Vegan Dishes ……….anyone have experience?

[Duck Duck Cruise]

Hi,

 

We will talk to the Head Waiter etc and register our preference on our booking page but wanted to know if anyone has had Vegan meals on Hal.

 

Thanks,

Lin

[bcnvcanada]

Hi we did 60 days with Hal this year. We were unable to get Vegan meals in the main dinning room. We went up to the Lido every night it was open. The staff got to know us and Jeff the chef up there went out of his way to fix things that we might like. The Lido was close of special theme nights. Those nights we ate late in the afternoon, and took

some things to the room for later. Hal is not Vegan friendly, but it work out okay.

[Iwant2BatC]

Hello - I am also a vegan and have usually found HAL to be extremely accomodating. I try to meet with the dining room manager at the beginning of a cruise and offer up my own menu. They are more than happy to prepare my requests. Recently I had a very snotty asst dining room manager on the Statendam who basically told me "tough" but this is the only time this has ever happened. The Lido manager will also be helpful on longer cruises and steam vegetables without butter, etc. And, there iare always the standby veggie burgers at the pool cafe. You'll not starve!

[tomc]

I was on the Maasdam one time when a disaster was partially avoided. Partially.

 

The vegans' TA assured them HAL had what they wanted, but apparently thought "vegan" was the same as "vegetarian." Make sure the TA fully understands the difference.

 

When they were at supper, they sadly discovered the mistake and were quite upset -- rightly so. They called the waiter, who called the m.d', who called the exec chef (can't think of his name, but one of the best on the line). He spoke with them, then went to the kitchen and whipped up a meal which conformed to their needs.

 

From then on, it was a little rocky but really nobody's fault but perhaps the TA's. The exec said he had no idea they (any vegans) would be on board and did not have enough of what they needed for new meals each day, but he would do the best he could. There were a bunch of repeats that week.

 

It was not a good scene. The vegans did not complain openly, although I did hear a little quiet mumbling. It was obvious they were deeply disappointed. When the cruise was over, I wrote to HAL hq and praised the exec for what he was able to do and suggested keeping a few vegan items on board for cruises -- which vegetarians and general population together would enjoy if vegans were not on board. You would know that pretty quickly.

 

I do think people with way different food needs should make that known early. Vegans fit into that slot, as well as kosher and perhaps others. I ate with someone who had an extreme anaphylactic reaction to alcohol (and said it really doesn't all burn off when cooked). The waiter would bring her the next day's menu and discuss the ingredients. She did not need to tell hq, but just alert the MDR staff the first night.

[RuthC]

... who called the exec chef (can't think of his name, but one of the best on the line).

John Mulvaney. I remember when this happened.

Agreed, one of the best ever. He has always gone above and beyond to see what he can do to please the guests, and to make his recipies better.

[fann1sh]

Duck Duck Cruise, the sort of situation TomC describes happened to a friend. It seems 90% of people use "vegan" interchangeably with "vegetarian" (if they aren't either).

 

On your booking page - if there is space for details - in addition to "vegan", I would type in, "No fish, milk, cheese, butter, eggs - no animal products at all."

 

It can't hurt, and it may help.

[SwissMyst]

Finding balance between mainline cruising and cost consideration while accommodating to passenger special dietary needs is always a fine line and bottomline.

 

Do mainline cruisers want to subsidize more and more special dietary needs passengers at their expense, or should there be different charge levels depending upon the complexity and demands of this growing list of special dietary needs.

 

How "friendly" should a mainline cruise ship be and how much extra will this cost the mainline cruiser who are happy with the mainline offerings?

 

An naturally when something that was not considered mainline at one time like simply being "vegetarian" becomes mainstream, then it is reasonable for any cruise line to provide mainline accommodations. The question here is how fine does one sharpen the pencil.

 

Does it stop at "vegetarian" right now or are ships (at no extra expense to the majority of passengers) also provide more and more specialized dietary offerings.

[fann1sh]

SwissMyst, I agree. It doesn't matter what the issue is or where the line in the sand is drawn - someone will be unhappy if they are on the other side of it.

 

My vegan friend accepted that her needs were outside the norm and shrugged off difficulties with "I can always eat salad in the Lido." I agree with bcnvcanada that HAL is not "vegan friendly" - in the sense menus don't contain many standard cooked entrees which meet their needs. Vegans should cruise HAL with that in mind.

 

IMO, vegans who have success in getting special dishes cooked are likely both lucky + unusually pleasant. Pleasant alone doesn't work without the luck.

[billie5]

Don't agree with fann1sh. It is always possible to get vegan dishes, but expecting a new one each day is IMO completely unreasonable. I always tell the chef to make vegetable curry or spaghetti with vegetable sauce if one of the other dishes can not be fixed to be vegan (ie, by omitting the animal products). Sure, I get repeats, but more often than not after a while the chef comes up with his own innovations (or should I say inventions). And I have been on so many cruises since I went vegan that I am sure luck has had nothing to do with it. Perhaps bad luck (with a completely uncooperative chef) might be a possibility, but so far it has not arisen.

 

Incidentally, for what it is worth my transition to vegan was by doctor's orders, certainly not a voluntary choice for me.

 

Bill

[Duck Duck Cruise]

Thank you all very much for your experiences, insights and stories. It is a good suggestion to be very clear on our booking page and talk to the chef and head waiter.