Vegan at Sea

I wasn’t the best blogger on my past cruise. I took advantage of not having to carry anything- which meant my camera slept back at the room most of the time and missed out on all the food! Luckily sweet Stephanie from CookinFanatic saved my day- she went on the same cruise (a few weeks earlier) and is letting me borrow some of her food photos!

I might not have many photos, but I do have words!

Is it possible to eat vegan on a cruise ship?

I tried calling Royal Caribbean in advance to notify them of my dietary restrictions, but as it turns out I was told to just notify my waiter at dinner. It was hysterical after I explained to him that I don’t eat meat or dairy or any animal products at all, he suggested three dishes for me: shrimp scampi, chicken and a mozzarella calzone. They couldn’t understand what it was that I didn’t eat. It was so funny every night when they’d discuss what I was having and try to throw chicken on there!

I must say, our waiter and head waiter tried harder to accommodate me and were more respectful about my choices than I could have ever asked for. The head waiter (who is over the entire dining room) knew my name and would talk to me each night about what they would make for me the next evening.

There were so many people handling the food that it is pretty difficult to know exactly what is in the food. I had to assume the wheat and sourdough breads didn’t contain milk or eggs. I had to assume the Indian dishes only had the vegan ingredients I’ve had in past.

Even though our waiters were phenomenal in how hard they tried, the dining room was the hardest place to get good vegan food. Like the second night: we discussed a yummy dish of lentils, grilled veggies and a potato.. they served me a small plate of seasonless steamed carrots, broccoli and asparagus. I loaded up on bread to fill my belly. The first night my salad consisted on romaine lettuce and olive oil + vinegar. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t have other ingredients on my plates since I saw them on other’s dishes.

Summary: You can certainly eat vegan on a cruise ship, but maybe not 100%. And if you’re vegan, plan on raw fruit being the only dessert you’ll have. Although the dining room did serve me vegan dishes, they were plain. I enjoy the process of eating and when looking at everyone’s gorgeous dishes, I was really unsatisfied by my plain steamed veggies. (I had seen many vegan options at the buffet downstairs so I knew they had more interesting vegan food in the kitchen). If I went on a cruise again I would bring some larabars and such to bulk up my diet.

 

What I Ate

Breakfast: I loaded my plate with fresh fruit. In addition I’d grab a little pancake and piece of waffle. I had some oatmeal, too!

Lunch: The salad bar had lots of veggie choices. The only non-creamy dressing was a raspberry vin. or oil + vinegar. I;d have a huge salad with beans, bread and whatever other veggies I found around the buffet.

 Dinner: Dinner was the hardest. We were dressed up in a dining room so there was no buffet where I could create my own balanced meal. There was one amazing dish I had the first night (after a plate of plain romaine lettuce). It was a biryani dish of yellow rice and curried veggies (just like the photos above but without the cream sauce). That was good- and the one dish they really struck out on. The rest of the time I ate plain veggies. By the last night David and I ditched the dining room and grabbed some delish Indian food and other veggies from the buffet downstairs.

Fourth Meal: Dessert! None vegan, none that tasty. I tried a little bit of everything (which would add up to a big plate every night!).

Because I really don’t like animal products anymore, it was really easy to walk right by those options. I didn’t want any animal products straight like I used to eat: yogurt, the cheese bar, milk or ice cream. I did, however, seize up the opportunity to try special items that had animal products somewhere in them. The funny thing is that my vegan options tasted (and left me feeling better) than all the food with animal products I ate. I think I would have felt better if I stuck with all vegan foods, but I did enjoy all the foods I ate. It’s not often that I have platters of yummy food out in front of me like that, so I seized the opportunity in my own kind of way.

 

If you’re interested in David’s food, here are a few more of Stephanie’s photos that are also exactly what David had in the dining room!  

A lobster bisque and a fancy beef dish…

…and an alfredo pasta with mushrooms.

Do you change your eating habits on a cruise? Have you ever cruised while following an alternative diet?

A Run and a Cruise

First Thing’s First: Running

6:00a.m. Friday morning, my alarm goes off. Already in my running clothes, I wander around the house to get ready for THE run: eat a banana, guzzle water, apply sunblock…

I live for long runs, so of course I was super excited about this run. But somewhere along the way half of me dreaded this run. In my mind 10 miles seemed so much harder than 9 miles. I kept up the positivity (“10 miles! Think of how awesome you’ll feel!” and “You rode 63 miles a few weekends ago… running 10 will be a cinch!”).

