Which cruise line is best for a vegan?

For both Royal Caribbean and Princess I contacted them via email, Princess definitely had a separate dietary requirements email address to use.

Please do contact them well in advance before cruising, just for your peace of mind. Think on my last RC I waited for two months before sailing and the reply I got said I should've been in touch 96 days before sailing!

But they still had soy milk for me onboard, even if I waited that late, and eating vegan was not a problem. Little samey in the MDR I felt, on this occasion. In the end preferred the Windjammer buffet and the supervisor there was most helpful. And yes, as soon as you board and book a table for MDR (if MyTime) make yourself and your dietary needs known to the MDR team... they should have the request you made with HO but just to be sure, as things get missed.

Last princess ship I was on had a 'please speak to x chef on duty if you have dietary needs' up in the buffet so I though that was nice and proactive of them - that there was a dedicated staff member whose job was to liaise with guests with dietary needs.

As for cruising as vegan, I have done some Instagram research lately and it seems that there are some fabulous photos from Disney and NCL ships with actual vegan cake, pancakes etc that I have never had on other cruise lines. So thinking of sailing with NCL next to see how they do..though service can be ship specific (as we had fab vegan meals onboard Splendour and six months later on Vision not so much).

Definitely doable :)

Sanna

vegancruiser on IG/Twitter and vegancruiser.co.uk for my blog

My partner and I have booked to go on Ovation of the Seas and were pretty disappointed that when we emailed RC about vegan options their response was basically... sorry, vegetarian is the best we can do. So we aren't too hopeful and are a little worried with there being so many different restaurants we wont have a main dining room with waiters we can get to know (which seems to be what a lot of people have said worked well in the past). Our cruise is next year, and will be our first. Fingers crossed its seems like there are many 5 - 7 options we can see on the menus posted so far that seem like they may be vegan. But that is a lot of repetition of meals across a 14 day cruise.

At the table next to us on our last cruise we had two couples traveling together. A vegan couple, a vegitarian and one with lots of food allergies. NONE of them advised the cruise line ahead of time and "assumed there would be a vegan and vegitarian menu available." The waiter did his best to try to help them, they ended up asking for he head waiter and everyone in the dining room got to hear how inconsiderate it was that Royal wasn't prepared. During the course of the week, the Head waiter personally came with their plates every night. Mid-week they wanted to LOUDLY discuss adding a list of ingredients in each dish and at every meal, they gave cooking tips to the Head waiter, along with suggestions. Toward the end of the week, the vegan suggested the ship's chef should come thank them for providing him with a vegan menu for future use and methods of cooking the food. The one with the food allergies added additional forbidden foods all week. They came to the dining room one night and had changed their mind about the foods they had chosen the previous night and the waiter and asst. waiter had to stop and spend 10 minutes writing down the food they wanted and how to prepare it...and to put it in to-go containers. Our section was the LAST section leaving the dining room every night because as the vegan said loudly several times, the rest of us don't care what we put in our bodies...when really it was that they insisted on a dedicated head waiter, waiter and asst waiter spending two hours hearing the virtues of being a vegan and getting cooking lessons. They actually, at one point, hinted strongly that they would "love" to see the chef preparing their foods.

And point with post above is..?

Some people are @rses, regardless of what their diet is.

Having done some searching on IG it looks like Disney and NCL have been fab with vegan cruisers, some great photos of vegan desserts that I have never had onboard RC - other than fruit salad and sorbet.

A little higher up the food chain, Premium, is Oceania. Creative Vegan.

At the table next to us on our last cruise we had two couples traveling together. A vegan couple, a vegitarian and one with lots of food allergies. NONE of them advised the cruise line ahead of time and "assumed there would be a vegan and vegitarian menu available." The waiter did his best to try to help them, they ended up asking for he head waiter and everyone in the dining room got to hear how inconsiderate it was that Royal wasn't prepared. During the course of the week, the Head waiter personally came with their plates every night. Mid-week they wanted to LOUDLY discuss adding a list of ingredients in each dish and at every meal, they gave cooking tips to the Head waiter, along with suggestions. Toward the end of the week, the vegan suggested the ship's chef should come thank them for providing him with a vegan menu for future use and methods of cooking the food. The one with the food allergies added additional forbidden foods all week. They came to the dining room one night and had changed their mind about the foods they had chosen the previous night and the waiter and asst. waiter had to stop and spend 10 minutes writing down the food they wanted and how to prepare it...and to put it in to-go containers. Our section was the LAST section leaving the dining room every night because as the vegan said loudly several times, the rest of us don't care what we put in our bodies...when really it was that they insisted on a dedicated head waiter, waiter and asst waiter spending two hours hearing the virtues of being a vegan and getting cooking lessons. They actually, at one point, hinted strongly that they would "love" to see the chef preparing their foods.

