Vegan/vegetarian Allure of the Seas

[wonderdox]

Greetings!

 

All this cold weather has me thinking about cruising!

 

I have a friend that has expressed interest in cursing Allure of the Seas this summer. She has never cruised before.

 

I sailed on Oasis of the Seas this summer so I feel I can help her with a lot of her questions about cruising. I am worried about one thing... food.

 

She is VERY picky about what she eats. She has had health issues that she manages with her diet. She is not a strict vegan but has strong vegan tenancies. She VERY, VERY rarely eats fish (allergic to shellfish), dairy products, and eggs. She eats NO chicken, beef, lamb, or other land critters I may be leaving out. She eats mostly a plant based diet.

 

She normally avoids soy and eats organic when she can. She typically is low fat, low sugar, and low sodium.

 

I know she can make special arrangements to address most of her dietary needs. If would like to pass on some information to help her plan. If you know if any good threads (or other resources) that you can link me with that would be awesome! I would like her to see how others have dealt with these challenges.

 

She normally brings her own organic snacks when she travels. I would assume she can not bring fruit with her. Is that correct?

 

Many thanks!:D

[Lionesss]

WOW

 

I can answer one for sure........you cannot bring your own fruit.

 

Her best bet is contacting te cruise line, (e-mail) and see if her dietary needs could possibly be met.

 

Sea Ya

[wonderdox]

I think the food issue might be a big one for her. I def recommend she contact Royal directly.

 

It is not like she cooks all of her meals and never goes out. But cruising is different.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

I'd advise her to be especially careful about sopus on board. Even the most innocent soups often have chicken broth as a base.

 

Also whenever she orders be sure to say, "No cheese." It is amazing how many foods come with a sprinkling of grated cheese or a dollop of sour cream.

 

I try to be vegan but have to ease up on cruises and go for vegetarian. I end up eating mostly salads and fresh fruits.

 

Tell waiters that you eat a plant-based diet, but be aware that some waiters still think that includes fish...honestly.

Edited January 22, 2014 by Gangway Style

[wonderdox]

I'd advise her to be especially careful about sopus on board. Even the most innocent soups often have chicken broth as a base.

 

Also whenever she orders be sure to say, "No cheese." It is amazing how many foods come with a sprinkling of grated cheese or a dollop of sour cream.

 

I try to be vegan but have to ease up on cruises and go for vegetarian. I end up eating mostly salads and fresh fruits.

 

Tell waiters that you eat a plant-based diet, but be aware that some waiters still think that includes fish...honestly.

 

Thanks for the tips! LOL! You would think saying a "plant based diet" would give someone a good idea of what is okay and what is not okay.

 

When explaining dietary needs, some times things get lost in translation when English is not the first language for wait staff.

 

It is important for her to have reasonable expectation. It is a lot of money to spend to be miserable.

[Ken Greco]

My son who is 22 has been a vegan for 5 years. He has been on 5 cruises of of 13 that he had to have a vegan diet, He lived on vegan pizza, veggie mexican, pasta nd other items. Be careful in that the wait staff as mentioned does not understand what a vegan meal is. I woud contact RCCL before you leave and when you get on the ship. The Windjammer does have vegan based items but you must be careful if this person wants to strictly go vegan.

[SPacificbound]

I am strict vegetarian and I found my best option was to eat in the Windjammer where I could choose my own food and not have to depend on interpretations. 18 Night cruise and I had one meal in the MDR and from then on it was Windjammer. :) May not work for others but for me it was great!

[Merion_Mom]

Greetings!

 

All this cold weather has me thinking about cruising!

 

I have a friend that has expressed interest in cursing Allure of the Seas this summer. She has never cruised before.

 

I sailed on Oasis of the Seas this summer so I feel I can help her with a lot of her questions about cruising. I am worried about one thing... food.

 

She is VERY picky about what she eats. She has had health issues that she manages with her diet. She is not a strict vegan but has strong vegan tenancies. She VERY, VERY rarely eats fish (allergic to shellfish), dairy products, and eggs. She eats NO chicken, beef, lamb, or other land critters I may be leaving out. She eats mostly a plant based diet.

 

She normally avoids soy and eats organic when she can. She typically is low fat, low sugar, and low sodium.

 

I know she can make special arrangements to address most of her dietary needs. If would like to pass on some information to help her plan. If you know if any good threads (or other resources) that you can link me with that would be awesome! I would like her to see how others have dealt with these challenges.

 

She normally brings her own organic snacks when she travels. I would assume she can not bring fruit with her. Is that correct?

