While I’ve sailed extensively on every other non-luxury cruise line as a vegetarian (and sometimes as a vegan), I recently embarked on only my second Royal Caribbean cruise, a 7-night sailing to Alaska on the Ovation of the Seas. My first Royal cruise was a short solo sailing and so alcohol fueled that I can only assume I consumed nothing but carby buffet food to sober up so I could drink more (I was taking a vacation from mommying a toddler – don’t judge). But I don’t really remember. I apologize if you were on that cruise with me and caught me ordering bacon, not to eat, but to use as a makeshift hair tie so I could jump up on a table to sing off-key Whitney.
Anyway, this time I was sober, characteristically introverted, and with extra rubber bands that doubled as bracelets for formal night. And I was focused on gathering intel for my vegetarian and vegan cruise friends. Here’s what I found…
Let’s start with the good news, the thing Royal Caribbean does best when it comes to eating vegan on a cruise: Royal Caribbean offers a separate vegan menu for dinner in the main dining rooms! And unlike on many lines, the vegan menu is different every night, is available to anyone who wants it, and does not require ordering a day in advance.
On my cruise I simply asked my wait staff for both the vegan and the regular menu and I usually ordered multiple items from each (for research, of course. I did it for you, people. Be sure to tell me your name in the comments so I can name the 10lb food baby I came home with after you).
Each night there were two appetizers, one soup, two entrees, and one dessert offered on the vegan menu. And none of them were a suspicious “stir fry” of whatever veggie sides were being offered with the meat dishes (like has sometimes been the case for me on other ships). No, they were legit vegan dishes like you’d find at a vegan restaurant or at my house when I’m trying to traumatize my father-in-law: “Here, try this bacon made from eggplant!” Highlights included the soups and sauces – I’d especially recommend the soups, even to non-vegetarian/vegans. The caramelized parsnip and coconut soup was my top pick. I’d have ordered that every night had they offered it. Here are some pics of the vegan food I tried:
Are here are the vegan menus for all seven nights:
If you’re a vegetarian and not a vegan, there is always at least one vegetarian appetizer and entree course on the regular dinner menu in the main dining room.
One thing I would suggest as an area of improvement for Royal Caribbean in terms of being vegetarian friendly would be to label vegetarian items on the menu. On many lines there’s a symbol (a little carrot, for example) next to items that are veggie, making it much easier to identify them and be confident that they are actually vegetarian. Some things are obvious, like a salad, but some things like soups are not (a soup may sound vegetarian based on the description, but it’s actually made with chicken or beef stock). Ordering from the regular menu required a few extra questions of my wait staff (making things harder for both them and me), but it wasn’t a huge deal and they were always happy to help. Here are a few of the vegetarian items I ordered from the regular menu on my last cruise:
While there wasn’t a separate vegan menu offered at breakfast and lunch and the buffet (which I’ll cover shortly) may offer more selection, a quick conversation with my wait staff resulted in some good vegetarian and vegan options. The chef was willing to modify many items on the menu, such as preparing the breakfast burrito (pictured below) without the chorizo, making it vegetarian or the market vegetable breakfast bowl without the egg and cheese, making it vegan. For vegans there was also non-dairy milk available for cereal, oatmeal, and Cream of Wheat as well as fruit and a few bakery items.
While I was generally very pleased with the vegetarian and vegan offerings in the main dining rooms, I did not find the Windjammer Buffet vegetarian or vegan friendly. Not because there weren’t vegan and vegetarian offerings, but because NOTHING was labeled as vegetarian, let alone vegan. There was a label for each item stating what it was, but no indication as to whether or not it was vegetarian. Like on the dining room menu, this wouldn’t be necessary for certain items, like raw vegetables and fruit. However, it is necessary for most other items (vegetables, pastas, rice, soups, and sauces that can sometimes be cooked in chicken or beef broth). You can see an example in the photo below. The label says “sweet potato soup.” Nothing about that label suggests that it wouldn’t be vegetarian, but upon asking, I was told that it is NOT vegetarian.
This means that vegetarians and vegans have to ask a crew member about every single questionable item. And often the first person you ask won’t know and will have to ask someone else. Why not slap a simple (and commonly used just about everywhere these days) label on each item identifying it as vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free, etc? It would save everyone involved a lot of hassle (including already busy crew).
