Mywildlove

the in cabin coolers are exactly that: coolers. NOT refrigerators. so items that need true refrigeration will spoil. my thinking is , if you need to bring all your own meals, then why bother cruising? multiple suitcases of just food seems like overkill.

 

fresh fruit and veggies abound. the chefs are quite capable of making meals that cater to pretty much every diet, and often love the challenge. but at the same time.. they have to feed thousands of people a day.. 3-4 times a day. they cannot be your personal chef. you need to do a lot of pre planning and may have to resign yourself to only eating certain ingredients all week since they can only bring so much on board to begin with.

 

snacks, no problem.. the options on board suck for most people, not just ones with severely restrictive diets.

So what, we should just become hermits because most of society doesn't offer vegan options? And just because we are vegan means we have to accept for a week we'll have to eat bland, boring food that isn't actually prepared meals but the ingredients for meals offered to everyone else?

My husband and I switched to a vegan diet for health reasons. Since eating a vegan diet my IBS, depression, insomnia, joint pain, migraines, heart palpitations, hypertension, tinnitus are gone! That is just me and that is not the complete list of health issues eating vegan has managed to get rid of.

So what, eat the crap that makes me feel like crap that the ship provides or bring my own food and not get sick and feel great so I can enjoy my vacation? Yes if I was bringing food that is provided I would say that would be overkill. Since we are paying a couple of thousand dollars for the cruise, what is a hundred or two worth of food for a week? As you stated the ship won't be providing a personal chef which brings us full circle to I have to be my own and bring the food with me.

When it's people who are gluten free by choice, then fair enough, but people who have a medical allergy to gluten are a different ball game.

Exactly, my husband and I are now vegan for that same reason people claim they are allergic to gluten. Having known a few people with celiac disease, their symptoms are less severe than what my husband and I experienced eating animal products. Going vegan has eliminated MANY health problems the more serious issues being IBS, insomnia, depression, migraines and joint pain. Why shouldn't we get the same care in our dietary needs. After all, technically speaking wouldn't we be having an allergic reaction to animal products?

This is all good to know so far. I didn't know about the special needs desk so I'm now curious if anyone's used it for this specific reason? Or maybe if someone can share their experience with the special needs desk?

Does anyone know the limit of prepackaged food that can be brought on and can it be perishable? Since the cruise we have booked is departing from Seattle which is a 50 minute drive to the port for us, we could pack a suitcase or two full of just prepackaged food. One of the perishables I'm thinking about is a bottle of vegan ranch dressing because vignette gets old really fast (plus the high acidity really messes with my stomach). It would be store bought and sealed but has to be refrigerated which I would use the mini fridge in the room for. How about homemade food like muffins, something that is not store bought prepackaged but I would not need any assistance from Royal in preparing the food.

I do realize there will be something to eat on the ship, but I'm still a person that wants variety and food that actually tastes good which is the main issue we had at the AI resort we went to. Salad with balsamic vinegar, rice, cheese less meat less pizza and French fries and oatmeal got really old really fast. So if I have to bring my own food to make sure I am happy, it is more than worth it to me since probably more than 80% of the food offered will be unsuitable for us.

Also at the AI we really struggled with snacks and deserts which is another reason I'm more than happy to bring my own food.

Once again thanks for all the input please keep the information coming.

Hi friends,

I'm sure this has been posted a few times already but I'm gonna have to ask again sorry.:o

My husband and I recently started following a whole food plant based diet or vegan diet. We took our first vacation as vegans a few weeks ago and the resort we went to was amazing in trying to accommodate us but there were still many issues. Even though there was issues we couldn't help but wonder if Royal Caribbean would be so accommodating.

I would love any and all advice on this topic. Also if you have cruised on Royal as a vegan I would like to know your experience and any advice you may have.

What kind of rules are there regarding bringing your own food on the ship (something my husband and I decided was necessary due to lack of vegan food options)?

Thank you for all your input.

(Please understand I'm only interested in vegan options. Not trying to be rude but we have encountered a lot of people that don't understand the difference between vegan and vegetarian. Big difference between the two, plus I know the ship has plenty of vegetarian options.)

The last last cruise we went on my husband tried to use points to upgrade the room and couldn't figure it out, when he called both the credit card company and Royal they both told him he had to use the web site. He choose to just use the points for OBC and we just booked the room we wanted. But, we knew we would be spending money on the cruise either way.

Just last weekend he cashed out more points for our upcoming May cruise. He had to enter our reservation number and then the next time I logged into MyCruises the OBC was available for me to use to schedule things. Used the credit to book Chops and a few spa treatments.

Hey friends,

First off please don't bite my head off, I know that this is a cruise forum but I have to ask, can anyone give a comparison of a Royal Caribbean cruise to a vacation at a Sandals resort?

My husband and I did the Mediterranean holy land tour and it was awesome. We got to visit 4 different countries and a lot of historic sites and we never had to pack up and waste time traveling from one place to the other. Now we're doing Alaska for the second time and we're not even planning to get off the ship there are not any excursions we're interested in doing.

Since our travel plans are moving more towards laying around and relaxing and less about traveling to see different sites I'm wondering if we might be better off going to an all-inclusive resort like Sandals versus going on a cruise?

I was looking at Sandals website and their prices seem to be better than Royal Caribbean when you include all the add-ons that Royal Caribbean now has you purchase such as unlimited beverages including alcoholic beverages, 24 hour room service, free WiFi, their advertising $64 travel protection per-person and they give up to $1000 flight credit which is a great incentive for my husband and I since we have to fly from Seattle. Plus they're offering one night free for every seven nights on most of the rooms. Not to mention they can be booked at anytime for any length of time.

I'm just wondering if this is one of those situations where the grass looks greener on the other side and/or it's too good to be true. I'm just wondering since all we know is Royal Caribbean cruises has anyone been to Sandals and can you share your experience and can you compare it to Royal Caribbean cruise?

Thank you.

Every single night! My husband and I hate the MDR. We hate the food, the crammed packed and loud atmosphere, group dinning, and usually the food is something I don't think our dogs would even eat. However my mom and her husband love it for all the reasons we hate it (they actually like the food).

We eat at Chops every night. Our experience has been that the more you go the better they treat you. We always get the same sever and on our last cruise the server had half our order already places by the time we got there when she realized we were going to order the same thing (she still confirmed it is what we wanted before she brought our food out). She even brought us lobsters on lobster night without us even asking.

The added fee for Chops is much cheaper than a meal of the same kind at any restaurant on land.

First thing I thought of in conjunction with reading this thread - someone pi$$ed off about this will order some huge order of food they'll never finish just to show em...:( or get their moneys worth.

Haha, that's exactly what I'm planning on doing... only I'm gonna store the food away for later so I only have to call room service once per day.

My husband and I had our honeymoon on Marnier and had a Promenade room.

The room we had was right over the bar which had loud live music til 2:00am or later every night. It made it hard to sleep. Plus after a few days it started to make us cranky because it was like living next to really crappy loud neighborhoods. Or I guess in this case above.

Other than that, we were glad to have the little extra room that the window seat provided. It was nice to have a great view of the parades. Also, if I ever wanted something from the cafe promenade I could look out the window to see if it was crowded (also not a far walk either). We both enjoyed people watching specially my husband while he would wait for me to get ready.