Vegan Dining Options

[IrieMRP]

Greetings all! I will be cruising for the first as a Vegan in January on the Silhouette, and was hoping some recent cruisers could provide some feedback. I noticed the last substantial thread on this topic is nearly 10 months old, and given the recent boom in vegan/plant based eating I am curious to know if any recent vegan cruisers can share their experiences. Thank you very much in advance for any help!:)

 

Specifically, I am wondering about:

1) I am planning to note this information on the online check in form, do I need to submit an additional request elsewhere?

2) Are the buffet items properly marked now? I have seen older pictures where items are labelled "Vegetarian", and was hoping they have expanded the labels to indicate which items are also Vegan. If not, is the best plan to track down the manager of the buffet to inquire about options?

3) In the MDR, is there still a separate full Vegetarian menu? I'd imagine some of the items on it could easily be made vegan upon request. We have select dining, but I have made reservations at roughly the same time each evening, so hopefully we can attempt to have the same table/waiter each night.

4) Should I even attempt specialty dining? I previously booked a 4 night package, not even thinking about the fact that it might not be the greatest idea with specific dietary concerns. Part of the reason we like specialty dining is for the atmosphere and service, so I'd be happy to keep the package as long as I know there will be at least something available to eat!

 

Thank you again for any assistance! We are definitely going on this cruise (we are well past final payment :)), but our experiences will help us determine if it makes sense to keep our other future bookings.

Edited December 6, 2017 by IrieMRP
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[snyniew]

I've researched this as well since I'm taking my niece on the Silhouette in March and she recently changed to a vegan diet. I also e-mailed a fellow cruise critic member (Bo1953) who is vegan and post frequently and he was quite helpful.

 

From looking into threads they do have a special vegetarian menu that they should show you each night for the next day. That way if there is something you would like but isn't vegan they can modify for you. I did e-mail the special needs department as I did for her sister who is gluten free but their response was they didn't have a vegan menu but to speak to the maitre d when you board to alert them to the special diet requirements.

 

Bo1953 was also helpful in information on the specialty dining as I was looking into it. He said if you give the chef 6-12 hours notice they usually will make something special for you that suits your needs.

[IrieMRP]

Thank you for the quick feedback snyniew! It sounds like the most logical approach will be to meet with the Maitre'D once onboard and coordinate from there! Also, great to hear that the specialty restaurants will be willing to work with you if given advance notice! We love getting away from the hustle and bustle of the MDR at least a few nights each cruise, so I would really like to keep the specialty dining I pre-purchased!

 

Bo1953 sounds very helpful! Bo, if you are out there I'd love to hear about some of the dishes/experiences you have had onboard!

[snyniew]

I've found Celebrity goes out of their way to make sure special dining needs are met and you are happy with your experience. My other niece is gluten free and was amazed by the attention she received on the Summit for her first cruise. She didn't want to go back to the real world. Which is why her sister isn't worried about this cruise and actually looking forward to it since she knows they will work with her diet needs. She also remembers the buffet and knows there are plenty of salad and fruit options to keep her happy as well.

[IrieMRP]

That is very encouraging! In my past experiences they have been extremely diligent regarding my shellfish allergy, so I am optimistic that my first cruise as a vegan will go well! On a side note, I thought your name sounded familiar- looks like we sailed together last year on the Summit (Dec 10 2016 sailing). Small world! :)

[gerelmx]

Yes in the MDR all days are vegetarian options, you can search for them here in the board

[IrieMRP]

Thank you for the reply Gerelmx! I have seen the vegetarian menus, but unfortunately it looks like there is not yet a separate designation icon for vegan items, which are different than vegetarian items. In addition to excluding meat/fish, vegans also refrain from dairy, eggs, and honey. My hope is that at least some of the vegetarian menu items will be able to be modified to remove dairy/egg if present.

[mandream]

My wife is vegan and I will say the MDR is often challenging. She will review the vegetarian menu the night before and go over what can be made vegan. She sometimes finds the options very limiting. If you can speak with the chef directly and can tell him specific likes and dislikes you may have better luck.

 

In the buffet, if you ask for a Supervisor, they will tell you your options. Also, they will make you a pizza with vegetables and no cheese (the dough is vegan).

 

Our best specialty restaurant experience by far was the Lawn Club Grill. We told them we were coming in advance and the manager had the kitchen make something special (in addition to the vegan pizza our kids made for her). It was spectacular (so she said).

