Which cruise line is best for a vegan?

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!

vegetarian is doable vegan very much less so. all the mainstream lines do about the same with regards to special dietary needs but a true vegan will be EXTREMELY limited at all times.

in most cases you will be required to choose your meal from the next day's menu the night before. you will have to ask a chef to walk you around the buffet station to show you acceptable options.

any all vegan cruise would most likely be a charter through one of the organizations. and likely much more expensive than a regular cruise

What sort of things do you eat normally?

On shore I am vegan, but when cruising I have to move to more of a vegetarian style because it is so hard to be certain there is absolutely no animal product in soups, or in pasta sauces or in some of the Asian and Indian selections. For example, did the cooks use ghee to prepare the curry? Does the delicious-looking fruit soup have cream mixed in? Is the bean soup prepared with a beef stock base?

I hang out at the buffet a lot because it is easier to see all the offerings and get a feel of what they include rather than take a waiter's word for it. Often I have better luck at the Asian part of the buffet.

Let me say, however, I tend to sail on the biggest ships and they do have more restaurants to choose from though often they charge extra.

No matter what ship you choose to sail, ask questions about everything you see to eat that interests you. If in doubt don't eat it.

There are many cruise lines that would be one with this.

But in the end it depends on your budget.

We sail Crystal and a Vegan would find lots of choices.

Keith

We have a friend who is a Vegan and she found many choices on Royal Caribbean.

I'm vegan and you can see what cruise lines I have done in my signature. RCI was a long time ago but I felt that was the hardest one to find good food.

The buffet will be your friend! lol But they can also whip up a pizza sans cheese. And I was able to find something at every restaurant.

I don't know of any line that excels in vegan cuisine, but if there is one, I want to know too.

I have seen vegan charters before - they are extremely expensive and really, the activities and such didn't really appeal to me. So I don't expect I'll ever do one.

Hiya,

Costa cruises published a separate vegan menu for their ships in late 2015 but I haven't been onboard or seen any feedback on it. Google it for info :)

My hubby and I were on Royal Caribbean (Eastern Med) in Nov last year and had no trouble getting fed - in fact loads was brought to us each night in the main dining room and hubby often ended up sharing his 'roast side veg' with other diners on our table :)

Each night the head waiter would show us next night's me u to see if courses on it were suitable or could be amended. They asked for requests (Indian vegetarian, prepared without ghee) and came up with new courses too. Buffet was good too for simple mix & match plates - but isn't buffet dining always that anyway?..

No hesitations,we've already booked another cruise though with Princess so we'll need to see how good at vegan catering they are.

I think any cruise line would work but to make it easier, I would suggest traditional dining. That way you can speak to your head waiter about your diet. Your waiter will show you the next night's menu to see if there is anything acceptable or if some changes need to be made.

Of course you can do the same with any time dining ... just tell the waiter at the table that you have a special meal prepared. They'll ask your name and cabin number. But to me it seems things would be simpler with traditional dining.

To previous post, as much as traditional dining and same waiter makes sense, I have to just add that we were Anytime/MyTime dining on Royal Caribbean and had no problems despite being served by different staff and in different tables. Sometimes table for two or sharing on those nights it was busy.

Perhaps our cabin number alerted the head waiter as he always found us and came to discuss our order for the following evening.

We just don't like the inflexibility of traditional fining and fear having a week of tiresome companions ;) #moanersandbraggrs

In general, those with more atypical dietary restrictions (whether by choice or not) are better served by higher quality kitchens that have better trained staff and more time to appropriately ensure the food is as requested. You may want to consider a luxury line if pure veganism (as opposed to vegetarianism) is really important for you. If you're not put out by the occasional use of egg wash or chicken broth, you'd probably be OK on a mainstream line.

In general, those with more atypical dietary restrictions (whether by choice or not) are better served by higher quality kitchens that have better trained staff and more time to appropriately ensure the food is as requested. You may want to consider a luxury line if pure veganism (as opposed to vegetarianism) is really important for you. If you're not put out by the occasional use of egg wash or chicken broth, you'd probably be OK on a mainstream line.

Oceania

You should look into the Holistic Holiday at Sea cruise aboard the MSC Divina. They serve all-vegan cuisine. It is on my bucket list! :)

... You may want to consider a luxury line if pure veganism (as opposed to vegetarianism) is really important for you. If you're not put out by the occasional use of egg wash or chicken broth, you'd probably be OK on a mainstream line.

I presume you are an omnivore to write this? I don't know a single vegan who would opt for occasional chicken in their menu. If you eat mostly vegetarian but have occasional fish, you're a pescaterian. If you eat that and a bit of chicken, you're just someone who avoids red meat. Living a vegan life means eating or drinking no animal products.

And your comment is already been proven pointless by previous commenters who have experience of eating a vegan diet on a mainstream line - such as mine and hubby's time on Royal Caribbean. And Costa I mentioned earlier, with their new vegan menu, that's mainstream as it goes. At least if you are European cruiser.

