Vegetarian and alcohol free on NCL

[leblais]

So... My wife has adopted an alcohol free and vegetarian life style. We assumed that since the NCL website specifically mentioned to let them know about her dietary needs well in advance, that there would be some comparable options for her to eat. I contacted them multiple times and was assured that there would be great options.  When we got aboard, the options were extremely limited. I had mentioned prior to cruising that we had reservations at Le Bistro, Cagney's etc., and was told that there would be, and I want to stress this COMPARABLE options for her.   Most of the places had a vegetarian(ish) dish available, but they were not good. They were visually unappealing and I tasted them and they were terrible. On top of that, it was pretty much the same dish in every place!  I made sure to call the day before we went to Cagney's since there was obviously nothing on the menu that she could eat (yes, I am aware it is a steak house but NCL told me that they would accommodate her,  which, to be fair, they did, but not in a comparable way).  When we arrived at Cagney's I reminded the Hostess that my wife was Vegetarian. When the waiter came, I mentioned it too.  We had a person that obviously was in charge of dietary needs come over and offer 1 choice to my wife, which she obviously took.  It was grilled vegetables with tofu.  Let me tell you it looked terrible and it tasted WORSE!  It was literally a small amount of frozen mixed vegetables (low quality/variety mix too), with some uncooked slices of tofu on top.  She smiled and ate her dinner, but it was terrible. All in all, she hardly ate for the whole week and actually lost weight while on a cruise. I typically gain 8lbs (hey, don't judge me, lol) and prior to being a vegetarian, she would too!  

 

The next think I wanted to bring up is about her being alcohol free.  I asked the bar tenders if they had any mocktails or anything they could offer as a non alcoholic drink.  NOTHING!  They all kept saying things like "frozen daiquiri or a pina colada", which are low quality but passible IF you are having alcohol in them.  I finally found that I could get her a virgin mojito, which she liked, but she would have liked some additional options. 

 

All this said, what could we have done to get a better experience?  I understand that she is not the norm, but there should be more options that are of a higher quality.  Did we just get a single bad experience or is this the norm?  Are there non alcoholic options that they just didn't know about and we obviously didn't either? 

What have been your experiences with these issues?  We would like to continue to cruise and to utilize NCL but I want my wife to have a similar experience and not have to have sub par food with few choices on said food as well as little choice of non-soda/alcohol options to drink.

 

Thanks in advance!

-Tony

[craig01020]

If you don't want to drink or eat in excess, then a conventional cruise isn't the best option, nor is any all-inclusive resort.

[Trimone]

Stick to NCL and change wife. 🤗

[tallnthensome]

Yea, there not going to cater to vegetarians...... This isn't California.  They don't have time for that..... 

[ggTexasGal]

Tony,

Hopefully you will receive more helpful information from others who, like your wife, are following a healthy food program.  Unfortunately, it seems that you were not advised to seek-out assistance with the "diet" upon embarkation.  If you had had that advantage, I believe that your wife's selections might have been improved.

 

Here are the ways that I have improved my own choices (my diet is not as restrictive though):

When I want more "plant based" selections, we go to a Main Dining Room or the Buffet.  The buffet specifically allows ME more control of my choices.  The Main Dining Room allows ordering as many Appetizers (Soups and Salads), or Sides, that sound good, as desired.  I have been known to order 2 salads and 2 sides to accomplish my goals.  Depending on the ship, MODERNO is an option, even though they think I am insane to skip the meats.  Cagney's left me with a sinking experience when the waitress laughed and said, "This is Cagney's ... Go BIG or go home!" (I was furious, and the only reason I didn't walk out, was DH really wanted his steak!

           I had NOT spoken to anyone about my dietary changes ahead of time!!!

 

As for drinks,  I have ordered plenty of alcohol free drinks.  I simply ask for Virgin "insert drink name here" and a glass of water (or club soda), saying, "I need to rehydrate!"  (Side note, a cash tips, helps)

[Burrata]

lebais, the dish served at Cagney's does sound grim! 