 

If your number one priority is food - you might be disappointed. If you are flexible and can roll with the punches a bit, you certainly won't starve. I'm not trying to be a downer - just would rather you be pleasantly surprised by your experience, rather than disappointed based on what you've read here.

 

As you can see from the many cruises in my signature - we love Celebrity - but this is an area where they could improve.

 

Good luck!

Mike

[IrieMRP]

Thank you for your honesty Mike, I really appreciate the feedback. I am going into it cautiously optimistic! I know I won't starve, but it would be pleasantly surprising if I was able to find some creative and delicious dishes. I suspect it will feel somewhat limiting at times as you mentioned, so I will mentally prepare myself for food not to be the #1 focus of this trip! (Good thing we have a drink package! ;))

 

Great suggestion with the pizza at the buffet, and the lawn club! I totally forgot the lawn club also has flatbread pizzas, that sounds awesome. Does your wife happen to know if the veggie burger at the mast grill is vegan by chance?

 

We too love Celebrity, and are hoping that we can make it work enough to continue sailing with them. I know Oceania has now rolled out a HUGE vegan menu, but the price jump is a bit shocking :) Hopefully Celebrity will take note if more and more guests request vegan offerings and continue to improve vegan food options. I really wish at a minimum they would label the buffet items, it seems like it would be easier for them instead of having to explain it to each guest who asks!

[mandream]

Does your wife happen to know if the veggie burger at the mast grill is vegan by chance?

I don't know but even if someone on a message board told me yes I would check myself since products get changed often.

I suppose I could have guessed that would have been her answer without even asking....

 

Mike

[IrieMRP]

Haha, good point! I’ll check once onboard [emoji3]

 

 

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[Bo1953]

Thank you for the quick feedback snyniew! It sounds like the most logical approach will be to meet with the Maitre'D once onboard and coordinate from there! Also, great to hear that the specialty restaurants will be willing to work with you if given advance notice! We love getting away from the hustle and bustle of the MDR at least a few nights each cruise, so I would really like to keep the specialty dining I pre-purchased!

 

Bo1953 sounds very helpful! Bo, if you are out there I'd love to hear about some of the dishes/experiences you have had onboard!

 

Evening i - Yes please check in with the Maitre 'D upon embarkation, they can help a great deal.

 

Yes, the Specialty restaurants can prepare a vegan meal with enough notice. Ask them to get creative for you as well...

 

Everyone please note, there may be a time when the kitchen messes up, it has happened to me once, but was quickly caught (after a few bites) and was not a danger to me. If you have an allergy and if it can be severe, please take a few moments to confirm no allergens are present to the best of your ability.

 

I also recommend going on the Galley tour, if you can or like and at the end of the presentation ask about vegan meals, they will remember you from there for sure.

 

There is a separate vegetarian menu available and many items can be veganized. If you do not see anything appetizing, you can request something totally different, this is best requested the night before...

 

Buffet, I recommend asking for the Supervisor who will walk around and point out the vegan items. Most of the servers will remember after day two or three that you are looking for vegan items and point them out for you.

 

You will be able to eat well while aboard for sure...

 

If you have any other questions, please let me..

 

bon appetite and bon voyage!

[Bo1953]

The veggie burgers at Mast Grill are vegan, but are cooked on the grill, often times I noted, in the same place where a beef burger or turkey burger was just cooked. The grill cook remembered the next time I arrived for one to scrape down the grill before cooking mine.

 

In either case the burger was good.. to be sure.

 

bon appetite and bon voyage

[IrieMRP]

Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply Bo, lots of great tips indeed! Great idea to go on the galley tour- I've never been, and it sounds like a great way to connect with some of the chefs! Based on the feedback I've received so far I think I am pretty comfortable keeping our specialty dining package! I especially liked your advice to proactively speak with the chef/staff in advance and ask them to get creative! I am willing to try anything they can come up with! Also, thank you for the reminder about kitchen errors/allergies. Before I became vegan I was always diligent to let them know about my shellfish allergy, so I probably should still do that even though I am not ordering any fish dishes. Beyond that, if the kitchen makes mistakes I am pretty forgiving, if I take a few bites of something non-vegan (it happens on occasion on land) I don't freak out :) I will try to make friends with the mast grill chefs, I can't wait to enjoy some veggie burgers and fries at sea! :)

