Info for Vegetarians on HAL

[Cruisin' Bunny]

I know most people won't care about this post, but before my cruise, I was looking and found no information about HAL's vegetarian options.

 

In general, the food was fantastic, though I did encounter a few problems.

 

In the Pinnacle Grill, food was great!

-The starters were a bit of a problem, as the only veg options were 2 salads(no appetizers or soups).

-The entree is a mushroom ravioli in a cream sauce that is to die for!

-I had the famous Chocolate Volcano Cake....it alone is worth the cost.

 

Breakfast on the Lido:

-No problems there..breakfast is my favorite meal anyway. Every breakfast dish is straightforward.

 

Lunch on the Lido:

-THE HARDEST MEAL

-There are a ton of "hidden meat" dishes that aren't labelled appropriately. With the super long lines, it could be pretty disheartening. For example, once I waited in the line for "Asparagus in Cream Sauce" literally for about 20 minutes (it was the only thing I could eat in the entire line except plain white rice). When I finally got my asparagus, I learned that the cream sauce included chunks of ham.

Another day, I decided to eat in the asian food line. I thought the sushi and singapore noodles would be a safe bet. By the time I got to the food (~20 min, again). All the fish-free sushi was taken, and then I got a plate of "plain" singapore noodles, which I found contained shrimp.

-SAFE BETS.. stick to the pasta, pizza, and salad bar

 

Lunch in the Dining Room:

-great sneaky option--use sparingly.

-There are not always option for Veg's, so the head waiter will have the kitchen make you anything you want. You are only limited by your imagination. Example: one day there was no option, so the kitchen made me alfredo pasta with mushrooms and sundried tomatoes.

 

Dinner in the Dining Room:

-If you tell your waiter, he will bring you a separate Vegetarian Menu, which changes everday and "overlaps" with the main menu.

- I had 2 problems (not bad for a week)

1) I ordered the Vegetable Terrine from the Vegetarian Menu on Night 3(I think). It turned out to be a hunk of clear gelatin filled with floating veggies. Most people don't understand that just because something doesn't look like meat that is still can be a meat product.

2) I tried to "cross-over" one day and order a starter on the main menu. It was a mushroom strudel. Sounded safe. I got it and it had chunks of turkey in it.

---My advise: If you crossover, or are at all suspicous, ask the waiter what exactly is in a dish.

---ALSO-any food from the vegetarian menu will take longer to get than the dishes ordered from the main menu, so you will have to wait while everyone else at your table eats first.

 

 

Altogether, things were great. General advice: breakfast is easy, lunch is the hardest--be careful, and ask questions at dinner! Good Luck!

[jamiepet]

Thanks for this info. I didn't even know a vegtarian menu was available. This will make ordering a lot easier!

 

Hard to imagine an item on the vegetarian menu coming in gelatin, but then again, I've been offered chicken as a vegetarian option before. ;)

[Roz]

Just for clarification, the vegetable terrine is on the regular menu, not the vegetarian menu. The OP stated that she "crossed over" that evening.

 

Roz

[Oceanwench]

I've asked for and received the vegetarian menu on my last few cruises, and it was always the same menu each night.

The only vegetarian options that changed were on the main menu, which always has at least one vegetarian dish.

 

The vegetarian menus from ship to ship did change, however.

 

Each night at dinner, our server would bring us the vegetarian menu, and we would pre-order for the following evening.

We never had any time lag in service -- vegetarian items from the vegetarian menu were served at the same time as the other food from the main menu that evening.

[Jade13]

I've asked for and received the vegetarian menu on my last few cruises, and it was always the same menu each night.

The only vegetarian options that changed were on the main menu, which always has at least one vegetarian dish.

 

The vegetarian menus from ship to ship did change, however.

 

Each night at dinner, our server would bring us the vegetarian menu, and we would pre-order for the following evening.

We never had any time lag in service -- vegetarian items from the vegetarian menu were served at the same time as the other food from the main menu that evening.

 

HAL needs to work on their Vegetarian options. I know they will make anything (as long as they have the ingrediants) but most cruisers want to look at a menu. We know a couple that had this same issue on the Westerdam as the menu was the same each night and they had to decide what they wanted for dinner a day in advance.