They really are fun to be around, aren't they?

There were four vegans on Windstar when we sailed with them. The executive chef met with them and then made a meal specific to their requirements each evening. The advantage of sailing on a small ship is that the kitchen is more like a restaurant kitchen than a banquet hall kitchen, and they are easily able to accommodate almost any request for various dietary needs.

You're going to want to eat in the buffet more if what you want is a greater variety. Obviously there is a ton of salad options and fruit options. Hot cereal, toast, whatever baked goods you can discern are vegan (are bagels vegan?), fruits, hash browns, things like that. Lunch and dinner: salads, rice, pasta with oil and broccoli, etc. The good news is that most ships have an Indian vegetarian dish or two or three with each lunch or dinner. Whether or not those are vegetarian or vegan I don't know but I really don't think there is any dairy in a dish full of daal. Clearly it's vegan to me but you would obviously be more in tune to that. In the dining room, stick with the Indian stuff. It's really good. There might be a side dish of cucumber raita but ignore that. I was just looking at a Carnival sample menu that also had some chick pea patties of some sort. The truth is that it's cheaper for them to cook vegetarian and vegan entrees so there are far more or them now than when I started cruising.

Yes, advice the cruise line before you go and be prepared to repeat main dishes. But hey, it's easier than cooking at home for sure. I did two cruises while vegetarian and I never ran out of things to eat in all venues on board.

FYI--Bagels usually have egg in them, not vegan.

FYI--Bagels usually have egg in them, not vegan.

Thank you. I tried being vegan for a while- never knew how easy it was to be a vegetarian until I went vegan! Wow did my options shrink.

Thank you. I tried being vegan for a while- never knew how easy it was to be a vegetarian until I went vegan! Wow did my options shrink.

Don't forget to check on whether your beer is vegan/vegetarian acceptable.

Don't forget to check on whether your beer is vegan/vegetarian acceptable.

Most wine is not vegan due to egg whites used in the fining process. If it is unfined it's typically vegan.

HAL has a special vegetarian and vegan menu for the MDR. You order the night before. The mezze plate was awesome!

Soymilk is readily available onboard and the Lido grill has portobello burgers which are easily adaptable to vegan. The executive chef in the Lido buffet was also very accommodating and helpful during breakfast and lunch service.

I can't recommend Norwegian or RCCL (they were horrible, IMO), and can't say which cruiseline is best, but HAL was definitely manageable and in most cases, enjoyable.

You're going to want to eat in the buffet more if what you want is a greater variety. Obviously there is a ton of salad options and fruit options. Hot cereal, toast, whatever baked goods you can discern are vegan (are bagels vegan?), fruits, hash browns, things like that. Lunch and dinner: salads, rice, pasta with oil and broccoli, etc. The good news is that most ships have an Indian vegetarian dish or two or three with each lunch or dinner. Whether or not those are vegetarian or vegan I don't know but I really don't think there is any dairy in a dish full of daal. Clearly it's vegan to me but you would obviously be more in tune to that. In the dining room, stick with the Indian stuff. It's really good. There might be a side dish of cucumber raita but ignore that. I was just looking at a Carnival sample menu that also had some chick pea patties of some sort. The truth is that it's cheaper for them to cook vegetarian and vegan entrees so there are far more or them now than when I started cruising.

 

Yes, advice the cruise line before you go and be prepared to repeat main dishes. But hey, it's easier than cooking at home for sure. I did two cruises while vegetarian and I never ran out of things to eat in all venues on board.

