The 30-second answer
Three ships, one roster, one real number to keep in your head — here's what actually decides anything on this class, and what doesn't.
Mardi Gras, Celebration and Jubilee don't separate on dining at all: every one of the eight scored categories, the weighted total, and the published headline match to the decimal. The only things that change ship to ship are five display names — never a price, never a score. And none of the three carries a dedicated suite restaurant, which is why Suite & Restricted Dining reads a flat 1.0 across the board, not a footnote this guide is going to soften.
How this page works
No new scoring happens here — this page puts three already-published scorecards side by side.
Every number below comes directly from Mardi Gras's, Carnival Celebration's, and Carnival Jubilee's own dining guides, linked throughout this page. Eight categories make up each ship's total — Included Dining (25%), Specialty Dining (20%), Variety (15%), Quality Ceiling (10%), Value (10%), Casual & Quick Dining (10%), Special Experiences (5%), and Suite & Restricted Dining (5%) — each judged on its own merits rather than averaged up from the 23 venue scores you'll see further down.
An identical three-ship roster might not sound like it needs its own comparison page. It earns one anyway, for the same reason this project already gives Royal/Regal Princess and Crown/Ruby Princess their own tie pages: a genuine tie is still worth documenting plainly, not glossed over into a false "which ship wins" framing just because three ships happen to be involved instead of two. Carnival Excel Class is also the first Carnival class this project covers, carrying 23 venues across three identical ships — worth a page of its own on that basis alone.
You won't find a sailing-specific dining calculator on this page. That tool belongs on each ship's own guide; what belongs here is the side-by-side view below, the full venue explorer, and the honest accounting of where this class's score comes from — strength and weakness both.
Because there's nothing for a picker to reveal about dining. A calculator built to help you weigh one ship's food against another's only earns its place when the ships actually diverge on food. Mardi Gras, Celebration and Jubilee don't — eighteen of twenty-three venues carry the identical name, price and score on all three ships, and the other five just wear different names on an identical product. Building a dining-decision tool here would manufacture a choice this class genuinely doesn't have. What you'll find instead, further down, is a straightforward look at how you should actually choose between these three ships — and it isn't dining.
Three ships, five names, one product
Eighteen of twenty-three venues are the same restaurant under the same name on all three ships. The other five just have three different names for an identical product — same tag, same price, same score, every time.
See the naming by ship
Tap a ship to see its version of the five venues whose display name changes. Watch the price and score columns — they never move.
The other 18 venues, including Rudi's Sea Grill, the steakhouse, Bonsai Sushi, Bonsai Teppanyaki and The Chef's Table, carry the identical name on all three ships — this toggle only ever changes these five rows.
All 23 venues, verified against the ship pages
One roster, identical on Mardi Gras, Celebration and Jubilee — filter it however you're planning your trip.
Filter the shared 23-venue roster
Every venue here appears on all three Excel-class ships at the identical price and score. Names that vary by ship are shown together.
| Venue | Taxonomy tag | Price | Score |
|---|
Every score traces to Mardi Gras's, Celebration's, and Jubilee's own published venue data. Rows marked with a name-by-ship note show all three brand names; every other row is identical in name across all three ships.
Why Excel Class scores where it does
This isn't a luxury-dining story. It's breadth, casual-dining strength, and value — carrying one real, visible weakness this guide states plainly rather than minimizes.
Excel Class's 8.0 headline isn't built on a fine-dining ceiling — it's built on an unusually wide free-casual and quick-service bench, backed by a genuinely deep paid-specialty lineup. Casual & Quick Dining reads 8.7, one of the class's strongest categories, spread across eight included quick-service counters: Guy's Burger Joint, BlueIguana Cantina, Big Chicken (Shaq's), Fresh Creations, Street Eats, Swirls, plus the pizza and deli counters — with a complimentary BBQ lunch at Guy's Pig & Anchor adding further value on top, even though that venue's mixed pricing keeps it out of the included-venue count. Variety reads 8.5, reflecting how much cuisine range that breadth actually covers — Tex-Mex, Southern barbecue, Hawaiian-inspired chicken, Italian, deli, pizza and more, all before you spend a specialty dollar.
