Carnival Cruise Line Uses AI Technology to Improve Dining Quality and Reduce Wait Times

Carnival Cruise Line is using artificial intelligence to make your dining experience better—and you won’t even know it’s happening behind the scenes.

How AI Improves Your Cruise Dining

A large cruise ship with a blue hull and yellow lifeboats is docked at the Long Beach Cruise Terminal beside a white domed building, with city buildings and cranes visible in the background under a partly cloudy sky. — (Photo courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line)

Carnival partnered with the tech company Orbisk to install smart cameras in the kitchens of Carnival Firenze, which track food preparation and service in real-time.

The result? Chefs can now accurately predict how much food guests will consume, resulting in fresher meals prepared closer to serving time and shorter wait times at popular venues.

In just six months, the system has helped culinary teams improve their preparation accuracy by 17%, meaning less time food sits under heat lamps and more meals are made to order when demand is highest.

What This Means for Passengers

For cruisers, the benefits are practical: buffet stations stay consistently stocked with fresh food throughout service hours, specialty dining reservations run on schedule, and popular dishes are less likely to run out during peak times.

“Our teams are constantly looking for ways to perform better and elevate the guest experience,” said Damir Mrsic, Assistant Vice President of Food Operations at Carnival Cruise Line. The technology supports “even smarter prep, better coordination, and less operational waste.”

Engineering Challenges at Sea

A kitchen on the Carnival Mardi Gras with a lot of counter tops.

The system had to overcome unique challenges. Traditional kitchen scales don’t work on moving ships.

Orbisk developed motion-resistant AI that can accurately estimate food quantities without the need for a scale, making it the first system of its kind to work reliably at sea.

“Delivering stable data on a moving ship was a massive technical leap,” said Richard Beks, Co-Founder of Orbisk.

Environmental Goals

View from the rear deck of Carnival Firenze, showing wake patterns in the ocean water, with a clear sky above.

The technology also supports Carnival’s commitment to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030. By preparing closer to actual demand, the cruise line wastes less food while also improving the freshness and quality of food for guests.

The system is currently operational on Carnival Firenze, with potential expansion to other ships in the fleet if results continue to exceed expectations.

Frank M

Frank is a seasoned travel journalist with over a decade of experience covering hospitality, cruise, and air travel. He has traveled extensively by land, sea, and air, collaborating with industry giants like Marriott, Hyatt, Disney, and Carnival Corp. His work has been featured in major international and industry publications across four continents.