Do you really eat Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner on HAL?

[Florida_gal_50]

4 minutes ago, DCThunder said:

Everyone is forgetting the "hidden calories" of a cruise, namely alcohol!  If you're having a Bloody or mimosa with breakfast, pounding a few brewskis before/during lunch, a few specialty cocktails before dinner, then wine with dinner, and a nightcap in the jazz lounge before bedtime, the calories add-up. 

 

And if you've paid $50-75/person/day for a beverage package, you don't want to let a drop of the booze you paid for go to waste.🍷🍹🍻

 

I'm not knocking drinking or how much you drink.  That's up to you.  But don't blame weight gain on a cruise solely on eating 3 squares a day.

I don’t think Bloody Mary’s or beer are that bad.  It’s the frou frou drinks that would be far worse.

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, zhuangcorp said:

is Lido Late night snack every night?

Yes 😁

It is mostly frequented by entertainers, staff and casino staff.  

It is not the most exciting of 'meals' but it works for us as DW needs to eat small and regularly.

[XBGuy]

47 minutes ago, DCThunder said:

Everyone is forgetting the "hidden calories" of a cruise, namely alcohol! 

 

We are wine people.  Again, our wine consumption on a cruise is, pretty much, the same as our home consumption, and that, in all honesty, is quite a bit.

[FlaMariner]

8am breakfast

12 noon lunch

5:30pm dinner

 

"rinse and repeat"

 

Yes to 3 meals a day on a HAL cruise......Love it.

[4966and556]

On a cruise, I take the stairs  and I do laps, plus I am swimming.  Not to mention walking around in ports  or sprinting to keep up with tour guides.  I also tend to have a huge salad at lunch time if we are on a ship.  I always weigh myself just before I leave my house to go to the airport and I also weigh myself when we get home from the cruise.  I have lost weight on every single cruise I have ever been on.  Oh, don't forget dancing to the B.B. King band before the late night snack and then a walk around the deck before bed time. 

[vicd1969]

On port days, I usually don't eat lunch since I'm usually walking around and doing tourist things. I may get a bowl of soup or some "light" fare if I return to the ship before 2ish. On sea days, I've been avoiding going for a huge buffet during my recent cruises. Embarkation - it's a rite for me to walk around to check out the extravagant 1st day lunch offerings on the lido but I try to be disciplined. HAL does have a better East Asian buffet than Celebrity or Princess in my view, so I target that station for the buffet. My weakness is the late night buffet. There used to be some good Asian dishes offered late night though HAL has cut back a bit and it's more carb-intensive now. 

[Chickadee910]

Make sure you check out the kids menu. Have great snack ideas like carrots and celery sticks,etc. room service doesn’t care if you are 5 or 65.

[esimon]

gotta love these posts -  at 67 I have figured out how to eat for me on a cruise.   Hope you do to I guess.

[aeraen]

I've made it a policy to only eat half of what I am served on a cruise.  Otherwise, I would have to be rolled off the gangplank at the end of the cruise (and, I carry a few extra lbs already!).  Half of what I am served always seems to be enough. I get to taste and enjoy everything, but don't get overfilled. 

 

On my last cruise (a river cruise on Avalon),  the waiter kept asking if there was anything wrong with my meal,  and I explained twice that it was lovely but I only eat half to avoid overeating.   On the third night, the head chef came to my table, concerned that I didn't like the meals.  I explained again,  and he laughed with me, saying it was probably a good policy. 

 

Between that policy and touring (for which we mostly walk), I'm probably one of the few people who actually lose a pound or two on a cruise. 

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by aeraen

[RAS4331]

Yes, we eat all three meals.  We don't go crazy, but we enjoy the food because that's a part of the appeal of a cruise, in my opinion.  I eat dessert every night because it's not something I do at home, and the desserts are fairly petite servings, so it's a nice treat.  Same for afternoon tea!

 

On our last cruise I actually lost a pound or two.  I think it was from all the walking around the ship and at port stops. 

 

My advice is just enjoy every bite, and if you go home with an extra few pounds then diet a little bit back home.

[dockman]

Walking one mile burns about 100 calories....you would have to walk a ton of laps to burn off what most people would eat on a cruise....and of course since the new trend seems to be to do away with proper promenade wrap around walking tracks it is even harder to walk a few miles unless you want to walk on a treadmill, which i hate, or a short little 8-10 laps to a mile on a sports deck far removed from the ocean...which i also hate.

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, Chickadee910 said:

Make sure you check out the kids menu. Have great snack ideas like carrots and celery sticks,etc. room service doesn’t care if you are 5 or 65.

Absolutely agree.  On Princess lines they have a dessert (on the kids menu) called the "Volcano."  It is mountains of ice cream, hot fudge, lots of whipped cream, a sliced banana, and more!  And the waiters do not care if we are 70+ when we order that volcano off the children's menu.  I guess that is what you mean :).

