Vegan Food Onboard?

[princess grills]

As a recent vegan convert, has anyone had experience of varied vegan options onboard Seabourn ships please? 

[sfvoyage]

There is a good selection of vegan dishes on board.  As a new vegan on Seabourn, you should have no issue.  Every evening, there is a selection of 2-3 starters and one main (either vegetarian or vegan) in the Restaurant.  Dessert should be pre-ordered, as most are not vegan.  (Beware of gelatin, which makes its way into some of dessert items.)

 

You should work and pre-order with the assistant maitre d' (one is dedicated to serving guests with special dietary requirements) as well as the chef himself (I have yet to meet a female executive chef on board.)  There is a master list of vegetarian dishes and vegan dishes available, from which the chef chooses to feature each evening.  You can obtain the list in advance and pre-order the item you'd like the night before.  However, this list may not be available to guests on all ships on all sailings; in any case, you most likely do not need it, as all those dishes will be a new experience to you.  For me, I have had all the dishes numerous times over the years and do have a few that I don't prefer.

 

Also, each chef does things differently.  Last December/January on the Sojourn, chef Guiseppi took the initiative to institute a "From the Garden" menu available in addition to the regular menu every night at the Restaurant (available to everyone who knows to ask for it), which features additional vegan dishes (mains, starters and desserts).  It proved popular and well-loved by me and other omnivorous guests who heard about it.  However, corporate told him to stop his initiative towards the end of the cruise, which was a most unfortunate, baffling and customer-unfriendly decision.

 

In Thomas Keller Grill, there are no vegan mains; you'll need to consult with the assistant maitre d' and/or the chef.  A typical vegan main they offer is a "steak" made of various legumes/beans and wild rice with a mushroom sauce - tasty but again boring after many times.  Luckily, they do have other recipes.  Executive Chef Sandoval is happy to innovate and introduce new vegan dishes to their repertoire (off menu).  If he's not on board - he is a Thomas Keller executive chef assigned to Seabourn full-time and rotates among all the Seabourn vessels - the chef in charge can email him to obtain the recipes.

 

In Colonnade, the evening vegetarian dish is the same as that at the Restaurant.  I rarely dine at the Colonnade at night.  At Ad Hoc nights, they can make simple vegan dishes (e.g. grilled trumpet mushrooms, zucchini and/or broccolini, etc.) upon special request.  Again, consult with the assistant maitre d' and the chef beforehand.

 

At Earth and Ocean (Patio Grill), there are always a vegan starter and a main.  The pasta starter can always be made vegetarian or vegan.  Again, the regular dessert is usually not vegan.

 

At The Sushi, the chefs struggled to do anything vegetarian, let alone vegan  At lunch, they have a vegetarian (may be vegan, not sure) bento, whose main is grilled mushroom.  The miso soup contains dashi, of course - the regular kind made of katsuo (i.e. benito flakes).  I doubt they can make a vegan version (made of konbu - sea kelp - and/or shitake).  At dinner, I had cucumber after cucumber.  I tried to special order ahead but was rebuffed - a first on Seabourn.  I haven't had a chance to sail on the big ship again to give this venue another try.  But this is the least veggie-friendly venue on Seabourn.

 

Personally, after many years of sailing on Seabourn, the dishes get repetitious - I see the same veggie dishes on offer as my first cruises on Seabourn some 10 years ago.  Even with the Thomas Keller rollout a few years ago, the vegetarian and vegan selection on Seabourn needs to be refreshed for long-timers.  The good news is that most of the vegan dishes are quite good, so again, for you, every dish should be a new experience, and hopefully you should be pleased.

Edited March 9, 2019 by sfvoyage

[princess grills]

Thank you so much for such an in-depth and informative reply.

I really appreciate you taking the time and effort.

[sfvoyage]

34 minutes ago, princess grills said:

Thank you so much for such an in-depth and informative reply.

I really appreciate you taking the time and effort.

 

Sure, my pleasure.  Have a wonderful voyage on Seabourn!  I think you'll enjoy the food.  The primary reason for my loyalty to Seabourn is their personalized service; if you let them know of your likes and dislikes, they will do their best to delight.

 

As mentioned, since I have been on Seabourn for so long and have experienced the same veggie dishes so many times, part of my "survival tactics" is to pre-order (I email guest services at least 2 months prior to sailing) several vegan items and ingredients (e.g. vegan cheese, yogurt, ice cream, tofu, seitan, tempeh), so that the chefs will have more raw ingredients to work with.  Otherwise, things do get repetitious for me.  Seabourn will do their best to procure the items, although sometimes not all will be available.  They do not charge for this service.  After all, we are a relatively high profit margin pool of customers for them, as we do not partake in the high-cost items such as caviar, lobster, prime rib, jumbo shrimp, foie gras and other assorted animal flesh and derivatives...

Edited March 9, 2019 by sfvoyage

[Hoyaheel]

I didn't eat dinner in the Colonnade - just lunches - am I misremembering that some of the salads/buffet dishes did have Vegan and/or vegetarian labels on them if applicable? It can be very difficult sometimes -esp with some of the lovely grain based salads - to know if chicken stock etc have been used to cook grains or animal products are otherwise hiding in plain sight....

[rols]

7 hours ago, sfvoyage said:

After all, we are a relatively high profit margin pool of customers for them, as we do not partake in the high-cost items such as caviar, lobster, prime rib, jumbo shrimp, foie gras and other assorted animal flesh and derivatives...

Which makes even more surprising that the chef you mentioned in your original superb reply was told by corporate to stop his 'from the garden' menu. First of all clearly it was popular and people liked it so he should have been encouraged to continue, secondly you'd think it was a cost effective option for Seabourn. 

