Shameful vegan experience on Rhapsody

I can't believe I'm writing this- I'm usually the person posting enthusiastic assurances to vegans that they will be well fed on their cruises!

Day 7 of 9 on Rhapsody, and for the first time ever, I'm hungry on a cruise! I should have taken action after the first two days, but I kept telling myself that I was only experiencing a temporary glitch- because, after all, I know how easy it is to get delicious vegan meals on a cruise!

But when I realized that the shameful lack of service I was personally experiencing was having an impact on the dining pleasure of my delightful table mates, I started speaking up. That was 5 days ago, and not only was there no improvement, things actually got worse.

Vegans eat more than a small plate of steamed broccoli and carrots for dinner, Rhapsody!!

I was up until late at night, sending private messages via social media to RCI, and only got one lame reply (have you spoken to the Maitre d'? Uh- duh!)- and that was only when I finally posted publicly after not getting any response for over 10 hours (even with the time zone difference, that was well into the working day at corporate).

My booking was marked with a notation that I am vegan, and I spoke with the Maitre d' on embarkation (advice I assure vegans always works), but I have had day after day and meal after meal of broken promises and neglect. Latest example: Two nights ago, the head waiter again insisted I always had to tell them exactly what I wanted for dinner the next night (this even after I met with the chef, who assured me that wasn't necessary, as he would give me a 'very special' meal each night). Last night I was seated at our MDR table promptly at 6, but when my table mates were served their main courses at 7, the HW came over to me and said 'The meal you requested was not prepared. The chef will try to make you something else, but it will take a while because we only fire up your meal when you are seated at your table.' When I pointed out that I had been seated for an hour already, and that I had only requested steamed rice and dal for dinner, he balked and disappeared.

At that point my table mates all but exploded!

I realize that no one here can help me, especially at this late date, but I'm not going to apologize for this rant. What a way to mark my 'diamond' cruise!

BTW- I finally gave up today, and decided to skip the MDR for the remainder of the cruise, and eat in Izumi each night, where I know from experience on previous ships that I can get something to eat (hmm- but maybe, based on what's been going on, I should be worried?!) . When I told my table mates my decision, they were understanding but very unhappy that it had come to that. When I asked guest services to notify the Maitre d', they didn't blink an eye.

Rant over, but a heads up and warning to vegans! Even after many successful years cruising vegan, you can still hit a brick wall! (Thinking I may want to change my signature....)

I am sorry to read about your negative experience compared to your normal experience on RC ships. By the sounds of it I could prepare you a better vegan meal and I am a meat lover. :eek:

Hopefully Izumi will do the trick, as it sounds like every where else doesn't know what they are doing. I hope it gets better for you.

That's why I never became a Vegan ... too much hassle :p

Besides, a good thick sirloin steak is what I live for!

Sorry for your troubles.

I can't believe I'm writing this- I'm usually the person posting enthusiastic assurances to vegans that they will be well fed on their cruises!

 

Day 7 of 9 on Rhapsody, and for the first time ever, I'm hungry on a cruise! I should have taken action after the first two days, but I kept telling myself that I was only experiencing a temporary glitch- because, after all, I know how easy it is to get delicious vegan meals on a cruise!

 

But when I realized that the shameful lack of service I was personally experiencing was having an impact on the dining pleasure of my delightful table mates, I started speaking up. That was 5 days ago, and not only was there no improvement, things actually got worse.

 

Vegans eat more than a small plate of steamed broccoli and carrots for dinner, Rhapsody!!

 

I was up until late at night, sending private messages via social media to RCI, and only got one lame reply (have you spoken to the Maitre d'? Uh- duh!)- and that was only when I finally posted publicly after not getting any response for over 10 hours (even with the time zone difference, that was well into the working day at corporate).

 

My booking was marked with a notation that I am vegan, and I spoke with the Maitre d' on embarkation (advice I assure vegans always works), but I have had day after day and meal after meal of broken promises and neglect. Latest example: Two nights ago, the head waiter again insisted I always had to tell them exactly what I wanted for dinner the next night (this even after I met with the chef, who assured me that wasn't necessary, as he would give me a 'very special' meal each night). Last night I was seated at our MDR table promptly at 6, but when my table mates were served their main courses at 7, the HW came over to me and said 'The meal you requested was not prepared. The chef will try to make you something else, but it will take a while because we only fire up your meal when you are seated at your table.' When I pointed out that I had been seated for an hour already, and that I had only requested steamed rice and dal for dinner, he balked and disappeared.

