MsPoppadom

12 hours ago, cruizergal70 said:

Aren't these oceanview cabins and not interiors?

Because the window isn't out to the sea (starboard or port) but instead to a public deck, or to deck a crew member might use, they are classed interiors with picture window. Had a fab one on Radiance with window onto the 'secret deck". 

Hi CC,

Meraviglia's and Bellissima's oceanviews for four according to deck plan are bunked sofabeds (like those in balconies?)

Grandiosa and Virtuosa's oceanviews on deck 5 have a sofabed AND a Pullman. Anyone here stayed in those cabins? I am trying to find out if the Pullman is over the sofa (kinda bunk-ish) or over the master bed like in inside cabins.

I have seen an image of a Balcony room where the Pullman was over the foot end (walkway) of the master and am wondering if it will be the same in the oceanviews too.

Thanks,

Sanna

On 4/13/2021 at 4:34 PM, ZiggaZagga17 said:

They've just offered free cabins to Bluelight card holders too - well a draw, but if you're both holders like we are then there's double the chance!

Rules did state only one entrant per household but not sure how they'll enforce that... 🙂 Fingers crossed to all others taking part

54 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

Are all of you related? If not it is cheaper to get 2 cabins in the long run. Cabins are very small have you cruises before to have seen them?

As I said, we can't do two separate cabins due to the cost because we want a balcony and the only way to do separate cabins would be two insides. So that is a non-starter. The cheaper 3rd and 4th person rate in the cabin is what makes the deluxe balcony or minisuite price average out for us..

Three of us girls have cruised together before in an oceanview, so we know how the space can be. We were fine as we only used the cabin to sleep and get changed. Now there's a 4th girl joining so we're wanting a balcony for little extra space. We know the cabin attendant can put away the sofabed and pullman, but are interested in how badly the sofabed blocks balcony access.

I've understood that the deluxe balcony sofabed is small and opens into the room but a minisuite sofabed is full size and doesn't obstruct any more? Is this correct? And that the pullmans open in similar fashion, over the sofa and not into the room?

Hi cruisers!

We are looking to book a deluxe balcony for four on Sky Princess, or a mini suite, but both cabin types say that the fourth guest sleeps in a pullman which blocks access to the balcony.

From the one photo I have seen on this forum, the pullman is over the sofabed, but how bad is the access. I'd hate to book a cabin where we don't have access to the balcony... and a standard balcony cabin with twins and twin bunks over would seem more suitable. Except for the smaller seating area and smaller balcony.

Any suggestions? We can't do two separate cabins with adjoining door as for cost need to be 4 in cabin.

Thanks,

Sanna

Many thanks! We booked one but now we have another friend who wants to join us, and we have to move cabins as our quirky balcony won't sleep 4.

Would you happen to know how badly the upper pulman blocks balcony access in these cabins (or in MiniSuites) as that's what we'd prefer rather than standard balcony (twins with bunks over).

Thanks,

Sanna

On 10/5/2015 at 12:54 AM, LuvKruzn said:

Please try this link for our 2014 Regal Princess TA Venice to FLL - E425 Balcony Photos

 These photos are amazing! We've just booked E408 on Sky Princess (for 2022, though) but these pics are making me super excited for the size of the balcony and location. Much prefer having promenade below than a lifeboat to my knees - we had that on Royal. 

LuvKruzn, would you mind if I used some of your Google pics on a blog post to highlight the perks of this obstructed cabin of ours? Same to you, Canadian burger. The shot from the promenade looking up, displaying the shape of the balcony is great and I'd like to share that too. I would've contacted you two directly but CC no longer seems to allow direct messages between members.

Hope we all get cruising soon! 

MsPoppadom/Vegancruiser

On 6/18/2020 at 10:47 PM, GLCM GUY said:

I don't have pictures but if you go the Carnival site the "ships" portion has great pictures of each type of room.

Thanks, but I could only see a render/drawing of a 4K cabin and an floorplan from the above.. no actual 4K photos. Maybe I am looking in the wrong part - as under Legend and cabins. 