 

Hank

[Florida_gal_50]

13 minutes ago, dockman said:

Walking one mile burns about 100 calories....you would have to walk a ton of laps to burn off what most people would eat on a cruise....and of course since the new trend seems to be to do away with proper promenade wrap around walking tracks it is even harder to walk a few miles unless you want to walk on a treadmill, which i hate, or a short little 8-10 laps to a mile on a sports deck far removed from the ocean...which i also hate.

I sit at a desk for a living and I manage to get in 10 to 15,000 steps a day.  One day last week I did over 16k so it’s really not that hard.  I’m up super early though,  and I’m not home from work until 5 or so, so it’s not like I sleep until noon.  I’m not lucky to have a good metabolism though and lose weight by walking a few steps every day.  I still manage to gain about 8 lbs every cruise just from minimal drinking and having dessert nightly.

[Andi Land]

Yes

[LMaxwell]

Breakfast for me is rarely more than coffee and fruit.  Lunch can be kind of a big meal.  Dinner portions tend to be small and don't order much some days just a main course, or just two apps and no main.  I don't think I ever eat 3 "full" meals a day at home or on vacation though. 

[dawei]

Zhuangcorp-- For me, the most important word in your question is "Do YOU eat..."

The ship's culinary department's job is to prepare and offer a variety of dishes usually associated with the usual 3 meals/day plus specialty restaurants, snacks, tea time, etc., but it's entirely up to YOU (each passenger) to decide what, how much, when and where he/she eats during a cruise (Skoogs puts it well). It's an individual choice. And the variety of answers you have received shows this to be so. It is impossible to say all HAL passengers eat this food at these times. 

 

David

[PROCRUISE]

I weigh myself before the cruise and during the cruise. There is always a scale in the gym. I never allow myself more than a 1-2 lb weight gain and if I hit that level during the cruise,  I have to sacrifice additional creme brulee and tiramisu!!!

[RedneckBob]

5 hours ago, PROCRUISE said:

I weigh myself before the cruise and during the cruise. There is always a scale in the gym. I never allow myself more than a 1-2 lb weight gain and if I hit that level during the cruise,  I have to sacrifice additional creme brulee and tiramisu!!!

Not me. No sacrifice. As stated in a thread in June when I cruised for 14 days in Alaska, decided to weigh myself the day before disembarkation on one of those luggage scales next to elevators. It did tell me my weight, just a message that said, “Excess Baggage” 😀

[ABubbe]

On 8/7/2022 at 3:00 AM, zhuangcorp said:

Do you really eat 3 meals a day? It seems painfully filling. 

 

First you got those eggs benedict, waffles, french toast on breakfast. Then you got either buffet or lunch in MDR. Then you got that multi-course meal in MDR dinner. 

 

Can you actually eat those meals pleasurably? Or do you find that you have to skip meals. 

We enjoy three meals most days but we don’t overeat, especially at dinner.  We can request small portions on the Lido Market and in the dining room. 

 

 

[Hlitner]

I wish that I could be such a good person as to limit what I eat on a cruise.  But in my little ole mind I figure we have paid a lot of money to cruise (and travel) and I will enjoy whatever I please and suffer the consequences.  So what are the consequences?  Yes, I gain a few pound on some cruises.  So what!  When we get home I do a little more exercise and watch what I eat and in a few weeks my weight is back to acceptable and ready for the next trip.

 

I do admire those folks who have all the self-discipline to control things on cruises.  But I once thought about this and realized that when I am laying on my death bed I am not going to regret the things I did and the food I ate, but I will likely regret the things and food I passed-up.   It goes to a tough lesson I learned when a very good friend (I hate to admit he was a lawyer) sacrificed much (travel, cruises, food) to enhance his career and control his weight.  He always said that when he retired he would catch-up with that stuff.  About 10 days before he retired my friend dropped dead (heart attack) while waiting for an elevator to go up to court.  

 

Hank

[albingirl]

On 8/7/2022 at 2:42 PM, Florida_gal_50 said:

I don’t think Bloody Mary’s or beer are that bad.  It’s the frou frou drinks that would be far worse.

Truth here.

[steve4031]

Hell yeah!   The cinnamon French toast is fantastic.  Those apple pancakes in the Dutch cafe are addicting.  

[FlaMariner]

19 hours ago, PROCRUISE said:

There is always a scale in the gym

 

....and I hop on it on embarkation and during the cruise and at disembarkation to see the results.......Fine with me if Holland America Line decides to eliminate the scale in the gym.

 

I do find that even though we enjoy 3x meals a day, we do eat in moderation.....enjoy everything but not at once....and we do walk a lot and use the gym so we can enjoy 3 x meals.  Isn't that in the top 3 reasons people cruise?  It is for us. 

[fatcat04]

Yes.

 

And I have even been known to have second breakfast if I am passing by the Lido and something scrumptious catches my eye. Maybe I'm a Hobbit. 

[Hlitner]

3 hours ago, fatcat04 said:

Yes.

 

And I have even been known to have second breakfast if I am passing by the Lido and something scrumptious catches my eye. Maybe I'm a Hobbit. 

We have done the same.  The I feel so guilty I need to drink a couple of extra Bloody Marys while DW needs a few Mimosas.  That guilt can quickly be washed away with alcohol.

 

Hank