Vegans and HAL - Nope

[giraffenana]

"Actually on NCL and even Disney the desert choice was the same every night."

 

I don't know when you were on NCL, but after 7 cruises on NCL, I can say that that certainly was not my experience. There are different choices every night, even different flavors of ice cream if that is what you want.

 

Joy

[LAFFNVEGAS]

And that's just a synopsis of the posts that weren't pulled by the moderators on this thread. There have been some doozies that have gone missing since yesterday. Who would've thought veganism could rank up there with the smoking threads!!:p

It just goes to show that those of us that follow CC need to read every thread or we might miss something. I just now caught up and it appears I missed plenty. But I must confess when I first looked at the Title of the Thread I thought it was about a Las Vegan going on a HAL cruise and thought I could relate :D

[Sissy Ruth]

What amazes me with vegans - is! When you don't consume eggs,

butter,red meat, pork, duck, dairy fat of any kind, etc. -- how do

you manage to maintain your "weight,"?? I mean all of it ??

[Toad]

With all of this discussion of Vegan foods, dog meat etc, think about the nerve it took to eat the first lobsters! They look like Giant spiders, and remember in the early days it was considered cruel and unusual punishment to serve prisoners lobster more than three times a week! SO lets all remember tastes vary.

[cruz chic]

With all of this discussion of Vegan foods, dog meat etc, think about the nerve it took to eat the first lobsters! They look like Giant spiders, and remember in the early days it was considered cruel and unusual punishment to serve prisoners lobster more than three times a week! SO lets all remember tastes vary.

True but I'd take lobster over dog any day. I keep thinking of my favorite puppy!

[Boytjie]

True but I'd take lobster over dog any day. I keep thinking of my favorite puppy!

 

But have you even tasted puppy yet? :eek: :D

[cruz chic]

But have you even tasted puppy yet? :eek: :D

Probably more tender then the old dogs....but not my poor Reggie:eek:!

[vbmom87]

HAL does not handle vegetarians well, much less vegans. I understand your frustrations and disappointments, CroneWynd. The nonsense of having one vegetarian dinner menu for the entire cruise is ridiculous. Don't forget to order a day in advance. (You can get a book from Amazon more quickly.) Breakfasts and lunches are riskier. HAL is not a cruise line for vegetarians.

 

HAL may not be the line for VEGANS, but they do fine for vegetarians, at least in my mind. Being a vegetarian, I did not expect a lot. My TA did contact HAL and tell them I was a vegetarian prior to our cruise. When we sat down our first night at AYWD, our waiter asked who was the vegetarian at the table. He offered to bring me the special vegetarian menu. However, when I looked at the regular menu, I was happy to order the regular vegetarian option. I did the same each night, and always had a wonderful meal. Of course, I am a person who eats to live, not a person who lives to eat. That really does make a difference in ones satisfaction with meals in general.

[papergypsy]

With all of this discussion of Vegan foods, dog meat etc, think about the nerve it took to eat the first lobsters! They look like Giant spiders, and remember in the early days it was considered cruel and unusual punishment to serve prisoners lobster more than three times a week! SO lets all remember tastes vary.

 

 

Hmmmmm, kind like an early form of Fear Factor. Remember, somebody had to eat the first spider during a Vegas episode. Um, Yum! Tasted just like chicken, or so I hear.

[nana51]

CroneWynd,

 

I know how you feel.

One of my favourite foods is dog meat.

A very popular dish in China - especially in Winter.

Neither HAL nor Princess were flexible enough to provide it to me.

 

I guess that those of us with diets that are considered exotic or alternative should consider something other than a mass market Middle America cruise line when we go on vacation and require special foods. Or perhaps we should try to be a bit flexible and try to enjoy whatever it is that the mass market cruise lines do best.

 

Many years ago I managed a very high end and famous Beef Restaurant in New York City.

Every week I met people at the door who claimed to be vegetarians and wanted to know what we could do for them. The answer: "Sorry - Nothing".

That was uncalled for and rude. My daughter and her husband are vegan. Yes it is a choice, but a humane choice. Not a cruel one as your "dog eating" joke. They are used to going without at parties etc. With so many food choices they could throw in a few "Indian" dishes which are usually vegan.

[Philip217]

That was uncalled for and rude. My daughter and her husband are vegan. Yes it is a choice, but a humane choice. Not a cruel one as your "dog eating" joke. They are used to going without at parties etc. With so many food choices they could throw in a few "Indian" dishes which are usually vegan.

 

Why would you think I was making a joke ?

 

I do eat dog meat regularly. In China we believe that dog meat is a "warming" food and is essential to good health in Winter. Star Cruises provided dog meat on request on all their ships.

It's unfortunate that people could be so close-minded to assume that one of the most popular foods in China is a cruel joke.

[pms4104]

Why would you think I was making a joke ?

 

I do eat dog meat regularly. In China we believe that dog meat is a "warming" food and is essential to good health in Winter. Star Cruises provided dog meat on request on all their ships.

It's unfortunate that people could be so close-minded to assume that one of the most popular foods in China is a cruel joke.

