Thanksgiving Turkey Better at Lido Buffet

[CruizinSusan70]

2 hours ago, nydney1 said:

 

I understand that Thanksgiving is an American Holiday, but I expected a little more.

Have never cruised over Thanksgiving and next year we'll be on the Celebrity Beyond.  Have to assume that my DH will be able to get his proper Thanksgiving dinner with the normal side dishes since Celebrity's buffet is a few notches above Carnival's.

[AHS123]

5 minutes ago, 1kaper said:

 

Always thought dressing was cooked outside of the Turkey. Stuffing was cooked inside. 
 

This is true but regardless of which you method you bake please serve more than a cough drop sized portion of cranberry sauce with the meal.  🙂

[1kaper]

4 minutes ago, AHS123 said:

This is true but regardless of which you method you bake please serve more than a cough drop sized portion of cranberry sauce with the meal.  🙂

Haha. I agree. I do like cranberry sauce. I did ask for more gravy but didn’t bother with the cranberry. 

[1kaper]

8 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Have never cruised over Thanksgiving and next year we'll be on the Celebrity Beyond.  Have to assume that my DH will be able to get his proper Thanksgiving dinner with the normal side dishes since Celebrity's buffet is a few notches above Carnival's.

Celebrity in general is a few notches above Carnival from what I understand. 

[sanmarcosman]

3 minutes ago, 1kaper said:

Haha. I agree. I do like cranberry sauce. I did ask for more gravy but didn’t bother with the cranberry. 

Good point, even the gravy is wrong. White, pasty looking gravy never holds pride of place when competing with brown gravy when served with turkey. 

Swanson's Original from the 1950's has more eye appeal than the Carnival plate of 2022.

[1kaper]

Just now, sanmarcosman said:

Good point, even the gravy is wrong. White, pasty looking gravy never holds pride of place when competing with brown gravy when served with turkey. 

Swanson's Original from the 1950's has more eye appeal than the Carnival plate of 2022.

Definitely wasn’t the best gravy. Also wasn’t the worst. But I didn’t have big expectations and it wasn’t my Thanksgiving so I was fine. 
i definitely wouldn’t have been if it was a huge thing for me. But I’m also whatever about Turkey dinner in general. 
But I also wouldn’t have booked a cruise and depended on someone else for my dinner if it was that big a deal to me. 
unless I’m going to a mom and pop diner, I’m not expecting anything close to what I’d have at home. 

[sanmarcosman]

1 minute ago, 1kaper said:

I’m not expecting anything close to what I’d have at home. 

Of course and I agree with the OP that if you are on a cruise for the holiday the moist turkey at the buffet wins hands down. I wish Carnival would bring back the Steakhouse Brunch with its $25 charge. Now that was a meal to write (text?) home about.

[1kaper]

20 minutes ago, sanmarcosman said:

Of course and I agree with the OP that if you are on a cruise for the holiday the moist turkey at the buffet wins hands down. I wish Carnival would bring back the Steakhouse Brunch with its $25 charge. Now that was a meal to write (text?) home about.

It was a good point. I had no idea they’d have real Turkey at the buffet. DH might have opted for that. I don’t care but I know lots do. 

[CruizinSusan70]

2 minutes ago, 1kaper said:

Celebrity in general is a few notches above Carnival from what I understand. 

Have done them 7 times over the past 30 years.  Their lunch buffet has grilled to order meats on a daily basis and made to order in front of you eggs Benedict's with salmon, spinach or Canadian bacon for breakfast.  Night and day compared to Carnival.  As usual you get what you pay for.

[Itried4498]

32 minutes ago, 1kaper said:

Definitely wasn’t the best gravy. Also wasn’t the worst. But I didn’t have big expectations and it wasn’t my Thanksgiving so I was fine. 
i definitely wouldn’t have been if it was a huge thing for me. But I’m also whatever about Turkey dinner in general. 
But I also wouldn’t have booked a cruise and depended on someone else for my dinner if it was that big a deal to me. 
unless I’m going to a mom and pop diner, I’m not expecting anything close to what I’d have at home. 

 

Seriously?  Carnival charges a hefty premium for its Holiday cruises.  The Miracle's Thanksgiving cruise was selling for more than twice the daily rate as most other sailings from Los Angeles, and despite the higher price, it sold out several months ago (that said, I realize some passengers scored a red hot deal during the thick of Covid).  

 

On the Miracle, there were no fall flavors all week.  For Thanksgiving Day, the buffet featured carved turkey but absolutely no traditional sides & the MDR was a colossal disappointment.  Heck, they didn't even have mashed potatoes, when they're on the menu the other 364 days of the year.  I could've gotten a more filling meal if I had went to Costco and indulged on samples.  It's notable that until the day before Thanksgiving, the activity schedule and menu in the app were standard.  It's almost as if Carnival was caught off guard by the Holiday, threw some lousy activities together, and served whatever Thanskgivingy food they had.  

 

Since you're from Canada, you don't care, but for what we paid, we entrusted Carnival for a lot more.  A $3 Lean Cuisine would've been better, had more calories and been more filling.