[Roz]

I'm not a vegetarian, but I like to shake it up and sometimes order the vegetarian entree off the regular menu. The Channa Masala is tasty and so is the Vegetarian Jambalaya. I've also had the Curried Vegetable Cutlet and the Wild Mushroom Strudel.

 

Cruising gives me a chance to try things I wouldn't normally prepare or order in a restaurant.

 

Roz

[Jade13]

I know most people won't care about this post' date=' but before my cruise, I was looking and found no information about HAL's vegetarian options.[/size']

 

In general, the food was fantastic, though I did encounter a few problems.

 

In the Pinnacle Grill, food was great!

-The starters were a bit of a problem, as the only veg options were 2 salads(no appetizers or soups).

-The entree is a mushroom ravioli in a cream sauce that is to die for!

-I had the famous Chocolate Volcano Cake....it alone is worth the cost.

 

Breakfast on the Lido:

-No problems there..breakfast is my favorite meal anyway. Every breakfast dish is straightforward.

 

Lunch on the Lido:

-THE HARDEST MEAL

-There are a ton of "hidden meat" dishes that aren't labelled appropriately. With the super long lines, it could be pretty disheartening. For example, once I waited in the line for "Asparagus in Cream Sauce" literally for about 20 minutes (it was the only thing I could eat in the entire line except plain white rice). When I finally got my asparagus, I learned that the cream sauce included chunks of ham.

Another day, I decided to eat in the asian food line. I thought the sushi and singapore noodles would be a safe bet. By the time I got to the food (~20 min, again). All the fish-free sushi was taken, and then I got a plate of "plain" singapore noodles, which I found contained shrimp.

-SAFE BETS.. stick to the pasta, pizza, and salad bar

 

Lunch in the Dining Room:

-great sneaky option--use sparingly.

-There are not always option for Veg's, so the head waiter will have the kitchen make you anything you want. You are only limited by your imagination. Example: one day there was no option, so the kitchen made me alfredo pasta with mushrooms and sundried tomatoes.

 

Dinner in the Dining Room:

-If you tell your waiter, he will bring you a separate Vegetarian Menu, which changes everday and "overlaps" with the main menu.

- I had 2 problems (not bad for a week)

1) I ordered the Vegetable Terrine from the Vegetarian Menu on Night 3(I think). It turned out to be a hunk of clear gelatin filled with floating veggies. Most people don't understand that just because something doesn't look like meat that is still can be a meat product.

2) I tried to "cross-over" one day and order a starter on the main menu. It was a mushroom strudel. Sounded safe. I got it and it had chunks of turkey in it.

---My advise: If you crossover, or are at all suspicous, ask the waiter what exactly is in a dish.

---ALSO-any food from the vegetarian menu will take longer to get than the dishes ordered from the main menu, so you will have to wait while everyone else at your table eats first.

 

 

Altogether, things were great. General advice: breakfast is easy, lunch is the hardest--be careful, and ask questions at dinner! Good Luck!

 

Ok, it looks like you were on the Westerdam but note you have it listed as "NCL" Westerdam???

 

It looks like the Chef on the Westerdam has worked hard since July and August to come up with more than one Vegetarian menu. We know two couples who met with Andreas to discuss the issue of having one menu and requiring 24 hour notice. I know they also wrote "Seattle".

[Oceanwench]

Friends of mine who sailed on the Zuiderdam last month said they had the same vegetarian menu every night.

They've sailed on HAL quite a bit and said this menu had fewer items than other ships they've sailed [Volendam, Westerdam to name two].

 

Also, once when they dined in the Pinnacle, the chef made up a vegetarian pasta dish for them that was not on the menu.

 

I remember on one of my cruises [maybe the Westerdam], the vegetarian menu had the best French onion soup on it ... wow!!! :)

[Brown Eyed Gurl]

HAL's Vegetarian menu is one of the reasons we continue to choose HAL to sail on. We've only had great experiences and enjoy their options. Below are 2 posts I wrote describing the Vegetarian food/options, I'll write another after our Alaskan cruise.