 

Many thanks!:D

 

Oh, please don't do that! I love the Allure! :eek: :p ;) :D

[happy trailer]

I've posted this previously on Cruise Critic, and hope it helps!:

 

 

I've had great success as a vegan on Celebrity, Royal, and Carnival.

 

Here's what you need to do, in order to be very well fed on any cruise line:

 

- Before your cruise, contact your cruise line's special needs department, and let them know you are a vegetarian (or vegan). Most lines ask that you notify them 30-60 days in advance, but I've given less notice for a last-minute booking. If you used a travel agent, then they can make this contact for you. (I've only just run into being told (by Royal) that they no longer have a designation for 'vegan', but even though I'll be doing 23 days b2b I'm not worried because I know the dining staff want to make sure everyone is happy).

 

- On the day of embarkation, meet with the maitre d'. He or she should have your name on a special list, and will let you know how they will be taking care of you. On Celebrity, I was told that they had already selected the first night's meal for me, and that I would be brought a vegetarian menu to order the next night's dinner for each subsequent night; on Carnival I was brought the regular menu for the next night and the asst maitre d reviewed it with me, letting me know which items could be prepared vegan; Royal kind of winged it- the maitre d asked me what kind of food I liked, and they prepared a special dinner each night based on my preferences. (I like Carnival's method best, because I ate similar food to my table mate's each night, and I felt I had a nice set of choices for each course. Carnival also offered to show me lunch menus in case I wanted to have lunch in the dining room.)

 

- Anytime you eat at the buffets- for any meal- identify yourself as a vegan to either the maitre d on duty or to any of the station chefs, and ask what you can eat. On every line, I found the chefs practically tripping over themselves to make me something special! Between that and the salad bar (where there is usually at least one bean dish) and fruit selections (where you can also find nuts), I had more than plenty to eat. I was on the Carnival Breeze Trans Atlantic in November, and found the chefs at almost all the stations vegan knowledgeable and friendly, and they usually took out clean cutting boards and knives before I had a chance to ask them to. (Note that at the Mongolian grill, you should ask them to sauté your selection in water, as otherwise they use broth; also only the soy sauce is vegetarian.)

 

Also- don't assume that a station will have nothing that matches your diet. I had a great sandwich prepared for me at Carnival's deli: a thick giabatta stuffed with all sorts of fresh and pickled vegetables. And, of course, the pizzeria will be happy to prepare a cheeseless pizza topped with vegetables.

 

- My usual breakfast is fruit and nuts, but on a cruise I treat myself to bread and sometimes peanut butter or jelly. The chefs were happy to tell me which breads were vegan.

 

In addition to being vegan, I also prefer to avoid sugar and excess fats, and those needs have always been met. I have a standing request to start each meal with a plate of cut vegetables -I ask for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and olives, but you could ask for any favorites (this is in addition to my appetizer), and to end it with melon and berries.

 

I've been served all sorts of great appetizers and entrees, from Greek to Chinese to Italian to Middle Eastern to Indian- and even American. I've been urged to let the chef prepare a dessert for me, but, except for an occasional baked apple, I prefer to end my meal with fresh fruit.

 

I know I sound like a cheerleader, but what I'm really trying to say is that with some pre-cruise preparation, and a bit of creativity (and ingenuity) during the cruise, you'll find that the maitre d and the chefs really want to see that you are contentedly well fed - and they are happy to make sure you are.

 

HTH!

 

Ruth

[LuvWilliam]

DH and I are strict vegans... Don't eat soy, GMOs, only organic and also gluten-free. We enjoyed our salads on Oasis and had no trouble finding food. We also brought Larabars from home as snacks but barely ate any we brought. With a little imagination, we made it work!

[life_dizzy]

It is good to hear that some lines are accommodating to dietary needs. However, I am honestly quite scared of our cruise coming up in December. I have SO many dietary restrictions, some due to choice but others due to a bladder condition. There is honestly NO way to tell a chef what I can and cannot eat. Mostly because the things I choose not to eat, I might choose to "cheat" and have sometimes (like gluten). The things for my health condition depend on if I am having a "good" day or a "bad" day.

 

When we went on our first cruise last year, I had not yet realized how bad food affected my bladder condition and was in pain pretty much the whole trip. The fact that what I cannot or will not eat changes from one hour to the next, or one day to the next makes it seem impossible to try to explain to the cruise lines. I guess we'll see how it goes. We are going on the Allure of the Seas in December, and I am hoping I can have more than just salads with no dressing the whole trip!

Edited August 5, 2014 by life_dizzy