As someone who is vegan and who cruises I would have to disagree with most of the advice re:buffet you've given here. I find the buffet the worst place to eat as vegan as there is very little allergen information available for each dish served and I always struggle to find someone who knows what the ingredients are in the dishes served. Just last week I saw many dishes that looked like they could be vegan but upon speaking to staff found that milk had been used, or cheese or butter. Indian curry dishes are the worst as they often have ghee (clarified butter).

Hash browns all ships I have been on have always contained dairy & egg. All breakfast cereals tend to be Kelloggs and have been enriched with animal-source vitamins. Thankfully oats/porridge and grits I have been able to find cooked in water and by adding dried fruit I have been able to have nice breakfast. But no-one so far has served non-dairy spread so just on our last trip we ended up taking our own non-dairy spread for sandwhiches and some vegan cheese since our cabin had a fridge.

Veggieburgers, chickpea patties etc often have egg to bind them together - if only ships learnt about aquafaba (esp if making chickpea/garbanzo patties) and how that can be used as egg replacer for so many things.. french toast etc. Fab not just vegans but those with egg allergies.

The MDR has always been the best place for dining for us, and on our last cruise on Princess we had an amazing spread... first night they had to improvise but from then on we had fab planned 3 to 5 course vegan dinners! Check out my Instagram for some photos - I will be doing a compilation on each night's vegan dining :) Plus another blog post.

And of course wine and beer is an issue. I got copies of RC and Princess drink lists pre-cruise and used Barnivore (site or app) to find which were ok but very few were. On Princess we ended up taking our own wine onboard - with RC you can take just two bottles per each 2 adults in a cabin (one each, but two max even if 4 adults in cabin).

On RC I ended up upgrading drinks package from Select to Premium to get cocktails included and couple more vegan wines to drink as think list had only 2 vegan wines and ship did not have either.

Rgds,

Sanna @vegancruiser on IG and vegancruiser.co.uk (blog)

As someone who is vegan and who cruises I would have to disagree with most of the advice re:buffet you've given here. I find the buffet the worst place to eat as vegan as there is very little allergen information available for each dish served and I always struggle to find someone who knows what the ingredients are in the dishes served. Just last week I saw many dishes that looked like they could be vegan but upon speaking to staff found that milk had been used, or cheese or butter. Indian curry dishes are the worst as they often have ghee (clarified butter).

 

 

 

Hash browns all ships I have been on have always contained dairy & egg. All breakfast cereals tend to be Kelloggs and have been enriched with animal-source vitamins. Thankfully oats/porridge and grits I have been able to find cooked in water and by adding dried fruit I have been able to have nice breakfast. But no-one so far has served non-dairy spread so just on our last trip we ended up taking our own non-dairy spread for sandwhiches and some vegan cheese since our cabin had a fridge.

 

 

 

Veggieburgers, chickpea patties etc often have egg to bind them together - if only ships learnt about aquafaba (esp if making chickpea/garbanzo patties) and how that can be used as egg replacer for so many things.. french toast etc. Fab not just vegans but those with egg allergies.

 

 

 

The MDR has always been the best place for dining for us, and on our last cruise on Princess we had an amazing spread... first night they had to improvise but from then on we had fab planned 3 to 5 course vegan dinners! Check out my Instagram for some photos - I will be doing a compilation on each night's vegan dining :) Plus another blog post.

 

 

 

And of course wine and beer is an issue. I got copies of RC and Princess drink lists pre-cruise and used Barnivore (site or app) to find which were ok but very few were. On Princess we ended up taking our own wine onboard - with RC you can take just two bottles per each 2 adults in a cabin (one each, but two max even if 4 adults in cabin).

 

 

 

On RC I ended up upgrading drinks package from Select to Premium to get cocktails included and couple more vegan wines to drink as think list had only 2 vegan wines and ship did not have either.

 

 

 

Rgds,

 

Sanna @vegancruiser on IG and vegancruiser.co.uk (blog)

I am an omnivore with major food allergies, and completely agree on buffets. They are a disaster. Even if the food is safe, cross contamination is a very real thing--not even a possibility, it happens almost 100% of the time. Trying to get someone to help is futile, as they are way too busy filling the troughs so people can grab their seventh heaping plate of shrimp and cheap, over-cooked prime rib.