 

 

 

I also posted this under Cruise Foodies, under an old post titled "Vegetarian Options", but wanted to also post it here, in case anyone had any concerns (I know I did before I sailed, and no one really knew what the Vegetarian options were). So I hope this helps answer any questions, my opinions on items are just that, so take 'em with a grain of salt. :p

 

Just off the Zaandam 4/4/06.

HAL had great selections for Vegetarians!! Portions were generous, flavor was wonderful, presentation was ok.

I'll list as much as I can remember...

Room Service

Breakfast...OJ, apple juice, prune juice, V8, grapefruit juice, tea, coffee, milk, cereals, toast, english muffin, bagel, croissant, blueberry muffin, danish, various fruits (melon, orange slices, etc), yogurt (plain or fruit), eggs or eggbeaters (scrambled or cheese omelet -both came w/ hashbrowns)

Lunch/Dinner/24hrs...cheese platter (asst cheeses with crackers, bread, & fruit), Vegetarian omelet, Vegetarian pizza (mushroom & bell pepper listed, but you could request anything you wanted. The pizza was made to order with a homemade crust and had a super sweet sauce-we both liked it alot!), Thai Vegetarian Wrap (tomato tortilla with eggplant & sprouts and a few other veggies I don't recall). Other than desserts these were the only Vegetaran items listed, desserts were ice cream, cake, or choc chip cookies

Lido Buffet

Breakfast...there was an omelet station in which you could order any combination of eggs, eggbeaters, cheeses, and veggies, buffet had same as room service but more fruit juices (grape & others), more fruit, scrambled eggs (they looked runny, but they also had a separate pan of well-done eggs), hashbrowns, pancakes (plain & blueberry), french toast, waffles

Lunch...for lunch options I was disappointed, nothing was marked Vegetarian and the staff didn't always know what was and sometimes they didn't even understand. Be careful-we tried what appeared to be plain rice and it strongly tasted of chicken broth, so we threw it out to be safe. There was always salad & veggies, but they never looked fresh or really tasted good. There was always some type of fruit, pasta (w/ marinara or alfredo), cold pasta salad, mashed potatoes, french fries, new potatoes, there was an Asian station in which you could have them make stir-fried veggies, and the best (in my opinion ;) ) was the sandwich station in which you could have a made-to-order sandwich of fresh veggies a/o cheese (grilled if you liked), on any type of fresh bread (foccacia, Italian, wheat, white, etc).

Dinner...I would stay away from the Lido for dinner. They only had the same entrees as the dining room (which means only ONE Vegetarian entree-which was not marked & nothing from the Vegetarian menu), and they did not include any of the chilled soups or Vegetarian appetizers from the dinner menu. All rolls & garlic bread in the Lido also were hard every time we tried them-for lunch or dinner (in the Dining Room they were always soft and fresh!)

Desserts...the desserts in the Lido always seemed bland or stale. We only found something tasty and fresh maybe 2 or 3 times, even though we sampled from there nearly daily. The ice cream was ok, the vanilla I found to be good, while the chocolate was bland and didn't taste like chocolate to me. My in-laws and many people on these boards have raved about the bread pudding, we tried it twice and both times it was bland-almost to the point of being tasteless, overly wet/soggy, and a huge disappointment.

Terrace Grill

Lunch/Snack...the grill offered veggie burgers in which they kept separate and wrapped in tin foil! There was also a taco bar in which you could make veggie or bean tacos, but I am not sure if the refried beans are Vegetarian or not. There was also various Vegetarian pizzas available (we saw mushroom & cheese, black olive & tomato, zucchini & onion).

Pinnacle Grill

Dinner...The Pinnacle only offered one Vegetarian entree which was the mushroom ravioli, which was on the regular menu one night. They also offered several Vegetarian appetizers if I recall correctly (baked potato, etc).

Rotterdam Dining Room

*I saved the best for last!!*

We never ate in the dining room for breakfast or lunch so I'm not sure what they offered. We heard some people complaining about how long it took to receive their food though.