[Imonaboat2017]

Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply Bo, lots of great tips indeed! Great idea to go on the galley tour- I've never been, and it sounds like a great way to connect with some of the chefs! Based on the feedback I've received so far I think I am pretty comfortable keeping our specialty dining package! I especially liked your advice to proactively speak with the chef/staff in advance and ask them to get creative! I am willing to try anything they can come up with! Also, thank you for the reminder about kitchen errors/allergies. Before I became vegan I was always diligent to let them know about my shellfish allergy, so I probably should still do that even though I am not ordering any fish dishes. Beyond that, if the kitchen makes mistakes I am pretty forgiving, if I take a few bites of something non-vegan (it happens on occasion on land) I don't freak out :) I will try to make friends with the mast grill chefs, I can't wait to enjoy some veggie burgers and fries at sea! :)

 

Hello! Greetings to a fellow vegan and I wish you good luck. We just returned from our first cruise on X (7 day eastern caribbean) and sadly, we found it very challenging to eat well/healthy vegan on the cruise. We noted "vegan" on both of our reservations and I did speak with the Maitre D' upon arriving as well. They knew we were coming :p!

 

As others have commented, the MDR's set menu can be altered, but only so much. We got the point where DH and I had to ask for so many mods to the regular (and even vegetarian menu) that we just gave up and ate mostly in the OVC. But even the OVC left much to be desired - unless you want to eat just raw salad and pasta for a week. There was an Indian buffet - but I can't eat spicy food without choking, thus further limiting my options. The prepared vegetables they had were swimming in oil. The Assistant Maitre D' did try very hard to accommodate us, but I think we just had very different ideas about what "healthy vegan" actually meant.

 

We did enjoy Qsine one night, and they have many dishes on the menu that can easily be made vegan without advanced notice. The only thing they had to make special for us were the vegetable purees - and I arranged for those the day before we dined there.

 

I hope you have a better experience! Just as Mandream offered, I too don't want you to go in with the same expectation that I had that this would be easy (based on what X and fellow CC members advised me). The food is a huge part of cruising for me, and I would not choose X again based on our difficulties. We were probably the only two people who lost weight that week! Maybe meeting with the chefs will be the golden ticket and you will be able to have wonderful vegan food prepared just for you. I suggest you be very specific about what you like and be ready to offer suggestions. Just in case though, bring snacks ;).

[Bo1953]

Hello! Greetings to a fellow vegan and I wish you good luck. We just returned from our first cruise on X (7 day eastern caribbean) and sadly, we found it very challenging to eat well/healthy vegan on the cruise. We noted "vegan" on both of our reservations and I did speak with the Maitre D' upon arriving as well. They knew we were coming :p!

 

As others have commented, the MDR's set menu can be altered, but only so much. We got the point where DH and I had to ask for so many mods to the regular (and even vegetarian menu) that we just gave up and ate mostly in the OVC. But even the OVC left much to be desired - unless you want to eat just raw salad and pasta for a week. There was an Indian buffet - but I can't eat spicy food without choking, thus further limiting my options. The prepared vegetables they had were swimming in oil. The Assistant Maitre D' did try very hard to accommodate us, but I think we just had very different ideas about what "healthy vegan" actually meant.

 

We did enjoy Qsine one night, and they have many dishes on the menu that can easily be made vegan without advanced notice. The only thing they had to make special for us were the vegetable purees - and I arranged for those the day before we dined there.

 

I hope you have a better experience! Just as Mandream offered, I too don't want you to go in with the same expectation that I had that this would be easy (based on what X and fellow CC members advised me). The food is a huge part of cruising for me, and I would not choose X again based on our difficulties. We were probably the only two people who lost weight that week! Maybe meeting with the chefs will be the golden ticket and you will be able to have wonderful vegan food prepared just for you. I suggest you be very specific about what you like and be ready to offer suggestions. Just in case though, bring snacks ;).

 

i - I Am so sorry your dining experience has been less than you expected and was a totally different experience than mine.

 

 

On last four (4) sailings on X, I only had one (1) dining experience which was less than stellar, being a vegan.

 

 

I spoke with the Chef and his assistant second day and from there on I was offered the vegetarian menu or told them what I wanted with options and it was done. The OVC, for me was quite similar, once going over my dietary preferences with the Supervisor there, they were overwhelmingly accommodating. Three (3) cooks throughout OVC would be at the ready to assist in either pointing out or preparing food to my liking...

