Emjay65

For the cruise lines, VARIETY is the biggest challenge with vegetarians -at least when it comes to the VARIETY OF Vegetarians.

 

 

 

One eats no red meat, but eats fish or poultry.

 

Some will not eat red meat or poultry, but fish is OK.

 

The next one eats no red or white meat, but eats sauces made with meat and fish stocks.

 

The next one eats no meat or fish, but loves chicken, butter, and eggs.

 

One eats pasta but no fish, and will not eat cream sauces - but eats butter and drinks milk.

 

The next one will eat fish but not shellfish. No milk, but butter is OK.

 

Some will eat chicken, but will not eat a soup made with chicken stock.

 

Some will eat chicken stock, but not beef stock.

 

One insists on vegetarian pasta, and then requests extra cheese on top of it.

 

One insists on soy milk at every meal, but loves a latte with plenty of steamed cow's milk.

 

 

 

The next one is a strict vegetarian who eats no animal products, but does not want the same old boring vegetables, mushrooms, fruits, and salads. "Make me something different", they say. Unfortunately, they rarely have any suggestions as to exactly what those different foods might be. We are currently trying to import vegetables from the planet Mars to make them happy.

 

 

 

Nearly all of you want ice cream. ICE CREAM IS NOT A VEGETABLE.

 

 

 

The variations are endless - and they drive cruise ship chefs crazy.

 

My favourite vegetarians are the ones who force the staff to jump through many hoops for the entire cruise and then we catch them eating a steak on the final night.

 

 

 

Their explanation? They were just experimenting with a fad diet and just couldn't pass on that great looking steak.

 

 

 

If you claim to be a vegetarian and we do not seem to be taking you very seriously, at least you will know why.

BruceMuzz I have to disagree - the bottom line is no vegetarian eats red or white meat or fish.

A Vegetarian diet is based on grains, pulses, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits with, or without, dairy products and eggs. I agree not every veggie follows the same rules but basically there are only three different types of vegetarian:

1) Lacto-ovo-vegetarians eat both dairy products and eggs; this is the most common type of vegetarian diet. Many lacto-ovo vegetarians will only eat free-range eggs because of welfare objections to the intensive farming of hens.

2) Lacto-vegetarians eat dairy products but avoid eggs.

3) and the strictest are vegans who do not eat dairy products, eggs, or any other products which are derived from animals.

Some people may be vegetarian for religious reasons. Jains, for example, are either lacto-vegetarian or vegan, while some Hindus and Buddhists may choose to practice a vegetarian diet.

Some people choose not to eat red meat - this does not make them vegetarian.

Some people are pescatarian - which means they eat fish but no meat.

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Easy, sail on HAL. In addition two the two (really good) vegetarian options on each dinner menu, they have come up with an entire vegetarian menu. You can request both the regular and the vegetarian menu the evening before and choose what you want for the next day. The vegetarian menu does not change.

 

VEGETARIAN MENU

Select one option from each section to be served the following evening.

 

Appetizers

Lemon and Spinach Ricotta Dip

Vegetarian Mezza Plate (vegan) - Baba Ghanousch, hummus, tabbouleh

Vegetable Terrine - broccoli, carrot, zucchini, tarragon sour cream

Strawberry and Bucatini Bruschetta

Vegetarian Sushi Roll (vegan) - avocado, cucumber, red pimento

Portabello Mushroom and Chipotle Quesadilla

Vietnamese Vegetable Spring Roll (vegan)

Curried Vegetable Empanadas

 

Soups

Asian Noodle Soup (vegan)

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup (vegan)

Pasta Fagioli (vegan)

 

Salads

Tossed Fresh Garden Greens (vegan)

Spicy Lentil and Garbanzo Salad (vegan)

 

Entrees

Baked Cheese Polenta with Mushrooms Artichoke Hearts

Asparagus, Carrot and Zucchini Tart

Baked Vegetable Lasagna

Vegetable and Bean Chili - with sour cream

Pad Thai Noodles (vegan)

Vegetable Jambalaya (vegan)

Spinach Palak Curry

Sweet and Sour Vegetable Tempura (vegan)

Grilled Vegetable and Tofu Kabob (vegan)

Unfortunately we didn't get a separate menu but were advised we'd get a better selection if we chose self service in The Lido

And afternoon tea was a disaster

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Vegetarians want to cruise and love to eat too.

