Cruising with Dietary Preferences and Needs

On a cruise, onboard restaurants cater to a variety of dietary preferences and needs, whether you’re lactose intolerant, sensitive to gluten, or looking for vegan options.  Celebrity Cruises is one line that is particularly favorable for vegetarian and vegan cruisers. Vegan cruise food can be found in nearly all onboard restaurants—if you know how to look for it.

Let Wait Staff Know Your Needs

If you have any dietary requirements, including food allergies, be sure to let your travel advisor know so that they can annotate it on your reservation.   For the best experience, you may want to select a traditional dining option so that you have the same wait staff for your meals.  However, you aren't locked into only eating in the main dining room.    The buffet is one of the best places to find vegetarian and vegan choices as well as other dietary choices. 

Check the Menu's Legend

Restaurants around the world, including those on cruise lines, are becoming more sensitive to diners'

needs by offering appropriate menu selections.  Many menus have a legend at the bottom of the page that makes it easier for diners to find what they’re looking for.

click image to enlarge menu

For example, on Celebrity Cruises, vegetarian menu options are noted with a leaf, and lactose-free choices are marked with a small blue cow with a line through it. If a menu item is designated with both a leaf and a blue cow, it’s most likely vegan. However, you should always check with your server to make sure there are no egg-based products in the meal.

Notice the legend in the menu above.  There are two vegetarian dishes, one of which is also vegan. Caprese is a vegetarian starter which could be ordered as a main dish as well.  Dal is a vegetarian dish that is vegan, since it has the blue cow and leaf designation.

If you’re on a cruise with ever-changing menus, the wait staff will be your greatest resource. Before each meal, let your waiter or maître d’ know you’re looking for vegan options on the cruise ship. They are well versed in the day’s offerings, the way food is prepared, and the ingredients used in each dish, so they will be your go-to experts to satisfy your dietary needs. Waiters have direct access to the kitchen, so if you have a specific question, they can get answers right from the source. We always ask them for their recommendations.

Find Your Choices on the Buffet

There are no menus on the buffet line, but there are signs by each food selection.  Many of them have the same symbols found on the bottom of dinner menus to help you determine how the dish is prepared and if it meets your dietary needs.   If you still aren't sure an item works for your diet, ask one of the servers.  If they don't know, they can get you an answer.

 

For example, many vegan cruisers find that the buffet is the easiest way to enjoy a meal without meat or animal by-products.  You could build your own salad at the salad bar, load up on vegetables at the deli, or fill your plate with an assortment of fresh fruits.

This Grilled Tilapia with Creamy White Wine Sauce is both vegetarian and vegan.   

For vegans, start with the vegetarian selections and explore further to see if it is something you can eat.

Whether you have food allergies or specific food preferences, cruise lines are committed to provide a culinary experience to meet your needs.  The staff are trained to  meet your requirements.  We've even seen executive chefs sit down at the table with guests to discuss menu options with them.  Don't be afraid to cruise fearing that you won't be able to satisfy your requirements.

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Planning a Cruise Vacation

 
Cruising...

Today's 

Vacation of

Choice 

You've heard friends talk about their cruise vacations and how great a time they had, and you wonder what's it all about. More and more people are discovering the all-inclusive pleasures of a cruise vacation.   This month, in conjunction with CLIA's National Cruise Vacation Month, we are writing a series of articles to help you become more familiar with cruise vacations.

Planning Your First / Next Cruise

The diagram above shows some of the decision points that factor into your final selection of a particular cruise sailing.   At first glance, it may seem to be a bit daunting, and perhaps that is what has kept you away from taking a cruise up to now.  We can work with you to demystify the process.

We highly recommend that you work with a professional travel agent, that specializes in cruises, to plan your vacation.   As a CLIA certified Master Cruise Counselor (MCC), we've taken the time to learn about the industry, the cruise lines, the destinations, all the changes that occur year after year, and through our personal experiences, can ask the right questions to find the cruise that best meets your desires.  The MCC certification isn't a one-time event, it is an ongoing commitment, of our expertise, which we need to renew year after year, much like your family doctor.  

Asking the Right Questions

Think about other travel that you have done ...  When planning those trips, you had certain criteria in mind that ultimately factored into what became your vacation or business trip.  

Who's Going, What are their Ages, When Can you Go
 
In many cases, you are locked into a specific date or period of time (such as when the other travelers can get off of work, or when the kids are out of school).  Once a date is selected, the pool of possible cruise destinations may shrink.   For example, if you wanted to cruise in December, you won't be going to Alaska, as that season goes from May - September.

Are Certain Ports a Must, Are you Driving or Flying to Port

We'll look at destinations in more detail in another post, but that is one of the key determining factors in planning the actual sailing.   Let's assume that you want to meet a long lost relative in a foreign country...   that would become a must-see port of call and could become your primary deciding factor.

If you are fortunate enough to be within driving distance to a cruise port, departing from that port may dictate the length of cruise and destination(s) possible.  Even if you are flying, each port has certain destinations that are within sailing distance for a given length of a cruise.

Do you Have any Preferences

You may have some cruise lines, that you are familiar with, and want to sail on.   This may be a trip with the family who loves Disney characters or Dreamworks characters and the cruise line becomes the most important factor in your planning.

Finding the Right Cruise at the Right Price

After discussing all the options within the framework of your wants, the final decision will most likely involve what's available within my budget.   Our goal as your agent is to find you the best value for your vacation dollar.  Note that doesn't necessarily equate to the lowest price.   If the lowest priced cruise doesn't have any of your top requirements, then that cruise isn't for you.  You wouldn't buy a car that you didn't like, and you shouldn't purchase a cruise vacation that you won't like either.

Starting the Planning

We have many tools for you to begin your cruise research.   We are highlighting them throughout the month as we look at cruising, which we fell in love with personally some 30+ years ago.  This blog, our Facebook page, and our website are your building blocks.   We have a cruise finder on all these sites which can give you an idea about the destinations that are possible within the desired time frame.  The best tool that you have at  your disposal is the phone.  An interactive conversation is the best way to uncover your wants and desires and funnel them down to possible candidate cruise sailings.