 Thanks for the Youtube link, I found a few. I was really hoping to find a few photos to use on a blog post - a 'looking forward to cruising next summer in this fab cabin category' post.  I may still do it, even without any photos to show 😉 

Hi cruisers,

I tried to do a search but other than one or two images via Google, I couldn't find existing threads here on CruiseCritic. We have a 4K picture window cabin booked for Carnival Legend next summer (French doors or floor-to-ceiling windows) and we tried to get one between two lifeboats to have at least a little seaview.

I wondered if anyone had images of what Legend's cabins look like? We stayed in 4J picture window on Victory in 2015 but I think both ships have since been refurbed? 

Would love to see your picture window cabin photos if any of you had some to share?

Thanks and regards,

Sanna 

26 minutes ago, Justalone said:

New to cruising.   Is Kosher available?  Dining room or at the buffet?

Depends on a cruise ship and how orthodox you are. Generally if you insist on Kosher MDR meals many order Kosher-certified ready meals and I hear they are served heated, still sealed and with disposable cutlery to avoid cross contamination.

I once spoke to a food and bev director on Princess where they had ordered a set of new pots & utensils to use for a family requesting Kosher meals - but none have a separate Kosher galley. Many have a separate allergen aware galley part, like one for gluten free guests. And some people dine vegan because there is no meat and dairy, but would you be happy with that? Contact dietary needs team of any cruise line you're considering to find how they cater for Kosher diners 🙂 Princess team are better than most, knowledgeable on the catering unlike some HO service teams.

17 hours ago, pseudoswede said:

 

How was your vegan experience on Princess? Definitely interested in hearing if they now offer vegan spread, ice cream, and cheese. My wife prefers almond milk in her coffee. While my daughter outgrew her milk allergy, she still prefers rice milk with her morning breakfast cereal.

We had a great experience on Crown... not so much the MDR (Royal were better) but the buffet on Crown was fab and in the end I asked for a meeting with the Food & Bev Director as their offering was great. They were even able to produce a vegan cake at dinner and I always had an option in the buffet too (mostly the same but better than on ships where there was nothing).

I have a blog post on the Crown and should have an IG story folder too... along with foods I have obtained on Marella and MSC since our Crown Princess sailing.

No non-dairy spread, cheese or ice cream onboard though. Did have an option of almond or soy milk each day. That was back in 2018 though, but I haven't heard from anyone that things have improved. Even MSC have gotten worse.. there was only butter avail on the Med in late 2019 though they previously had vegan spread. 

My old Crown post is here ;)

(hope link works... otherwise if you go on my blog vegancruiser . co . uk and look at Princess entries you will find it there) 

vegancruiser.co.uk/cruise/cruise-vegan-princess-cruises-crown-princess/

29 minutes ago, Hogbay said:

I am half a Vegan cause i drink beer and eat fry's and as far as the beefburger go.s i make sure the cow only ate grass and grain 🤣

 ha ha ha.

That was SO original.

*eyeroll*

4 hours ago, ResearchObsessed said:

 Thank you so much for posting this, it will help us plan which meals not to miss in the main dining room - apparently not Day 2 since those tacos were such a hit!

My pleasure, I really wish other mainstream cruise lines will soon follow with their own menus (looking at you Carnival, NCL and MSC) 😉 Do ask the waiting staff to see the following day's menu, there's no way of knowing if this is the actual order the ship will rotate the menus or just the order the PR team sent me the files 🙂

Let me know how you got on. Veggieslovepeace (IG) has posted a few photos of this menu on her Insta this week, and seems to have gotten on better than on most of her cruises. But for Buffet, I think Crown Princess still beats the rest...

I too would love a BeyondBurger and decent mock meat (Gardein) on the menu, with some vegan cheese as well. But I am quite happy with what Royal have come up with - after all, all the other cruise lines with vegan menus are luxury brands (Azamara, Oceania, Regent) with the exception of Italian Costa. 

