We booked a cruise on Norwegian Jade and after reading from a couple of online blogs we were confident that it would be possible to eat vegan onboard their fleet of ships. There can often be a big difference between what is being claimed to what you experience in real life and on this occasion, it turned out to be a bit of a mixed bag. Some things were good and some not so good
The first thing we tend to do when first after getting on board, is head for the buffet as embarkation more often than not coincides with lunchtime, on this cruise after being invited to wash our hands upon entry to the Garden Café (buffet), we located a table from where we were free to visit the servery’s and help ourselves to the food on display.
The first hurdle was absolutely nothing was labelled with any kind of dietary information, this, in my opinion, is very poor for this day and age when you consider that with certain diets eating the wrong thing can make you very ill. Nicole managed to track down a senior-looking chef who showed her around and pointed out items that she could eat, the selection was not too clever but she managed to get enough few basic items to fill a plate. This ended up being the first of our only four visits to the Garden Café.
Later that afternoon we tried to track down a restaurant manager/Maître D to find out our best options for the evening given the numerous venues onboard this ship. Here is a list of eateries onboard the Norwegian Jade to give you an idea of the number of venues, some of which have a cover charge.
- Garden Café – Buffet Restaurant
- The Great Outdoors – Buffet Restaurant
- Teppanyaki
- Alizar – Main Dining Restaurant
- Grand Pacific – Main Dining Restaurant
- Le Bistro – French Cuisine
- O’Sheehan’s Neighbourhood Bar and Grill
- La Cucina – Italian Restaurant
- Topsiders Bar and Grill – Pool Side Snacks
- Jasmine Garden – Asian Restaurant
- Sushi
- Moderno Churrascaria – Brazilian food
- Cagney’s Steakhouse
- Atrium Café – Cakes and Pastries
We eventually found ourselves talking to a speciality dining booking agent in the Jasmine restaurant who told us that the Grand Pacific main dining room would be the best place to start as they would be better placed to advise on what Nicole could actually eat.
On this first night, the waiters initially seemed at a loss but we were soon visited by a lovely lady called Annalyn who explained that she would visit us every evening with the following night’s menus and then select dishes that were vegan and also which could be adjusted to make vegan. Nicole was able to eat okay on the first night and this format proved to work pretty well for the rest of the cruise. In fact, Annalyn became such a great resource for us and even started suggesting we could let the galley come up with a few surprises which is what Nicole did.
There are also bread rolls you can have which are vegan, our waiters were able to tell us which ones were vegan, Nicole would enjoy these with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar
For breakfast on day two we went for breakfast in The Great Outdoors which is an open-air buffet at the rear of the ship, while I was able to have eggs cooked to order, Nicole had oats made with water, some fruit and a bagel. It was extremely busy and not what I would call the nicest breakfast experience.
Later that day lunch was much the same, and being a sea day, it was again very busy, once again nothing was labelled with regard to dietary information. We soon came to the opinion that we needed to make the most of what was there if we were going to eat lunch onboard the ship.
On the second morning, we had an early start with a full-day excursion so wanted to at least try and eat something before we set off. Annalyn suggested we go to O’Sheehan’s Neighbourhood Bar and Grill which is open 24 hours a day and has a breakfast menu from 5:30 until 11:00. Here Nicole was once again able to have oats made with water and a plate of fresh fruit while I could have eggs cooked to order. It is also table-served so worked really well for both of us, so much so that we ate breakfast here for the rest of the cruise.
On the second evening, we mentioned to Annalyn how well the breakfast in O’Sheehan’s worked for us and that we would be doing the same again the next morning as we had another full day out with an early start. She then asked Nicole if she would like Avocado on toast for something different which was gratefully accepted.
So, with breakfast covered, we then still had the issue of lunch which remedied itself on all but two of the days, Kusadasi & Limassol were the only exceptions where we had to eat in the buffet and on the latter of the two days, we managed to find Hummus and pitta on offer. It may have been there all the time but we never noticed it.
When ashore we managed to find some great places to eat using the Happy Cow app.
In Athens we used Veganki
While in Rhodes, we ate at a cafe that had vegan selections. Romios Restaurant
In Istanbul, we had an amazing lunch at Vegan Istanbul
Finally, in Mykonos, we thoroughly enjoyed lunch at Rhino Vegan Street Food
Annalyn also arranged for us to eat one night in Teppanyaki, as we were told that it can be adapted to suit your preferences. We were a little cautious at first but Teppanyaki was a huge success for Nicole, we were wondering how they would cope with just one cooking area and, in the end, all concerns were dismissed because they cooked her food before anyone else’s plus we were on the first of three sessions so the hotplate would have been well cleaned from the night before. Our package included 2 meals each in a speciality restaurant but we only used one and even then I don’t think $49 constitutes good value for money in Teppanyaki.
We were told that two of the other speciality restaurants could accommodate Nicole, these were La Cucina (Italian restaurant) and Jasmine Restaurant (Asian) but we never went to either of these as we found the MDR more than adequate plus we had asked to be seated in the same area every night so that our waiters understood Nicole’s dietary requirements without the need to explain it to someone different every night.
Although not to the same level as some of the other cruise lines, we did enjoy the cruise and Nicole managed to eat fairly well. We have been spoilt with the likes of Costa, Royal Caribbean & Princes who have all produced a vegan menu in the MDR and with Costa, a breakfast one too but now know that NCL can accommodate a vegan diet albeit a little less organised than the others.