Can I request Indian food in the MDR?

[atobols]

I'm a vegetarian with omnivore children.  In the past, I've always ordered the vegetarian option on the MDR menu.  Most of the time, it's not great.  I know some cruise lines allow people to pre-order vegetarian Indian meals.  Does anyone know if Princess does that?

[Jadn13]

39 minutes ago, atobols said:

I'm a vegetarian with omnivore children.  In the past, I've always ordered the vegetarian option on the MDR menu.  Most of the time, it's not great.  I know some cruise lines allow people to pre-order vegetarian Indian meals.  Does anyone know if Princess does that?

Not that I'm aware of, they are clearly marked on the menu as vegetarian.

(It's a dietary marking you can add to your profile but nothing is pre ordered)

[kevinyork]

42 minutes ago, atobols said:

I'm a vegetarian with omnivore children.  In the past, I've always ordered the vegetarian option on the MDR menu.  Most of the time, it's not great.  I know some cruise lines allow people to pre-order vegetarian Indian meals.  Does anyone know if Princess does that?

I’d be interested in the answers too.  My OH is vegetarian and on Sky two weeks ago it was clear almost all of the vegetarian meals on any menu that contained cheese had cheese made with animal rennet which limited things a lot.  It became too troublesome to have to ask ‘is this cheese in the vegetarian option actually vegetarian” only to be told it’s just cheese.  
 

We’ve sailed on P&O U.K. many times (also part of Carnival) and they have always ensured a veggie dish with cheese had proper veggie cheese plus offered veggie Indian dishes as a lot of the crew were Indian.

[Jadn13]

3 minutes ago, kevinyork said:

I’d be interested in the answers too.  My OH is vegetarian and on Sky two weeks ago it was clear almost all of the vegetarian meals on any menu that contained cheese had cheese made with animal rennet which limited things a lot.  It became too troublesome to have to ask ‘is this cheese in the vegetarian option actually vegetarian” only to be told it’s just cheese.  
 

We’ve sailed on P&O U.K. many times (also part of Carnival) and they have always ensured a veggie dish with cheese had proper veggie cheese plus offered veggie Indian dishes as a lot of the crew were Indian.

This could help, it's a vegan blog but they did make arrangements ahead of time.

https://vegancruiser.co.uk/cruise/cruise-vegan-princess-cruises-crown-princess/

[fabby50]

I have seen many post from people who spoke to the dining staff on the first night and were able to make special requests for the following night.  There are usually Indian vegetarian selections on the lunch time buffet, so I'm sure they have the ingredients.

[kevinyork]

6 minutes ago, Jadn13 said:

This could help, it's a vegan blog but they did make arrangements ahead of time.

https://vegancruiser.co.uk/cruise/cruise-vegan-princess-cruises-crown-princess/

Thanks.  I did see this before our cruise. Alas, it’s about a vegan diet. My OH is vegetarian not vegan.  In the U.K. a dish on a menu marked as vegetarian must be vegetarian with no meat derivatives such as animal rennet in cheese. Onboard however they put cheese in almost every dish marked as vegetarian and the cheeses almost always were made with animal rennet, so not actually vegetarian.  It became such torture that my OH had to just say I’ll have this without the cheese. It left dishes bland and lacking in protein. The guys on board have no idea that cheese can contain meat derivatives.  

[Jadn13]

3 hours ago, kevinyork said:

Thanks.  I did see this before our cruise. Alas, it’s about a vegan diet. My OH is vegetarian not vegan.  In the U.K. a dish on a menu marked as vegetarian must be vegetarian with no meat derivatives such as animal rennet in cheese. Onboard however they put cheese in almost every dish marked as vegetarian and the cheeses almost always were made with animal rennet, so not actually vegetarian.  It became such torture that my OH had to just say I’ll have this without the cheese. It left dishes bland and lacking in protein. The guys on board have no idea that cheese can contain meat derivatives.  

Yes, I realized he was only Vegetarian but some of the Vegan options looked really nice. It may  be worth to look into some of those options since you can be sure that it doesn't have any animal products in it.  I often will choose vegan when faced with the "I don't know" reply.

Just offering it up as an additional option. 