Specialty Dining reads 8.4, carried by a genuinely strong paid bench: Rudi's Sea Grill and the steakhouse (Fahrenheit 555) both score 8.8, Bonsai Teppanyaki scores 8.7, Emeril's Bistro scores 8.5, and Bonsai Sushi scores 8.4. Special Experiences reads 9.0, a single-driver category carried by The Chef's Table's own 9.0 score, reinforced by Bonsai Teppanyaki as a secondary interactive format. Quality Ceiling reads 8.5, reflecting the top of that same bench — Chef's Table, Rudi's, the steakhouse, Bonsai Teppanyaki and Emeril's — strong, but not this project's absolute peak. Value reads 8.1, helped along by a genuinely complimentary BBQ lunch at Guy's Pig & Anchor and two free-first-visit casual venues, Chibang! by Fuego and Cucina del Capitano.
Included Dining reads 8.0 across twelve included venues — both Main Dining Rooms, the buffet, six quick-service counters, the pizza and deli counters, and Room Service. On Room Service specifically: continental breakfast remains complimentary; other room-service food selections are priced individually. Carnival currently specifies a 20% service charge on bar beverages ordered through room service, and allows guests to tip room-service staff separately.
Suite & Restricted Dining scores 1.0 on all three Excel-class ships. This is a flat 1.0 floor score: Carnival has not built a dedicated suite or restricted-access restaurant into Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration, or Carnival Jubilee. Loft 19 is a suite sun-deck and cabana retreat with lunch delivery to cabanas — a real perk, but not a restaurant, so it is not counted as Suite & Restricted Dining anywhere on this site.
At a 5% category weight, that 1.0 costs the class an estimated 0.35–0.40 points off its total — a real, visible cost, not a rounding footnote this guide is glossing over because the headline still lands at 8.0. The other seven categories, led by Special Experiences (9.0), Casual & Quick Dining (8.7), Variety and Quality Ceiling (8.5 each), are strong enough to absorb that hit and still land the exact weighted total at 7.985 — but if a dedicated suite restaurant matters to your booking, this is the one thing on this scorecard Excel Class genuinely does not have, on any of its three ships.
Eight included quick-service counters, a real cuisine spread, and a six-restaurant paid-specialty bench anchored by Rudi's Sea Grill, the steakhouse, and The Chef's Table — all identical across the three ships.
No dedicated suite restaurant on any Excel-class ship. Also confirmed absent from this class: JiJi Asian Kitchen (found on Horizon/Panorama/Sunshine/Vista only) and Golden Jubilee, which is a themed bar aboard Carnival Celebration, not a dining venue.
Seabound Showdown — every category, all three ships
The full scorecard, decimals included — gathered in one place for your own reference.
| Category | Weight | Mardi Gras | Celebration | Jubilee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Included Dining | 25% | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| Specialty Dining | 20% | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.4 |
| Variety | 15% | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 |
| Quality Ceiling | 10% | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 |
| Value | 10% | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.1 |
| Casual & Quick Dining | 10% | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 |
| Special Experiences | 5% | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 |
| Suite & Restricted Dining | 5% | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Weighted total | — | 7.985 | 7.985 | 7.985 |
| Headline score | — | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
Zero delta, top to bottom, on all three ships. Verified directly against each ship's own published scorecard — this isn't rounding, it's an exact match at every row. The shaded row is the one category this guide isn't softening: a flat 1.0 floor score for a suite restaurant none of the three ships has built.
Mardi Gras, Celebration, or Jubilee — how to actually choose
Not on dining. Pick on homeport, itinerary, and the onboard theme that pulls you in — the three real differences between otherwise-identical ships.
Pick this one for New Orleans jazz-and-French-Quarter atmosphere, a Florida drive-to homeport, and BOLT, the first roller coaster at sea. Dining-wise, you're eating at Palm, Flamingo, Pizzeria del Capitano, Piazza Panini and Emeril's Bistro 1396 — the exact same 23-venue program as the other two ships.
Pick this one for Miami glamour, the 820 Biscayne zone built for Carnival's 50th anniversary, and a South Florida homeport. Dining-wise, you're eating at Festivale, Carnivale, Miami Slice, Deco Deli and Emeril's Bistro 1397 — the exact same 23-venue program as the other two ships.