 

At that point my table mates all but exploded!

 

I realize that no one here can help me, especially at this late date, but I'm not going to apologize for this rant. What a way to mark my 'diamond' cruise!

 

BTW- I finally gave up today, and decided to skip the MDR for the remainder of the cruise, and eat in Izumi each night, where I know from experience on previous ships that I can get something to eat (hmm- but maybe, based on what's been going on, I should be worried?!) . When I told my table mates my decision, they were understanding but very unhappy that it had come to that. When I asked guest services to notify the Maitre d', they didn't blink an eye.

 

Rant over, but a heads up and warning to vegans! Even after many successful years cruising vegan, you can still hit a brick wall! (Thinking I may want to change my signature....)

There are a lot of words in the rant above, and not a lot of specifics. Still, I agree with you that broccoli and carrots aren't dinner(especially vegan broccoli eugh). They shouldn't be serving that to anyone and expecting them to be happy with it.

I'm not vegan, but according to "Vegetarian Times", 3.2 percent of U.S. adults, or 7.3 million people, follow a vegetarian-based diet. Approximately 0.5 percent, or 1 million, of those are vegans, who consume no animal products at all. That means no dairy or eggs. Remember, these items come from animals.

So, what type of vegan / vegetarian are you? I take it you are in the 0.5 percent? Thus, if there are 3,000 pax on the ship, there might be 15 vegans on board.

Now, I can certainly empathize with your situation / beliefs, and they should be accommodated.

I think RCI should provide, in the MDR, at least two vegan choices, but these would need to be ordered the day before, or at least earlier that day. Perhaps no different than if you desired a Kosher meal.

I mean no disrespect, and I want you to be accommodated, but on a ship with thousands of pax on board, you are in a tiny minority. RCI should respond to this, but you might need to cut them some slack also. :)

It is inexcusable that the dinner menu doesn't include 1-2 vegan options each night. It should also include gluten-free choices. If it does and you are expecting something beyond that, maybe this is where the break down is?

Shameful? To draw a parallel, the only music that I enjoy is old acoustic blues. Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Blake, Tampa Red, etcetera. I understand that that I am one of a very few people who have this taste in music. I have NEVER heard the type of music that I enjoy on a cruise. My choices are (a) accept that not enough people enjoy what I enjoy and that RCI would go broke trying to make me happy (b) I could book and promote an acoustic blues cruise and hope that it would sell enough rooms to break even. Or © I could go on an internet forum complaining that RCI won't accommodate my obviously superior tastes in music. Your choices are just that, your choices. Stop expecting others to accommodate you.

I'm not vegan, but according to "Vegetarian Times", 3.2 percent of U.S. adults, or 7.3 million people, follow a vegetarian-based diet. Approximately 0.5 percent, or 1 million, of those are vegans, who consume no animal products at all. That means no dairy or eggs. Remember, these items come from animals.

 

So, what type of vegan / vegetarian are you? I take it you are in the 0.5 percent? Thus, if there are 3,000 pax on the ship, there might be 15 vegans on board.

That is some really screwy math you've got there.

First of all, 3.2% of 320Million is 10 million, not 7million.

Second of all, .5% of 7M is not 1 million(nearly 14%), its 32,000 some.

Third of all, 1 million vegans of 320m residents is roughly .32%. On a ship of 3000, would be approx 90 vegans.

The correct numbers, assuming the percentages are right would be ~

10m veg, 50k vegan, .0015%, and .5 Vegans per cruise... but again that assumes the percentages are right. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if 14% of vegetarians were also vegan, and the 90 number was closer to the truth.

It is inexcusable that the dinner menu doesn't include 1-2 vegan options each night. It should also include gluten-free choices. If it does and you are expecting something beyond that, maybe this is where the break down is?

The menu has a "vegetarian" option, but this is a full vegan which requires a very specialized request because it must contain no animal products, or be cooked in the same area as animal products. This is not just related to the cruise line, but just about any restaurant you go to unless they specialize in vegan meals.

Shameful? To draw a parallel, the only music that I enjoy is old acoustic blues. Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Blake, Tampa Red, etcetera. I understand that that I am one of a very few people who have this taste in music. I have NEVER heard the type of music that I enjoy on a cruise. My choices are (a) accept that not enough people enjoy what I enjoy and that RCI would go broke trying to make me happy (b) I could book and promote an acoustic blues cruise and hope that it would sell enough rooms to break even. Or © I could go on an internet forum complaining that RCI won't accommodate my obviously superior tastes in music. Your choices are just that, your choices. Stop expecting others to accommodate you.

