Keto diet on Cunard?

[vtatsea]

Hello,

I will be traveling on the QM2 from 15 December - 3 January and I am wondering if people have been able to follow a keto diet while on board? I know there will be salads etc but has any one had experience with finding keto friendly meals, particularly in the Britannia dining room? Thanks!

[exlondoner]

Perhaps if you could give some details of what is involved in this diet, which I’ve never heard of, it might help you obtain an informed response.

[lisiamc]

57 minutes ago, vtatsea said:

Hello,

I will be traveling on the QM2 from 15 December - 3 January and I am wondering if people have been able to follow a keto diet while on board? I know there will be salads etc but has any one had experience with finding keto friendly meals, particularly in the Britannia dining room? Thanks!

We have eaten Keto for nearly four years, and although we’ve never sailed with Cunard, we’ve cruised with a few other lines and had no problems at all. I think you will be fine.
 

At the very least, they should be able to serve you a nice steak, and you can ask about the ingredients of any sauce with sauce they offer. Often Bernaise sauce is good, or just some butter, salt and pepper to put on top. Poached salmon is always good, too, again with the sauce on the side, since it’s often not a good choice. Mayonnaise can usually be had, although it isn’t a perfect choice, since it usually has seed oil and some sugar. We quickly get known as the no-bun, no-chips people, who want a burger with extra bacon, extra cheese and a fried egg on top. Prime rib with the sauce served on the side (because it’s often thickened with something) and extra veg with some extra butter instead of potatoes works well, too. Breakfast should be super easy. Scrambled, fried or poached eggs, (ask about ingredients in scrambled eggs or an omelette, sometimes they put odd things in the beaten egg, like a bit of pancake batter for fluffier eggs. If so, they should be happy to make you scrambled eggs or an omelette with real eggs if you ask.) a spinach omelette, bacon, and sometimes the sausage is surprisingly clean. They might have country ham, too. The salad dressings are often full of sugar, but they should be able to bring you olive oil and a wedge of lemon. These days the vinegar is usually cheap, sugary balsalmic, so I don’t usually even ask for it, and just do the oil and lemon instead. Greek salads are often an easy thing in the restaurant or the buffet, and Niçoise salad is yummy. It may come with potatoes in it, but they’re easy to take out. Caesar salad can be good too, if you pick the croutons out. The Caesar dressing should be pretty much ok, but it’s always worth asking, and having it on the side if it seems risky. A glass of dry red like Cabernet Sauvignon is usually easy to find, too. If you like a cocktail, vodka with soda is easy, bourbon on the rocks, or gin and Diet Tonic if you can work with that. For dessert, we often share a cheese plate. By the end of the meal they’re not even surprised that we don’t want crackers, bread, dried fruit or chutney, maybe just some walnuts if they have them. If you have a birthday, instead of a cake, they might be persuaded to bring you a glass of nice, dry Champagne. 😊

 

I don’t try to explain being Keto, because I find that if the waiter or maitre D’ hears the word diet, they often want to bring me low fat chicken breast, or a dry, totally naked burger. Or they have also had the idea that we’re gluten-free, and brought us a basket of gluten-free bread every night, which is a nice thought, but something we also don’t want to eat! Bread no longer tempts me, so we just let them bring the regular bread basket, which we ignore. It’s a bit wasteful, but we like to keep the butter on the table to use with vegetables or on a steak, and seeing a table with no bread on it triggers the staff to think we haven’t been properly served.

Usually the dining room staff will be so willing to do whatever makes you happy, that it should be really easy to stay Keto. Good luck, and Bon Boyage!

[gentlemancruiser]

Friends who are on keto have been on Cunard with no problem.     Just let your servers know you want to avoid breads or battered foods, etc.    You'll have to ask a few more questions when ordering your food.

 

Keto or Ketogenic diet is similar to Atkins.   Low carb high protein.   

[Host Hattie]

There's no bread basket on the table on Cunard, your waiter will serve you bread if you want it. Butter will be on the table anyway.