Again I urge anyone with a specialty diet to consider a (very) small ship if they are adults, Disney if they have kids. I have sailed four cruise lines and the only two I felt 100% safe eating in were Disney (no buffets) and Windstar.

As someone who is vegan and who cruises I would have to disagree with most of the advice re:buffet you've given here. I find the buffet the worst place to eat as vegan as there is very little allergen information available for each dish served and I always struggle to find someone who knows what the ingredients are in the dishes served. Just last week I saw many dishes that looked like they could be vegan but upon speaking to staff found that milk had been used, or cheese or butter. Indian curry dishes are the worst as they often have ghee (clarified butter).

 

Hash browns all ships I have been on have always contained dairy & egg. All breakfast cereals tend to be Kelloggs and have been enriched with animal-source vitamins. Thankfully oats/porridge and grits I have been able to find cooked in water and by adding dried fruit I have been able to have nice breakfast. But no-one so far has served non-dairy spread so just on our last trip we ended up taking our own non-dairy spread for sandwhiches and some vegan cheese since our cabin had a fridge.

 

Veggieburgers, chickpea patties etc often have egg to bind them together - if only ships learnt about aquafaba (esp if making chickpea/garbanzo patties) and how that can be used as egg replacer for so many things.. french toast etc. Fab not just vegans but those with egg allergies.

 

The MDR has always been the best place for dining for us, and on our last cruise on Princess we had an amazing spread... first night they had to improvise but from then on we had fab planned 3 to 5 course vegan dinners! Check out my Instagram for some photos - I will be doing a compilation on each night's vegan dining :) Plus another blog post.

 

And of course wine and beer is an issue. I got copies of RC and Princess drink lists pre-cruise and used Barnivore (site or app) to find which were ok but very few were. On Princess we ended up taking our own wine onboard - with RC you can take just two bottles per each 2 adults in a cabin (one each, but two max even if 4 adults in cabin).

 

On RC I ended up upgrading drinks package from Select to Premium to get cocktails included and couple more vegan wines to drink as think list had only 2 vegan wines and ship did not have either.

 

Rgds,

Sanna @vegancruiser on IG and vegancruiser.co.uk (blog)

Sorry for the bad advice. This begs the question: if your preferred dietary restrictions are so narrow is a cruise that feeds 3000+ people in a couple of dining rooms and a buffet filled with hazards really a good idea? If a plate of fried potatoes is an ethical minefield then wouldn't you be more comfortable a) at home b) in a place with a vegan restaurant that's been gone over with a fine toothed comb or c) in a VRBO or other rental for a week where you can shop at a local store and get the items you need/wish for? Glad you had awesome luck on Princess but if you're not doing this because of food allergies or religion should you not relax your standards a smidge?

Vegans, crossfit obsessives, Paleo adherents... There are so many places that cater to your needs that I just wonder why you want to be at sea with a bunch of choices you have to heavily scrutinize and view so skeptically.

If you are true vegan you are screwed. They dont wash their utensils between dishes and the oils they cook with are not plant based. Best bet stay home and eat your front lawn.

What is your opinion on which cruise line is best for a vegan? Just a reminder, a vegan diet avoids any food that comes from an animal. Also, are you aware of any special all-vegan cruises I could take? Thanks!

My wife follows pretty much a Vegan diet, she will occasionally slip to vegetarian and once in a pink fit even eat meat.

Princess is by far her preferred line, last year we did 34 day cruise and she struck strictly to Vegan, sure she needed to take care but it was no harder than at home.

Notify special needs and talk with the maitre'd head waiter.

Sorry for the bad advice. This begs the question: if your preferred dietary restrictions are so narrow is a cruise that feeds 3000+ people in a couple of dining rooms and a buffet filled with hazards really a good idea? If a plate of fried potatoes is an ethical minefield then wouldn't you be more comfortable a) at home b) in a place with a vegan restaurant that's been gone over with a fine toothed comb or c) in a VRBO or other rental for a week where you can shop at a local store and get the items you need/wish for? Glad you had awesome luck on Princess but if you're not doing this because of food allergies or religion should you not relax your standards a smidge?

