Any Vegan cruiser tips?

[happy trailer]

This just popped up on one of my feeds. Very inspirational, with very good suggestions for anyone thinking of any sort of dietary change.

 

Venus Williams Opens Up About Going Vegan to Fight Her Autoimmune Disease

http://motto.time.com/4634460/venus-williams-autoimmune-disease-vegan-diet/

[raven82]

I became a Vegetarian because it made me feel like I was better than everyone that ate meat....Just Kidding... it was actually because I had a heart attack and several great Doctors I know advised me to change my diet. I also read Dr. Joel Furhman's Books so really I am a Nutritarian eating almost all Fruits and Vegetables and maybe a small amount of chicken once in awhile. Our last cruise was Ovations of The Seas China Korea and Japan and it was easy to go 10 days without eating any meat or fish at all. These Cruise Lines know there are Vegans and Vegetarians onboard just like most Restaurants now in New York City know this. We are going on a Costa Cruise in The Mediterranean in a few weeks and I am fairly sure I can avoid meat there too.

[Love2Cruz2015]

I had a wonderfully easy time finding vegan food on a visit to Rome- in every restaurant I went to, the waiters were very familiar with the vegan diet, and were happy to make suggestions from the menu and also offered off-menu selections. Yummy vegan gelato was everywhere, too. What a terrific surprise! Later I found out that many Italians are lactose-intolerant so restaurants and even local pizzarias are used to diners requesting no cheese on their entrees!

 

I realize it won't taste the same, especially at first, but there are a lot of great vegan cheeses around- maybe experiment a bit, starting with half regular and half vegan cheese in a recipe, and see if you can get used to the taste?

 

I was in Venice last summer and no where did I see vegan gelato...but I wasn't looking for it either, so maybe that's why. :o I know I can just order spaghetti marinara or with garlic and oil...but then I'd miss the grated romano on top lol.

 

I did try almond milk and though I would probably be okay drinking it on it's own, I hated it in coffee, warmed up as a substitute for fat free milk in a cappucino.

 

I also read as far as healthy diets go, "they" rank vegetarian diet to be healthier than vegan. Not sure why, but I read that in a lot of places, it could be that the dairy and eggs provide some nutritional value that a purely plant based diet doesn't. I don't know. I just started this less than a month ago so I am still learning. I'm still just proud and even surprised myself that I could even go this long without touching meat or fish so maybe it's a journey that would eventually lead there at least for the majority of meals...who knows.

 

I have indian food about twice a week, I'm loving it..My favorite so far is saag paneer and vegetable korma. And veggie samosa.

[Love2Cruz2015]

This just popped up on one of my feeds. Very inspirational, with very good suggestions for anyone thinking of any sort of dietary change.

 

Venus Williams Opens Up About Going Vegan to Fight Her Autoimmune Disease

http://motto.time.com/4634460/venus-williams-autoimmune-disease-vegan-diet/

 

And I recently learned Tom Brady, the best quarterback in the NFL is also a Vegetarian/vegan.:D

[happy trailer]

And I recently learned Tom Brady, the best quarterback in the NFL is also a Vegetarian/vegan.:D

 

You'll love these :-) :

 

http://www.greatveganathletes.com/bodybuilders

 

https://www.vegansociety.com/whats-new/blog/ten-best-plant-powered-athletes

 

http://metro.co.uk/2015/08/26/13-vegan-athletes-smashing-it-on-a-meat-free-diet-5349835/

 

http://www.veganbodybuilding.com

[happy trailer]

 

I also read as far as healthy diets go, "they" rank vegetarian diet to be healthier than vegan. Not sure why, but I read that in a lot of places, it could be that the dairy and eggs provide some nutritional value that a purely plant based diet doesn't. I don't know. I just started this less than a month ago so I am still learning. I'm still just proud and even surprised myself that I could even go this long without touching meat or fish so maybe it's a journey that would eventually lead there at least for the majority of meals...who knows.

