Latest Viking cruise menu options when you are vegan?

[Letudo]

Hello All - My husband is vegan and so I am looking for ocean-based cruises that serve vegan dishes.  Oceania appears to have an amazing array of vegan offerings so we are considering cruising with them.  However, we are also very interested in Viking.  Unfortunately, they do not have a vegan based menu though I have heard they will do their best to accommodate vegan customers.  That being said, "accommodate" can mean many different things - are there any vegans out there who have cruised with Viking relatively recently?  If so, can you share your experience?  I wish Viking had a vegan menu or at least standard vegan dishes, like so many other cruise lines these days.  Thanks!

Edited July 22, 2023 by Letudo
Clarified title

[Findingmywings]

•  

• I copy/ pasted a post I made about our September 2022 cruise.  Hope it helps.

Posted February 6

I am a lactose intolerant vegetarian so I am very used to food issues while traveling.  On our September Viking Homelands cruise on the Jupiter we ate in the world cafe the first day.  I don’t usually ask for special treatment but I asked if they had a nondairy butter( margarine).  They didn’t know what that was but brought out butter flavor shortening which tastes pretty awful as a spread.  I appreciated the effort and told them so.  The restaurant manager Narendra Singh then came and talked with me about my diet.  He arranged to have the next day’s restaurant menu delivered to me each evening.  If we planned to eat at the main restaurant, I could just circle the dishes that sounded good, deliver the menu to the restaurant desk by 9 a.m. and they would come up with vegetarian versions that were made without dairy.  This worked well and I had some wonderful meals there.  
 

We mostly ate on the starboard side of the World Cafe and Mr Singh would find us and arrange for the most amazing dishes from the World Cafe chefs especially head Chef Singh and assistant chef Nayanshee.  The chefs actually came out to meet me and find out what my favorite foods were.  They really paid attention and my love of chocolate was satisfied by incredible creations!  The opportunity to enjoy all kinds of amazing food without worrying about getting sick was priceless.    
 

Because vegan dishes were always safe, I became familiar with what was always available.  The Living Room coffee shop always had a vegan pastry in the morning and vegan cookies in the afternoon.  If you don’t see them on display, ask because they usually have some put aside.  The hot chocolate made with almond milk still got me into trouble because they used a packet that contained powdered milk.

 

The World Cafe always had soy and almond milk,  dairy free sorbet, vegan desserts, and even vegan waffles with vegan whipped cream!  The made to order station by the Aquavit Bar will often be able to make a vegan version of the pasta or stir fry of the day.
 

The World Cafe makes little note cards to post with each dish listing common allergens like nuts, gluten, or dairy which makes choosing from the buffet much easier.

 

Manfredi’s did a great job of adjusting their menu but I did give them advance notice on the one night we ate there.  We did not try the Chefs Table at all so can’t give any input on their options.

 

I did struggle a bit on our first VO cruise from Venice to Athens several years ago ending up with lots of salads and vegetables and having to take lots of Lactaid enzyme pills just to be safe.  Our vegan daughter had a wonderful experience on a Viking River cruise a few years ago with the chef getting her input and being wonderfully creative even though he had never cooked vegan before.

 

I really think Viking tries to give each guest a wonderful experience and I can’t wait for our “In The Wake of the Vikings” trip this September!

[Letudo]

Thanks so much, Sandi!

[rbslos18]

Our experience is Viking goes above and beyond to accommodate a wide variety of dietary needs and do it well.

[CDNPolar]

We are not currently practicing vegans, however we were 100% vegan on two Viking cruises - one ocean and one river.

 

On ocean, when listed as a dietary guest, each night we received the next day's Restaurant menu at our cabin.  The deal was to circle what you wanted to eat and they would modify the dish to your dietary requirement.

 

On our river cruise we really lucked out as one of the cooks came from a specialty in vegetarian cooking.  We were a group of 8 travelling together.  Each meal, the manager came to us with a menu and he circled what they would modify for us, OR, there was the option of the cook's special dish each day that would be prepared for us.  We almost always took the special dish and our 6 friends more than once made comment that they wished that they said they were vegan.  The meals that this cook prepared for us were outstanding.

 

No, I don't believe that Viking have an actual vegan menu, however we have always found them very agreeable to meet our needs.

 

This is our individual experience.

 

We abandoned full vegan diet because we travel so much and to areas of the world that it is near impossible to find food that will accommodate.  We spent over an hour one day searching the centre of Tokyo for a vegan noodle house.  It was incredibly hard in Japan to find anything remotely vegan.  In the APAC region, every soup is bone broth and meat or seafood exists in some small way in every dish.  Oyster sauce and fish sauce and on and on.   We are functionally vegetarians now that eat meat when we travel. 

 

In short, I believe that Viking would one day serve themselves well to have a standard vegan menu because we would definitely look at it and order from it, but until then, if you advise them in advance they are incredibly accommodating.

 

One thing:  Email tellus@vikingcruises.com 60+ days in advance of your cruise to let them know the dietary needs.

 

"Tellus" will alert your ship and on the ocean ships they have a dietary manager.  You can meet with the dietary manager on boarding.  They will know in advance who you are.

 

It is advisable to alert in advance so they can prepare with the appropriate supplies.

[Peregrina651]

9 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

One thing:  Email tellus@vikingcruises.com 60+ days in advance of your cruise to let them know the dietary needs.

 

Include your booking number and your phone number in the e-mail. Don't be shy, especially if you have allergies. Tell them what you need to stay healthy.

 

Once on board, confirm with the Executive Chef or whoever is dealing with allergies on embarkation day.

 

Usually, one dining room manager is assigned to wrangle the special diets. He/she is your best friend (and since they are are in the dining rooms and not the kitchens, they are easier to find).

[WanderingBrit]

21 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Include your booking number and your phone number in the e-mail. Don't be shy, especially if you have allergies. Tell them what you need to stay healthy.

 

Once on board, confirm with the Executive Chef or whoever is dealing with allergies on embarkation day.

 

Usually, one dining room manager is assigned to wrangle the special diets. He/she is your best friend (and since they are are in the dining rooms and not the kitchens, they are easier to find).

And once you've noted a preference, expect them to track you down each day to discuss. We were sat in the Wintergarden on a sea day, almost entirely alone reading over a beer, when someone from the catering department approached us with a menu for the next day for my wife to review. The same thing happened every day, and they new in advance of her preference when we were at Chef's Table too.

[Peregrina651]

52 minutes ago, WanderingBrit said:

and they knew in advance of her preference when we were at Chef's Table too.

 

The preferences go into the computer so that everyone knows them, including the servers. The CT kitchen checks the reservations each day and compares to the computer. 

 

Manfredi's has a set menu. If you have reservations, you will be given a Manfredi's menu the day before instead of the MDR menu.

 

For the WC, I talk with one of the bosses and get them to walk me down the hot line to tell me what is safe for me to eat.

Edited July 24, 2023 by Peregrina651

[KBs mum]

The vegan/vegetarian burgers are not. They are cooked on the same grills as the meat options, so cross contamination is guaranteed. This is declared on the menus. 

Beware those who have allergies or intolerances, particularly soy or soya

Non burger type items are safe

[bookbabe]

As someone with allergies, I’d also note that the ingredients cards above the WC items weren’t always correct, so use your common sense, personal experience and food knowledge to exercise safe judgment about what to eat and/or when to verify things with a chef.