[RLK33853]

Speak to the Head Waiter and there should be no issues.  We have done this in the past (requesting special menu items) with no problem.  As for the Indian food, we spoke with an Indian couple who were less than impressed with the usual fare and after we mentioned they should speak with the Head Waiter, were provided Indian food from then on.  Just remember they don't have to, but they will if asked.

[CruisinFinsUp]

They only have on board what they have on board.  You can ask, but don't expect the ingredients to be there.  
Menus vary by region as well.   I think there are more Indian dishes on UK cruises than on Caribbean cruises, for example.  

[atobols]

The main reason I ask this is because I got to chatting with a server on a previous cruise.  I believe we were doing the pub lunch in the Crown Grill.  We had an Indian server and I asked if the chicken curry on the menu was any good.  He told me that most people seemed to enjoy it.  I asked him if he enjoyed it.  He kind of smiled and said that he was Indian, he had high standards, and it wasn't very good .  I asked him where I could get a good Indian meal on the ship and he laughed and told me that the crew dining room had good Indian food.  Later that night I noticed an Indian family in the MDR getting served plates of food that looked nothing like what we were being offered.  It made me wonder if there was a secret Indian meal.

[RLK33853]

Yes, they have all the ingredients in the Crew Mess.  On our ultimate ship tour they mentioned that one of the things they do to keep the crew happy (when away from friends and family for 9 months) was to feed them the food they are comfortable with.

[wowzz]

On 10/29/2021 at 5:14 PM, kevinyork said:

cheeses almost always were made with animal rennet, so not actually vegetarian

I'm a little surprised by that. Virtually all British cheese is made with non animal rennet, so as long as you asked for British cheddar, or the Stilton you would have been fine.

[Ombud]

Not all cheese is made with animal rennet. Most cheese in California is kosher (no animal byproducts). But I understand being vegetarian traveling with vegans and I have a food allergy. I modify all options either that night or if the ship is full, the night before. Like when nothing looks good:  "I really want a veggie stuffed potato with bechamel sauce as my main dish / pasta looks great NO PEPPER / can I have toasted tofu with that?" I relax knowing I only had to refuse 1 dish (they put pepper on my Alfredo) out of the 21 meals in the MDR

[wowzz]

17 minutes ago, Ombud said:

Not all cheese is made with animal rennet

Hardly any at all in fact.

[Ladyshopper23]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

I'm a little surprised by that. Virtually all British cheese is made with non animal rennet, so as long as you asked for British cheddar, or the Stilton you would have been fine.

Parmesan is made with animal rennet. In fact, parmesan is a protected term and only cheese made in that way is allowed to be called parmesan. We buy a hard cheese alternative at home, which is vegetarian.

 

However, the parmesan on board is real parmesan (we're on board now and have checked) and is therefore not vegetarian.

 

Nearly all the vegetarian dishes on board have parmesan in, and are therefore not actually vegetarian.

 

Pretty much all the cruise lines do this, and unfortunately a lot of restaurants do too. Chefs really should know better.

 

We have already raised this in some feedback we've provided this week.

[brisalta]

You can ask the maitre'd for anything. If they have the ingredients and a chef is willing to cook it they will serve it to you. Speak to the maitre'd right after boarding the ship. Also make sure you select Vegetarian in the Medallion for dietary preference.

By the way many Indian dishes have dairy in them.

[oldracer]

We have asked for Filipino food on several cruises and they made the table a full meal of it. Give them time and they can do most anything. In the OPs case, putting it on dietary preferences at pre-cruise will fix her up.

[Lizabu]

I think they’re often cooking Indian food every day for the crew and it doesn’t hurt to ask. I remember when we cruised on Disney with my in-laws they were talking about middle eastern food with our waiter and how they miss it and he said just wait until tomorrow, I have a big surprise for you. And the next night he brought us a full spread of Indian foods…curry, korma, biriyani etc. It was really good.I think maybe they didn’t have middle eastern food exactly and thought it would be close.

[pms4104]

IMHO there is a huge difference between dining requests based on one's physical/health requirements and those due to simply personal preferences.

 

 

[wowzz]

I assume that people know that vegetarian rennet is still derived from animal rennet, allbeit in a genetically modified format.

Strictly speaking, a vegetarian should not eat cheese.

[waltd]

I think some of the best Indian Food I have had was on a Transatlantic from Texas to Southampton at an evening Indian Buffet on the Caribbean Princess.   So many great dishes, I wished I had room to start all over again.