 

I feel that anyone who is working toward any sort of personal improvement deserves kudos :-). Changes to our diets can be especially challenging, so for many people the best approach is small, low pressure steps. It's fine to ease yourself into it; pat yourself on the back each day; and don't let any slide discourage you from continuing your journey.

 

One thing you need to be careful of, whether eating vegetarian or vegan, is to eat healthfully. It's generally more of an issue for vegetarians than vegans, but in past few years there has been a huge upsurge in the production of vegan snacks, so even vegans have to be more aware nowadays. It can be so easy to reach for junk food instead of taking the time to make a salad, for example. Vegan food prep can be time consuming, but the food is so darn colorful that I don't mind. :D

 

A fun book for those considering a vegan diet is Skinny Bitch : https://www.amazon.com/Skinny-Bitch-Rory-Freedman/dp/0762424931 Be forewarned that it can be a bit radical, but it is very entertaining. Definitely more fun than reading books by pro-vegan MDs :-).

 

I'm only aware of opinions who feel that the vegan diet is the ideal diet, but I do believe that any changes toward a more plant based diet is a positive change, even if that means going meatless only one day a week- even ethically and environmentally that's an improvement. I inherited a bunch of bad medical genes, and my doctors have been saying for years that the only reason I'm still kicking is my diet.

 

Keep learning and researching and experimenting in the kitchen- and don't forget to pat yourself on the back regularly and say, "Good Job!" :)

[PlanoDebbie]

I was in Venice last summer and no where did I see vegan gelato...but I wasn't looking for it either, so maybe that's why. :o I know I can just order spaghetti marinara or with garlic and oil...but then I'd miss the grated romano on top lol.

 

I did try almond milk and though I would probably be okay drinking it on it's own, I hated it in coffee, warmed up as a substitute for fat free milk in a cappucino.

 

I also read as far as healthy diets go, "they" rank vegetarian diet to be healthier than vegan. Not sure why, but I read that in a lot of places, it could be that the dairy and eggs provide some nutritional value that a purely plant based diet doesn't. I don't know. I just started this less than a month ago so I am still learning. I'm still just proud and even surprised myself that I could even go this long without touching meat or fish so maybe it's a journey that would eventually lead there at least for the majority of meals...who knows.

 

I have indian food about twice a week, I'm loving it..My favorite so far is saag paneer and vegetable korma. And veggie samosa.

 

I've never been a big milk drinker. Good in cereal or with oreo cookies for dunking. I recently decided to try Dream Blends which is an Almond, Cashew & Hazelnut drink. OMG! Very good on cereal. I was so impressed, because I love cereal, but cow's milk always smells sour to me by 2 or 3 days after it's opened. I now pack a bowl of cereal and a container of the Dream blends to have for breakfast at school. Also tastes great in coffee.

Apparently I was allergic to baby formula when I was very young and remember my mom always talking about the nasty smelling soy milk that I had to drink at that time. That's probably why I'm not excited about soy milk at all. I just keep hearing my mom in my head! The Dream Blends is really yummy. Just bought 3 more cartons of it yesterday.

[cruisingfor5]

Cruising vegan on carnival last month was not very good. Main dining room was good but the rest was not. Hoping RCL is better next year.

[ShillyShally]

Cruising vegan on carnival last month was not very good. Main dining room was good but the rest was not. Hoping RCL is better next year.

 

Which ship were you on? We had a great time on the Sunshine - granted we were cruising with the Esther fundraiser so we had vegan menus in the MDR but we also found great hacks at the pizza bar and stir fry - for the stir fry we asked them to use water instead of the meat broth and they would add soy sauce or sambal sauce for heat :) For the pizza bar they actually had vegan cheese available but we would grab a pile of peppers from the Guy's topping bar and just have them use those and sauce with no cheese for us but my oldest really enjoyed the vegan cheese option. Also, I used the salsa bar to create great salads, etc.