In terms of the vegetarian and vegan offerings regularly available for lunch and dinner, there was an extensive salad bar, fresh fruit, cooked vegetables, bakery items, one Indian dish (usually not vegan), one other international dish (usually Chinese), pasta with a choice of sauce, and rice. You could also request a veggie burger from “Burgerama,” but it took 15 minutes to cook.
Breakfast included fairly standard fare, but I particularly liked the fresh fruit “smoothies” (they were really just juices – watermelon was my favorite) and the (vegan) avo toast at the gluten free station (both are pictured below).
Note that there is also non-dairy milk, either almond or soy, available (ask the crew member stationed by the cow’s milk and they will get it for you).
Sorrento’s Pizza is the complimentary pizza joint on Royal Caribbean ships. Offerings include a rotating selection of antipasto, most of which is vegetarian and some of which is vegan (be sure to ask), and pizza. If you want to grab a quick slice of pizza, veggie and cheese pies are almost always available. If you’re vegan or if you want different veggies, you can place a special order and they will make whatever you like (including vegan options with no cheese). Or if you hate olives, you can pick them off like a 3 year-old and ruin all your photos like me. *shrug*
Cafe Promenade is a small take-out cafe that is usually open 24/7. It offers a variety of pastries and fruit for breakfast and sandwiches, wraps, fruit, veggies, and dessert for lunch and dinner. There is always one vegetarian sandwich or wrap option as well as fresh fruit (either whole or spears) and veggie spears for vegans.
The Cafe at Two70 was one of my favorite places to eat as a vegetarian for both breakfast and lunch. At breakfast there is a delicious vegetarian breakfast burrito (you can request it be made without cheese if you’re vegan), yogurt parfaits, fruit, pastries, and a bagel bar with several choices of bagel, cream cheese, and veggies.
At lunch there is always at least one vegetarian sandwich or wrap, bagged potato chips, an extensive salad bar (with vegan dressing options), and desserts.
While I didn’t eat at any specialty restaurants on my recent Royal Caribbean cruise, I asked what the process would be for a vegetarian or vegan who’d like to dine at one. You should call the maître d’ (just call Guest Services and they can connect you) and let them know your room number, reservation time, and dietary restrictions. They will have the chef prepare something for you. You can also preview many of the menus here (there is usually already something on the menu for vegetarians):
While it’s much easier to eat out as a vegetarian or even vegan now days, especially in urban areas – I can feast on vegan fare mimicking approximately 3,000 different meat preparations from every culture on earth as well as freeze-dried vegan ice cream suitable for space travel within a block of my apartment in downtown Seattle – the cruise industry is still lagging behind in terms of being vegetarian and vegan friendly.
And while I encourage my fellow vegetarians and vegans to continue to advocate for more and better options and fill out comment cards and surveys, as I always do, expressing specific needs and areas for improvement (“label buffet items as vegetarian”), there are realities that make catering to particular dietary requirements challenging on cruise ships.
It’s hard enough to feed a family of four composed of a weekday vegan, a vegetarian six-year-old limited to one color (orange), an omnivore amateur weight lifter who obsessively counts grams of protein like a teacher tracking his preschoolers on a field trip to the aquarium, “1,2,3,4…OMG Jessica is submerged up to her knees in the middle of the touch pool!” and a dog so elderly he can’t get into the bed unassisted but manages a five foot vertical leap when it’s time for his carnivorous kibble.
Now imagine having to cook for and serve 2-4 thousand cruisers three (or six to eight if they’re Prof. Cruise) vacation-worthy meals a day with limited provisions in tight kitchens and dining rooms swaying and bobbing and sometimes jerking violently about. With each guest having different standards and tastes and expectations. It’s a challenge! And they don’t always get it right, even for those without dietary restrictions.
Don’t forget that cruise lines are giant corporations in the business of maximizing profits for their owners and shareholders. No corporate Celebrity employee is tasked with figuring out how they can better my individual cruise experience, they’re looking for ways to fill ships, cut expenses, and separate passengers from more of their dollars.
And because vegetarians, and especially vegans, make up such a small percentage of cruisers, our needs are not a high priority. Which is not to say that cruise lines don’t make an effort, they do, but they don’t have to be great in order to remain profitable like a small, land-based restaurant does.
