Overall vote for the eating experience:
Accommodation: 7 Flavor: (the only two vegan dishes) 7
Creativity: 4
Experience: 3
The last experiences I personally had on cruises were either when I was a teen B.P.B. (before plant based lol) and in 2019 when I was a few years into my Plant Based Diet, which at this point was becoming more and more strict.
In 2019, I cruised with Norwegian Cruise Line, I remember I ate A LOT of carbs simply to be satiated since the only Vegan option in their dining buffet was Indian. I love Indian food, it is a very flavorful cuisine that is nearly completely Plant Based already. But when you're on a 7 day (maybe it was 5 days) cruise and 3 meals a day, having one kind of food to work with becomes a bit boring.
Needless to say, I had a so-so experience eating on a vacation, so when my dad suggested a Christmas cruise with the entire family I was a bit apprehensive pretty much for that sole reason. My diet had become that much more strict, with my same exception for fish every now and then. I jokingly coin it "plant based pescatarian". I would say my yearly diet consists of 99% plant based, and 1% fish at this point. I had found my dairy intolerance had become almost a full blown dairy allergy. I break out into cystic acne, with a slew of other reactive issues. I held hope that maybe after almost 4 years things would be more progressive.
After all, I knew Virgin Voyages is incredibly accommodating and even have an entirely vegan restaurant on board!
Important context to know:
Back in September when we finalized our payments, I found a dietary request area where Vegan and Pescatarian were options (amongst other, I will attach that screenshot below) as you can see I covered all the basics I could.
A member of our party is also gluten free because she is celiac. So that is obviously very serious, and important.
Upon getting ready for the trip closer to the departure, I double checked that my dietary preferences were still recorded.
December 18th arrived, and I was excited for much needed family time.
When we explored the buffet area the first thing I noticed was the lack of dietary notices on the dishes. Nothing read 'Gluten Free' or 'Dairy free' so on and so forth. This was both concerning and disappointing. I grabbed the little I could that felt safe from just a quick glance. But it was safe to say I was left pretty hungry. Dinner in the dining room was also chaotic, they almost seemed caught off guard about the dietary requests our whole party had (mind you it was just mine and my step brother's girlfriend).
They scrambled and did what they could to accommodate, but it felt like we had a lot to worry about with cross contamination or afterthought, careless, accidental inclusions of the ingredients we couldn't have. Going forward we had to order all of our dinners the night before, to ensure "specialty orders" for our diets.
I left dinner again feeling hungry.
Day 2 was a sea day, which for a lot of people that means, eating, drinking and sitting by the pool. For me I was ready to read a book, and hold down the pool chairs while my family ran around. I was excited that the Princess' Medallion App was such a sick tech add to a cruise experience that you could see your party's locations and also order drinks or food to you wherever you were! I hunkered down, my dad snuck me an iced soy milk latte, and eventually I was ready for some lunch since eggs (I rarely eat eggs anymore either due to stomach issues), and grits can only satiate me for so long. I app ordered myself a veggie burger, without cheese, and began reading. Then it felt like time went on just a bit too long...I asked someone who said they would go to check. Nada. Never came back. I actually re-ordered the burger hoping this would help. Zilch. My family eventually grabbed me to join them in a dining room for a sit down lunch. I saw a veggie burrito on the menu, and asked for it without the cheese and crema! And that I had a dairy allergy. He returned to say that it was made with dairy. I told him I understood that, but if they could simply make without. He just said they couldn't.
So I opted back to the veggie burger...he said it was made with butter. I actually let out a chuckle, "can you really not make a burger without butter...?" he was adamant that he couldn't. I was catatonic at this point. Starving. This was about to be my 4th meal since getting aboard and I was NOT eating. My sister offered me some of her fries she already had by the time I heard the burger news. I had two, and became overwhelmed with hanger. I could feel the tears. I told them I was leaving, and cried in my cabin. I heard a knock on my door, fully expecting my family, it was a server with the veggie burger I ordered an hour prior by the pool. I told her to take it back.
I do want to say there was many staff members who tried their best to get my diet accommodated from this moment forward. Ana Lucia at guest services was amazing, and our head waiter at the dining room was also super kind and personable. This isn't about them, the staff has no control over the cruise line's planner and food coordinator when it comes to the deliveries they get BEFORE leaving home port.
Going forward I had decent food. I ate fried eggs and hash browns every morning, lunch on board is mostly a blur, I think I ate a lot of rice, and had to quietly worry about butter. The dinner crew did the best they could to accommodate my "dairy free" end of my diet. But I ate more fish in those 10 days than I probably have in the last year and a half. I was upset, I didn't want to have to eat fish out of the convenience of eating. And I felt sad for those other plant based babies who don't have exceptions to their diets. I want better for all of us.
Some of the menu's and dishes I had were:
(scroll set of photos)
As you can see they had plenty of Vegetarian options, but that doesn't give me the dairy free option. The Vegan Bucatini was great and so was the Vegan Bolognese...what perplexed me, and quite frankly still does, there were two nights in which a vegan dish was an option, but no where else, and on no other day. And it was good! So what is up with that? 2 plant based options out of 10 whole days, and only 2 dinner menus...
The rest of the desert besides the rice pudding, sorbet, and jello was questionable and some of the fish dishes I got dairy free, were handed to me and they said "lactose free". This is a vastly different concept than dairy free. So there is a incredibly high chance I did still have dairy but they used lactose free milks.
Also specialty coffees were under the drink package I opted out of since I'm not much of a drinker, and their milk options there were soy or almond milk, not my personal favorite as of recent, but it gave me the ability to secretly get iced lattes through family members. I do think that this should have been an easy comp for me considering how difficult it was to get food. The regular black hot coffee in the buffet area just wasn't gonna cut it.
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Final Thoughts and Information
I hope more cruise line's follow behind Virgin Voyages progressiveness. Vegan food shouldn't have to be difficult.
According to Cruise International's website, there are 7 liners with progressive menus and options for the Plant Based lifestyle. While 6/7 are smaller companies or many not as accessible to the average consumer, it is really reassuring to know that Royal Caribbean is on this list. If you and your family or friends are considering a cruise this year and you're feeling anxious, take a look at their article and weigh your best options!
A little family funny photo for ya: Experience with my family...priceless.
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