Panorama, vegetarian, vegan, plant-based dining options

[Junglecat01]

Ahoy,

I’ll be sailing in May and plan to dine mostly in the main dining room. I would love to read about your your plant-based dining experience. Please share your thoughts, experience, tips and trick on how to maximize the dining experience.

Thanks in advance 🙏 and cheers 🥂 

[pinto18]

Vegetarian will be easy since there is always at least one vegetarian entree plus the Indian food. Vegan you may need to be more creative. But I have heard if you ask ahead of time, they are willing to accommodate by making things with no dairy or eggs

[purplephenom]

I can speak for vegetarian- my parents are vegetarian so I tend to keep an eye out when I travel.

 

MDR menu has a vegetarian dish and an Indian vegetarian dish.  But, be careful of the soups.  Sometimes innocent sounding soups (Broccoli and Cheddar is one I think) have chicken broth in them.  I think if you ask ahead of time (at least a day ahead), things can be further customized. 

 

the Deli has a veggie burger

 

The buffet has vegetarian dishes labeled, and a well stocked salad bar.  Blue Iguana has refried and black beans.  Around here, black beans are always the vegetarian option, but I've never asked on the ship. 

 

Pizzas can be customized as you wish- if you go when the salad bar is open, go by the salad bar and take whatever toppings you want to the pizza place.

 

If the ship has the pasta place and the wok for lunch, that's easy to customize.  

 

 

[coevan]

if the OP is specifically Vegan, pizza is out, unless they have non dairy cheese and pizza dough is made with egg

[Jerseygirl1416]

16 minutes ago, coevan said:

if the OP is specifically Vegan, pizza is out, unless they have non dairy cheese and pizza dough is made with egg

Pizza dough does not have egg in it. Fresh pasta does but not pizza dough. You can order pizza with out cheese. 

[coevan]

correct, thinking about making pasta, but a pizza without cheese?

[purplephenom]

5 minutes ago, coevan said:

correct, thinking about making pasta, but a pizza without cheese?

 

Some people who make this at home use oil to crisp up the dough. It turns into kind of a flatbread. Doesn’t taste like traditional pizza but it’s not bad. I’ve spoken to someone who brings dairy free cheese so their kid can have pizza like siblings. 

[Wanna_Cruize]

Someone earlier directed me to this website, which has posted all the MDR menus, and lots of the other dining menus from a recent Panorama cruise. Enjoy!

https://eatsleepcruise.com/2020/02/carnival-panorama-dining-guide-and-restaurant-menus/?fbclid=IwAR29H4sOlC-aOYlaUO8iVO2dWUkRzhYMGv8UpX6iUB_NlAy_fm3ZnFNfgRY

 

[Junglecat01]

Hey 🙏 This is a great reference for foodies of all types 👌

[john91498]

15 hours ago, coevan said:

correct, thinking about making pasta, but a pizza without cheese?

 

I've had pizza dough with olive oil and fresh veggies. It was actually pretty good.

[coevan]

16 hours ago, purplephenom said:

 

Some people who make this at home use oil to crisp up the dough. It turns into kind of a flatbread. Doesn’t taste like traditional pizza but it’s not bad. I’ve spoken to someone who brings dairy free cheese so their kid can have pizza like siblings. 

 

 

however the thread is referencing vegan/vegetarian not lactose

[Jerseygirl1416]

5 minutes ago, coevan said:

 

 

however the thread is referencing vegan/vegetarian not lactose

Dairy free cheese is vegan. 

[Bers]

I am vegan and sailed on the Splendor last year and will be on the Panorama in Jan. I told the maitre d' immediately after getting on board that I was vegan. The whole week, they had me select my meal the night before at dinner. They would bring me the menu and I would tell them what I wanted for the next evening. The selection wasn't a ton and a couple times I had to default to the Indian selection (which is still awesome), but there was always something yum. For lunch, there is the Blue Iguana Cantina which was great (make your own bowls with rice, beans, pico, etc.). The Panorama also has the Cucina del Capitano, the Captains Pasta Bar, Bonsai Teppanyaki, and sushi, all with vegan options. There's also supposedly a vegan burger floating around somewhere on the ship (I've heard at the deli) but have not tried it or throughly researched it. The buffets around the ship will have something you can eat. Bit by bit, you'll get yourself a plate full of good food. Breakfast has tons of fruit, potato wedges (which to be honest, may have butter on them but I didn't ask) with salsa, and toast with jelly. I went into the cruise concerned about the food options but realized I had nothing to worry about. To me being vegan isn't about being perfect, it's about making my best effort to do my part so, if the taters did have some butter, I'm not going to beat myself up. Hope this helps! 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Bers

[mexicobob]

The "Indian" selection at the MDR at night might be one of the best things available, if you like that style of cooking. This is what the  majority of the crew and people cooking your food eat. Was outstanding when I have tried it. Not sure if it was vegan and some of it was spicy. I am not vegetarian but always enjoy it.

[TwoMisfits]

54 minutes ago, mexicobob said:

The "Indian" selection at the MDR at night might be one of the best things available, if you like that style of cooking. This is what the  majority of the crew and people cooking your food eat. Was outstanding when I have tried it. Not sure if it was vegan and some of it was spicy. I am not vegetarian but always enjoy it.

 

Unfortunately, the Indian cuisine was probably only very rarely vegan.  Unlike most Asian cuisines, Indian relies heavily on dairy products (ghee, yogurt, etc) in their normal dishes...so to get it vegan, it would have to be specially prepared.

 

I know this b/c I developed a dairy allergy 12 months ago - hurray for adult-developed alllergies.  Pretty much every Asian restaurant is easy to eat with my allergy, except Indian:)...

[purplephenom]

20 hours ago, coevan said:

 

 

however the thread is referencing vegan/vegetarian not lactose

 

Vegans don't eat dairy, so dairy free cheese would be appropriate.  As would a pizza without cheese.  

[coevan]

look it up, all non dairy cheeses are not vegan

[FlaMommy75]

We have cruised as a vegetarian family the past 17 cruises and it has not been an issue..at all. However, last cruise (Thanksgiving on Breeze) was our first cruise as official vegans and I was a little worried. It was wonderful and we definitely had plenty of food to eat!

The most important thing is to see the maitre d' immediately after getting on board to let them know ahead of time. The first night was Indian but every night at the end of our meal the hostess came and spoke to us about our options for the next day. It was great having our meals pre planned. They were fresh and delicious and our food came out super quick. It was definitely the quickest and most enjoyable MDR dinner experience we have ever had.

 Lunch was always on the Lido and pretty much every night, before bed, we headed to the Pizza Pirate and ordered a pizza with no cheese. We only had to wait a few minutes and it was well worth it 🙂 .

Edited February 21, 2020 by FlaMommy75