Philip ... it isn't just China. In some Southeast Asian countries, people also eat dog meat. I remember that shortly after the Viet Nam war San Francisco residents living near the Golden Gate Park were warned not to allow their dogs to run loose, as many resettled Vietnamese lived in that part of the city ... and dogs were disappearing for dinner.

 

Further, this issue may be about more than closed-mindedness ... many of us are ignorant of other cultures and their practices.

[kyriecat]

Why would you think I was making a joke ?

 

I do eat dog meat regularly. In China we believe that dog meat is a "warming" food and is essential to good health in Winter. Star Cruises provided dog meat on request on all their ships.

It's unfortunate that people could be so close-minded to assume that one of the most popular foods in China is a cruel joke.

Americans tend to be an unenlightened group of people. We think our "culture" is the only one worthwhile. Dogs are considered part of the family by many people (I'm the same way with my cats) so the thought of eating dogs to many Americans is the same as eating Aunt Edna. Even though I don't particularly like dogs, I'm not sure that I could actually eat one if I knew in advance what it was. I was raised here among the "dogs are family" people, like my dad.

 

In all seriousness, you have aroused my curiosity. We have cattle ranches and pig farms here for the purpose of supplying those animals as food sources. Certain breeds of cattle and pigs are considered to be better tasting than others so are more likely to be bred for consumption. Are there similar farms that supply dogs in China? I know someone is going to be offended that I would even ask so I'll apologize.

 

I'm not vegetarian or vegan but I don't eat beef or pork - fish and fowl are fine. One of the things I noticed is about half the time, both the fish and fowl choice for the evening had some form of pork (bacon, ham, sausage) added to them. I would ask to have the pork item left off my plate but most of the time it was there anyway. Fortunately, I don't have any religious or health requirements for not eating pork or beef (I simply don't like the taste) so I would move the offending item to the side of my plate. It did get annoying after a while.

[suse]

I understand. It's really hard to look at a cow's sad eyes and yearn for a filet mignon.

[pms4104]

I understand. It's really hard to look at a cow's sad eyes and yearn for a filet mignon.

A perfect reason to avoid eye contact!

[suse]

Please don't start talking about horse meat. It's bad enough to hear about Lassie. Never mind Flicka.

[savannahgirl1]

Talking about dog meat, I was looking thru a National Geographic type book before Christmas at Walmart. They showed a picture in, I believe Beijing, of a market. There hanging up for sale were pugs. They had been stripped of their fur and only face fur remained. The caption was something about pugs being part of daily diets there. As a pug owner, I wanted to cry but it is no different than us enjoying beef, or pork, or chicken. Its just a cultural thing. In India they would never think of eating a cow, they look at us with the same disgust as we do the Chinese eating pugs. Its just where in the world you are raised. I remember coming home and looking at my pug and wondering what pug shank would taste like. :eek: ;) Just kidding!

[Brown Eyed Gurl]

To the OP: sorry to hear you had a negative experience and I feel bad that many people are being very rude to you. Most people on HAL & the boards are really helpful & kind, but with everything, there are always some rotten apples.

I am a Vegetarian and have found excellent service & selections on HAL, which is one major reason why we keep sailing with them. In 2006 the Vegetarian menu had approx 95% of its items marked Vegan, then the following year & after, not so many. Not sure why, perhaps there aren't many requests for it? We always make a point of being polite & getting to know our waiters and letting them know of our needs. We have had the chef prepare for us non-menu Indian dishes with chickpeas, spices, and tomato sauce & rice dishes with sambal, and they have given us non-menu raw vegetable trays. I have requested special salads and even fruit platters, since I have an allergy to pineapple and have always received all specials orders, with the exception of lemonade-had to get in the bar, and a certain tea they ran out of.

I have seen them poor soy milk in my DH's tea in the Explorations Cafe, maybe they were out of it on your cruise?

Hopefully you have a better experience on your next cruise whatever line you sail.

[suse]

This is a joke, right?

[suse]

I mean about the pugs.:eek:

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I have to agree too that too many from America are what I call naive not understanding what other cultures are like. I was fortunate enough as a teenager to have traveled to Japan. At that age you tend to be rather brave to what you would consider eating. So I ate it all. Never giving what I ate a 2nd thought. I am glad I did because so much of it today has now become popular in the US and I absolutely love. I only wish I had traveled to China and India at that age.

Now on a comic note I have an Umbrella Cockatoo that is in her terrible teens and screams way too much and trust me one of these nights Tom will come home and we may be eating Roasted Cockatoo :D Problem is they are not as meaty as chicken :eek:

[suse]

Kind of like telling your waitstaff, "Oh, gee, I think I'd like the monkey appetizer?"

If I wasn't vegan before, I'm certainly heading that way now.

[firefly4423]

Thanks for sharing your story. Sorry that the food wasnt good

[savannahgirl1]

I mean about the pugs.:eek:

 

Nope. I wouldn't make something like that up. To disturbing of a picture. I've seen pictures before of chickens, or roosters hanging up for sale, but never dogs. But there they were in full color.

[operafan]

Before reading this thread I was in a mild uproar about not having anything defrosted for dinner, but now? "Come here Molly girl".................. Philip, any preparation suggestions??????