I did get the full 7 day rotating menu from RC so if you haven't seen it yet, it's in this post of mine

https://vegancruiser.co.uk/cruise/new-royal-caribbean-vegan-menu-2019/

On 7/17/2019 at 4:37 AM, mtmomof3 said:

Just off Allure and thought I'd share info on vegan options.  My 20 yo DD has been strictly vegan for a year and eating away from home can be very challenging at times, especially as she is also very picky.  We chose main dining and indicated need for a vegan diet hoping that having a consistent wait staff would make this request easier.  Yes, there were "bumps" but she was delighted that there was a vegan menu and she enjoyed all but one or two of the offerings.  Several of the rolls are vegan and she was brought her own basket of bread and a plate of vegan "butter" each night.  Eating at other venues was more challenging.  Park Cafe had a hummus wrap, Johnny Rockets has a Boca burger that is available and for breakfast the patty is also offered and we were told that the pasta and marinara sauce were dairy and egg free. Couldn't get a clear answer if the steamed veggies had butter so she passed but was frustrated as that could easily be an option if not buttered. Fruit and green salad were always an option but can get a little boring.  We knew that fruit would be her only option at lunch on Labadee so planned ahead and carried off snacks for her.  We tried main dining room for lunch one day but were told there was not a vegan menu available for lunch (I suspect that they may have been willing to prepare something if she ordered a day ahead and planned to eat there daily but she did not want to commit to either a lunch time or venue).  Menu is posted below.  The crunchy tofu tacos were her favorite and she requested them again later in the week.  Happy to answer any questions.

 Oh this looks wonderful considering the struggle I've had in the past in obtaining vegan food. Could I share this on my blog, please mtmomof3?

We recently did two weeks on Marina, and got a good feel for the vegan menus. My overall thoughts (with respect to dinner in the GDR):

 

 

1. The vegan menu changes daily, like the regular menu. Given the reported number of new menu items, you're not likely going to encounter repetition. So that's the good news.
   
2. Despite the large number of items overall, there are few/no choices on each day's menu (i.e. one salad, one soup, one appy, one entree, one dessert). Essentially I hope you like what they have on offer that day.
   
3. The dishes are almost universally vegan derivatives of items on the main menu, e.g. replace chicken in entree with vegan protein substitute. Weirdly retro and not how any vegan I know actually eats. Your favourite meat-potatoes-veg relative would approve. Real vegans not as much.
   
4. Not withstanding the above, taste, presentation, etc. were generally good.
   
5. If you have any other dietary restrictions along with vegan, you could be in trouble.
   

I've posted more details on this and other related topics in a detailed write-up I did about our culinary experiences recently: https://cruisespecialdiet.com/oceania/

 

Regarding the commenters saying you're wasting your money if you go Oceania without partaking in its full culinary experience, all I can say is people choose cruises for all kinds of reasons, and I'm not about to judge, no matter how tempting it may be...! :halo:

It was an interesting read discovering how poorly Oceania did with multiple dietary issues but but as a straightforward convenience vegan, not WFPB diet, they do really well :)

I was onboard Marina last Oct and had the best, finest vegan meal I have ever been served onboard a cruise ship 😍 Just a few comments on the above points.. addition, rather than reply

1) The vegan menu onboard has about 250 dishes on a 14 day rotation. So you shouldn't get the same dish twice unless you do a sailing longer than two weeks.

2) The lack of options is true.. most menus I have seen has one option for each course. If you want a vegan menu with multiple options for each course Costa Cruises is you option. But, it won't be Oceania level of cooking. HAL has a veggie menu with vegan options but it is the same menu each night. MSC has one vegan main course per night... (they've made the veggie option a vegan one to cover both) and no-body else does anything like it. Yet, I hope.

3) As for meat subs... personally, I love them. Gimme seitan, tempeh, Oumph!, Tofurky... vegan alternatives to former meat. But if by 'real' vegan you mean WFPB, perhaps Oceania's menu is not the best option. IMO it is great to see a cruise line feature them rather than just veg. Royal Caribbean has soy mince but Carnival couldn't offer even that. Yet P&O has offered seitan based sandwich 'meats' and breakfast 'bacon".

4) Presentation is absolutely spot on on Oceania. Those Versace plates, Riedel glassware etc.

5) The experience of combining vegan with other dietary needs and staff not being aware of seitan being wheat based is scary... Hope you've written to Oceania and your terrible experience will lead to some serious training for not just galley but serving staff.