Pick this one for the newest hardware in the class, the underwater-themed Currents atrium, and a Texas homeport. Dining-wise, you're eating at Pacific, Atlantic, Coastal Slice, Beach Buns and Emeril's Bistro 717 — the exact same 23-venue program as the other two ships.
None of these three ships beats another on dining, so don't let a dining comparison decide your booking. Whichever one you pick, you're eating at the same widely-cast casual bench, the same six-restaurant specialty lineup, and the same real gap where a suite restaurant isn't. Book the homeport that's easiest to reach, the theme that actually excites you, and the itinerary that fits your trip — the food will be identical no matter which one you choose.
Quick answers
Is this really a three-way tie, or does one Excel-class ship actually have better dining?
It's a genuine tie, not a rounding trick. Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration and Carnival Jubilee score identically across all eight Seabound categories, land on the exact same weighted total (7.985), and publish the same 8.0 headline. That's only possible because the dining program itself is identical — the same 23 venues, the same prices, the same scores — so there's no ship hiding a stronger or weaker program underneath the shared number.
What's the real difference between Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration and Carnival Jubilee dining?
Five names, nothing else. Each ship's two Main Dining Rooms, its pizza counter, its deli counter and Emeril's Bistro carry a different display name — Palm/Festivale/Pacific, Flamingo/Carnivale/Atlantic, Pizzeria del Capitano/Miami Slice/Coastal Slice, Piazza Panini/Deco Deli/Beach Buns, and Emeril's Bistro 1396/1397/717, where only the hull number changes. Every other one of the 23 venues carries the identical name, price and score on all three ships.
Why does Excel Class score 8.0 if there's no dedicated suite restaurant?
Because a real, stated weakness doesn't have to sink the whole scorecard, and this project doesn't hide it either way. Suite & Restricted Dining scores a flat 1.0 on all three ships — Carnival has never built a dedicated suite or restricted-access restaurant into any Excel-class ship, and Loft 19's cabana lunch delivery is a suite sun-deck perk, not a restaurant, so it isn't counted here. At a 5% weight, that 1.0 costs the class an estimated 0.35–0.40 points off its total — a real, visible cost, not a rounding footnote — and the other seven categories, led by Special Experiences (9.0) and Casual & Quick Dining (8.7), are strong enough to still land the exact weighted total at 7.985 and a published 8.0.
Is Guy's Pig & Anchor Bar-B-Que Smokehouse | Brewhouse a free venue?
Partly. Lunch service at Guy's Pig & Anchor is complimentary; dinner service carries an additional charge. Because of that mixed pricing, it's taxonomy-tagged Extra Cost — Casual and isn't counted in this guide's included-venue total, even though the free lunch is a real, working part of why Included Dining and Value both score well.
Which Excel-class ship has the best specialty dining — Mardi Gras, Celebration or Jubilee?
None of them, because they don't differ. Rudi's Sea Grill, the steakhouse (Fahrenheit 555), Bonsai Sushi, Bonsai Teppanyaki, Emeril's Bistro and The Chef's Table are confirmed present on all three ships, at the identical price and score on each. Neither Rudi's Sea Grill nor Emeril's Bistro is exclusive to Mardi Gras or to any other single Excel-class ship.
So how do I actually choose between Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration and Carnival Jubilee?
Not on dining — pick on homeport, itinerary and theme instead. Mardi Gras sails from Port Canaveral with a New Orleans-styled French Quarter zone; Carnival Celebration sails from Miami as Carnival's 50th-anniversary ship, built around the Miami-themed 820 Biscayne zone; Carnival Jubilee sails from Galveston with the underwater-themed Currents atrium. Whichever one you book, you're eating at the same 23 venues for the same prices at the same scores.
How do Carnival's two Main Dining Rooms actually work on Celebration and Jubilee?
Generally, not room-by-room. The ship has two Main Dining Rooms. Carnival offers Early/Late assigned seating and Your Time Dining across them, rather than assigning one style permanently to one room. Mardi Gras is the one ship in this class where that mapping is confirmed directly: Palm runs assigned seating and Flamingo runs Your Time Dining.
Deciding between Mardi Gras, Celebration, and Jubilee?
Tell us your sailing, your crew, and what matters most to you — whether the French Quarter beats Currents for your group, or which homeport is the easier trip — and we'll point you to the right ship.
Tap a question or the button and an advisor will answer against current pricing before you book.