I recently returned from a 7 day cruise of the Eastern Caribbean on Wonder of the Seas – one of the largest ships in Royal Caribbean’s fleet. I was wondering how I would fare as a vegan. It was my first time on a cruise! We were celebrating my father-in-law’s 80th birthday with family. We had a great time seeing everyone and I enjoyed our short port excursions very much. One was in San Juan Puerto Rico and the other was a speed boat trip to various beaches on St. Maarten.
So Wonder of the Seas is a huge boat that made me think of a large shopping mall where everyone also lives there. It has main dining rooms on Deck 3, 4 and 5. It also has 2 buffets – the largest is the Windjammer on deck 15 and also in Solarium which is supposed to be for adults, mostly. There are also specialty dining restaurants and bars that are an extra charge.
I’m sharing the meals I had on board and also my experience with dining off the cruise boat.
Main Dining Room
There were 17 of us in our family group and we had dinner together in the main dining room 6 out of 7 nights. We were seated at a very long table and had the same servers every night.
Each night had a different menu and there was always a vegan option for the starter, main entree, and dessert. This sit-down dining option is great if you want smaller portions and a more elegant atmosphere. A couple of the meals I enjoyed but most left me a bit hungry and sometimes I felt were just too tomato heavy.
Welcome Aboard
Day 1 – I was not jazzed about what was offered. Tomato Soup, then a portobello with marinara. There will be a theme of stuffing things with couscous. If you don’t like couscous, you might not want to eat in the main dining room. The dessert was a peanut caramel bar (basically a peanut butter rice krispie). I was wondering if I was going to lose weight on this cruise. Later in the evening I ordered a vegan cheese pizza for myself at Sorrento’s.
Italian night
Day 2 – Another heavy tomato meal. The polenta fries started had marinara and then there was a vegan spaghetti bolognese. The bolognese had teeny bits of crumbled tofu but nothing substantial to feel like you were getting enough protein. If you love tomatoes this evening is for you! There was a berry oat bar for dessert but I think I was feeling a little upset and didn’t take a photo. I didn’t feel like a granola type bar was a dessert at a sit-down dinner.
French Night
Day 3 – Dinner was better to me. The starter was velvety butternut squash soup with toasted pepitas. The entree was a mint-pea-asparagus risotto. Dessert was was dark chocolate ship cookies. You can also ask for vegan ice cream any night and I asked for it addition to my cookies. I was still hungry but felt like it was a good meal.
Caribbean Night
Day 5 – We spent the day in St. Maarten swimming and snorkeling but made it back in time to shower and go to dinner. I enjoyed this meal. The starter was a tofu and avocado salad (the only tofu on the ship seems to be the soft kind from aseptic packages, no extra firm in sight.) My main was a layered eggplant dish with a tasty green minted cucumber scallion sauce and pomegranate arils. Notice the couscous.
I thought this was the best vegan dessert in the main dining room – chocolate fudge brownie. If I go on another cruise, maybe I’ll just ask if I can have the brownie every night!
Royal Night
Day 6 – This was a day at sea with no port excursions. It was also a formal night and we took our family photos. This was supposed to be the best of what Royal Caribbean has to offer. Omnivores had the option of lobster. Our server said that one of the chefs stayed up all night preparing all these sea creatures.
The vegan option was decent but couscous did show up again in the main entree. I was thinking they could have done rice but we know how easy couscous is to cook and they are feeding thousands of people each day and they spent a lot of time on the lobster. The starter was an avocado citrus salad with figs. The entree was a stuffed red bell pepper (hi couscous!) and dessert was a banana cocoa custard tart.
Mediterranean Night
Day 7 – This was the last night of the cruise. The starter was tiny, thin asparagus with a hazelnut pesto and white bean hummus. Vegan moussaka was tasty and had breadcrumbs instead of couscous. I loved the cherry chocolate tart. The vegan whipped cream on top was really good. It was a good ending to dining there.
Our servers were attentive but may not have known or shared vegan options off the menu besides the ice cream. On the first night, I asked them if they had a special vegan menu but they just told me they had a vegan option on the standard menus. They once brought extra ice cream to me but it was not vegan. The ice cream seemed rice based because it was kinda watery and not very creamy. I think it was chosen to be the gluten-free, nut-free, vegan option.
I have heard of people asking their server if they could have an Indian dish instead of what was on the menu. Since I was with extended family I didn’t really feel like causing a scene and hate feeling like I’m bothering people. I knew that if I was still hungry I could go eat more at the Windjammer, have vegan pizza, or even eat a GoMacro bar (I always bring these when traveling) in my room.