We ate off both the Regular & Vegetarian menus, so I will list things I remember or we ate, and then mark from which menu they were from, R or V. There was only 1 soup & 1 entree I didn't care for, and it wasn't that they weren't good, they just didn't appeal to me. Our service was amazing. We always received our food promptly with a smile, and never had a complaint about anything! We ate in the dining room every night except one (we had to get up super early for a shore excursion the next day, we had the main dinner, upper @ 8pm, and we usually didn't finish until 10pm or later). All chilled soups were Vegetarian. We only tried one salad, but I know the Vegetarian menu had at least 2 others available. We had the spinach salad with artichoke hearts and tofu dressing, which was just ok. I'd say 80% of items on Vegetarian menu were marked Vegan.

Bread

Rolls (White)

Black Forrest

Zucchini Bread

Rye

Pumperknickel

French

 

Soups

Chilled Blueberry (blueberries & champagne) R

Apple Vichyssoise (apple brandy w/ diced granny smith apples) R

Mango Gazpacho (mangoes, onion, & cilantro) R

Strawberry Bisque R

French Onion V

Vichyssoise (chilled potato & leek, very frothy & buttery) V

3 Berry Minestrone (strawberry, blueberry, & raspberry-I think) R

Gazpacho (chilled tomato & cucumber) V

Vegetable V

 

Appetizers

Tropical Fruit Dish (watermelon, pineapple, canteloupe, guava) R

Melon Plate (watermelon, honeydew melon, canteloupe, grapes) Alt to R

Watermelon Cocktail (watermelon, honeydew, mint, orange rind) R

Tomato Pesto Toasties (sun-dried tomato pesto sauce on toast with grilled onions) V

Guacamole w/ Nachos V

Asparagus Rolls (asparagus wrapped in filo dough w/ an herbed cream sauce) V

Fruit Cocktail w/ Curacao R (there was another fruit cocktail w/ a different liqueur another night, but I don't recall which)

 

Entrees

Parmesan Eggplant Orzo R

Cheese Tortellini in an Herbed Nutty Sauce V

Baked Veggie Lasagna w/ Garlic Bread (I had this 3 times-very good, first 2 times was in a white cream sauce, 3rd time in a marinara) V

Picatta of Vegetable (eggplant & zucchini breaded in parmesan w/ whole wheat cous cous) R

Southwest Cheese Manicotti R

Vegetarian Chili w/ Corn Muffin (chili was chickpeas, onions, tomatoes - muffin was very sweet) V

Mushroom Ravioli R

Eggplant Picatta R

Tofu Kebabs V

Indian Red Lentil Dahl (we both love & often eat Indian food, this did not compare, was just ok) R

Sweet & Sour Tofu R

Vegetable Cutlet w/ chickpea & tomato salad (one of my faves-had both an Indian & Italian flavor) R

Spicy Stir-Fried Tofu (stir-fried veggies & tofu on glass noodles-very spicy, but was DH's fave meal!) V

Corn Fritters, Grilled Tomato, & Black Bean Salsa V

 

Desserts (in case you're curious ;) )

*Also offered were various sugar-free desserts, fruit, or ice cream.

Cappucino (complimentary only in dining room with/for dessert)

Cheese Platter (asst cheeses, fruits, crackers, & bread)

Vienesse Apple Struedel (sp?) w/ vanilla sauce

Tiramisu w/ raspberry sauce

Peach Flambe

Strawberry Cheesecake

Chocolate Souffle w/ rum sauce

Crepes Suzette

Caribbean Rum Cake w/ vanilla sauce

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

Baked Alaska

Kahlua Creme Brulee

Cheesecake Sampler (included plain, choc chip, & raspberry)

 

Again, I am sure I am forgetting plenty-there were more soups, appetizers, entrees, and more desserts. No need to fret, plenty of (very tasty) variety for us veggies on HAL. :D I was very impressed!

Hope this helps!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Just off the Westerdam, did b2b cruises to the Western & Eastern Caribbean. HAL said they change their menu every season, both the regular & Vegetarian, so the Vegetarian menu was completely different from last year, but I recognized many things on the regular menu from last year. However, the room service menu was exactly the same, minus the (veggie) pizza-they no longer offer pizza on the RS menu since the pizza station in the Lido is open from 11:30am-1am.

