My Vegetarian Experience

[noelr]

I didn't find much information about vegetarian dining before I left and I thought others might find my experiences useful in their planning.

 

I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian and just returned from the April 5th Mediterranean cruise on the Journey. I advised Azamara that I was a vegetarian before I left, and on the first night, the staff in Discoveries told me that they'd been notified and they were careful to let me know which items contained eggs and stock (this service didn't extend beyond the first dinner - I was on my own after that).

 

In Discoveries, there's now a (lacto-ovo) vegetarian section printed beneath the regular menu. It usually includes 4 items - 3 appetizers and 1 entree. Several options on the regular dinner menu may be vegetarian or may be made vegetarian, but be sure to ask before ordering (many include chicken stock). The chefs were generally flexible about simple substitutions (e.g. omitting meat) both in Discoveries and the specialty restaurants. Appetizers can also be made into dinner-sized portions.

 

Food in the specialty restaurants was better quality than Discoveries but options were more limited. There are no vegetarian entrees and the menus don't change; usually you'll be offered average gnocchi with vegetables in a cream sauce, but the pasta type may be substituted. The cheese plate in Aqualina was good, but it may be difficult to find out whether the rennet for each cheese is from a vegetable or animal source.

 

In the buffet, nothing is marked as vegetarian and it’s more difficult to ask staff than in other restaurants. The buffet was the only place that I found tofu (on one day only as a salad topping) and nuts (with the ice cream toppings).

 

Each day's menus are posted in several locations around the ship and I found it helpful to check them before committing to a restaurant.

 

Overall, I found the food mediocre, but it was plentiful and vegetarian eating was very possible in all venues (vegans will have significantly more trouble). Note also that some things labeled vegetarian may not be suitable to all vegetarians; I asked that caviar be removed from one vegetarian dish and veggie burgers may be cooked on the same grill as meat burgers, for example.

 

I hope that helps someone. I'll try to help with more specific questions if I can.

[Andy]

Hi Noelr !

 

Thank you for your very informative report, and Welcome Home !

[monkutare]

My thin son-in-law is also vegetarian. He had a problem on the Quest with the food as his portions were small and he was still hungry after a 3-4 course meal at Discoveries. There was meat/seafood/poultry in some of the dishes he ordered which had to be taken back to the kitchen for overhaul.

Lucky for us, we had talked to the chef at one of the food demonstrations and he told us that he would make special meals for our son-in-law at the specialty restaurants.

His experience was very similar to yours as far as taste and quality in all of the venues.