Gate 1 vegetarian meals?

[alpenglow]

Hi folks,

 

After a lot of research, DH and I are ready to book our first river cruise on Gate 1 for next fall, 17 days Warsaw-Prague on the Empress. The itinerary covers nearly everything we want at a price that's thousands less than other cruise lines.

 

Our biggest concern with Gate 1 is the food. Does anyone who has cruised on this ship or maybe with Gate 1 in Europe at all, remember if your crew served vegetarian options at dinner? The sales agent I talked with said he could "put in a request" for non-meat meals, but he could not guarantee anything. We would get no response about our request until after we booked. And at no point would anything be in writing.

 

We do eat dairy and some fish, and just want some assurance that we're not going to be stuck with rabbit food or bland pasta and dinner rolls every night on a two-week, $10k vacation. Other cruise lines seem very willing to accommodate people's dietary restrictions.

 

The agent I talked with did not seem knowledgeable at all about the ship, and didn't provide much more info about anything that wasn't also posted on the company website. Hoping our fellow cruisers can provide some more guidance before we fork over a lot of money.

 

Thanks in advance!

[SuiteTraveler]

I found this for you:

 

"14. Re: Gate1 Travel

Sep 14, 2014, 9:35 PM

 

 

My husband, my 16 year old son and I recently traveled to China on August 11, 2014 with Gate 1 --10 Day Affordable China. This was our second trip with Gate 1. We were extremely pleased with the entire tour. The trip was reasonably priced. We travelled to 4 different cities where we had the opportunity to visit museums, parks and other historical sites. We flew from New York to Beijing and met our tour manager Jason at the airport. He was very efficient, and professional. We also visited Xian, Shanghai and Suzhou during our stay. The tour guides in these respective cities were equally knowledgeable. Everything went very smoothly with all the flights, and transfers, The hotels were very nice with friendly staff. Everyone knew enough English to communicate with all of us. The meals were awesome. There were multiple choices especially for us who are vegetarian. Our tour manager made sure that we always had many vegetarian/vegan choices.

 

In all, it was a wonderful experience. The optional tours complimented the package. I would recommend to add them to your tour-package. We had no time to be bored. Our 16 year old son can't stop talking about our vacation this year. Most of our friends are putting this itinerary in their bucket list after viewing our photos. Gate 1 did a marvelous job. I would definitely recommend Gate 1."

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294211-i642-k5964330-o10-Gate1_Travel-China.html

So although this is China, clearly Gate 1 chefs know how to accommodate vegetarians/pescatarians.

Here the blogger says that the European ship could accommodate any type of diet:

http://beersandbeans.com/2013/06/04/a-peek-inside-the-sound-of-music/

and again here, the first review mentions "yummy vegetarian"

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g294459-d600453-r398622977-Volga_River-Russia.html

[SuiteTraveler]

I wanted to add that typically on a river cruise breakfast is a buffet featuring all the staples: eggs, sweet rolls, toast, breads, sausage, bacon, sometimes pancakes and waffles, muesli, cereal, oatmeal, fruit, cheese, salamis, yogurt.

 

Lunch is also a buffet with a lot of cold salads, cheeses, bread, salamis, and then a few heated items and usually some carved meat.

 

Dinner is table service and there is almost always several vegetarian items in the Appetizer and Salad/Soup categories and then fish is very common on the menu along with a vegetarian entree. I would think you could get by. I would also suggest bringing along a few pre-packaged high protein snacks as they don't serve food between meals. I saw a post that said Gate 1 needs 72 hour advance written notice of special dietary requirements. This is likely to let the chef pre-shop for the right provisions, so do let them know in advance - I'd get the fax number of the ship and fax it to them. But since you are flexible and eat fish, dairy and so forth, I really don't think you would have a problem finding plenty to eat onboard.

[RDC1]

We just completed a river cruise with Gate1 on the Monarch Empress.

 

The Dinner menu each night had 5 entrée choices. 2 were available every night and were Chicken and a Caesar salad. The other three choices varied each night. Out of the three 1 was meat, one was fish and the third vegetarian.

 

Each night there are 2 or 3 appetizers that everyone gets (you can tell your server to not bring one or more of the appetizers in they do not appeal to you).

 

I found the quality of what they served to be very good, though some of the people I was traveling with would have preferred more choice. The varied entrees tended to be more local in nature (European) instead of more US focused.

[champmason]

We returned about a month ago after cruising on Monarch Queen. Not only was a vegetarian meal served nightly, but I saw a few people decline the appetizer and they were served a nice side salad.

[mom_suzanne]

I found this for you:

 

"14.Re: Gate1 Travel

Sep 14, 2014, 9:35 PM

 

 

My husband, my 16 year old son and I recently traveled to China on August 11, 2014 with Gate 1 --10 Day Affordable China. This was our second trip with Gate 1. We were extremely pleased with the entire tour. The trip was reasonably priced. We travelled to 4 different cities where we had the opportunity to visit museums, parks and other historical sites. We flew from New York to Beijing and met our tour manager Jason at the airport. He was very efficient, and professional. We also visited Xian, Shanghai and Suzhou during our stay. The tour guides in these respective cities were equally knowledgeable. Everything went very smoothly with all the flights, and transfers, The hotels were very nice with friendly staff. Everyone knew enough English to communicate with all of us. The meals were awesome. There were multiple choices especially for us who are vegetarian. Our tour manager made sure that we always had many vegetarian/vegan choices.

 

In all, it was a wonderful experience. The optional tours complimented the package. I would recommend to add them to your tour-package. We had no time to be bored. Our 16 year old son can't stop talking about our vacation this year. Most of our friends are putting this itinerary in their bucket list after viewing our photos. Gate 1 did a marvelous job. I would definitely recommend Gate 1."

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294211-i642-k5964330-o10-Gate1_Travel-China.html

So although this is China, clearly Gate 1 chefs know how to accommodate vegetarians/pescatarians.

Here the blogger says that the European ship could accommodate any type of diet:

http://beersandbeans.com/2013/06/04/a-peek-inside-the-sound-of-music/

and again here, the first review mentions "yummy vegetarian"

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g294459-d600453-r398622977-Volga_River-Russia.html

I also did that tour in March 2015 with Jason 😊What a great guy and agreat trip !

[mom_suzanne]

We just completed a river cruise with Gate1 on the Monarch Empress.

 

The Dinner menu each night had 5 entrée choices. 2 were available every night and were Chicken and a Caesar salad. The other three choices varied each night. Out of the three 1 was meat, one was fish and the third vegetarian.

 

Each night there are 2 or 3 appetizers that everyone gets (you can tell your server to not bring one or more of the appetizers in they do not appeal to you).

 

I found the quality of what they served to be very good, though some of the people I was traveling with would have preferred more choice. The varied entrees tended to be more local in nature (European) instead of more US focused.

Thanks for information 😊

[alpenglow]

Thank you, everyone! You were a LOT more helpful than the cruise line's own sales agent! :D:D:D:D:D:D

[valmira]

Thank you, everyone! You were a LOT more helpful than the cruise line's own sales agent! :D:D:D:D:D:D

 

Hi, Alpenglow,

My husband & myself sail with Gate One next spring. And are vegetarian too. We do eat dairy too but don't eat fish. We like the spicy curry food. And we hope we can get Gate vegetarian dishes One Monarch Barron. Thanks