Courtney GOne thing I’m always excited about on vacation is eating food. Trying new dishes or eating something “fancy” is a part of the thrill of traveling for me. Especially on cruises where the food is practically unlimited.
But what about people with allergies or dietary restrictions? People who are gluten-free? Vegetarian? Vegan? What is it like for them? Being on a floating hotel where you can’t necessarily go anywhere else if they don’t have anything you can eat can be unsettling.
Luckily, Royal Caribbean has various menu options for their cruisers.
…Well, they used to but we’ll get into that later.
Dietary Restrictions My Friends and I Have
During my most recent cruise I was concerned about my friend, Cali, who I originally thought was a vegetarian. As we got closer to the trip, she told me she was actually a pescatarian – a person who doesn’t eat red meat or poultry but can eat seafood. While she is a pescatarian, most of the meals she eats at home are vegetarian-based so I wanted to make sure she had variety.
I also had to think about what I could eat when it came to GERD. I mentioned it a couple of times on here but I have GERD, which is basically severe acid reflux. Some of the triggers include:
- garlic
- onions
- tomatoes
- chocolate
- black pepper
- alcohol
- citrus fruits
- fatty foods
- spicy foods
- carbonated drinks
- peppermint
When you think about how many things include onions, garlic, or black pepper, it doesn’t leave a lot to choose from. Ultimately, I had to pick and choose what I would eat to avoid chest pain or just suffer.
For me, it was easier than I thought. For those who have other dietary restrictions or allergies, it might be a different story.
Below, I’ll talk about what each complimentary dining option had for the Radiance of the Seas.
Windjammer Café
With the Windjammer Café being a buffet, you may consider it harder to find things that fit within your diet restriction by just looking. From my memory, unfortunately, they did not label the items that were vegan or gluten-free. It’s a bit easier to see what doesn’t have meat in it and a lot of the Indian cuisine in the Windjammer was usually vegetarian.
Cali would usually get dal, rice, and other vegetables when we went to the Windjammer. Sometimes she would add fish for lunch. When we had dinner in the Windjammer one of the nights she made her own pasta with a slew of vegetables and Alfredo sauce (which I don’t think was vegan), since the red sauce was Bolognese with meat.
Cali didn’t seem to have a problem with finding things to eat in the Windjammer. However, I overheard a woman say, “Finally, something I can eat,” when we both came across the collard greens one day. That doesn’t necessarily mean she’s vegetarian or vegan off that one comment but clearly she was excited to see greens. I was too, honestly. Mostly because I didn’t expect to see them.
Dealing with GERD in a buffet, I could decide what went on my plate. I’ll be honest, I did have pizza a few times which is a fatty food and has tomato sauce. I’d also get chocolate soft serve ice cream and one chocolate dessert because I couldn’t resist. Overall, I stayed in line but I took a risk a couple of other times with added hot sauce to my greens and trying the chicken curry (I was hoping it was mild spice and it certainly was not).
Possible Solution
Neither of my friends or myself are gluten-free or vegan so we weren’t necessarily looking for those items. However, if you can’t find anything that says it’s gluten-free or vegan, you can find one of the chefs on the floor and ask them to point the items out.
Main Dining Room
The main dining room was bit clearer than the Windjammer.
Royal Caribbean’s old main dining menu had at least one vegetarian item for each course. They also labeled their gluten-free, lactose-free, and no sugar added items. There was even a vegan specific menu that changed each night just like the general menu. It felt like there was true variety.
In the new menu rollout, there is still at least one vegetarian and/or vegan meal amongst the regular menu but they do not label their gluten-free or lactose meals. They also don’t offer a more extensive vegan menu. The cruise line made this change to improve service time. Less options to choose from, less variety of dishes to cook.
I have a cruise with Royal Caribbean in November where I’ll experience this new menu but for the cruise in January, we still had the old one.
The old menu had Starters, Main Courses, and Desserts along with premium selections that would cost extra. For each section of dinner there would be 4-6 dishes that would stay the same each night called Classics (this is no longer offered in the new menu). None of the classics offered a vegetarian option for the main course but there was still the vegan menu and the vegetarian dish they had for the day.
In the main dining room, Cali would utilize the vegan menu in the app often. They had some pretty good options like butternut squash soup, corn fritters, and potato soup (which I ordered myself).
For my GERD, when looking at what was included in each dish I could find at least one meal that didn’t include my triggers. Whether I ate that meal or not depended on me.
Park Café and Dog House (or other snack-like cafés)
The Park Café mostly has pastries so you’ll have to ask what’s gluten-free or see if there’s a way to make a pastry you want gluten-free (which will probably take much longer than a quick grab).
The Dog House, which is a hotdog stand, didn’t have a vegetarian alternative if I remember correctly and I wasn’t sure if the buns were gluten-free.
Specialty Dining
I know I said I would just discuss the complimentary dining options but I wanted share what I knew about specialty dining as well.
I only went to Izumi and Chef’s Table but if you choose to go to a specialty dining restaurant as a vegan or vegetarian, you might want to save your money. Chef’s Table has many seafood courses and one red meat course. I was able to make a substitution for the tomato soup (tomato soup would definitely be a trigger for my GERD) and Cali was able to make a substitution for the meat course but I think they gave her shrimp as a replacement.
Samba’s Grill is a Brazilian steakhouse so they’re not on option for all vegans and vegetarians. Chops Grille is also a steakhouse but not much to choose from for vegans/vegetarians besides a salad.
Giovanni’s has some vegetarian options but no gluten-free or vegan meals as far as I could tell. You could always ask.
Izumi has maybe one vegetarian option if you’re vegetarian who eats eggs but otherwise I don’t remember seeing any menu items that could be vegan or gluten-free.
Based on Royal Caribbean’s website, they can’t make major customization within the specialty restaurants.
Ways to Make Accommodations
Traveling with dietary restrictions and food allergies can be quite a task but it’s doable. Regardless of which cruise line you go with, try to research the menu or call ahead. View how Royal Caribbean can accommodate your needs (at least for the main dining room) on their website.
Do you have any allergies that make traveling a little harder? Or do you have a favorite meal from a vacation? Comment down below!
