Carnival Cruise Line is introducing a "Menu Mate" food ingredient program fleetwide, the first of its kind among major cruise lines designed to accommodate guests with food allergies and special diets.
“Making sure everyone is included in the fun and has the best experience possible is extremely important to us,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “We are always looking for new ways to help our crew enhance our guests’ experiences, and that’s exactly what this new program is doing on our ships for those with food allergies.”
Operated on touch-screen tablets at food venues across the Carnival fleet, the Menu Mate food ingredient program is intended to mitigate the risks of allergic reactions.
With the program, staff will ask guests about food allergies and enter any restrictions into the program. The software will then sort through all available options and display which items are allergen friendly, which options can be modified to exclude allergens and which selections should be avoided. If preferred, guests can also use the Menu Mate designated tablet themselves to enter in their own allergy/dietary information and then order from the options curated to meet their needs.
According to Carnival, the program eliminates the process of conferring between guests, wait staff and chefs over the ingredients of menu items and possible substitutions. Now that the process of selecting items with allergen friendly ingredients is simplified, it is also no longer necessary for guests to inform Carnival of food allergies in advance of their cruise.
To ensure the program’s efficiency, Carnival says its culinary staff studied recipes across the line and worked to capture any potential allergen conflicts by inputting accurate ingredient information into the CertiStar software, which powers Menu Mate. To use the program directly and research allergen friendly options on their own, guests will be able to find a Menu Mate tablet on display near the Lido buffet stations as well.
For more information on Carnival Cruise Line, visit its web site.
