Has anyone tried the 100% vegan or vegetarian restaurant on NCL?

[stellarose33]

what is the access desk? Is this something we do on embarkation or ask my TA? I love asking for a vegetarian /vegan menu a day ahead.

[Monica887]

15 hours ago, ontheweb said:

We were on the Prima this past summer, and as I posted on an earlier reply in this thread, the waitstaff had no idea of what I was talking about when I asked for those menus for the next day.

When they introduce themselves and ask the table if there are allergies or restrictions, as soon as someone says vegetarian, it seems to me they should know about and hand over a special menu, if it's that readily available. Or it should say on the main menu "please ask about our vegetarian menu".

[cruiseny4life]

16 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Not happy about the new Thai place replacing Food Republic. Also not too happy about an entire restaurant dedicated just to vegetarian diners. That seems something better suited to a food truck in Indulge rather than an entire sit down place. I'm sure there's more veggie friendly folks than I think there are, but I seriously doubt it will be a place that appeals to >50% of the guests.

 

15 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

The Thai place isn't vegetarian, but I will miss Food Republic.  

 

Reading the article above, the vegetarian venue is one of the 'food trucks' in Indulge. It sounds like they are increasing from seven (on Prima) to ten venues on the new ship.  I'm hopeful that the other new venues they are adding to Indulge will give us some favorites from Food Republic and/or Shanghai menus from other ships.   

Based on my interpretation of the article, the vegan place is going to be one of the Indulge stations. My reading comprehension is sometimes...well, atrocious! So, I could be wrong, but I agree with @Sand and Seas that it'll be a station at Indulge which I'm ok with. I know I've mentioned I find it "gross." And yet, I'll probably try a selection or two if I'm ever on a ship with it, unless fake meat is used. If you're vegan, why eat a substance designed to be "meat?" 

 

I'm not sure how I feel about the Thai place replacing Food Republic. When we go to Food Republic, 7 of the 8 items (usually) are sushi, so we can just go to Nama, though I do enjoy Food Republic's items more than Nama's. Mmm....now I want some sushi! 

[Sailing12Away]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

 

Based on my interpretation of the article, the vegan place is going to be one of the Indulge stations. My reading comprehension is sometimes...well, atrocious! So, I could be wrong, but I agree with @Sand and Seas that it'll be a station at Indulge which I'm ok with. I know I've mentioned I find it "gross." And yet, I'll probably try a selection or two if I'm ever on a ship with it, unless fake meat is used. If you're vegan, why eat a substance designed to be "meat?" 

 

I'm not sure how I feel about the Thai place replacing Food Republic. When we go to Food Republic, 7 of the 8 items (usually) are sushi, so we can just go to Nama, though I do enjoy Food Republic's items more than Nama's. Mmm....now I want some sushi! 

I'm hoping you're right and I read it wrong. I'm fine with it just being an extra food truck, that seems the most appropriate way to introduce it and see how it takes off. But as much as I love Thai, it's not a replacement for Food Republic. We'll wait and see what the menu brings, but my gut is predicting a lot of drunken noodles, pad thai and more 'american-ized' things. 

 

Still keeping my fingers cross for a larger selection of indian dishes at the food trucks. Where's the dosa and kati rolls? Those are small simple things that seem perfect for finger food truck things.

[Barb Nahoumi]

We have always seen veggie items on the MDR menu,  sometimes we tried them, although we are not vegetarians.

[blackwing]

On 4/20/2024 at 6:21 PM, stellarose33 said:

sailing next summer and want to see what vegetarian options are on board. 

There's always various vegetarian options available on the menu.  I think vegan however is another story, and if you are vegan, you should probably call ahead and ask for options.  One day at lunch in the MDR we sat next to a vegan lady who was having what sounded like a protracted and painful conversation with the waiter who didn't seem to understand what she was asking for.  She asked for the veggie burger when it wasn't on the menu that day, and she kept on insisting that it should always be available.

 

Finally I believe her order ended up being "Veggie burger if available, no cheese or mayonnaise.  If not, then BLT without bacon or mayonnaise.  If not possible, then a Caesar salad without the cheese or dressing or the parmesan crouton."

 

It sounded to me like the veggie burger would have had to be a special request if it was requested on a day in which it wasn't widely available.  The BLT is made in advance and it wasn't good enough to simply remove the bacon or scrape off the mayonnaise because some of it would still have touched the bread.  Caesar salad, sounds like she basically just wanted lettuce.

 

On 4/21/2024 at 4:14 PM, cooncat_mom said:

I had no idea about this menu, and I sail NCL! Actually, it would be nice if they just had a Vegan menu like RCI does. While most people think about those "silly vegans", you would be surprised how many lactose intolerant people there are. I am very lactose intolerant but it is not an allergy (allergies are life threatening. This is not - but it hurts!) so like many lactose intolerant folks (cross contamination is not an issue for many of us) I manage it by making the best choices I can and taking Lactaid which usually works pretty well.  I don't think the staff needs to go through the added work of maintaining my diet so I don't use the special access desk and many others of us don't either. On RCI when I sat down at the table, when I mentioned "I watch out for dairy" they produced their Vegan menu.

 

It was so nice walking into RCI's dining room and having a menu with food I didn't need to figure out easily available! Hopefully, NCL will start incorporating one or two vegan dinners a night into their MDR menu. If not, I'll keep on doing what I do!

My daughter and I are both fairly lactose intolerant and we made sure to always have plenty of lactaid.  It's interesting to me that RCI gave you a vegan menu when you mentioned being lactose intolerant, there should be plenty of options on a regular menu (meat, etc) that aren't vegan but don't have dairy.