 

Vegans, crossfit obsessives, Paleo adherents... There are so many places that cater to your needs that I just wonder why you want to be at sea with a bunch of choices you have to heavily scrutinize and view so skeptically.

If cruise lines didn't want to cater to people with dietary restrictions, they would say so, just like airlines do. I'm not sure what horse you have in the race and why you are so worked up about it. It sounds like maybe you either have a grudge that you aren't revealing or are jealous of people who have a healthy approach to their body.

If you are true vegan you are screwed. They dont wash their utensils between dishes and the oils they cook with are not plant based. Best bet stay home and eat your front lawn.

That seems a bit harsh. You are completely and utterly wrong about the kitchens. Perhaps you are making a blanket statement when you mean to speak of a particular line and might want to clarify this. I know for a fact that DCL uses Canola oil unless something is specifically labeled otherwise.

I went on my first cruise on the Norwegian Escape in January of this year. We booked a year in advance and then in September started eating a vegan diet for medical reasons. I figured I would probably starve on the cruise.. wrong! In a bit of a panic I called NCL and they noted on my reservation that I ate a vegan diet. The woman I spoke to was wonderful, I can't remember if she was vegan but she gave me a few tips to navigate my new diet

1) I used almond cream in my coffee, just can't drink it black. So she said to bring a soft cooler and put my almond milk/cream in it with any other snacks I like for protein i.e. nut butter/ trail mix/ almonds, Go Macro Bars (LOVE THESE, and great snacks for port days). She told me to attach one of the NCL luggage tags to it and write "Special Diet" on it so that if anyone questioned why I was bringing these items on board they would look under my file and see that I eat a vegan diet. Since most of these items are not available to me on the ship, it wouldn't be an issue to bring them on (and it wasn't). I asked my room steward to empty the fridge in the room and it was stacked with snacks and almond milk

2) Stick to MDR/specialty dining ( I don't understand the advice given in this thread to eat in the buffet since it's banquet food and already prepared) and speak to Maitre D on embarkation day. This was fantastic! He would speak with me every day about the menu for the following day. If i didn't like what I saw, I could tell them something I would like and they would prepare it. One night the veg option was orzo stuffed tomato. The chefs know what they are doing! Rather than orzo (because the dough is made with egg) my tomato came stuffed with brown rice. Now I am not a strict vegan. I would eat pasta and cakes :D even though the dough/batter is made with eggs, again the switch was for medical reasons and a little cheat here and there didn't bother me. But remembering the menus, a strict vegan diet would do just fine!

I'm sure I gained at least a pound a day on that cruise. I don't know that I will ever do an all inclusive vacation again now that I've experienced cruise dining and the attention to detail!

I was very nervous about taking my first cruise ever, and as a vegan. I'll never worry again... unless its about fitting into my clothes by the end of the week! Must make more of an effort to get more exercise on the ship. Taking the stairs everywhere doesn't cut it!

I have heard of a vegan cruise, don't know the name, a google search should settle that. I would highly recommend Norwegian based on my own experience.

All the best should you decide to cruise!

Heather

Also, as a fellow vegan I KNOW you are used to OBNOXIOUS and IGNORANT comments about your diet, so this board is no different! Cruise if thats what you want to do and keep on glowing!

I have heard of a vegan cruise, don't know the name, a google search should settle that.

Heather, I'm glad to hear you had a positive experience on NCL! Good to know.

The vegan cruise I know of is Holistic Holiday at Sea. They are sailing on March 11-18th next year. I want to go so badly! But it will have to wait at least a year, since next year we're taking 2 cruises. :)

Just to encourage fellow vegans, you can do it, my wife & I are both vegan and just booked our second. You can do it! We're on Carnival and I find them super helpful and understanding. Tip though, get extra food for late night, options can get thin late at night.

Heather, I'm glad to hear you had a positive experience on NCL! Good to know.

 

 

 

The vegan cruise I know of is Holistic Holiday at Sea. They are sailing on March 11-18th next year. I want to go so badly! But it will have to wait at least a year, since next year we're taking 2 cruises. :)

Wow!! That looks really good! Thank you for sharing, though we will have to wait too as next years cruise is already booked :)

Happy Cruising!

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