Best Vegetarian and Vegan meals?

Does HAL have an amazing vegetarian or vegan meal? If so, what is it? We sail on the Westerdam Sunday.

 

TIA

 

Kathy

I've had good vegetarian food on HAL, but I wouldn't call it amazing. Then again, I'm not a vegetarian.

 

Try the mushroom stuffed ravioli.

 

Roz

The chilli relleno is a favorite of ours.

I know people there rave about the portobello burger at the Dive In, but I don't like it. I don't like portobello mushrooms and I wish they would have kept the veggie patty option they had pre-Dive In.

 

But other than that, I find HAL does a great job with he daily vegetarian options in the Main Dining Room, and in the Lido though in the Lido, especially at the omelette and pasta stations, there is cross-contamination as they do not necessary reserve a pan or prep-bowl for vegetarians-only. So if you are bothered by cross-contamination, the Lido is probably not the best option for you. (On one of my cruises, a vegetarian was quite vocal in her objections to cross-contamination at the pasta/omelette stations - every day for the 11 days she complained about it, and while I understand her frustration, it really got old and uncomfortable to hear the complaints every day.)

 

If you tell HAL before the cruise that you are a vegetarian, the waiters will bring you a vegetarian menu for the next evening after your meal each night. My vegetarian husband did that one his first cruise, and got not only the standard HAL vegetarian menu, but also a menu of the Indonesian vegetarian options for the next day. For his second cruise, may husband just went with the vegetarian options on the regular menu, as he didn't really like pre-ordering and locking in his choice 24 hours in advance. And there are plenty of options on the regular menu.

 

Also, some of the Main Dining Room dishes can be made vegetarian -- especially the pastas and entree salads of the day, you just have to ask your waiter, they are more than happy to help and even offer suggestions as to the best options.

 

I agree the chilies rellenos are great, though they can vary. On our last cruise 4 of the 6 diners ordered the chilies rellenos for dinner and 2 were mild chillies while 2 were much hotter chillies, and you couldn't tell until you cut into them.

 

Really, my experience has been that there are plenty of good vegetarian options in both the Main Dining Room and the Lido. Sometimes the choices can rely too heavily on mushrooms as the "protein" but that's just my opinion and my dislike of portobello mushrooms.

 

You absolutely will not go hungry trying to maintain a vegetarian diet on board.

Well, TRUE vegan can be a problem on HAL. Depends upon your strictness. I'm personally a carnivore but have been taking notice of the veg offerings because a strict vegan friend of mine is contemplating a cruise. The vegetarian offerings on the menus are identified by a little leaf icon beside them. However.....you'll find that very many of them incorporate cheese, egg or other dairy into their ingredients. Yes, they don't have flesh meat so they may be considered vegetarian, but most of them are not truly vegan. However, I understand that you may request vegan and fill out a menu each evening for your dinner the following night. I believe that the rest of the meals (breakfast, lunch) are just up to you to manage.

On the 2018 world cruise, there was a vegan entrée every night. My girlfriend is vegetarian and hated most of the vegan dishes. Her one favorite was spaghetti with meatless meatballs. The only soup that was vegetarian every night was chilled, with a rare appearance of a vegetarian hot soup. She ordered off the vegetarian menu when she couldn't make something on the regular menu work, but the vegetarian menu gets old over the length of a world cruise.

Here are my favorites/stand-outs:

 

 

MDR:

- Eggplant roll-up things (not sure of their name, they're stuffed with cheese).

- Asian noodle dishes, there have been a few different variations and all good.

- The French Onion Soup is veg (no beef broth), or so I was told, not sure if it changes according to ship/chef.

- There is usually a cheese plate offered as dessert, but I often will order it as an appetizer with my salad.

- Note: I have not enjoyed the veg Indian inspired dishes, and typically do not on HAL.

 

 

Lido:

- Breakfast- muesli (cold oatmeal) is so good! It is also offered in room service. (I always note I'd like a bowl of it, otherwise have been served a small glass).

- Eggs benedict, they will offer a veg version with mushrooms or spinach.

- Pasta bar, you can tell them what you like, they make the pasta to order.

- Salad bar is top notch, tons of options.

- If your ship has the Dive In portabella is great and the NY Pizza out at the sea view pool has make-your-own options.

- The room service menu caprese sandwich is quite good.

Thank you for all the suggestions!!!

- Note: I have not enjoyed the veg Indian inspired dishes, and typically do not on HAL.

I'm wracking my brain to try to remember which nationalities are heavily represented in the kitchens of which cruise lines. I'm pretty sure that Holland America's crew is heavily weighted toward Indonesians, while Carnival's crew is more heavily weighted toward Indians (and we had some incredible Indian food aboard Carnival Magic!)

I'm wracking my brain to try to remember which nationalities are heavily represented in the kitchens of which cruise lines. I'm pretty sure that Holland America's crew is heavily weighted toward Indonesians, while Carnival's crew is more heavily weighted toward Indians (and we had some incredible Indian food aboard Carnival Magic!)

 

I also have had some excellent Indian food on Carnival.

 

Roz

- The French Onion Soup is veg (no beef broth), or so I was told, not sure if it changes according to ship/chef.

 

The French Onion Soup was made with beef stock on the 2018 world cruise. They had a cream of onion soup that was vegetarian if the vegetarian happens to eat diary products.

(y) Eggplant canneloni, any risotto