Um, I'm pretty sure that you don't have to listen to music on a daily basis in order to survive but you do need to eat. Being vegan is a "life choice" but being a meat eater is as well. I'm pretty sure that if a cruise line ran out of steak on a cruise we would see all kinds of angry posts here. The OP is not asking for anything difficult or more complicated than someone who is allergic/intolerant to dairy.

OP as a fellow vegan I am sorry to hear about your struggle.

It is inexcusable that the dinner menu doesn't include 1-2 vegan options each night. It should also include gluten-free choices. If it does and you are expecting something beyond that, maybe this is where the break down is?

There already are gluten free choices on the menu each night as well as two vegetarian choices. Out of the 6 or so choices that change each night and 5-6 'classic' items, you think it is inexcusable not to also have one or two vegan choices?

The number of vegans on a given cruise is going to be quite low and I think it would(should) be expected that you'll need to speak to someone for that accommodation. It sounds like this has worked in the past and that RCCL is okay with it, but that in this case there was a breakdown in how it was handled.

It would be nice if the OP presented more details about what occurred the previous days with respect to conversations with the head waiter and chef.

I would also expect some sort of interaction took place each night with the table waiter upon being seated.

I think the proper reaction is to report and get fixed whatever breakdown occurred in handling the special request, and not demanding vegan choices on the normal menu. I'm sure once royal gets enough special requests for vegan dinners they'll put that choice on the MDR menu.

Ok so the music analogy fell a bit short, try this. I am a Mexaterian I CHOOSE to only eat Mexican food. I think that it is shameful that the main dinning room doesn't have at least two delicious Mexican food choices for each meal. I would be willing to bet that this world contains more Mexaterians than vegans.

That is some really screwy math you've got there.

 

First of all, 3.2% of 320Million is 10 million, not 7million.

Second of all, .5% of 7M is not 1 million(nearly 14%), its 32,000 some.

Third of all, 1 million vegans of 320m residents is roughly .32%. On a ship of 3000, would be approx 90 vegans.

 

The correct numbers, assuming the percentages are right would be ~

10m veg, 50k vegan, .0015%, and .5 Vegans per cruise... but again that assumes the percentages are right. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if 14% of vegetarians were also vegan, and the 90 number was closer to the truth.

Your math is wrong. There aren't 320 million adults in the US. There's 244 million. 0.5% of 244 million is about 1 million.

Why do Vegans think a ship that carries 3000+ passengers think the Chef should bend over backwards to accommodate their needs? :rolleyes: Food allergies are a total different situation and can be a life or death thing for some people. Not a valid comparison at all. Vegans CHOSE their lifestyle and I highly doubt its gonna kill them to eat regularly or at least be a vegetarian for a week.

Flame away. I can handle it.

The difference here is your daughter and son in law did not choose to have these life threatening allergies (my son is also allergic to nuts), but the OP CHOSE this lifestyle. In other words, it won't kill him to eat non-vegan. So there is a difference between choosing a lifestyle or actually having a life threatening allergy.

Bingo. Maybe I should have just read and liked your reply. You said it much better than I did.

Your math is wrong. There aren't 320 million adults in the US. There's 244 million. 0.5% of 244 million is about 1 million.

um... I think he is more correct that you.... :eek: 'Internet facts' at work again....

http://www.census.gov/popclock/

The menu has a "vegetarian" option, but this is a full vegan which requires a very specialized request because it must contain no animal products, or be cooked in the same area as animal products. This is not just related to the cruise line, but just about any restaurant you go to unless they specialize in vegan meals.

So based on this and the other "logic" in this thread, kosher meals should not be provided either. Religion is clearly a choice.

I've seen resorts do much better for special diets. Disney and sandals to name a few. They'll bend over backwards to make your dietary restrictions (whether by choice or medical) are followed and customize delicious meals for you every night without a hassle. Maybe that's harder on a cruise. Try a chain like Sandaks and you'll see how you are catered to!

It is inexcusable that the dinner menu doesn't include 1-2 vegan options each night. It should also include gluten-free choices. If it does and you are expecting something beyond that, maybe this is where the break down is?

umm, WHY is this inexcusable? there is always 1-2 vegetarian options.. and that is a far larger percentage of the population( and even then its a damn tiny percentage overall)

also there is always at least one GF labled item and others that indicate they can be made so.

