The oh-so-popular Guy’s Burger Joint has become a staple for many Carnival cruisers. In fact, many cruisers would agree that Carnival Cruise Line has some of the best burgers at sea. Considering many cruisers are foodies, this is a high accolade.
Found on every Carnival ship, the poolside eatery is known for serving up juicy, freshly-made burgers and fries. The crafted burgers have bold flavor with indulgent toppings, including bacon patties, melty cheese, onion rings, and more.
Created in 2011 with famed celeb chef Guy Fieri, Guy’s Burger Joint first debuted on Carnival Liberty as part of the cruise line’s Fun Initiative 2.0. The goal was to enhance Carnival’s onboard dining experience with gourmet smash burgers.
The partnership has been fruitful, as the cruise line continued to expand Guy’s Burger Joint fleet-wide. Guy’s Burger Joint offers a variety of burgers from a set menu, along with the option to build your own burger for further customization.
Fresh-cut and seasoned fries are served as the standard side with signature, homemade sauces. In addition, there is a toppings bar available for more customizable add-ons. Located on the lido deck, Guy’s Burger Joint is a laid-back, casual atmosphere that serves up grub quickly and efficiently.
All of the burgers were crafted by Fieri himself. Even better, Guy’s Burger Joint is included in your cruise fare. For no additional cost, guests can visit the burger shack as often as they want during their Carnival vacation. Not to mention, Guy’s land-based burger joints serve the same menu for upwards of $19.99 per burger at Planet Hollywood Resorts!
According to Carnival Cruise Line, nearly 1,000 burgers are served per day on every single Carnival ship. In 2023, the cruise line reported they made over 10.5 million burgers across its fleet!
Beloved by many, I was excited to try Guy’s Burger Joint on my recent cruise onboard Carnival Sunshine. Here’s what my experience was like and what you can expect from Carnival’s roadside burger shack at sea.
First, Guy’s Burger Joint has become a staple on Carnival’s cruise ships
After the popularity of Guy’s Burger Joint on Carnival Liberty in 2011, the cruise line considered the partnership a smashing success. At the time, Carnival Cruise Line stated the partnership was part of the Fun Ship 2.0 project, which was a multi-year initiative valued at more than $500 million. It was slated to be the largest and most ambitious project the company had ever undertaken.
It didn’t take long for Carnival to expand Guy’s Burger Joint across its fleet in just a few years. The overwhelming popularity was an instant success for the cruise line. By 2016, most of the fleet featured Guy’s Burger Joint onboard. New ships were designed to incorporate bigger eateries while older ships included the addition during refurbishment.
The cruise line’s newest ships in the Excel Class, including Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration, and Carnival Jubilee, have some of the largest Guy’s Burger Joints you’ll find in the fleet.
Even as the oldest ship in the cruise line’s fleet, Guy’s Burger Joint was still available on the pool deck of Carnival Sunshine
One of the reasons I don’t mind sailing on Carnival’s oldest ships is because of the cruise line’s focus on upgrading even their oldest vessels. Carnival Sunshine was once named Carnival Destiny before a $155 million refit and refurbishment in 2013. Even though the ship is nearing 30 years old, Carnival has still prioritized adding more modern amenities and restaurants.
Nestled in the corner between the pool entrance and RedFrog Tiki Bar, Guy’s Burger Joint is small but mighty. The crew members are cooking and serving burgers by the second, allowing the line to move quickly.
The burger joint is decorated like a roadside shack with grungy road signs, surfboards, and maps. It certainly feels more like a food truck than a cruise ship at Guy’s Burger Joint, although the music blasting from the lido deck and the view of the ocean waves are obvious reminders.
Carnival describes Guy’s Burger Joint as, “imbued with the chef's passion for car culture and his California roots. Life-size surfboards and car elements such as car bumpers, grilles, and chrome pipes adorn the walls, while car hoods hang on the ceiling over the two condiment stations.”
Although I didn’t quite see any car hoods or bumpers hanging from the ceiling, there were multiple surfboards used as decor. The space wasn’t huge, so I assume this might have limited the decor options. The eatery had a rock-n-roll flair, elevating my excitement more.
We didn’t need to make a reservation either for Guy’s Burger Joint. It’s a casual eatery, like many of Carnival’s restaurants onboard. Most of our cruise, Guy’s Burger Joint was opened from 12:00pm to 6:00pm each day. This made for the perfect lunch or poolside snack. You could even indulge in a scrumptious burger for dinner if you wanted!
Read more: Carnival Cruise Line's Ultimate Food Guide
Many people in line came right from the pool deck. I’m not surprised, as Guy’s Burger Joint is conveniently located on the pool deck to provide quick access for guests. The television screen behind the counter was playing clips of Guy Fieri himself, although I wasn’t really paying attention to what he had to say.
Guy’s Burger Joint features a set menu with five burgers, although you can easily customize your order
Guy’s Burger Joint has a menu behind the counter with five different burgers available. As the line moved quickly, I struggled to decipher the menu in a timely fashion. While reading the menu, I was confused by all of the acronyms.
Ultimately, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to order, leading to slight panic. However, the panic over ordering the right burger is perhaps my favorite kind of panic. I tried to understand the many acronyms in the burger descriptions while observing what others around me ordered.
The menu lingo isn’t necessarily common sense, featuring phrases like “with or without S.M.C.” and “L.T.O.P. and Rojo Ring." As a college-educated woman, I wasn’t going to let these burger acronyms get the best of me.