 

On RCCL we had some great times and some ok times - we had better luck on smaller ships, even the Freedom class, but harder times on the Oasis class.

[cruisingfor5]

We were on the Victory. Only topping at he pizza bar was mushrooms which is fine but more than mushrooms would have been nice. I asked if we could get onions or any other vegetables to put on it and they said no.

[ShillyShally]

We were on the Victory. Only topping at he pizza bar was mushrooms which is fine but more than mushrooms would have been nice. I asked if we could get onions or any other vegetables to put on it and they said no.

 

Ugh and the mushrooms they have are marinated in butter :( We had to bring them items from other areas (salad or topping bar) and they were happy to add them or we just had them do a cheeseless pizza and went around collecting what we wanted on it and then added it while we ate it but we could live off spicy peppers so we loved those off the Guy's burger topping bar.

 

Also, in the MDR, the white baguette looking bread in the basket is the only vegan one, others even if the recipe is vegan have a light egg wash, but we had waiters that made us full baskets of the baguette ones and we enjoyed! Also, while I tend to eat with little oil, and we had vegan butter on our cruise because of the group we were with, a nice alternative is olive oil with a touch of salt and pepper, I've never had a hard time getting that in the MDR on any line!

[cruisingfor5]

Ugh and the mushrooms they have are marinated in butter :( We had to bring them items from other areas (salad or topping bar) and they were happy to add them or we just had them do a cheeseless pizza and went around collecting what we wanted on it and then added it while we ate it but we could live off spicy peppers so we loved those off the Guy's burger topping bar.

 

Also, in the MDR, the white baguette looking bread in the basket is the only vegan one, others even if the recipe is vegan have a light egg wash, but we had waiters that made us full baskets of the baguette ones and we enjoyed! Also, while I tend to eat with little oil, and we had vegan butter on our cruise because of the group we were with, a nice alternative is olive oil with a touch of salt and pepper, I've never had a hard time getting that in the MDR on any line!

 

 

They said the mushrooms were in oil. I didn't taste any butter or feel sick. I asked if there was dairy in them and they said no. Very strange. If they do they are lucky I didn't get sick.

 

Dining room was the only decent food on the ship.

[ShillyShally]

They said the mushrooms were in oil. I didn't taste any butter or feel sick. I asked if there was dairy in them and they said no. Very strange. If they do they are lucky I didn't get sick.

 

Dining room was the only decent food on the ship.

 

I thought the same thing and didn't get sick but once they said that (they volunteered that info after confirming we wanted a vegan pizza, and I know the staff on our ship were getting daily training on vegan/non-vegan due to our group cruising) I refused them for the rest of the cruise to be safe which was probably better anyway to save on the calories lol! But I never understand why they don't in general use oil over butter for any veggies on board, would create less issues for anyone with a dairy issue!

[chicchic325]

Thanks for this thread!

 

I've been vegetarian my whole life, but recently developed a lactose intolerance. I've read the whole thread, and seen people say they brought alternative milks on board, but...can you get them on Carnival w/o having to bring your own on?

[bUU]

I also read as far as healthy diets go, "they" rank vegetarian diet to be healthier than vegan. Not sure why, but I read that in a lot of places, it could be that the dairy and eggs provide some nutritional value that a purely plant based diet doesn't.

There are risks to all diets, especially for folks who have various medical conditions; perhaps just different risks. For example, ileitis can cause megaloblastic anemia even if you're taking B12 supplements. Not fun. I have to balance my vegan meals with non-vegan meals that protect my body.

 

Cruising vegan on carnival last month was not very good. Main dining room was good but the rest was not.

My biggest concern are the all-day excursions.

[Mary Ellen1]

Thanks for this thread!

 

I've been vegetarian my whole life, but recently developed a lactose intolerance. I've read the whole thread, and seen people say they brought alternative milks on board, but...can you get them on Carnival w/o having to bring your own on?