I'm not a vegetarian however I'll pick the vegetarian courses every couple of days on a cruise because I prefer a lighter option after days of filling food. Some of them are executed very well, some of them feel like a bit of an afterthought. 

Edited March 10, 2019 by rols

[sfvoyage]

17 hours ago, Hoyaheel said:

I didn't eat dinner in the Colonnade - just lunches - am I misremembering that some of the salads/buffet dishes did have Vegan and/or vegetarian labels on them if applicable? It can be very difficult sometimes -esp with some of the lovely grain based salads - to know if chicken stock etc have been used to cook grains or animal products are otherwise hiding in plain sight....

 

Most of the chefs at the Colonnade don't normally season with meat/chicken broth - butter, however, is used occasionally - but still it is prudent to check.  In fact, that's my ritual when having lunch there - finding out which of the vegetable or vegetarian-looking dishes (hot and cold) are in fact vegetarian or vegan.  Sometimes fish stock, oyster sauce etc. may be used for seasoning as well.  I also need to find out which of the dessert items at the buffet contain gelatin - usually a couple of them do; once in a while, on the rare good day, all of them would be gelatin-free.

 

A few years ago, I asked the restaurant manager why they label gluten-free items but not vegetarian or vegan ones, and he agreed to add such labels, which he implemented the next day and which really helped reduce unnecessary work for guests and staff alike, not having to ask around and investigate during busy lunch service.  However, that was apparently a short-lived change, as now it's back to gluten-free labels only.

[sfvoyage]

15 hours ago, rols said:

Which makes even more surprising that the chef you mentioned in your original superb reply was told by corporate to stop his 'from the garden' menu. First of all clearly it was popular and people liked it so he should have been encouraged to continue, secondly you'd think it was a cost effective option for Seabourn. 

I'm not a vegetarian however I'll pick the vegetarian courses every couple of days on a cruise because I prefer a lighter option after days of filling food. Some of them are executed very well, some of them feel like a bit of an afterthought. 

 

You're spot on!  The new additional garden menu was indeed popular and if made permanent would save Seabourn money over the long run, as the vegan ingredients cost less than the fancy meat and fish/seafood items.  I am trying to find out why the corporate executive put an end to that popular and cost-effective initiative.  Will revert if I get any "real" (i.e. not corporate-speak) answer.

 

I also agree that the many of the vegetarian and vegan dishes are brilliant, while a few should be retired permanently or at least rotated out more often.  Most of the times, they will modify a regular dish and turn it vegetarian and vegan.  I know much has been written on here about the immutability of Thomas Keller dishes, but that is not entirely true, as long as the change is a minor/easy one, e.g. removing small speck pieces from the otherwise wonderful English pea angnolotti dish.

Edited March 10, 2019 by sfvoyage

[machotspur]

12 hours ago, sfvoyage said:

 - finding out which of the vegetable or vegetarian-looking dishes (hot and cold) are in fact vegetarian or vegan. 

 

This is a very good point.

One style of dish where there is no consistency is risottos. We were onboard Ovation a couple of weeks ago and mistakenly ordered what looked to be a vegetable risotto type dish, only to find out later that it contained chicken stock. The following day we had risotto in a different restaurant which was made with vegetable stock.      

 

The labelling on the menus is IMHO poor and inconsistent.

 

In my opinion individual dietary preferences is becoming the norm in many countries around the world. For example Veganism is almost mainstream in the UK these days, largely fuelled by those that want to eat less meat as opposed to hardcore Vegans. 

I did not feel that Seabourn understand this and/or have a serious desire to meet these needs.

 

A quite awful example of the Seabourn veggie offer is shown below - a Veggie Burger which resembled a dollop of mashed potato with some vegetables in it, absolutely saturated in oil. Without doubt one of the most unpleasant plates of food I have seen on a cruise ship.    

 

 

Fortunately i'm a Pescetarian so was fine most of the time. If I was a true Vegetarian/Vegan I would have been quite upset with the food offering on Ovation. Of course that is just my opinion and food does of course divide opinion :-).

    

[sfvoyage]

19 hours ago, machotspur said:

 

One style of dish where there is no consistency is risottos. We were onboard Ovation a couple of weeks ago and mistakenly ordered what looked to be a vegetable risotto type dish, only to find out later that it contained chicken stock. The following day we had risotto in a different restaurant which was made with vegetable stock.      

A quite awful example of the Seabourn veggie offer is shown below - a Veggie Burger which resembled a dollop of mashed potato with some vegetables in it, absolutely saturated in oil. Without doubt one of the most unpleasant plates of food I have seen on a cruise ship.    

 

 

I know what you mean - the veggie burger normally offered at the Patio Grill is quite forgettable.  Veggie burgers and sausages have come a long way - we now have the "Impossible Burger" (funded by Google Ventures and Bill Gates et al) as well as "Beyond Meat" burgers and sausages (funded by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Bryers, Bill Gates, Tyson Food, etc.).  It's a whole new world, in which hopefully Seabourn will one day partake.

 

After all, Seabourn rolled out the new "Andrew Weil" wellness program, and what would be more complementary and holistic with good health and wellness than a more earth- and health-friendly culinary program?  Instead, they have sound bowl and meditation classes that effectively displace many of the complimentary group exercise classes in the studio.  I for one miss the group exercise classes, which really contribute to health and wellness in terms of cardio fitness and strength training.  (Incidentally, the meditation and sound bowl classes are usually not that popular and are sometimes cancelled due to lack of interest.)

 

Regarding risottos, yes, they are often prepared with fish or meat broth and so must be pre-ordered with vegetarian broth.  (I like to order risotto when dining out because it requires a lot of time and effort to make at home.)