Are ships selling their souls with Themed Restaurants

Today Carnival cruises have announced that the are going into partnership with Shaquille O’Neal and his ‘Big Chicken’ restaurants. The Carnival Radiance is going to be getting a $200 million refit in Spain in 2020 and they are taking the opportunity to introduce the restaurant which will feature a mouth watering variety of fried chicken sandwiches and fries and the best bit – it’s all included for free!!!! It is going to be located at the aft of the Lido deck and will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Shaq is the Chief Fun Officer for the cruise line and take the job very seriously. Shaw recently discussed this in an interview with USA Today “As Chief Fun Officer, I want to bring even more fun to every aspect of a Carnival cruise, including what guests eat. Big Chicken has been a dream of mine and now that our land-based restaurant is open, it’s only natural to bring it to sea, as well. I’m really excited that Carnival Radiance guests will be able to enjoy my own delicious creations alongside all the other great food offerings on board.”

This will be the first Big Chicken at sea for both Shaq and Carnival and they hope it will be the first of many.

This follows a trend that not only Carnival Cruises have adopted with their Guy’s Pig & Anchor Bar-B-Que Smokehouse, but a lot of American cruise lines are turning to the established restaurant world to bring a bit of excitement to the standard on board food choices.

NCL are in Partnership with the Margaritaville brand of restaurant bars on some of their ships. The chain was created by legendary crooner Jimmy Buffet and lean towards a more relaxed, Caribbean vibe full of fun and cocktails.

But it raises the question are the Cruise lines not only making profit by selling cruises to passengers but also selling space on their ships to established restaurant and bar brands.

Are they selling their souls to big corporations?

Will this lead us to see the first McDonalds at see and if yes is this something to be excited about?

I would love to know what your thoughts are ……………………..