[1kaper]

27 minutes ago, Itried4498 said:

 

Seriously?  Carnival charges a hefty premium for its Holiday cruises.  The Miracle's Thanksgiving cruise was selling for more than twice the daily rate as most other sailings from Los Angeles, and despite the higher price, it sold out several months ago (that said, I realize some passengers scored a red hot deal during the thick of Covid).  

 

On the Miracle, there were no fall flavors all week.  For Thanksgiving Day, the buffet featured carved turkey but absolutely no traditional sides & the MDR was a colossal disappointment.  Heck, they didn't even have mashed potatoes, when they're on the menu the other 364 days of the year.  I could've gotten a more filling meal if I had went to Costco and indulged on samples.  It's notable that until the day before Thanksgiving, the activity schedule and menu in the app were standard.  It's almost as if Carnival was caught off guard by the Holiday, threw some lousy activities together, and served whatever Thanskgivingy food they had.  

 

Since you're from Canada, you don't care, but for what we paid, we entrusted Carnival for a lot more.  A $3 Lean Cuisine would've been better, had more calories and been more filling.

Hefty? I booked this cruise because it was the cheapest one in our timeframe. I didn’t even know it was Thanksgiving until after. We were flexible with dates. And we did an itinerary that is typically the more expensive one. 
i didn’t think it was too bad. I liked the stuffing. Liked the Turkey. As mentioned I’ve had worse gravy as a guest at other family Turkey dinners (I’m looking you exes). But I make better. 
i didn’t think our portion was terrible. It was certainly bigger than the one in the OP. My DH is a big guy. He had no complaints. 
i had no great expectations about a mass produced meal. If it was that important I would have made sure I sailed a line known for exceptional food, upgraded if possible (I don’t know if the specialty dining was better) or stayed home.  The menu was posted weeks before. 
 

Also Carnival and all other lines price by demand. Holidays are higher demand.   They aren’t charging more to provide you a better meal on said holiday. It makes up for the slower times. 

 

For the record, assuming they provided this on Canadian Thanksgiving I wouldn’t have cared. It is exactly what I expected from a mass provided meal

on any lines.  Especially carnival. Maybe even better than I expected. 

Edited November 29, 2022 by 1kaper

[Itried4498]

35 minutes ago, 1kaper said:

Hefty? I booked this cruise because it was the cheapest one in our timeframe. I didn’t even know it was Thanksgiving until after. We were flexible with dates. And we did an itinerary that is typically the more expensive one. 
i didn’t think it was too bad. I liked the stuffing. Liked the Turkey. As mentioned I’ve had worse gravy as a guest at other family Turkey dinners (I’m looking you exes). But I make better. 
i didn’t think our portion was terrible. It was certainly bigger than the one in the OP. My DH is a big guy. He had no complaints. 
i had no great expectations about a mass produced meal. If it was that important I would have made sure I sailed a line known for exceptional food, upgraded if possible (I don’t know if the specialty dining was better) or stayed home.  The menu was posted weeks before. 
 

Also Carnival and all other lines price by demand. Holidays are higher demand.   They aren’t charging more to provide you a better meal on said holiday. It makes up for the slower times. 

 

For the record, assuming they provided this on Canadian Thanksgiving I wouldn’t have cared. It is exactly what I expected from a mass provided meal

on any lines.  Especially carnival. Maybe even better than I expected. 

 

The Miracle operated an itinerary (depart late Tuesday, return Sunday morning; overnight Cabo) that was clearly targeting holiday travelers.  The Panorama's 7-day cruise over Thanksgiving, for example, priced out less.  That could be the case with your cruise, or you could've gotten a hot Covid deal, but the Miracle was priced high for the last year.  

 

Disney World/Land doesn't go all out for the holidays "just because" - they do it because it generates premium demand.  Likewise, most people who sailed at the prices Carnival was charging for the Thanksgiving cruise, did so because they expected higher quality Thanksgiving meal than a classic TV dinner.  

[WhaleTailFlCruiser]

I hate turkey so this wouldn’t have bothered me at all. 

[shawn742]

20 hours ago, 1kaper said:

I was on the Spirit for Thanksgiving and mine didn’t look like that. 
Not a great picture. I didn’t know what the round thing was. It was dark meat of the Turkey with spinach. (I thought the waiter said duck meat and Turkey with spinach 😂) 

 

I was on the same sailing and got the same dinner as you. The following night the server did mention that the MDR ran out of Turkey later in the evening on Thursday, so maybe the first picture was the result? 

[1kaper]

5 minutes ago, shawn742 said:

I was on the same sailing and got the same dinner as you. The following night the server did mention that the MDR ran out of Turkey later in the evening on Thursday, so maybe the first picture was the result? 

I wondered that. That would be my guess. 

[lseee]

We were on the Legend in November, but not for Thanksgiving.  The portions in the MDR have gotten smaller.  One night we left hungry.  They no longer put a bread basket on the table, but offer you one roll.  Not surprised to see the pics of the Thanksgiving dinner.