 

[lisiamc]

6 hours ago, lisiamc said:

We have eaten Keto for nearly four years, and although we’ve never sailed with Cunard, we’ve cruised with a few other lines and had no problems at all. I think you will be fine.
 

At the very least, they should be able to serve you a nice steak, and you can ask about the ingredients of any sauce with sauce they offer. Often Bernaise sauce is good, or just some butter, salt and pepper to put on top. Poached salmon is always good, too, again with the sauce on the side, since it’s often not a good choice. Mayonnaise can usually be had, although it isn’t a perfect choice, since it usually has seed oil and some sugar. We quickly get known as the no-bun, no-chips people, who want a burger with extra bacon, extra cheese and a fried egg on top. Prime rib with the sauce served on the side (because it’s often thickened with something) and extra veg with some extra butter instead of potatoes works well, too. Breakfast should be super easy. Scrambled, fried or poached eggs, (ask about ingredients in scrambled eggs or an omelette, sometimes they put odd things in the beaten egg, like a bit of pancake batter for fluffier eggs. If so, they should be happy to make you scrambled eggs or an omelette with real eggs if you ask.) a spinach omelette, bacon, and sometimes the sausage is surprisingly clean. They might have country ham, too. The salad dressings are often full of sugar, but they should be able to bring you olive oil and a wedge of lemon. These days the vinegar is usually cheap, sugary balsalmic, so I don’t usually even ask for it, and just do the oil and lemon instead. Greek salads are often an easy thing in the restaurant or the buffet, and Niçoise salad is yummy. It may come with potatoes in it, but they’re easy to take out. Caesar salad can be good too, if you pick the croutons out. The Caesar dressing should be pretty much ok, but it’s always worth asking, and having it on the side if it seems risky. A glass of dry red like Cabernet Sauvignon is usually easy to find, too. If you like a cocktail, vodka with soda is easy, bourbon on the rocks, or gin and Diet Tonic if you can work with that. For dessert, we often share a cheese plate. By the end of the meal they’re not even surprised that we don’t want crackers, bread, dried fruit or chutney, maybe just some walnuts if they have them. If you have a birthday, instead of a cake, they might be persuaded to bring you a glass of nice, dry Champagne. 😊

 

I don’t try to explain being Keto, because I find that if the waiter or maitre D’ hears the word diet, they often want to bring me low fat chicken breast, or a dry, totally naked burger. Or they have also had the idea that we’re gluten-free, and brought us a basket of gluten-free bread every night, which is a nice thought, but something we also don’t want to eat! Bread no longer tempts me, so we just let them bring the regular bread basket, which we ignore. It’s a bit wasteful, but we like to keep the butter on the table to use with vegetables or on a steak, and seeing a table with no bread on it triggers the staff to think we haven’t been properly served.

Usually the dining room staff will be so willing to do whatever makes you happy, that it should be really easy to stay Keto. Good luck, and Bon Boyage!

Obviously, that should be Bon Voyage! Laid low by autocorrect yet again. 

[lisiamc]

1 hour ago, Host Hattie said:

There's no bread basket on the table on Cunard, your waiter will serve you bread if you want it. Butter will be on the table anyway.

 

That is useful to know, thank you. Yet another reason that we should try Cunard soon.

[Mum2Mercury]

I'm low-carb, not Keto, but here are my thoughts:  

 

Breakfast is easy because eggs and breakfast meats are always available.  

Lunch and dinner it's easy to get salads and simple meats.  I ate lots of fish and shrimp on our recent cruise.  For one lunch I had a no-bun burger with chili on top, and that was good.

In the main dining room, it's okay to ask for double /triple the vegetables.

Snacks will be the hardest part -- cheese is always available, but that gets old fast.  I did not see a lot of chopped veggies appropriate for snacking.  

 

Avoid sauces because you just don't know what's in them. 

Consider bringing your own salad dressing in individual foil packets.  I've seen them at the grocery store.  

Avoid sugary drinks.  If you want more than water, consider bringing your own little stick-packets of sugar-free lemonade (or similar).  

[vtatsea]

Thanks for the feed back.! I’m pretty new to the keto diet so need all the help I can get!