Would love to hear more.. and see more pics of vegan food onboard Oceania. If anyone is interested in sharing their vegan dining experience onboard, I've decided to start accepting guest posts on my vegan cruising blog :)

Sanna Vegancruiser

What a helpful thread! I'm considering my first time on Carnival and was concerned about the food. I can remember when I might have found one or two vegans on a cruise board. lol My gratitude to all the posters and for those great blog posts too!

 

One question: I have never brought food onto a cruise. Is this perfectly acceptable or are you sort of sneaking it on? lol Are there restrictions?

As per previous post, yes, Carnival allows shop-bought factory-sealed items are generally ok as long as you store them yourself. The only issue is bringing in liquids.. those you need clear in advance. As they are worried about alcohol smuggling.

I was first told by customer services taht only soya milk was available so I queried about bringing my own oat or almond milk onboard. I contacted special services and they advised I could bring plant milk but it would need to be cleared by the ship first. But they then said ship kept almond milk and that removed my problem.

Some other cruise lines say no foodstuffs are allowed, or need cleared, but I always take items for my own consumption :)

Hi, sorry to jump in and hijack the thread but wondered if any recent vegan cruisers on Princess can answer my question.

Last time we sailed w Princess (2016) we couldn't even get dairy-free spread onboard. No dairy-free ice cream. Cheese in a lot of veggie dishes. We dined great in the MDR but buffet was often a struggle, having to find staff to tell if the vegetarian marked soup was indeed vegan or veg served with butter. And the cheese in veggie dishes... or ham in otherwise beautiful salads.

I've recently sailed on the new Carnival Horizon and they could do a vegan burger at Guy's and vegan pizza if I took vegetables from the buffet (and my own dairyfree cheese & vegan salami). Any idea if the veggieburger discussed elsewhere on this forum is vegan too?

Anyone had almond milk? Cruise personaliser only offered soya (disagrees with me) and rice milk, which I find kinda watery. UK sister brand P&O have sometimes even had dairy-free yoghurts and cheese for passengers... so wondered if Princess have picked up on the growing vegan trend.

Trying to plan what I should bring onboard with me :) Any recent cruisers here? We're sailing the Med on Crown, btw. Just in case someone's been on that ship recently. Thanks!

Glad to find this thread! I try to have at least 50% of my meals Vegetarian and seeing the options on board is great.

Glad it's been helpful!

Earlier I shared a link to my blog post on breakfast choice on the Horizon but I've just written a new one on 'free' vegan lunch options onboard

http://vegancruiser.co.uk/cruise/vegan-lunch-carnival-horizon/

Hiya!

I'm just back from Carnival Horizon and had a fantastic time onboard as a first-time vegan cruiser. I have been on Royal Caribbean, MSC, Princess, Marella and visited/dined at Oceania.. and out of the mainstream lines Carnival have now shot to no2 position in vegan catering. Oceania is in a different league altogether..

But Carnival? They offered good options on most days (one MDR dinner was disappointing) and desserts weren't a match to Princess' ones but I would LOVE to sail w Carnival again. Staff were very helpful, one particular chef in the Buffet and one head waiter in the MDR. Find your 'people' and at the end of the cruise, leave great feedback for them. They can earn extra time off, even excursions and wifi allowance to stay in touch with family.

I had queried milk, spread etc in advance so knew I wouldn't need to bring my own almond milk. I did pack vegan cheese (cheddar and parmesan), deli slices and spread which came handy at Guy's, with pizza and pasta and spread at breakfast & dinner.

Annoyingly nothing in the buffet is marked but staff can always check to see if items have been prepared with butter. Sure enough, I was told the mushrooms in the pizza station were in butter so took veggies from salad bar and they made me vegan pizza - I added my parmesan at the table. White rice always comes with butter through it but if you request, they can cook a fresh vegan batch for you - another vegan cruiser did so at Blue Iguana for lunch.

I have done a blog post on my breakfast options and am currently typing up a lunch post. The breakfast one is here http://vegancruiser.co.uk/vegan/can-you-cruise-vegan-carnival/

Hiya!