Very few cruise ship employees are native English speakers. This is one of the things I love about cruising – meeting and getting to know people from all over the world. And, despite now having a Ph.D., I almost didn’t graduate from college due to a pesky language requirement. So I know firsthand that learning another language as an adult is HARD and I have tremendous respect and admiration for those who work grueling jobs at sea, far away from home, in a second language, in order to provide for their families.
But language and cultural differences can make it harder to communicate your questions and needs as a vegetarian or vegan. A word for “vegetarian” doesn’t even exist in some languages.
My travels to China, where you’re more likely to see chicken feet on a menu than salad, have taught me to be very specific about my dietary needs. When you tell people who aren’t very familiar with vegetarianism or veganism or may not have even heard those words in English before that you “don’t eat meat” or that you “don’t eat animal products” they may read the title of a menu item that doesn’t sound like it has meat and tell you it’s fine, when it’s actually made with chicken or beef or fish stock or flavored with other meat products. This has happened to me many times on cruises, especially with soups and sauces. They aren’t trying to mislead you, they just don’t fully understand what you’re asking. Which brings me to my top tips for eating vegetarian or vegan on a cruise.
Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus and vegetarians are from Neptune because it’s “far out” as in “rad” to fellow vegetarians, but “far out” as in furthest away and most alien to non vegetarians. That’s okay, we can still lose our money in the casino together and attend an art auction for the free champagne and gaze out at the water and mistaken every bloody seagull for something more interesting: “I see a whale spout at 4 o’clock! Oh wait, it’s another darn seagull diving for fish.”
And, like a relationship, when it comes to getting your dietary needs met on a cruise, communication is key. And also much harder than a simple platitude would suggest. Here are my tips:
Don’t expect it to make much of a difference, but do it anyway. Normally there’s a place in your online reservation where you can do this. If you can’t find it, call the cruise line or your travel agent. This will become part of your reservation and will be communicated to the ship. Although know that you will still need to alert and meet with the appropriate ship staff when you board. The ship may also stock more soy milk and such if they know in advance there are going to be vegan passengers.
I’ve found it helpful to make a detailed list of ingredients I can’t eat and another list of suitable substitutes and things I enjoy (keep them simple and present them as ideas not requirements) for my initial conversation with the head waiter in the main dining room (this is more relevant for vegans – vegetarians can usually order off the regular menu).
Instead of asking “is this soup vegetarian?” ask “can you tell me what kind of broth this soup is prepared with?” Then you can follow up with, “I’m a vegetarian and don’t eat any meat, chicken, fish or beef/chicken broth.”
Because you read this post in advance, you know that eating vegetarian or vegan on a cruise ship is going to require a bit of extra effort. Be patient with staff and know they are doing their best to help you. While I haven’t always had my question answered by the first person I asked or have had to wait for a time for a special request, I’ve found cruise ship staff exceedingly gracious, kind, and patient with me. So the least I can do is be patient with them, knowing they are doing the best they can considering the circumstances – most of which are out of their control.
I would use that old adage “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar” here, but vegetarians generally frown upon killing other sentient beings and vegans don’t eat honey. But, you get the picture.
This is not going to be the best food you’ve had. That’s true even for those without dietary restrictions. But approach it with an attitude of good enough. And don’t get me wrong, I’ve always found a number of things I’ve LOVED on every cruise I’ve been on. Never have I returned home weighing anything less than 5 pounds over what I weighed at embarkation. #goals
Thankfully, if your entree in the main dining room contained olives or rotten grapes (who deceptively go by the name “raisins” to mislead the public), there are other options. Hit the buffet or a specialty restaurant. With a little flexibility, no one, no matter how limiting their diet is, should ever go hungry on a cruise! And remember, cruise calories don’t count! I mean, it says so on this shirt* (available from Amazon here), so it must be true!
And with that…
Class Dismissed.
Homework: Check out my other guides to eating vegetarian or vegan on a cruise. And don’t forget to subscribe to the blog to receive new Cruising 101 content straight to your e-mail (scroll up to the top right if on a computer or keep scrolling if on a mobile device) and follow Prof. Cruise on social media:
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