There was nothing on the regular menus that didn't appeal to your wife? I also eat primarily vegetarian and there are always vegetarian options that I have enjoyed. If she doesn't eat dairy, I could see it being a challenge to have a wide options of food.

 

I would think mocktails would be easy to make, many of the cocktails are pre-mixed blends and the bartender adds alcohol. Not sure why this was not offered. I can see why you both were frustrated.

 

 

[ColeThornton]

1 hour ago, leblais said:

I made sure to call the day before we went to Cagney's since there was obviously nothing on the menu that she could eat

 

I just perused through a Cagney's menu and looked at it through a vegetarians view.  There are plenty of soups, salads and sides that I could choose from and leave full.   Knowing it's a steakhouse it would be obvious that I would be limited but still....plenty to get me full with some tasty options other than meat.

 

Although I'm a meat eater myself, I rarely eat meat at lunch and like to graze through the buffet.  Plenty of things to choose from including a nice selection of indian food that is meat free.  Delicious lentil and rice dishes.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 31, 2021 by ColeThornton

[Shellbelle28]

Honesty, I'd say if you were looking for a specially made vegetarian entree dish comparable to the meat/fish ones in a specialty restaurant, it's going to be as you described. Making choices from the salads, appetizers, and side dishes would probably have resulted in a better meal. The MDR and the buffet have a far better range of meatless options. I understand you wanted to experience the specialty meals, unfortunately, I just don't think gourmet vegetarian is a strength of NCL's menu. They can "accommodate" but it's not going to impress. 

Edited August 31, 2021 by Shellbelle28

[ScratchTheRat]

My other half is vegetarian and doesn't drink alcohol and has NEVER had a problem on any cruise we've been on.

[oteixeira]

I would recommend you check out Virgin.  From the few videos I have seen they seem to cater to a younger more "hip" crowd and more of that age group (IMHO) falls into vegan/vegetarian.  There is even a youtube channel from a worker on the ship who only seems to eat fish (no other meats) and she is always raving on the food.

 

[saltsandknit]

As far as specialty restaurants you have better options at Le Bistro and La Cuchina. Your best options as others mentioned are the main dining rooms and the buffet. 

[bkrickles1]

2 hours ago, leblais said:

 

The next think I wanted to bring up is about her being alcohol free.  I asked the bar tenders if they had any mocktails or anything they could offer as a non alcoholic drink.  NOTHING!  They all kept saying things like "frozen daiquiri or a pina colada", which are low quality but passible IF you are having alcohol in them.  I finally found that I could get her a virgin mojito, which she liked, but she would have liked some additional options. 

 

I can't speak for the vegetarian stuff, but the non alcoholic/mocktails is a head scratcher for me.

I've sailed with many who've wanted mocktails (mostly underage) and virtually every drink was available to be had that way. Just last year, sailing with my 20 year old daughter, we got several drinks without alcohol on the Encore. And, of course, all the ships I've sailed have alcohol free beer too.

[mscdivina2016]

2 hours ago, leblais said:

 

 

All this said, what could we have done to get a better experience?  I understand that she is not the norm, but there should be more options that are of a higher quality.  Did we just get a single bad experience or is this the norm?  Are there non alcoholic options that they just didn't know about and we obviously didn't either? 

What have been your experiences with these issues?  We would like to continue to cruise and to utilize NCL but I want my wife to have a similar experience and not have to have sub par food with few choices on said food as well as little choice of non-soda/alcohol options to drink.

 

Thanks in advance!

-Tony

You need to find another cruise line, preferably a 5 star like Crystal or Regent.  We actually had friends that were exactly like your wife. It appears you just sucked it up and I commend you for that. Our friends were a nightmare. They expected a private chef experience with everything. Even at the buffet they had to question every item in detail, like does the beef gravy have any meat stock in it?

 They even would go on at the bars, like trying to order a Virgin long island ice tea???? What??? I think its called iced tea.🙄

On a mega ship with thousands of people, "try to accommodate" is all they do,try.

 

They now sail the high end lines small ships exclusively and are very happy as most of the meals are cooked to order and they go way out of their way to accommodate the dietary needs.