I just got back from Carnival Horizon and had a great time onboard... and food was pretty darn good, I have to admit. Better vegan provision than I have had on Royal Caribbean in the past.

(You'll find my RC food photos/horrors on vegancruiser.co.uk)

I haven't posted my Carnival blog post yet but I found plenty to eat. MDR breakfast has oatmeal, avocado toast and curried lentil crepe thing, but it was a bit much so never ate that so early in the morning. One of the sous chefs at the Lido buffet would occasionally get me the MDR avo toast so that I didn't need to go down to the MDR for breakfast. Soy & almond milk was available too. Bring your own vegan spread, dairy-free cheese and deli slices and keep them in the fridge if you need them...

I found that on most morning's I would end up in the Blue Iguana queue with a veggie burrito in my hand. Veg fillings with hash browns.. various sauces. I couldn't get a comprehensive answer to whether guagamole (in squeazy bottle) had milk/dairy to make it squeazeable so I stuck to salsa.

Guy's veggieburger is vegan.. just as for no cheese, may, no butter in bun. Deli counter in the lido does a falafel wrap - just ask it without tsatsiki and feta. Lunchtime we also had Mongolian Wok and Italian pasta place to eat in (upcharge in the evenings). No vegan wok sauces, just soy, so I took two sachets of vegan wok sauce with me and chefs were happy to cook with them.

Pizza place in the lido, open 24h, had no vegan cheese, obv, but v little veg. I had to take some from the buffet and they would make one with my buffet veg and vegan salami & cheese. I was told mushrooms in the pizza station were fried with butter so I stayed clear of them.

MDR I always preordered my meals the night before, looking to see if there was something on the next day's menu that was easily veganisable. Indian vegetarian option is generally vegan if without raita.. but I didn't have to stick to that. Even got better desserts than on RC. My Vegancruiser FB page has a few photos from the start of the cruise - blog post up hopefully this weekend.

Beer brewed at own inhouse brewery (Pig & Anchor) at Vista & Horizon is vegan too - just saying ;)

No changes at all I’m afraid.

Oh poo.

I booked, foolishly, expecting a Caribbean Princess-type refurb.

All good, bad start ship wasn’t ready for service. What’s new. New TVs in all cabins, not interactive. Slice and salty dog on top deck with extended menus. Pizza is very good. New carpets in hallways. New muts screen. All new carpeting in green on open decks. New tiling round centre pools. New beds and new bedding.

Please tell me they've updated the Horizon court and Cafe Caribe or are those still he same: chunky old furniture and red terracotta & blue tiles..?

The ship does NOT operate as normal. Just search the MSC board for threads concerning this year's HHatS cruise and you'll see why. Those people were obnoxious, rude and felt as though they owned the ship.

I did not claim the ship operated as normal as it wouldn't, with any large group/event onboard. I said that the dining did operate as normal - and by that I meant that non-vegan food was available for those who wanted it. Regular MSC menu in the MDR (wasn't it the early sitting that was the vegan one?) and most of the buffet was regular MSC menu.. as the poster I was replying to was saying their son wouldn't be happy about dietary restriction being imposed on him. As that wouldn't be the case.

But like I said, any large group is going to affect how a cruise runs and feels. I can think of a various number of large group cruise events I would prefer not to sail on... ;)

wow! How do you know whether you're on a holistic cruise? I don't mind vegan food (tried it myself for a while in the past) but my son would be unhappy and I definitely do NOT want my vacation defined by some vegan theme. I am expecting lots of meat.

So, how do you know?

If you had been onboard, you & your son still could've eaten all the meat you wanted... the fact that there are vegans onboard on a HHatS sailing (one per year) does not stop meat & other animal products getting served. A section in the buffet is marked vegan and the MDRs have a set vegan dining time, but rest of the ship dining operates as normal. If you want to avoid their one annual cruise, keep note of the dates on their website and don't book that ship.

I can understand why some folk wouldn't want to book this sailing if venues were out of use/reserved for groups but that does happen pretty much every sailing I have ever been on... whether it is family groups, weddings or other hobby/interest groups. This happens to be a big group, though, as plant-based eating and all that holistic stuff is getting more popular each year.