Any vegetarian cruisers?

[TKinAZ]

Although we're not new to cruising, we are new to cruising as vegetarians. I'm wondering what experiences others have had on RC ships as vegetarians. I did look on the website and it says they will accommodate a veg diet with 45 days notice, which is no problem. FWIW, we're fine with others eating meat, and don't freak out if meat touches our veg food.

 

Would you share your experiences?

[cruising bean]

My husband and I have been vegetarians for over ten years. (For health reasons) We have cruised RCL 6 times and have never had a problem finding something to eat. We prefer to eat in the WJ because of schedules and more choices. But, we have eaten in the dining room and there is always at least one vegetarian entree on the menu and they are yummy. I have loved everything I have eaten. You will find plenty to eat and it will be delicious. Have a great cruise.

[FloridaFan]

I have been vegetarian for 8 cruises with RCI, and you won't have any problems. There's always one meal at dinner that's designated "vegetarian", plus they usually have a daily pasta as well. The WJ has lots of veggie selections. I especially love the veggie selections in the Jade section of some ships. The only shortcoming I remember was that soy milk was a little hard to find. I was always pleased with the selections.

[KillaFee]

Although we're not new to cruising, we are new to cruising as vegetarians. I'm wondering what experiences others have had on RC ships as vegetarians. I did look on the website and it says they will accommodate a veg diet with 45 days notice, which is no problem. FWIW, we're fine with others eating meat, and don't freak out if meat touches our veg food.

 

Would you share your experiences?

 

I've been a vegetarian for 10 years and I LOVE RCI's food!!! They have the BEST veggies and fresh fruit and vegetarian dishes. I think that one of the reasons that they cater to vegetarians so well is because they have such an international crew and many countries do not eat nearly as much meat as Americans.:D It's GREAT!!!

 

You don't have to give them advanced notice unless you're vegan, and because you say that you don't freak out if meat touches your food, you definitely don't sound like you are vegan - lol. It's soooo nice to go out and have so many other options besides just pasta, which is what us veggies tend to hear ALOT! If you are a strict vegetarian (like me) make sure you ask about the soups because they're not usually vegetarian. They generally have some type of animal broth, with the exception of the fruit soups, obviously. :p

 

In the Windjammer there's always tons of fresh fruit, a salad bar, a mexican taco bar,and usually a curry dish or some type of designated vegetarian dish, and then plenty more!! Being on a Royal Caribbean ship is like heaven for a vegetarian, in my opinion! It's so nice not having to explain yourself to everyone because the employees completely understand. :D

Laura

[mivama]

You won't have any problems being a vegetarian. My sister and I (both veggies) have both cruised several times with meat-eating friends and often the vegetarian selection is the best choice on the menu. They have a great variety of dishes with an international flare. Most restaurants you go to think that a vegetarian option is pasta primavera. The options on RCCL range from curries to eggplant dishes, plus, there is always the fallback of pasta with marinara sauce. There are also usually at least 2-3 non-meat appetizer options (salads, fruit soups, onion tart, etc). The cafes and snack bars on board will usually offer pizza or some other non-meat options. You can probably do a search for menus to see what sort of vegetarian options are available.

Oh, if Labadee is one of your stops, someone told me that you can just tell the maitre D that you are a vegetarian and they will provide veggie burgers on the island for you.

[TravlGrl]

I am a vegetarian and found no challenges finding some really good food options. We even ate at the Murder Mystery Dinner in Portofino and were happy with the choices. If you don't see anything that meets your needs on the menu, just ask!

 

My husband is a meat-eater, but he enjoyed nibbling off my plate as much as I did. Over the course of a week, my choices included Asian tofu, pasta (of course!), eggplant, and plenty of vegetables.

 

I do agree with the person who said soy milk was hard to find. In fact, I couldn't find any soy milk anywhere on Jewel of the Seas, but that's ok. There are plenty of other beverage options.

[seychelle]

After my cruise on RC I wondered why they even wanted to know in advance if you were a vegetarian because it didn't make any difference. Same menu, just some veggie selections.

 

I agree that the WJ is the place to be. Wonderful vegetable dishes and bean dishes along with salad bar and lots of fruit. I try to stay on the vegan side although I'm not obsessive about it, and many dining room veggie selections had cheese, like eggplant parmeson, and of course pizza too, and I also try and stay away from oil and there was sometimes lots of that too. But there were enough selections to make everyone happy.

 

Also, you can always ask for a lettuce and tomato salad in the dining room. Learned that from a tablemate who had taken many cruises and ordered one every single night.

[seychelle]

Oh, and another thing, TravlGrl, did you ever ask for soy milk? Somehwere on these boards I read that it is not put out but they will bring you some if asked. I never asked for it so I can't say.

