Princess Cruises

My family and I recently got back from a 7 day cruise on the Caribbean Princess cruise ship. Now, you may be thinking, what does a vegan eat on such a boat?

Well, the first day, my meals looked like this:

 

This was not enjoyable for me. Cruise ships are supposed to be for stuffing your face full of food. While the rest of my carnivorous family was gaining weight, I was losing it (and I'm skinny enough as it is!) Luckily, after the first day I talked to the head waiter and got a bit more pushy about getting real food I could eat, so I wouldn't have to eat only salads the whole cruise!

The buffets were the most frustrating part. I was constantly bugging assorted employees as to the ingredients of soups, salad dressings, pasta salads, pastas, etc...but NOTHING was vegan. Not a single salad dressing. Not a single soup. 

The chefs, when I explained what I could not eat, were willing to help. When I wanted a peanut butter and banana sandwich, but the ones on the buffet line were covered in egg (french toast style - I know, what?), one of the chefs disappeared into the kitchen to make me a special, vegan peanut butter and banana sandwich. Of course, that meant waiting 10 minutes while my family finished up their lunch.

So as far as the buffet was concerned, it was doable, but frustrating. I think if I had been vacationing with other vegans, however, I would have felt a lot better about constantly bugging everybody about my food needs. And the food, when I did get it, was really good.

My family and I ate dinner in the Palm Dining Room, and the head waiter, Romeo, was very helpful. He gave me the menu for the coming night the night before so I could go over it with him and see if any of the vegetarian options could be made vegan. Some of them could, such as these lentil and vegetable fritters:

And this mango smoothie appetizer:

And some things on the menu just happened to be vegan already, such as:

And some nights, the menu just wasn't very vegetarian friendly. Those were the nights I asked for vegetarian burritos!

Do they actually qualify as burritos? They look more like...fajitas? But they were delicious, so I was happy.

Overall, I enjoyed myself on the cruise, and while the buffets were a hassle, I definitely did not starve. I did not eat any tofu the whole seven days...I'm not sure they even had tofu. It is definitely doable to be a vegan on this cruise, but keep in mind, if you want to have a quick breakfast, it will likely look like this:

(Getting soymilk in the morning was possible, but kind of a fiasco. Bagels are another option, I suppose. There definitely was no shortage of fruit, though!)

Salad bar!

Govinda's Vegetarian

I can't put into words how much I love this place. It is always Sammy and my first stop when I visit. Go there now, and order a vegan Philly chicken cheesesteak. Prepare to be amazed. I tend to not be a big fan of vegan soy cheese, but I would just love to buy a huge tub of the soy cheese they use here and put it on everything I make.

It was Sam's first experience with this sandwich of wonderment. While he was eating I asked him how the sandwich was, and he said he forgot it was vegan. He proceeded to finish his sandwich and began trying to steal bites of mine.

I failed to get any pictures the cheesesteak (too hungry) but a few days later when we returned I decided to try something new and ordered the quesadillas.

so excited to eat these

close up!

They were good, but the cheesesteaks are better. Well, they kind of tasted the same as the cheesesteaks, just on a tortilla. Which isn't as good as a hoagie roll, I guess, in my book. I vote you order the cheesesteak.

Oh, this place is also awesome because they have a whole display of vegan brownies, cookies, cinnamon buns, and cakes...we got cinnamon buns and a snickdoodle cookie during this particular visit and they were both fabulous.

MiLah Vegetarian Restaurant

At the end of July Sam and I began our road trip from North Carolina to Massachusetts (the location of the new apartment we just moved into). Our pit stop along the way was in Philadelphia to visit my best friend (since kindergarten!) Sammy. She's also a vegan, so whenever we're together it is all about the food. Our main stop this visit was MiLah Vegetarian Restaurant, a place I had seen before while visiting but had never eaten at.

After bugging the waiter for a while about what we should order, I settled on the Vietanamese Hoagie and Sam got the seitan tacos. Sammy ordered the Mi Lah cheesesteak but asked if the mushrooms could be replaced with onions. And so we learned that the restaurant was Buddhist and didn't use any onions or garlic. Interesting stuff.

The hoagie, half eaten (Sorry! I was hungry!)

I really enjoyed my sandwich. It came with jalapeno peppers on top, but the waiter was kind enough to warn me (I'm a wimp when it comes to spiciness) and they were easy to pluck off. With the peppers off, the sandwich was still a tiny bit spicy, but in a good, flavorful way. Sammy seemed to enjoy the cheesesteak as well, but thought there were better fake cheesesteaks available in Philly (which I agree with as well - maybe it's the onions?). Sam thought the tacos were good, but just kinda tasted like normal tacos and the portion was small. Oh well.

I liked the place a lot, and would definitely go back. They have a really awesome brunch menu so I hope I can get brunch there someday.

The Remedy Diner

While in North Carolina, Sam (my boyfriend) and I also visited The Remedy Diner in downtown Raleigh. I'd discovered the restaurant online after doing a search for vegetarian restaurants in Raleigh. The menu isn't entirely vegetarian, but many items are, and most things on the menu can be turned vegetarian or vegan upon request. A few examples: Vegan Buffalo non-chicken wings, Veggie philly fakesteak, and Veggie-Cheese Focaccia. Sam and I went for breakfast, so I ordered a vegan breakfast burrito, Sam ordered a not vegan regular breakfast burrito.

the vegan breakfast burrito

Inside the burrito

Overall, I found the burrito to be delicious. A very flavorful combination of tofu, beans, onions, and sauce. Sam had a bite of mine and said he wished he had ordered the vegan version. Hopefully we'll have a chance to visit the Remedy Diner again as there were many things on the menu I wanted to try!

Lilly's Pizza

Vegan cheese, vegan chicken, broccoli, and garlic

I spent most of July visiting my boyfriend and his family in Raleigh, North Carolina. While there we visited a great little place called Lilly's Pizza. The place isn't entirely vegetarian or anything, but they have a variety of vegan toppings including vegan cheese and vegan chicken. We stopped in for lunch and each got two slices of pizza and a soda for only $6. The guy said they normally charge more for the vegan cheese, but that he felt bad doing it because picking the non-dairy cheese is a choice and that people should have choices. The pizza was so great that we got pizza again while I was visiting (this time takeout, and I got tomatoes instead of broccoli!)