I am a lover of my dead cow flesh but more than once I have chosen the vegetarian option( and no its not always pasta) and its been one of the best meals I have had anywhere.

but to assume that the menu is REQUIRED to cater to such a minuscule number of passengers overall is a bit arrogant/self entitled

Your math is wrong. There aren't 320 million adults in the US. There's 244 million. 0.5% of 244 million is about 1 million.

I didn't use any math to arrive at the 320million number, I retrieved that number from the US census bureau...

And PS, my god, that is an idiotic thing to say without at least googling the number first. I remember when the 300m baby was born. I was still in high-school, lol. I honestly can't believe you just said that. Open a newspaper or something.

and PPS. where did you get .5% of 244 million? That is not one of the statistics cited. Originally it was 3.2% of Americans are veg, and .5% of THAT NUMBER were Vegan. Clearly you don't even understand the bogus numbers you are defending.

Many of you are so nasty to the OP for following a vegan diet. Why? Perhaps the vegan diet on not a choice for the OP but is necessary for health reasons. I've seen vegans, vegetarians, and so many others with specific dietary needs, accommodated nicely on RCCL ships. I don't understand the issue on rhapsody.

OP, Since you have cruised before on RCCL I imagine that this experience is off the norm. Please note your experience on the survey so you and others don't have the same experience again.

I hope that you can get decent meals for the remainder on your cruise. Are your breakfast or lunch meals OK?

Enjoy

M

OP, I am sorry you are having a hard time and I am sorry some people think your life choices are frivolous.

On the topic of Kosher or Vegan, knowing enough about both, I am surprised that Kosher would be easier to accommodate!

As far as OP's expectations, they were inline with 1.previous experience 2. RCI's online statements. A simple google search brings me here:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&faqId=322&faqSubjectId=335

This page clearly states :

Special meal requests that are received less than 45 days of sailing (90 days for European/South American itineraries) are dependent on the ship's product availability. We will try to accommodate to the best of our ability.

Based on that, my expectation is to absolutely be accommodated if I contacted them within that time frame.

What's more, it looks like the OP's presence in the dining room continuously "fell through the cracks" sort of speak. No reason to sit there for an hour only to find out that nothing is being done at all.

Hooey.

If the customer has requested or been offered the vegan dishes then he should expect it promptly and what he ordered.

You see, it's not about being vegan or not it's about follow through to make the customer happy.

The ship and staff should take responsibility for what they offer. The poster who said, " put up with the consequences of being a vegan" I paraphrase, is wrong. Believe me, if any of us would go on a cruise under certain agreed conditions and then the cruise line faltered...we would be screaming bloody murder. I know, I see it all the time in here.

lol.....so chill and give the OP the support he deserves.

Ok so the music analogy fell a bit short, try this. I am a Mexaterian I CHOOSE to only eat Mexican food. I think that it is shameful that the main dinning room doesn't have at least two delicious Mexican food choices for each meal. I would be willing to bet that this world contains more Mexaterians than vegans.

I can forgive the blues thing( not my style but DH enjoys some of it) but I draw the line at Mexican food. ( and yes i really do live in Texas) all those beans?! blech...

Hooey.

 

If the customer has requested or been offered the vegan dishes then he should expect it promptly and what he ordered.

 

You see, it's not about being vegan or not it's about follow through to make the customer happy.

 

The ship and staff should take responsibility for what they offer. The poster who said, " put up with the consequences of being a vegan" I paraphrase, is wrong. Believe me, if any of us would go on a cruise under certain agreed conditions and then the cruise line faltered...we would be screaming bloody murder. I know, I see it all the time in here.

 

lol.....so chill and give the OP the support he deserves.

I was going to underline your first statement... Than the second... Than I realized - you are 100% ON POINT here.

Your math is wrong. There aren't 320 million adults in the US. There's 244 million. 0.5% of 244 million is about 1 million.

Agreed, the "new" math was wrong, and I took my facts from what I would think is a reliable source. I don't think babies and, say, 5-year olds decide to become vegans that young. I stand by my math. 0.5% of 3,000 pax IS 15, and also the 1 million total in the USA quote.

Regardless, vegans are a tiny, tiny minority on any ship.

As to the OP taking some of us to task over our comments, well, the OP just lost any support I had. The argument doesn't work for me, and right now, I could not care less if cruise lines accommodate vegans or not!

The OP made a life choice. It is not an allergy, or other medical, dietary requirement. Take a different attitude, as the world will not revolve around your life choice.

Or as I often say: "You get more with sugar than spice", and the OP seemed to use a lot of spice in making demands of the kitchen.