The run was tough. I managed to average about 10:30/mile, but every mile seemed to be a challenge. My legs were tired, my dried fruit was a horrible mid-run snack that gave me side cramps and most of my run was along busy streets. The loud noise of the passing cars made me anxious and kept me from focusing on my run. What a mess! Still, I did 10 miles!! Then, as you already know, I did some “no rules” lounging around.

What happened after that run is my favorite. David and I boarded our cruise ship that afternoon and I was so anxious to check out their gym that I headed up and did some very light biking while reading my new Runner’s World. Then it hit me: I want to run! I started running and my legs actually felt better than ever so I knocked out 2 miles at an 8:30 pace and felt amazing! Surprisingly my legs weren’t sore at all the next day. It was all of that foam rolling ;)

 

The Cruise! For our anniversary, David took me on Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas to Nassau and Coco Cay in the Bahamas. We had a relaxing and fun vacation!

I poured over the October issue of Runner’s World the whole vacation :)

We’re not sunny bunnies, but we did hang out by the pool a good share- with sunscreen, folks!   Saturday was in Nassau. I’ve been to Nassau two times before and don’t care for it (it’s too touristy for me), but I was excited about snorkeling!

Sadly we didn’t get any fun goggle pics, but snorkeling was breathtaking. I wish my camera could go underwater!

Some photos of Nassau:

 

Back in our room we found a little friend! This fuzzy guy made me miss my Dixie, Jack and Kitty back home even more!   

After formal night there was an ice carving demo in the pool. Can you see that he made a big fish? Very cool.

The next day was on Coco Cay, the cruise’s private island.

We walked around a little in the morning before my bathing suit broke (uh-oh!) and we headed back to the boat so I could change. Sadly, we experienced a bad storm and couldn’t go back to the island!

     The cruise was a blast! We went to all the comedy shows, karaoke, game nights and everything they had to offer. Still, we found plenty of time to soak up the lack of responsibility and just relax.

Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about the food! That’s coming next!

Joy of Getting Away

David surprised me with a fantastic weekend getaway to St. Augustine, Fl. this weekend. It was a wonderful weekend of sightseeing, small towns, live music on the roof of a famous winery, sailing in the Atlantic, dinner at Columbia, Kilwin's amazing ice cream and RELAXATION with our friends Phil and Lauren! It's Monday evening and I'm only slowly getting back to 'real life'. Love it.

I'll be back tomorrow :)

Vacation Recap: Two Kids in NY

You thought it was over, didn't you?! Well here's the end of my Vacation Recap! I love sharing these photos because it takes me back to the great moments :)
You can view the last installment of the recap here.

After our fun time in DE was Long Island, NY (the highlight of the trip in my opinion!). After a short night's rest we hit the Long Island Railroad at 6:30am to get a jump start to our city day!

Please excuse the photos since some of them are out of order. There are a lot of photos to manage here! =)



We couldn’t believed we covered everything in NYC in one day. We did the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, China Town.... everything tourist! Needless to say, it was a l o n g day!


Of course I made sure to stop by the NYC Whole Foods! We walked blocks just to get there! I wish I could’ve done some grocery shopping!

We finally got “home” from NYC after 10:30pm! It was a long, fun day.
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Back around town with our families:

David’s Aunt Sally-Ann was as much of an Italian New York Mom as you could ask for. She had pasta soups, bagels, pastries, pies, pizzas, baguette sandwiches, cannolis available 24/7! I swear I’ve never had so many good meals! My favorite was how they put cheese on everything! There was always a container of real parmesan cheese on the table. Thatt’s my style!

The whole trip I had been searching out a Trader Joes since we don’t have any in Florida. The store was great and I had some good finds, but I’d definitely prefer Whole Foods any day. Trader Joes was great for packaged goods, but Whole Foods has more of a little of everything. But I did pick up some TJ items that I might not be able to live without anymore!!
I tried my first Larabar! I liked it!


We originally planned on spending a few days in Boston, MA right after NY but had to postpone due to bad weather. That was disappointing. Instead we headed over to Massapequa Park, NY to spend the day and night with my family.

My Aunt was in the middle of her Christmas Cookie Baking Extravaganza so I got to help out. I must say, I’ve never ha so many cookies in my life!! Now I’m unsatisfied with store-bought treats after being spoiled with all of those perfect holiday cookies! Holy cow!