 

Steve

 

[trivimp]

1.  "I'll have the iceberg wedge salad, hold the bacon bits, served as an entree, with a side of grilled mushrooms & some truffle fries."

2.  "I'll have a club soda with a twist."

 

Also, every time I have not enthusiastically eaten every bite on my plate at any restaurant on board any ship, it brings the waiter with a concerned look, asking if I didn't like it, could he bring me anything else, and so forth.  (Happens frequently to me, because I've had gastric surgery & can eat only half an entree on a good day)  If they saw your wife picking at her sad tofu & didn't offer her something else, I would be quite surprised.  

[valleyvillage]

You know how people in recovery have a sober companion to help out with sticky situations? I would like to offer my services as a veggie companion! 🙂 I have never gone hungry or unsatisfied on all our NCL cruises. Even in Cagney's! Those sides! The veggie burger! If I had been there for that server's remark about going big.....ooh! No Cagnitude please! 

[leblais]

In response to many different people at once.   I think you can ask for anything virgin but is it really a drink? Someone mentioned that they had heard a customer ask for a virgin long island iced tea... Well, you might be able to get that, but do you know what is in it? Its almost all alcohol so it wont at all resemble a drink that is fun. And, she probably would have been fine with just an iced tea but most placed did not have it and when someone went out of their way (thank you to that bar tender, by the way) it did not taste like any iced tea I have ever had. Very strange and not in a good way... It was unsweetened, as expected and hoped for,  but it had the strangest flavor ever.  I was just maybe looking for some advice on what to ask for that is good. I mean, a virgin vodka soda is just a soda and like I said above about the long island iced tea, is just not drinkable IMHO.  I am not even bashing them on that, I just want to know what to ask for so she has some options. Again, she really loved the virgin mojitos, but some variety would be nice too. 

As far as just ordering sides at the specialties, well we were told you can only have 1 side and 1 app at Le Bistro (maybe it was because it was an AME perk?). But, I believe there was a veg option at Le Bistro, it just was not that great.  I do not recall about Cagney's as far as sides, but I guess that is something we can look into for next time. In the main dinning room she had the pad thai one night that she said was very good. She got it another night and it was completely different and terrible. I guess it is just luck of the draw, but again, with limited options, you are kind of stuck with what you get. 

Honestly, she ended up eating a lot of her dish because she was hungry and is not one to complain (especially since she did not want to ruin my dinner experience). 

To the person that said they ordered virgin drinks for the kids, do you recall what they were by any chance?  I know we went to the teppanyaki and she got the specialty drinks as virgin but they were just juice, which is better than water/soda water and it was in a nice glass, but still lacking when you have a full bar that could easily include some other options. 

We really aren't really looking for personal care and being specially catered to (or maybe we are?), but we are very easy going, which is why she never really complained on the ship. I was just asking for advice to make it better for us next time. We have 2 more trips booked and would like to figure out a way to make it a better experience for her. 

Lastly, I would like to just say we did not have a PROBLEM per sey , again, we are just looking to IMPROVE our next trip.  We never eat out (maybe for good reason?) so maybe I just had unrealistic expectations. We are super laid back and don't typically need/expect much, just looking for options and hoping to see if anyone had some ideas.   

Thanks so far for all the comments and keep them coming if you have info to add! It helps me to put things into perspective as well as devise a plan and set expectations for the next trip!

 

[leblais]

24 minutes ago, valleyvillage said:

You know how people in recovery have a sober companion to help out with sticky situations? I would like to offer my services as a veggie companion! 🙂 I have never gone hungry or unsatisfied on all our NCL cruises. Even in Cagney's! Those sides! The veggie burger! If I had been there for that server's remark about going big.....ooh! No Cagnitude please! 

We just went a few weeks ago and I think they revamped some of the menus. Regardless, there was no vegi burger on the menu.  Literally,  the only options on the menu that she could eat was a choice of a salad (which are typically pretty small, but I guess she could have ordered 2 or more?) and a tomato soup with grilled cheese. Of course, there were a couple of sides she could have gotten as well, but I with her getting the vegetarian plate, we were told she could not order off the menu and we had to order it ahead of time and that it would "be ready" for us when we got there. That totally implied (on top of them saying that it would be comparable) that it would be upscale. I guess we now know better....