HAL once again went above and beyond our expectations. The food was excellent, the options & portions were plentiful, and the presentation was very good! Not to mention the staff was very friendly & accomodating! Twice they served us a full dinner in our room (once I wasn't feeling well-had to much sun, & the other we wanted to go to bed early for an early excursion the next day).

When the staff found out we like Indian food, we were told there was an Indian chef onboard and we could have him make us anything we wanted-we could suggest a dish or let him make what he wanted, which we took advantage of 5 times! 4 times he made us whatever he wanted - various curries, once we asked for Masala Chole. Every dish was fantastic, each time different - different spices w/ different levels of heat, different vegetables, one dish with tofu, the rest without. All with rice and sambal.

Every morning we had room service - usually eggbeaters, fruit, english muffin, juice. Lunch was always in the Lido, either veggie sushi, veggie pizza, or sandwiches from the deli. But the other options were there-salads, veggie stir fry, veggie tacos/burritos, veggie burgers from the grill, pasta, fruit, steamed veggies, bread, etc.

 

Here is a copy of the current Vegetarian Menu:

Appetizers

Vegetable Sushi (DH had this and liked it)

Terrine of Fresh Vegetables (I had this once and did not care for it - finely chopped veggies in jello :eek: )

Crispy Noodle Salad (we both had this several times and really liked it-crispy rice noodles with pea pods, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, and sweet & sour dressing)

Melon Cocktail (did not have but is honeydew, cantaloupe, & watermelon)

Hot Appetizers

Timbale of Asparagus (DH had this once said it was good-was an asparagus mousse w/ a basil tomato sauce)

Vol-Au-Vent with Artichokes (we both had this several times, although everytime it was made with asparagus and not artichokes-it was very good!)

Soups

Vegetable Consomme (I had this once, it was very good - clear veggie broth with chopped mushrooms, carrots, onions, and broccoli)

Cream of Carrot & Ginger (did not try)

Celery & Stilton Soup (DH had this once or twice and said it was good)

Chilled Raspberry Soup (both of us had this at least twice-very good)

Entrees

Tempura Vegetables (DH had this once & split with me-very good, was mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, squash, and carrots, deep fried in batter)

Tofu Stroganoff (I had this once, very good, firm tofu with onions, mushrooms, garlic in a paprika sauce)

Artichoke Florentine (DH had this once, said it was a veggie version of eggs benedict-artichokes instead of english muffin)

Hodge Podge of Escarole (DH had this once, I tried it, we both liked it-mix of mashed potatoes, escarole, and fried tofu)

Eggplant in Chickpea Dough (DH had this once and didn't care for it-eggplant slices were really thick)

Struedel of Fresh Asparagus (I had this 3 times, one of my fave dishes-asparagus in mashed potatoes in filo dough, baked, served w/ veggies & boiled potatoes)

 

Other items we had off the regular menu:

Caribbean Fruit Medley

Watermelon Cocktail

Sailor's Fruit Cocktail in Curacao

Baked Brie

Chilled Apple Vichyssoise

Chilled Blueberry Soup

3 Berry Minestrone

Strawberry Bisque

Eggplant Manicotti

Creole Style Cheese Manicotti (we both liked this alot, had twice)

Mushroom Struedel

Broccoli Tempura

Veggie Cutlet w/ Chickpeas (this was our favorite dish, had twice!)

Farmer's Pot Pie

Tiramisu

Caribbean Rum Cake w/ Vanilla Sauce

Opera Cake

Hot Fudge Chocolate Sundae

No Sugar Added Black Forrest Cake

Coconut Blanc Manger

Dark Chocolate Avalanche Cake

Cappuccino Cheesecake

Vanilla Creme Brule

Baked Alaska

 

Other Vegetarian items on the regular menu, we did not try:

Mango Gazpacho

Mushroom Ravioli

Picatta of Vegetables

Leek & Spinach Flan

Apple Tart

Strawberry Cheesecake

[Oceanwench]

Brown-eyed girl, thanks for the yummy post!