[TravlGrl]

Oh, and another thing, TravlGrl, did you ever ask for soy milk? Somehwere on these boards I read that it is not put out but they will bring you some if asked. I never asked for it so I can't say.

 

Nope, I didn't even ask. I did look and look and look, but for whatever reason I didn't even ask for soy milk. Next time I will!

[taka32]

This was my first time cruising with RCL, on Freedom. I never had a problem finding something to eat in either the Windjammer or Dining room. I did ask for soymilk, and everyone I did ask for said they only had regular milk. Although I didn't ask in the Dining room, just the Windjammer.

Have fun on your cruise!

[zantedeschia]

I do agree with the person who said soy milk was hard to find. In fact, I couldn't find any soy milk anywhere on Jewel of the Seas,

I have to disagree with this. I could always find soymilk, the hard part was finding the right person to ask. A lot of the crew don't know about it and I had the best luck asking a supervisor. It was easiest to find in the dining room, the Windjammer I sometimes had to ask 2 or 3 people before I found someone to get it for me. I learned to respond "Yes you do! Go ask a supervisor" when they would say 'we don't have soya milk'. This on Splendour, Rhapsody and Serenade.

 

One cruise they ran out, um, I think it was on an itinerary that had 2 sea days in a row. They restocked the next time they hit port.

[TKinAZ]

Okay...it sounds like we won't starve. :p I just really haven't paid attention in the past, as we weren't vegetarians at the time. The only thing I remembered for sure was that pasta with marinara sauce was always an option--and I don't want to eat that every night! :eek:

 

Thanks for taking time to set my mind at ease.

[nrh322]

My 14 year old son is a very strict ovo lacto vegetarian. He reads labels and won't eat ANYTHING he isn't certain about. He's been doing this since he was 12 and it makes feeding him a pain in the heinie! :) He won't even use our toaster at home to toast his bread because we use it for pop tarts (they contain gelatin!!).

 

I did quite a bit of research before booking our cruise to make sure that he wouldn't starve. I showed him the menus and pictures of the setup in the WJ that proved there were places were veggies and such were not in contact with "flesh" products. I also brought him protein powder just in case.

 

Long story longer...

 

He loved the food.... particularly at dinner. He thought it was great that they designated vegetarian options on the menu with a "V" for vegetarian so he didn't have to query the wait staff (sometimes it's hard to know with soups and pasta sauces - they add beef or chicken stock). He usually ordered pasta AND whatever the vegetarian specialty entree for the night was... and ate tons of bread.

 

Long story even longer...

 

Since you described yourself as a new vegetarian (and unparanoid about "flesh" foods touching your foods - unlike my son)... You won't starve! You'll probably enjoy the food quite a bit and you might even gain weight!! :) Have a great trip!

[lovemylab]

I am not a vegetarian myself but I did try a few of the vegetarian entrees on the menu and they were delicious! You will have no problems with finding plenty of options onboard.

[elhenry]

Just off the EOS yesterday and going through withdrawal...

 

As everyone has said, going veg is not a problem. The dining menu always has one veg entree option and usually more than one appetizer.

 

BUT, the best best best option is to ask your headwaiter for the Indian veg entree (special order, not on menu except for last formal night). Every night I had a different entree (chickpeas, potatoes and peas, cauliflower, kidney beans) cooked in different aromatic sauces with naan and rice. The waiter brought an extra one for the table *and* brought the regular veg meal besides (we were a party of 12). Scrumptuous!

 

That being said, if you like sit down lunches (and I do) the selection is very limited. As in ricotta/asparagus cannoli, pad thai (which was excellent) or the pasta bar. All noodles, all the time for sit downs is not the best for a nine day cruise.

 

But hey, nobody's perfect....

 

el henry

[karena1]

I eat no meat except chicken and I eat absolutely no seafood of any kind. I have never had any problems finding things to eat. In fact, a lot of times, I will just ask the waiter if he can have the kitchen fix me up some steamed veggies for dinner and they do. Or I ask for a regular lettuce salad and always get what I want. They also have a really good veggie stew/chili dish and the mushroom pastry appetizer is to die for. So no, you won't have any problems at all.

 

Also, another hint - If I see a pasta dish on the menu I think I want, but it has meat or seafood in it, I just ask the waiter to have them prepare it for me without the meat or seafood. I have done that numerous times and it is not issue at all.

 

Fruit and veggies in WJ are also wonderful. I am not a breakfast eater at all (eat no eggs or any kind of breakfast food), but they always have great fruit selections and if we eat lunch on the ship I always find either salads or veggies.

 

So no worries, you will be fine.