[saltsandknit]

I’m not sure what you are really asking for but I will be on the Gem in 3 weeks and will try to do a live of the cruise. I eat mostly vegetarian but I will eat fish when on vacation. I will post food pictures of my meals if you want to see them. As far as virgin drinks, most drinks on the ship are pre made mixes so it’s not always an easy task. Your best options are the blended drinks. There is a full menu of mojitos with a lot of flavors that your wife  might enjoy. 

[milolii]

Saltsandknit. We would be interested in your review.  We eat chicken and fish, but mostly vegetables.  We would have a steak at Cagney, though.  Would love pics of the mojotios as well. Great idea. 

 

OP,  hopefully you will get some good advice here. We had the veggie burger at Cagney’s, but it might of been the lunch menu. 
  

[valleyvillage]

1 hour ago, leblais said:

there was no vegi burger on the menu.

Oops, my bad. You have to request it. Also, I have had them get me a vegetarian dish from the Indian section of the buffet. I hope it works better for you next time. 

[bkrickles1]

1 hour ago, leblais said:

In response to many different people at once.   I think you can ask for anything virgin but is it really a drink? Someone mentioned that they had heard a customer ask for a virgin long island iced tea... Well, you might be able to get that, but do you know what is in it? Its almost all alcohol so it wont at all resemble a drink that is fun. And, she probably would have been fine with just an iced tea but most placed did not have it and when someone went out of their way (thank you to that bar tender, by the way) it did not taste like any iced tea I have ever had. Very strange and not in a good way... It was unsweetened, as expected and hoped for,  but it had the strangest flavor ever.  I was just maybe looking for some advice on what to ask for that is good. I mean, a virgin vodka soda is just a soda and like I said above about the long island iced tea, is just not drinkable IMHO.  I am not even bashing them on that, I just want to know what to ask for so she has some options. Again, she really loved the virgin mojitos, but some variety would be nice too. 

 

I know my daughter had a virgin mudslide, amongst other drinks she ordered.

And she thought it was super fun!

[SteveH2508]

"Virgin Long Island Iced Tea" - posh name for cola with sweet and sour mix.

[4774Papa]

5 hours ago, craig01020 said:

If you don't want to drink or eat in excess, then a conventional cruise isn't the best option, nor is any all-inclusive resort.

We have done 20 cruises in the past 11 years and been moderate in our alcohol and food consumption.  We take walks and I work out in the fitness center.   I have been on cruises were I actually lost a small amount of weight.  It is not that hard, no alcohol until happy hour, lunch is usually the salad bar, dinner includes not too generous servings.  We only eat one dessert a day and stay away  from the huge ones.  We normally consume the equivalent of 4 glasses of wine each, per day.

 

No need to get loaded on a cruise.  Also, all inclusive is never a great deal for us.

[craig01020]

16 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

I have been on cruises were I actually lost a small amount of weight.

🤪🤮

[sanger727]

OP. Not going to bash your or wife in any way, but I do think your expectations were unrealistic. I was a vegetarian for 12 years so understand the issues. But yes, on cruise ships in general I would say that one vegetarian item on the everyday menu and one vegetarian item on the rotating menu is pretty standard. You could do several soups/salads/apps as a substitute. But I feel like what you mean as a "comparable" experience would be to have half a menu of vegetarian items. I don't think any mass market cruise ship would meet that. Shoot, even just going to normal restaurants on land you most have the choice of salads without chicken, usually a pasta dish, and maybe if you are really lucky 1 entree that was designed as a vegetarian entree.

 

Also, a bit confused about what you mean by you can get any drink virgin but is it really a drink? Most of the drinks on mass market cruise ships are simply a combination of juice, soda, sugary mixes, and alcohol. So if you take out the alcohol you are left with juice, soda, and sugary mixes. I think you are suggesting more specialty cocktails with higher end ingredients like lavender, rosemary, etc. Again, I think your expectations are shooting above a mass market cruise line on this.