How is NCL with Vegan and special diet needs

[West Coast Gal]

New to NCL and My daughter is vegan and has done really well on other cruise lines, would like to hear from others who are vegan or have traveled with vegans or just have had special dietary needs, on how NCL is with accomodating their diet needs. Other lines we have been on there was someone who sat with her each day and sent over the next day diet opportunities for her, though that was always with traditional dining.

[bakerintn]

I don't have any personal experience with this but have seen many posts here on the subject. You will have a similar experience on NCL as you have had before.

 

I would suggest calling the NCL Access desk at 866-584-9756 and explain your situation. I am sure that they can give you the information that you need.

 

You may get more variety by using the buffet and making careful selections.

 

There are many posts on this board regarding celiac, gluten free, vegan, vegetarian, Kosher, etc. Try searching using one of those terms.

[rjm11]

Here's one that I thought was particularly helpful and informative:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1738307&highlight=vegan+pearl

[Arubamoose]

We cruised two years ago on the Epic with one vegan DD and one vegetarian DD. The vegetarian daughter made out fine. Our vegan daughter had a bit of difficulty but it was not insurmountable.

 

Our biggest issue was in the Main Dining and in the Cirque show and I think that this was more a function of the Freestyle Dining concept on NCL than anything else.

 

We did communicate with someone at the Special Needs desk and they were really of no help except to assure us that her needs would be taken care of.

 

The issue is that NCL's idea of a vegan entree is pasta with tomato sauce. That is fine - but after the third time in a week - it gets a little old.

 

We ate breakfasts a few times in Taste and they did accomodate her with soy milk for her cereal. Margarine was another story. Our waiter had to go to a different kitchen and 15 minutes later came back with a brick of margarine that was large enough to grease a cow! It was comical. The buffets were much better all around - lunch and dinner - lots of ethnic Indian/Oriental options and lots of salad fixings.

 

She loved going to the Chinese restaurant. The chef was wonderful in making up something for her. And sushi worked really well too - they did lots of veggie rolls for her.

 

Surprisingly - RCCL did a MUCH better job in My Time Dining and in traditional dining. Their Maitre'Ds were top notch.

 

Try and find a sympathetic Maitre'D to work with - that is the key. We had a great guy the first few days and then we couldn't find him anymore - hence the boring pasta.

[ColinIllinois]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, and I may well be, but I always thought the Special Access desk/Special Needs desk was for people with medical needs. Doesn't seem like Vegan would come under that description.

 

Cheers.

[Derek King]

Was on the Gem about a month ago with 2 family members that are vegan.

 

It took about 1 day or so to get it settled with the kitchen. But once they did it was great for them. They had great service.

 

The key for them was actually getting to the head chef, once they got to him they were able to work it out and get good food all week.

The chef was Indian and they just had him make them vegan Indian dishes all week. Some of us non-vegans very pretty jealous of some of their dinners.

They also had a great soy/vegan meal with in Teppankaki.

 

They had emailed/called before we left and to be honest that ended up being pretty useless once they got on the ship.

 

Being non-vegan I didn't realize a lot of items you might think are vegan are actually not.

All the pasta are egg noodles, the marinara sauce is not vegan, veggie burgers are not vegan, etc...

 

They also had some issue early on getting soy milk, but again once they got to speak with the right people they did well.

[iron9er]

We were on the Pearl in April, and we went to the traditional dining room. Spoke to the Maitre' d and told him my wife was vegan. He was great. Everytime from then on when we went to the same dining room, he was there, would recognize us, and have a special meal created for her. Worked great...yes, variety can be an issue, but...well, that's because my wife doesn't eat meat or cheese lol!

 

It didn't seem as coordinated as some other lines I've been on, but, they were very, very pleasant in taking care of us.

[ENGINEER]

My wife must eat gluten free. We always team up with a Maitre' d on the first day of the cruise in one of the main dinning rooms. If you choose to use the same dinning room each night your Maitre' d will help you plan the next nights meal no matter which dinning room you choose as they share the same kitchen. The Maitre' d will travel between restraunts. Just ask for hime. He will also help you if you want to do a specialty restaraunt. Just ask. They have always been wonderful to us. I can not say enough good things about the Maitre' d staff........But remember...they can't read minds and all you have to do is ASK.

 

engineer

[tymike]

Hi! I just sailed the BA with a vegan, a vegetarian and someone allergic to shrimp. We attended our CC meet and greet and spoke with the food and beverage officers/managers present (there were 3 of them!). Like magic, my vegan daughter had special dinners all the nights she requested, my vegetarian daughter had a special dinner at Cirque as did my shrimp allergic brother. It was terrific!

 

I notified my PCC at the time of booking of the dietary needs. In addition, I spoke at length with the pre-concierge. I received an email from the pre-concierge stating " there are no vegan options available on board". Disregard whatever anyone tells you prior to raising the issue with the folks on the ship.

 

I highly recommend attending your meet and greet if only to meet the officers in person. They all gave me their cards and it was like poof! Problem solved for all! NCL did a great job of meeting all our dietary needs! Have a great cruise!:)

[West Coast Gal]

Oh my what great advice you have all been sharing with me . . . I have been quite concerned with this because of the freestyle dining

[dwjoe]

I second the advice about attending your Meet&Greet and meeting the ship's officers. On the Gem back in January, hotel director Steve Knott and Vitor the food&bev manager were both extremely helpful.

[West Coast Gal]

As far as the meet and greet . . . well, so far there are only 2 of us on our roll call and it is only 4 months left, hope we have enough to do a meet and greet! grin