Windjammer Cafe
This is the main buffet that comes with your cruise ticket. It is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Deck 15. We were staying on Deck 12 so we often took the stairs to get there. Out of all the dining venues, this place had the most options for vegans. There was always a guy in front telling you to “Washy Washy before Yummy Yummy”. Not everyone listened and I hoped that I wasn’t going to get norovirus. I used hand sanitizer before I sat down to eat. All of the silverware (besides spoons) is pre-wrapped in a cloth napkin.
The Windjammer is where we ate breakfast every day. What saved me from just having fruit and getting a little bit of protein was the east Asian/Indian area. Every day there was plain rice congee with toppings like soft tofu, scallions, ginger, and almonds. There was also some kind of Indian carb and a soft filing or curry. I enjoyed pooris, aloo paratha, pav bhaji, sambar, uppma and chole. They even had good mango pickle.
Reslie, one of the head chefs remembered me from the main dining room and told me he could make me scrambled tofu. It didn’t have turmeric or nooch and was made with that soft tofu, but I appreciated the effort and the protein. He also showed me which danishes and croissants were vegan.
Some other items that were staples: hash brown triangles, fruit, avocado toast, guacamole, green tea. I generally enjoyed breakfast and filled up for a busy day.
We had lunch and second dinner there a couple times too. There was a section labeled “vegetarian”.
Sorrento’s
This is the pizza joint on Deck 5 that’s always open. You can ask for a vegan pizza here and they will make it special for you. It’s not the best crust but it hits the spot when you are still hungry or have been dancing a lot during the themed nights.
Specialty Dining
Playmaker’s
This is a sports bar on Deck 6 near the carousel. They have an Impossible burger on the menu but the entire thing is not vegan. They put cheese on the fries too, so make sure you ask for your meal to have no dairy/mayo on it. Like all the bars on board, they have mocktails and zero-proof cocktails. Since I don’t drink alcohol and was often stiing around with family, it was great to be able to have a little something special. This citrus tonic had Q Elderberry Tonic that was glowing under the UV light because of the quinine.
IZUMI
I knew that on one of the sea days (Day 6) it would be good to try one of the specialty dining restaurants for lunch. I picked IZUMI because I was already having Asian food and rice withdrawal. It was not the best Japanese food I’ve ever had but it was decent. We had the avocado tofu salad, the yaki udon, vegetable maki rolls (you have to ask for these as they aren’t on the menu) and sesame mochi balls with adzuki bean paste. Make sure to tell them you are vegan as I think the yaki udon is made with butter. Our server was great. Expect a leisurely meal, about 1.5 hours as things take some time to come out from the kitchen.
Port Meals
Cafe Berlin
The best meal of the trip was off the boat and in a plaza in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
After going to a beach near Isla Verde we looked on Happy Cow for a place to eat.
I’m so happy we tried Cafe Berlin. There were so many vegan choices on the menu.
Our server Miguel was the best and he told us basically his life story of working there at 18 and coming back to work there in his 40’s so he had enough time to pursue other activities.
We had Tofu Avocado Papaya Ceviche, Empanadillas Veganas, Pastelon de Berenjena, Puerto Rican Mofongo, and a Carrot-Coconut Cake. Que delicioso! I highly recommend eating here for lunch if you visit San Juan. They closed at 6pm.
Boomerang
My father-in-law booked a private speedboat with Boomerang Boat Charters in St. Maarten. It was such a fantastic day visiting 3 beaches/snorkel spots including Tintamarre Island. When booking they had a vegan option for lunch. Ours ended up being tofu and veggie kabobs and a farfalle pasta salad. Our charter also included a bar and I have a few tropical mocktails while the rest of the family enjoyed traditional libations.
The captain, Toby was an Aussie and bonded with my father-in-law and even let him drive the boat a bit. Our steward/bartender Angelo was awesome and grew up on the island. We brought our snorkel gear but that was also included as part of the tour along with a SUP and floating mats. We saw lots of reef fish, a sting ray, and the cutest turtles. Apparently, a barracuda also loves the Boomerang boat too. Remember that when snorkeling to not touch the reef or wildlife and wear mineral based reef safe sunscreen! Even though I wore my Scopalamine motion sickness patch, I still felt a bit nauseated but this time I did ok and did not feed the fish.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I think I had a good cruise experience as a vegan. It was great that there were many options on the buffet and some items in the main dining room. Don’t be shy and ask if there are other options. If there aren’t be kind and thankful. No one is going to starve, including vegans. The non-food aspects of the cruise would require a whole other post, so I won’t elaborate on that. If you have any questions about that experience, feel free to leave a comment and I will reply. Thanks for reading if you have ventured this far in this long post!
Have you been on a cruise lately? Did you feel taken care of and had enough options? I’d love to know!
~Cristina
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