 

 

 

Most vegetarians, due to the limited food items they will eat, like to have VARIETIES.

 

 

 

By nature, to keep their appetite fresh, vegetarians tend to be more creative in selecting their day to day meals.

 

 

 

It's not enough just to have pasta everyday, or indian curry everyday, or garden salad every meal. Variety and creativity is the key.

 

 

 

We all like to have choices. To limit our choice to just one entree - even if it is tasty - makes us feel 'less happy' than our fellow cruisers.

 

 

 

Hope you'll understand.

Oh I couldn't agree more - although I could have taken more than 2 curries in a fortnight.

On MS Ryndam we had more pasta than we've eaten in Italy

We were the only people on our table ever to have an inedible meal (described as aubergine Parmesan it was as far from Melanzane parmigiana as I've ever head - crumbed and fried aubergine which had already been fried, served with a small dab of tomato sauce - I ended up with a mouthful of fat, which as a veggie I'm really not as sustained to).

My biggest gripe is value for money. On our last formal night, while others enjoyed steak and lobster, we had pasta in pepper sauce. Not only deeply unoriginal, but a far cry from a 'celebratory meal'. Made worse as we'd tried (and failed) to book into The Pinnacle for our anniversary and were told that we'd get a treat in the MDR anyway!

Put together with the Lido staff serving vegetables with the same serving spoons/tongs as meat - including bacon and sausages which we complained about and saw no improvement in behaviour - we were very disappointed at this archaic treatment.

The food experience is the thing that has ensured we won't cruise again

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Likely you are doing a Norway cruise so will be close to land. I would pick up a cheap local sim. We are lucky as in UK my carrier will provide full cover in Norway and allow me to use my inclusive minutes and data

Thank you

Following your suggestion, I am hoping to see if I can get a Three contract for a Huwaie wifi hub as Norway looks like it's not treated as 'international'

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Following this debate I have no doubt we need to bring wine aboard; we don't drink wine at home that costs less than £10/$15 a bottle and even with the corkage the quality of wine will be so much better if we do that - we don't go on holiday to deprive ourselves - even if we only manage to carry 6 days' worth it'll be better than nothing!

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Thanks pbgv - we were wondering the same thing but hoped it would be a bigger deal than these replies suggest

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Thank you - you've probably provided the translation [emoji3]

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Summer cups such as Pimms is what we Brits drink in the summer - you mix it with lemonade and slices of fruit and cucumber. But I guess as it has alcohol in we'd not be allowed (I hadn't considered the disadvantage of a limited bar before booking a cruise - won't be summer without Pimms!)

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Does anyone know if Summer Cup / Pimms is allowed on board? As it doesn't seem to be on sale in the bar

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I can't decide whether to do the Express bus journey or the North a Cape Tour from the bus company; price-wise there's little difference - anyone have any experience of the tour v shuttle?

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Room service is free but we always give a few dollars tip dhepending on what the steward delivers.. Obviously for a a full meal we give more.. BTW they are always prompt, or even a bit early so if you want to give them a few dollars, put it in your pocket as they deliver & rush out to do other deliveries..

Do staff expect cash tips in dollars?

We weren't going to take any cash on board with us but this has made me reconsider

We were on the Ryndam in December and I purchased the 1000 minute plan because I was doing a live review. We were in cabin 042 near the aft elevators (Deck 10). For most of my review, I posted from the cabin. Of course, the satellite connection is very slow compared to a normal connection. I was able to surf/check email from the balcony, but could not upload anything. I had to be in the cabin itself to do that. Someone mentioned to me the connection was better in the library area. Towards the end of the cruise, I went there to post and it was a little faster, but not a whole lot different from our cabin. I would think the internet connection would vary depending upon your cabin location, but I was satisfied with the strength of wifi in our cabin. Of course, I wish it was similar to land based wifi, but it is what it is. I haven't been on Princess for years, so I can't give you a comparison of wifi between the two cruise lines. I just know my wifi experience on the Ryndam last month was much better than it was three years ago when we were on this same ship.

That's really helpful info - would you say that 1000 minutes was sufficient? How long were you onboard? And can that be used in multiple devices?