Joint: Are juicy burgers up your alley? Then Guy Fieri’s Burger Joint is for you. No frozen fast food burgers here. Everything is freshly made and prepared Guy’s way, or in a fashion that works for you. This spot was extremely popular on the beautiful Carnival Sunshine, and rightfully so. I can’t remember the last time I ate such a tasty burger.

#3 – Green eggs and ham at the Seuss at Sea breakfast: Without question, this was my daughters’ favorite. I’ve read countless Dr. Seuss books to them and to see the characters come to life was absolutely amazing for them (and for all of the kiddos onboard the ship).

But the food was on point, too. The green eggs and ham were so tasty, and my kids kept asking for more. Carnival definitely gets an A+ for making that breakfast experience so fun and memorable. My girls are still asking when they’ll see Thing 1 and Thing 2 again.

#4 – The 24-hour pizza and ice cream on the Lido Deck: I could pretty much stop there, but I’ll keep going and ask, “Is anything better than 24-hour pizza and ice cream??” I think not.

I lost count of how many times I went there to grab a late-night bite for my wife and me while the kids were sleeping. Not to mention, with salads, Asian cuisine, deli options, etc., there’s something for everyone on the Lido Deck. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time there.

#5 – The steak in the dining room: The dining room food was amazing, but I truly enjoyed the steak. Again, the quality of it and the atmosphere made you forget that you were floating in the ocean. But if steak isn’t your thing, Carnival does an amazing job of offering diverse menu options to satisfy the pickiest eaters of any family.

Best of all, it gave my family an opportunity to dress up and look nice. That part alone made it memorable.On one of the formal nights, my daughter and I took some professional photos with Carnival’s photographers, and one of those photos was chosen to be on “The Wall Frame of Fame.” That was a pretty cool moment.

Cruising is absolutely amazing and I loved every moment of it, but when I look back on what I remembered the most, without question it was the food. I’ll put my cooking skills up against most dads, but there was no way I could duplicate the epic grub Carnival served up. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to try to make some green eggs and ham for my daughters.