Vegan food is fairly easy to come by as sometimes meals on MDR menus were already 'accidentally' vegan or if not, or weren't of interesting, fantastic staff prepared whole new vegan dishes to enjoy. The one thing as a vegan we did not get in the whole week was cake/cookies - the only dessert in the MDR was able to provide was either fruit salad or sorbet. So take your own Oreos, soy choc pots etc for your cabin if you have a sweet tooth like myself ;) (a shame really as vegan baking is not difficult and that way they would cater for both milk and egg allergies too)

I presume you are an omnivore to write this? I don't know a single vegan who would opt for occasional chicken in their menu.

You're putting words in my mouth......I said some vegans are willing to accept -- not choose -- a vegetarian meal or an undisclosed ingredient (like some chicken broth used in cooking) when dining in unusual places, and some are not.

In a high volume banquet hall kitchen (like on large mainstream ships), there is no way for a passenger to truly know all the ingredients in every piece of food prepared. Most waiters don't even know, even if they claim to. If a dish is labeled as "vegan", then you're probably safe, but don't assume that just because the main ingredients listed do not contain animal products that the entire dish is such. An egg wash on the pastry that night or the replacing of a teaspoon of sugar with honey is something that simply might go unnoticed by cooks who had no intention of preparing a vegan dish, even though a passenger might think it vegan based on the expected ingredients.

I was pleasantly surprised on my last cruise on Carnival Victory that they were very accommodating for vegan, and for my wife, vegan and GF food. Like others have mentioned, they would figure out your meal the evening before. On Victory, a specialist was assigned for dietary needs. There was definitely no lack of options and they were mostly all great. More than once a fellow passenger saw the plates delivered to our table and wanted some too.

For our upcoming cruise on HAL we entered that we are vegan and are hoping for similar service.

In a high volume banquet hall kitchen (like on large mainstream ships), there is no way for a passenger to truly know all the ingredients in every piece of food prepared. Most waiters don't even know, even if they claim to.

This. on my Disney cruise, one of the soups one night as a cream of something or other that the menu stated had crab in it. Shellfish and i do not get along, so i asked the waiter if it could be made without. a few minutes later he brings me out a bowl , swearing up one side and down the other it was Crab free. and yet the same little pink lumps appeared. thinking maybe they used the fake crab stuff (which is safe for me to eat) and called it 'crab' I ate it.

and regretted it later that evening. luckily I only had a few spoonfuls( it wasn't very good after all despite sounding yummy) so by lunch the next day I was fine.

I've had great luck on Royal Caribbean since it's the only line I've travelled since going vegan in 2008 but have also heard of good options on HAL and Carnival among others.

AND I am booked on 2 group cruises that aren't full charters - Vegan Vacation at Sea (through vegan cruise planners) and the Esther the Wonder Pig cruise :) See my signature :)

AND I am booked on 2 group cruises that aren't full charters - Vegan Vacation at Sea (through vegan cruise planners) and the Esther the Wonder Pig cruise :) See my signature :)

Esther TWP cruise?!?! How did I not know about that one? I follow/like the page on FB but have missed the cruise completely.

Any idea what the Esther approved menu actually is... are they serving a separate vegetarian/vegan menu for STWP cruisers? Thx!

I don't know which is best, but Mrs Gut has no problems on Princess.

Vegan should be easy to accommodate on any half decent cruise line.

Isn't there something on your line''s website about dietary requirements? Perhaps also see the restaurant manager on embarkation day and arrange with them accordingly.

Find an Indian waiter (sorry to generalise here, but many of them are /understand that kind of culinary foibles ) and get friendly with him/her and explain your needs.

And hopefully you ain't one of THOSE vegans who preach to their table mates or are offended by a hunk of prime rib on someone else's plate.

😇

I've had great luck on Royal Caribbean since it's the only line I've travelled since going vegan in 2008 but have also heard of good options on HAL and Carnival among others.

 

AND I am booked on 2 group cruises that aren't full charters - Vegan Vacation at Sea (through vegan cruise planners) and the Esther the Wonder Pig cruise :) See my signature :)

Hello Shilly Shally, I am just starting to become vegan and in February 2017 I'm going on a cruise with Royal Caribbean. How did you go about letting them know you and your husband are vegan? Cruise line/travel agent before hand or when you got on the ship? Since I'm new to this any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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!

Haven't been on all lines so hard to say which is best, but Mrs Gut follows a Vegan diet, sometimes she may follow a vegetarian diet and once in about three months may even have a small amount of meat, so as you can see she's not strictly vegan.

However she has never had a problem sticking to a vegan diet on Princess or our one Celebrity cruise, on our last Princess cruise she didn't even bother consulting the m'd just did what she does at home, took ownership of her diet and chose wisely, occasionally needing to ask if certain dishes were in made in a manner that complied with her requirements, and that was 34 days.

Hello Shilly Shally, I am just starting to become vegan and in February 2017 I'm going on a cruise with Royal Caribbean. How did you go about letting them know you and your husband are vegan? Cruise line/travel agent before hand or when you got on the ship? Since I'm new to this any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I haven't sailed Royal, but there should be provision on your cruise personaliser for dietary needs, otherwise your TA should be able to do it for you, but still confirm with the Naitr'd/Head Waiter first night.

My friend who is a vegan becomes a vegetarian when on cruises, traveling, and out to eat because there are so many better choices. :rolleyes:

Says she can pretty much stay totally vegan on Princess cruises ....