 

You can get soy milk on board. You can ask for it in the dining room, or in the buffet (they normally don't have it out -- you have to find someone & ask them to please get you some). You can also get it from room service. :)

[Allonsea]

SO HAPPY TO SEE VEGAN CRUISERS. My partner and I are vegan and we’re looking into our first cruise. This seems to be a pretty active thread, so I’m hoping it’s okay to post here. Mods, feel free to delete or move if necessary.

 

What about all day excursions? We’d like to experience some of these but I’m worried that there won’t be food for us. I certainly don’t want to resign myself to cliff bars for my only sustenance. Any input from other vegans on this?

 

 

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[chicchic325]

SO HAPPY TO SEE VEGAN CRUISERS. My partner and I are vegan and we’re looking into our first cruise. This seems to be a pretty active thread, so I’m hoping it’s okay to post here. Mods, feel free to delete or move if necessary.

 

What about all day excursions? We’d like to experience some of these but I’m worried that there won’t be food for us. I certainly don’t want to resign myself to cliff bars for my only sustenance. Any input from other vegans on this?

 

 

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Whenever we did an excursion we let them know that I was vegetarian. Sometimes there was stuff for me, other times not.

 

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[Martini Mom]

 

What about all day excursions? We’d like to experience some of these but I’m worried that there won’t be food for us. I certainly don’t want to resign myself to cliff bars for my only sustenance. Any input from other vegans on this?

 

 

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I've been wondering the same thing. Some excursions come with a fixed lunch offering. Fromwhat I can gather, I might be able to get beans, rice, and fruit. I do want to try some local flavors, just not animal products ;). 3 of the 5 of us are vegan, so at least I won't be alone.

[summersigh]

I've been wondering the same thing. Some excursions come with a fixed lunch offering. Fromwhat I can gather, I might be able to get beans, rice, and fruit. I do want to try some local flavors, just not animal products ;). 3 of the 5 of us are vegan, so at least I won't be alone.

Be careful because I know in the Caribbean beans and rice are often flavored with animal broths.

[h_blond2]

Guy's has a veggie burger now? Is that only on some ships? I haven't seen that.

 

Yep, Guys has a veggie burger. You just have to ask for one...they aren't listed on the menu. I am not a fan of Guys burgers, but the veggie burger is really good. My mom is a vegetarian and says it's one of the best she's ever had.

[radlad68]

Does anyone know if oatmeal is available on Lido each morning? I can bring packets if it’s made with milk, just curious if anyone has recent experience. Tia!

Anjie

 

 

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[Lottacruises]

Sure, skip the meats and only get the veggies.

[bUU]

Sure, skip the meats and only get the veggies.

Unfortunately, far too many people believe that this is a reasonable approach. It is important to remember the basics of a "balanced diet" - most those basics don't go away because you're eating vegan or vegetarian. That means that if you have a balanced meal, and you remove part of that meal (let's say, the meat), then that means that the nutrients related to that part of the meal need to be replaced.

 

We know that if you remove the veggies and replace that with more meat, the meal is no longer balanced. The same is true if you removed the meat and replace with more vegetables.

 

Instead, the meal needs to be constructed differently in order to be balanced. For example, a vegan meal recently offered on the American Table menu was Stuffed Portobello Mushroom with quinoa and vegetables. There is no meat in that dish, but the quinoa (almost single-handedly) balances the nutrition of the meal. Quinoa happens to be a complete protein. The American Feast menu offered Savory Tart with Root Vegetables. That meal was nutritionally balanced despite its lack of meat by way of the ricotta mousse combined with the root vegetables. It, however, was not vegan; just vegetarian. Meanwhile, the (regular) Steakhouse menu had no vegetarian choice that was a nutritionally balanced meal.

[SadieN]

Does anyone know if oatmeal is available on Lido each morning? I can bring packets if it’s made with milk, just curious if anyone has recent experience. Tia!

Anjie

 

 

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We’ve seen both Oatmeal and Grits onboard. Depends on the ship if they have one or both available each morning. We avoid it because it’s too salty for us.