 

I recognize some of the items you had on your vegetarian menu, but not all.

I would have loved the guacamole appetizer, as guac is one of my favorite things!

 

I have had the various tofu dishes you list on vegetarian menus on HAL.

But other dishes you list ... wow ... I hope I encounter them on future cruises!

 

Asparagus rolls!!!

Cheese tortellini!!!

Vegetarian Chili w/ Corn Muffin!!!

 

Sign me up!

 

I remember tempura vegetables, hummus ... and an awesome stilton cheese soup on one menu.

Looks like HAL mixes it up with the vegetarian menus.

[Jade13]

Friends of mine who sailed on the Zuiderdam last month said they had the same vegetarian menu every night.

They've sailed on HAL quite a bit and said this menu had fewer items than other ships they've sailed [Volendam, Westerdam to name two].

 

Also, once when they dined in the Pinnacle, the chef made up a vegetarian pasta dish for them that was not on the menu.

 

I remember on one of my cruises [maybe the Westerdam], the vegetarian menu had the best French onion soup on it ... wow!!! :)

 

Wow. I didn't try it but saw the French onion soup on the Westerdam. The couple that had it said it was the worst ever.

[x lindsay x]

---ALSO-any food from the vegetarian menu will take longer to get than the dishes ordered from the main menu, so you will have to wait while everyone else at your table eats first.

 

I've always just pre-ordered from the veg menu the night before (obviously not including the first night). The head waiter was always able to bring me the veg menu and the regular menu for the following evening so I was able to pick and choose from both menus if I so desired.

Over the past three cruises on HAL in a little over a year I have received three different vegetarian menus. The newest (Zaandam Oct/Nov '07) being the best with clearly marked vegan options on the menu, which was something new. I'm looking forward to the addition of vegan dessert items, other than sorbet, in the future.

And I agree, the vegetable terrine was inedible.

Sandwiches in the lido are always a safe bet for lunch as they always have roasted veggies on hand, plus a variety of cheeses.

[mhoffman55]

Vegetable terreine was on the Vegetarian menu, I was at her table.

[Cruisin' Bunny]

I am really excited to see I'm not alone here...

1. Yes...I am an idiot and accidentally listed my HAL as NCL...blonde moment...

2. The horrible aformentioned Vegetable Terrine, (aka Veggies floating in Jello) WAS on the vegetarian menu.

3. Awesome that Brown Eyed Gurl listed everything so in depth! More dilligent than I could ever be!

 

It is interesting to see that other people found the same problems--like food on the lido, etc...

 

Also, I wish I would have known about pre-ordering..that would have really helped. : (

[Oceanwench]

Your server should have told you about pre-ordering.

The first night we go to the dining room, we tell our server that we'd like the vegetarian menu. After that, he hands it to us after dessert at each meal, along with the next night's regular menu, so we can decide if we want to order from the veg menu.

After we have time to peruse the menus, he writes down our orders.

[Jade13]

Your server should have told you about pre-ordering.

The first night we go to the dining room, we tell our server that we'd like the vegetarian menu. After that, he hands it to us after dessert at each meal, along with the next night's regular menu, so we can decide if we want to order from the veg menu.

After we have time to peruse the menus, he writes down our orders.

 

It is so interesting to read others thoughts on this. That was the complaint of our friends. They had to decide what they wanted to eat 24 hours in advance. They found this to be a negative, and I would too.

[Jade13]

1. Yes...I am an idiot and accidentally listed my HAL as NCL...blonde moment...

(

 

No problem, our last cruise was on the Westerdam so we know it was not NCL :)

[Oceanwench]

It is so interesting to read others thoughts on this. That was the complaint of our friends. They had to decide what they wanted to eat 24 hours in advance. They found this to be a negative, and I would too.

 

I found it a positive to know what was on the next night's regular menu, so I would know if there was something I wanted on it, or if I should pre-order from the vegetarian menu.

The staff in the dining room is so accommodating, I am sure they would be happy to serve me something else if I changed my mind over the next 24 hours ...

I don't think they *require* anyone to pre-order, I think they just do that so they can serve the entire table at the same time.

