Vegetarian food in the MDR?

[SquishTheWhale]

Hi all

 

Going on Britannia at the end of August, and being joined by family, it will be their first cruise. Two of my family are veggie, and one is a bit fussy. By veggie just to clarify I mean they don't eat meat or fish but do eat dairy. Apologies if that clarification wasn't needed, but you'd be amazed how many people think veggies eat fish or just lump them in with vegans!

 

It'll be our first time with P&O so I was having a look at the MDR menus from their website and was surprised to see they only offer one veggie main course every night! Do they really only have one option? Apart from the fact I think they should have a choice, my sister is a little fussy- for instance, she hates mushrooms, so if the choice that night is a mushroom dish she has nothing to order?

 

Hoping someone can reassure me there will be a little more choice for them?

[Big Foot]

As long as you have made sure that your family members dietary requirements are noted on the booking then it should be straightforward.　

 

We cruised with some friends a couple of years ago, one of which was a vegetarian.　

 

Each night the Head Waiter or Maitre D would come to the table, with a separate vegetarian menu & take a note of their order for the following night. Whilst there seemed to be quite a few options to chose from there was only Menu A or Menu B which I believe they alternated, but I could be wrong on that. 　

 

With regards to the (V) dish on the main menu don't worry about that, I think it's just there for another choice.　

I too am a very fussy eater & in the words of Dame Maggie Smith in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel "If I can't pronounce it I'm not eating it". I don't mushrooms, anything spicy or lots of other things but I can always find something to eat. Don't forget if all else fails you can (or at least we could when we cruise last year) always order Chicken or Steak.　

 

Please let you your waiters know when ordering if you don't want something on your food or even if you want something different as they really want you to enjoy your meal. You can also order additional side dishes of extra veg or chips if you want.　

 

I know one night my friend really didn't touch her dinner. There was nothing wrong with the dinner, she was feeling sea sick & they were so worried she didn't enjoy it that they wanted to go and get her something else to try.　

I'm sure someone else will be along soon with more experience to re assure you.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Joan

[SquishTheWhale]

8 minutes ago, Big Foot said:

As long as you have made sure that your family members dietary requirements are noted on the booking then it should be straightforward.　

 

We cruised with some friends a couple of years ago, one of which was a vegetarian.　

 

Each night the Head Waiter or Maitre D would come to the table, with a separate vegetarian menu & take a note of their order for the following night. Whilst there seemed to be quite a few options to chose from there was only Menu A or Menu B which I believe they alternated, but I could be wrong on that. 　

 

With regards to the (V) dish on the main menu don't worry about that, I think it's just there for another choice.　

I too am a very fussy eater & in the words of Dame Maggie Smith in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel "If I can't pronounce it I'm not eating it". I don't mushrooms, anything spicy or lots of other things but I can always find something to eat. Don't forget if all else fails you can (or at least we could when we cruise last year) always order Chicken or Steak.　

 

Please let you your waiters know when ordering if you don't want something on your food or even if you want something different as they really want you to enjoy your meal. You can also order additional side dishes of extra veg or chips if you want.　

 

I know one night my friend really didn't touch her dinner. There was nothing wrong with the dinner, she was feeling sea sick & they were so worried she didn't enjoy it that they wanted to go and get her something else to try.　

I'm sure someone else will be along soon with more experience to re assure you.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Joan

 

Thank you- I didn't realise there was a separate veggie menu which does reassure me that they won't be stuck. I haven't noted it on their reservations as it never occurred to me that they needed to know in advance, but I can certainly do that.

 

With choosing what they want to eat the night before, how does that work if we all have freedom dining? Can they not just choose off the veggie menu on the night? My sister is travelling with her 3yr old so they will wait to see what kind of mood he is in before they decide where to dine that night (ie if he wants to stay in the kids club or not!).

 

I'm a bit of a fussy meat eater too but at least us carnivores always have at least 5 or so choices!

[Big Foot]

Not 100% sure however, we did Freedom dining with our friend.

 

By registering your dietary requirements they are linked to your cabin number.  

 

When you enter the freedom dining restaurant you have to give your cabin number so presumably it will flag up on their systems.  They then know what table you will be seated at and will come to you with the menu.  When you eat the following night they can find you in the restaurant as you give your details over when ordering .

 

i have managed to find this on the P&O website 

 

https://carnivaluk.metafaq.com/resources/carnivaluk/life-on-board/veg-menu-sample.pdf

 

Hope this helps.

 

Joan

[Josy1953]

On Ventura in December there were 2 vegan choices on the starter and main courses and 1 or 2 vegan desserts every evening.  I would imagine that these would be ok for vegetarians.  I also received an email last week saying that the new menus,with vegan options had now been rolled out cross the fleet.

[the english lady]

I thought I had an email recently from Pando saying they had revamped their veggie and vegan menues...Look on their website I am sure it will be on there  now.

[the english lady]

https://ask.pocruises.com/help/PO/life-on-board/example_menu

 

click on the vegetarian menu. this would be ordered as normal

[SquishTheWhale]

Thank you, totally didn't see the vegetarian menu on the website! So when we sit down they can just ask for the veggie menu? (assuming they aren't brought it automatically). That will work out fine along with the one or two options on the main menu. As I say not keen on the 'ordering the night before' malarkey as that doesn't work when your dining plans are loose. There's six of us plus the little one so we will probably mix and match who eats with whom and where each night to share the babysitting duties, assuming he doesn't co-operate with the kids club.

 

17 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

On Ventura in December there were 2 vegan choices on the starter and main courses and 1 or 2 vegan desserts every evening.  I would imagine that these would be ok for vegetarians.  I also received an email last week saying that the new menus,with vegan options had now been rolled out cross the fleet.

 

Really appreciate the info, but it does annoy them when people lump in veggie and vegan options together so I hope P&O don't do that. It might make things simpler for them, but there's lots of nice veggie food that vegans can't have so they find it very restrictive to only be offered vegan food, which is becoming a trend as veganism becomes more popular.

I guess it's a bit like only offering meat eaters a fish dish, because that satisfies both meat eaters and pescatarians.