Here is a description of each of the five items on the menu:
1. Plain Jane: With or without super melty cheese (S.M.C.). This is where it all starts. 80/20 ground chuck on a grilled roll.
2. Straight Up: Super melty cheese (S.M.C.), lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion (L.T.O.P.), and a liberal slathering of donkey sauce (Jacked Up Secret Sauce)
3. The Ringer: The “Straight Up” burger with cheese (S.M.C.), Guy’s Bourbon and Brown Sugar BBQ sauce, and a righteous Rojo Ring (Crispy Spicy Onion Ring)
4. Chilius Maximus: This is for the pursuit… “Straight Up” no L.T.O.P. (lettuce, tomato, onion, or pickle), Rojo Ring (Crispy Spicy Onion Ring), super melty cheese (S.M.C.), donkey sauce (Jacked Up Secret Sauce), and topped with chili
5. Pig Patty: The "Straight Up" burger with super melty cheese (S.M.C.) and, believe it or not... a patty made out of crispy bacon
I ended up ordering The Ringer, asking for a slight modification on the toppings
When it was my turn to order, I decided on The Ringer for my selection. This burger was described as a cheeseburger with an onion ring, topped with a slather of Guy’s Bourbon and Brown Sugar BBQ.
I requested that the burger be served sans lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickle. Generally speaking, I prefer to leave salad toppings off my burger, so I can focus on the meat and cheese goodness. In addition, I requested the addition of bacon, because why not?
The crew member assembled my burger quickly, serving the customized sandwich over to me within seconds. A hearty serving of fries were served alongside, which appeared to be generously seasoned (just as I like it).
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This was just the beginning! Guy’s Burger Joint also features a large toppings bar
You could customize your burger even further with a large assortment of toppings and sauces from the toppings bar. With a large surfboard sporting more combinations to try, this is where you can get your burger condiments.
Hot toppings included grilled peppers, onions, and chili while cold toppings included pickles, onions, and tomatoes. I am pretty boring when it comes to burger toppings, so I made my way to the sauce station.
The sauces were slightly disappointing, in my opinion. There were five choices of sauce at the toppings bar: ketchup, mustard, mayo, chipotle mayo, and ranch. Normally, I am a good Midwestern gal and drench my burgers and fries in ranch. I wanted to make sure I could taste the actual burger for this experience, so I opted for a modest side of ranch with classic ketchup.
I’m glad I tried the ranch before putting it all over my juicy burger - it tasted sour! I’ve had ranch on other Carnival cruises, so I was disappointed in this rancid sauce. I opted for ketchup instead.
I decided to head into the Lido Marketplace buffet to find a seat to enjoy my burger, as there was limited seating at Guy’s Burger Joint itself. This was also air conditioned so we could keep cool.
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This burger from Guy’s Burger Joint was easily one of the best I’ve had at sea
It was love at first bite! The loaded burger itself was meaty, juicy, and flavorful. The meat was perfectly seasoned, leading to bold flavors from the combination of the meat, sauce, and toppings. The burger didn’t need many toppings, as the flavor from the patty itself was more than enough.
I also found the burger to be a decent size. It wasn’t too big that I felt stuffed, but not too small to leave me hungry. It was slightly bigger than a fast-food burger, around 4oz if I had to guess.
Of course, this burger was a little messy with all of the toppings, but the mess was worth it for the flavor. My sister - who hasn’t quite had her burger awakening yet and prefers chicken over beef - even provided her compliments to the chef. We ended up sharing the burger because she enjoyed it so much.
The fries were excellent too with a perfectly seasoned blend of spice on top. I’m not entirely sure what the seasoning consists of, but I would guess a combination of paprika, garlic powder, and salt. Dipped in ketchup made the perfect combo!
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Indulging in the burger was heavenly and unparalleled compared to other cruise ships I’ve been on
Overall, our Guy’s Burger Joint experience was outstanding. Considering the quality of the burger for an included eatery, you can’t beat it. Is Guy’s Burger Joint the most sophisticated restaurant at sea? No, far from it.
But, you’ll be hard-pressed to find another burger on rival cruise lines that could compete. Those who have cruised on multiple cruise lines, like myself, know the struggle. While you can always find some sort of burger onboard other cruise ships, these pale in comparison to Guy’s Burger Joint.
In fact, Carnival Cruise Line prides itself on offering a burger experience unlike anything at sea, which can be partly attributed to Guy Fieri himself.
When the first Guy’s Burger Joint debuted on Carnival Liberty, the cruise line stated, “Guy Fieri is a fun, unique culinary superstar whose energy and passion for food is reflective in this one-of-a-kind shipboard burger joint concept. Guy's presence can be felt throughout the entire eatery and his culinary genius will truly make these the best burgers at sea.”
Unless you want to fork out extra cash for a specialty meal at a steakhouse, you won’t find another burger at sea like this. As one of the best restaurants on Carnival Cruise Line, you simply can’t cruise onboard one of the cruise line’s FUN ships without trying a Guy’s burger for yourself.
Allie Hubers
Allie Hubers has been cruising since she was a tiny toddler. What started as a yearly vacation with family quickly turned into a passion for travel, cruising and adventure. Allie's been on over 45 cruises all over the world. She even studied abroad on Semester at Sea, sailing the world on a ship while taking courses for college and visiting 4 continents.