If someone doesn't want to pre-order vegetarian meals, he/she has to expect that it might take the kitchen a little longer to prepare special items on any given night.

[Louise P]

We were the couples on the Westerdam in July that had the worst onion soup ever. After several days of seeing the same menu we asked to see the chef. Andreas was wonderful. He created a new menu for us that gave us many more choices. He really went out of his way to accommodate us. Since we had diabetics with us as well, he made us sugar free cakes. He was never able to make the onion soup right, even after 3 tries. He did make some very good vegetarian soups, however. On the Emerald Princess, over Thanksgiving we had great onion soup. Princess seems to know how to do it well. Next week we leave on the Journey and will try again.

Louise

[sail7seas]

My Goodness.......

 

That listing above by Brown Eyed Girl sure looks like a lot of variety to me. Quite impressive, isn't it?? :confused: Thank you so much for going to all that work to post that for us. I am not vegetarian but often eat vegetarian meals. With selection like that, who could want for more?

 

 

[mjwood77]

I've been on three HAL cruises as a vegetarian and always loved the service. I've always liked being able to decide seeing the next night's menu and deciding if I was going to order from it or the vegetarian menu. (My dining companions usually liked getting a sneak peak too).

 

I've read there are problems getting traditional seating, and people are getting stuck with As You Wish Dining. I'm not sure how this would work with the vegetarian pre-ordering Has anyone experienced this?

[Jemima]

I've read there are problems getting traditional seating, and people are getting stuck with As You Wish Dining. I'm not sure how this would work with the vegetarian pre-ordering Has anyone experienced this?

 

We're vegetarian and had As You Wish Dining in November on the Ryndam. We were able to see the following evening's menus each night at dinner. I'm not sure how they did it, but any veg menu items ordered did show up the following evening. Possibly this was input in the computer with our names and cabin number?

It is a little more difficult due to having different dining stewards. Generally we had to ask for the menus each evening and sometimes explain we really needed to see the regular menu also. With traditional seating this only needs explained the first evening.

[Desdemona01]

as a vegetarian with many HAL cruises behind me (and hopefully many more to come) I am thrilled with their veg options. I've never had a problem with breakfast, lunch or dinner. I thoroughly enjoy pre-ordering my dinner. As a previous poster noted, you can see what is being served the next night in the DR and compare it to the veg menu. I do not find the veg menu boring or redundant. Since there are multiple offerings in each course, I rarely get to try them all, since there is often something on the main menu that I want to try. I will also agree with a previous poster that the french onion soup was AWESOME! I guess I've been really lucky, but I've had it on several HAL ships and it was always good. I wish I could find this many options in land-based restaurants!

 

One note about the Pinnacle-- if they are *out* of the mushroom ravioli they do not offer an alternative on the menu. The chef did fix me a non-descript pasta dish as a replacement, but this was only after the wait staff repeatedly tried to convince me to order a fish or chicken dish (what part of "vegetarian" did they not understand?). We enjoy the main DR so much that we have not returned to the Pinnacle (DH wasn't impressed with his steak that night, either).

[infohunter]

While I'm a carnivore... I do love my veggies....

 

I found the various cold fruit soups to be delightful and quite interesting. My only cold soup that I really ate all the time before this was gazpacho. We had the onion soup and it was terrific... however my guess is that it is made with beef stock so please ask before ordering.

 

I was constantly ordering extra veggies at times... So if you see it on a plate it can be ordered as a side.... However I agree one does need to check in case any extra items are added as flavorings.

 

There was a woman on our sailing that was controling her sugar intake.... the dining room staff brought her the menus for the next day each evening so that she could plan ahead... she wasn't ordering in advance just doing some strategic planning throughout the day. Also there was a ton of sugar free desserts available both in the dining room and in the lido.

 

I found everyone on the rotterdam to be very accommodating... so if you need anything.... just let them know. The key is to ask!

 

I also found the chefs on the Rotterdam to also be approachable as well. While I wasn't asking for anything to be specially prepared for me.... I think they would if I had asked them. However in general most requests would go through your dining room steward.