 

 

As well, my last sailing on Millennium the pastry chef was at the top of his game/profession by presenting a different dessert for me each night! No matter where I was eating, the dessert was there... cheesecake, brownie, carrot cake.. he made sure that each day around 2.30p there were pastries at Al Bacio for me, I was impressed. By day three (3) he had to make more as many passengers wanted in on it too..

 

Sorry again that your experience was not a good one, I trust going forward it can be.

 

I always advocate that special dietary requirements be taken up with the chef, not to say that it will always be honoured like I was with creativity and passion, but worth the try in my experience.

 

 

bon voayge

[tjunmin]

My spouse is vegan and we already called Celebrity, notifying of the dietary requirement. We also plan talking to the maître d' and the chef once we get on board. In our last cruise, there was no lack of food; the primary challenge was getting a balanced vegan diet at Blu, even using both Blu and the main dining room menus. Hopefully this time will be better at Luminae.

[Ma Bell]

My spouse is vegan and we already called Celebrity, notifying of the dietary requirement. We also plan talking to the maître d' and the chef once we get on board. In our last cruise, there was no lack of food; the primary challenge was getting a balanced vegan diet at Blu, even using both Blu and the main dining room menus. Hopefully this time will be better at Luminae.

 

I wouldn't bet on it. We traveled with a vegetarian friend and dined in Luminae. His selections were very limited and even the dishes that were specially prepared for him were not very appetizing. I can't imagine what a vegan diet would be.

[Cruise Arizona]

Greetings all! I will be cruising for the first as a Vegan in January on the Silhouette, and was hoping some recent cruisers could provide some feedback. I noticed the last substantial thread on this topic is nearly 10 months old, and given the recent boom in vegan/plant based eating I am curious to know if any recent vegan cruisers can share their experiences. Thank you very much in advance for any help!:)

 

Specifically, I am wondering about:

1) I am planning to note this information on the online check in form, do I need to submit an additional request elsewhere?

2) Are the buffet items properly marked now? I have seen older pictures where items are labelled "Vegetarian", and was hoping they have expanded the labels to indicate which items are also Vegan. If not, is the best plan to track down the manager of the buffet to inquire about options?

3) In the MDR, is there still a separate full Vegetarian menu? I'd imagine some of the items on it could easily be made vegan upon request. We have select dining, but I have made reservations at roughly the same time each evening, so hopefully we can attempt to have the same table/waiter each night.

4) Should I even attempt specialty dining? I previously booked a 4 night package, not even thinking about the fact that it might not be the greatest idea with specific dietary concerns. Part of the reason we like specialty dining is for the atmosphere and service, so I'd be happy to keep the package as long as I know there will be at least something available to eat!

 

Thank you again for any assistance! We are definitely going on this cruise (we are well past final payment :)), but our experiences will help us determine if it makes sense to keep our other future bookings.

 

We cruise Celebrity Reflection in 2016 with my Vegan daughter who had prior to that been a vegetarian on Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas. She said that the vegan food on Celebrity was better than the vegetarian offerings on Royal.

 

 

They have a separate vegetarian menu from which to order the night before. If you order a pasta dish, they used the gluten free rice pasta as the fresh pasta that they make onboard has egg in it. We did a 4 course tasting lunch in Tuscan grill and there was nothing on the menu that my daughter could eat, so the chef made a custom pasta dish for her with the gluten free pasta. She was very happy. I think that she could have the salad sans cheese that day too. Anyway, they do a good job. You will need to find the manager in the buffet to clarify if some things are vegan. You are usually pretty safe with the Indian dishes and Asian dishes as they are typically not made with cheese, but you have to watch out for things like fish sauce in some of the dishes. I don't recall them upgrading their labeling to specify Vegan vs Vegetarian.

 

 

For specialty dining, are the others able to eat off the full menu? Are you willing to forgo choices on your part so that they can enjoy the non-vegan dishes? I would maybe give it a try one night and see what they can do for you. We went to Chops when my daughter was a vegetarian and they got her a pasta dish from the italian specialty dining room across the hall. You might talk to the staff and see what they do for as vegan and then decide if it is worth the extra spending for all the other things that go into specialty dining even if the vegan food might not be super special.