Yesterday I discussed eating breakfast as a vegan with a husband with food allergies on a Viking ocean cruise. Now let’s talk about daytime eating. We had lunch every day in the World Cafe, which is the buffet.
Lunch
Vegans are having salad. I know, I know, just because you’re vegan doesn’t mean that you want to eat salad at every meal. I don’t want to either but you are going to be a fairly healthy vegan on this cruise because of the lack of other options. Also, the salad bar options at lunch are pretty great. Look at these plates.
There is a selection of breads available. At least one at every meal is labeled vegan. There were no non-dairy butters available.
We were in Central America so I don’t know if that made a difference but the fruit quality was very good. There was generally always a bean and a grain available too.
Allergens continued to be well labeled on each dish. There is staff available at each station who can answer questions about ingredients.
Lunch was my favorite meal of the day.
Snacks
What if you just don’t want to be that healthy? There is a bar where you first board. They have a little case of pastries available throughout the day. Most of the time one of them is labeled as vegan. One time I went there and there was no vegan option. It crushed me because I was looking forward to indulging but that was the only time I didn’t see something. That food doesn’t cost extra. Drinks do if you don’t have the drink package.
Afternoon Tea
I love afternoon tea. I like the trays and the whole ambience. Tea is served between 4 and 5 PM in the Wintergarden. The musicians are playing. Look what you get. The teas available were delicious.
Oh, wait, no. You aren’t getting that. Because you’re vegan you’re getting this.
Just that. No fancy tray or anything. This is where I have a lot of mixed feelings. I’m glad that something was available but maybe a bit more effort would be nice?
It looks like they make one small vegan dessert a day like the bar in the picture above. That’s the dessert that will be available for vegans on the lunch buffet, tea time, and dinner buffet. Hope you like it. Now, remember, there are vegan muffins downstairs and for breakfast there were vegan cakes. They could put those out too. That would make a nice vegan tea tray or selection of choices at meals without making anything extra. The vegan dessert bars are good. They could make other types and substitute for some of the non-vegan ones. People would like them. They may not even notice if they aren’t obsessive label readers. Just a suggestion.
