Eating Vegan on a Carnival Cruise

Jenni Dolfie
Jun 8
10 min read

I was pleasantly surprised to see such an extensive vegan menu on the cruise ship. I had been on a Carnival cruise in the past and just remember one vegan/vegetarian option that was usually an Indian meal. I looked at the menu before ordering and was expecting to get the Indian meal again. I asked if it was vegan and the waiter grabbed my phone, swiped left on the menu and there was a full 3 course vegan menu to choose from. There were multiple options for appetizers, entrees, and desserts. I excitedly asked, "How many things can I order?!"

The menu changed daily, presenting a range of choices from vegetable meals to meat alternatives such as vegan shrimp, salmon, and chicken cordon bleu. However, the drawback was that these vegan options were exclusively available in the dining room. If you preferred eating in the cafeteria, your main option was the salad bar. The dining room experience took a bit more time, whereas the cafeteria allowed for quicker in-and-out dining.

While overall I was very happy with my dining experience on the cruise, I would suggest to have a plant-based milk alternative and a vegan option in the cafeteria. Almond milk was available on request, but not out and it was a little bit of an inconvenience for staff to have to go back to the kitchen each morning to get some.

Keep reading to see the menu for each day and what we tried on the Carnival Elation!

DAY ONE: Welcome aboard!

When we first got on the boat, I was pretty hungry from the drive. I checked out Blue Iguana Cantina first and ordered a veggie burrito. I did ask what the vegan options were on the topping bar and was told the black beans, rice, grilled onions, peppers, and corn were. I was also told that the refried beans were not vegan (this has not been verified, just what I was told).

For dinner, we had our first night in the dining room. This is also when I discovered all of the vegan options!

To start off, we had some appetizers. We tried the vegetable strudel and the shrimp cocktail. The strudel was one of the best appetizers we had on the trip. The shrimp was ordered out of curiosity and it was about as weird as I imagined. It was like a dense cold tofu. But, at least I can say I tried a shrimp cocktail?!

For the entree, we ordered the Szechuan Shrimp, Vegetable Wellington, and the Featured Indian Vegetarian: vegetable korma, masala eggplant, and cumin rice. The Szechuan Shrimp was better warm, but I still didn't order the shrimp again. I never liked seafood though, maybe it's just not my thing. The Vegetable Wellington was delicious. The Featured Indian meal this night was one of the best we had on the trip. Indian food is one of my favorite cuisines so I wanted to try it.

Vegetable Korma, Masala Eggplant, and Cumin Rice

For dessert, we tried the Cheese Cake and the Melting Chocolate Cake. The Melting Chocolate was so good, we ended up ordering it another night. It was paired with mango sorbet that went really well together!

Well, that's a wrap for day one! We were TIRED from traveling that day and went to bed to start fresh tomorrow.

DAY TWO: Day at Sea

We started the day with some coffee from the cafetria and decided to find a table outside with a view of the ocean. It was the perfect way to start the day! We did need to ask for someone to get us some almond milk for the coffee. Then we wanted to get a little exercise in. This ship didn't have a track so we headed to the gym to get some running done on the treadmill.

We headed to the dining room to get some brunch.

I was really impressed with the brunch. We ordered the Huevos Rancheros and the Eggs Benedict. I believe they used Just Egg for the egg replacement. I heard from others in our party that the real eggs weren't very good. Paul tried both and said that the vegan eggs were way better! I believe it, I also never liked eggs and it took me a while to warm up to Just Egg but now I love it!

With the rest of our day at sea, we took my nephew to the pool, said "nope" to the main hot tub stuffed to the brim in little kids so we found the adult only hot tub, and did family bingo. Then, it was time for dinner again.

For our appetizer this evening, we had the Cream of Mushroom soup and the Spinach salad. I am still suprised with their consideration of including a vegan blue cheese dressing- it's the little things! It had me wondering if there were any other vegans on board.

For our entrees, we had the Chicken Cordon Bleu, Vegetable Lasagna, and the Featured Indian Vegetarian: Spiced Stir-fried Okra, Dal Makhani, and Navratan Pulao. The chicken entree was good, just wish it had more sauce. The lasagna was probably my favorite of the evening. We actually didn't really enjoy the Indian meal this night. My brother ordered the vegetarian version and liked his. He tried our vegan version and agreed it didn't taste as good as his. Still a good meal overall!

Spiced Stir-fried Okra, Dal Makhani, and Navratan Pulao

For dessert, we had to try the crème brûlée- my mom's favorite dessert!

DAY THREE: Nassau

This was the first day we had to explore off of the ship. We were able to get some breakfast from the dining room before getting off. We didn't do an excursion and decided to just walk around the island and go to the beach. Immediately when we got off we were in a portside market. Walking a little further we went to the Straw Market to do some souviner shopping and get an ornament. Paul and I like to get an ornament from our trips. It makes the holidays special when we get to pull them out once a year.

After this, we headed over to the Queen's Staircase. It was about a mile walk and gave us a chance to see some of Bay Street. The staircase was shaded and beautiful. It felt like we walked into a magical little jungle. We got to the top and the fort was closed so I just got some coconut water for morale. We were getting a little hot and tired from bringing 12 people on the walk and needed to cool off. Half of the crew ended up getting a trolley to go to Junkanoo Beach.

Off to the beach! It was HOT and we needed to cool off. We saw reviews that Junkanoo Beach was crowded and we debated going here or getting a taxi to Cabbage Beach. We ended up going a little bit past the main area of Junkanoo Beach and it wasn't crowded at all. We were the first ones out there and actually had the beach to ourselves for a little before other people started trickling in. I went snorkeling and saw tropical fish and a struggling little coral reef. I spent most of the time just picking up trash while snorkeling. There were public bathrooms at the main beach area as well as some little restaurants. I didn't see many vegan options in this area but someone did walk by where we were sitting selling food and drinks. She had plantain chips but I ended up just waiting until I got back on the ship.

Back on the ship, we decided to get a late lunch from the salad bar because the dining room was closed.

After lunch we decided to check out the casino. On the first slot I won $150! So I cashed out and walked away!

For dinner we went back to the dining room.

For our starters, we ordered the Caesar Salad, Hawaiian Salmon Poke, and the Broccoli and Cheddar Cheese Soup. I would have preferred if the soup wasn't pureed and had a bit more texture, but it was still pretty good.

For the main course, we ordered the Eggplant Cutlet a la Parmigiana and the Spaghetti Carbonara. Both dishes were tasty, but I favored the eggplant. The Carbonara could have been a bit creamier. We decided to skip dessert tonight!

DAY FOUR: Half Moon Cay

For our second day ashore, we were short on time and skipped the dining room. We decided to get something quick from the cafeteria which was a bagel and some fruit.

We had to get on a smaller boat to transfer us to the island. Half Moon Cay is a private island owned by Carnival. The beach was beautiful but there wasn't much to do ashore. Also, there was no coffee on the island! There were some shops for souveniers and a couple water toys for rent- like a kayak and inner tube, We rented to tube for the day and my nephew ended up using it most of the day. You were limited with how far you could swim out. We did see some goats and chickens on the island when we were walking around.

Lunch was interesting. There was an island barbeque buffet from 11-1. I knew lunch was included on the island so I made sure ahead of time that there would be an option on shore. I called Carnival before going on the trip and was told there was vegan options. I also checked the morning of and was informed again that there were vegan options. I was able to get fruit, salad, and chips. I was told that the veggie burger was vegan, but turns out there was cheese inside of it. When I went back to ask about the cheese, the chef told me that I would need to go back to the ship to get something to eat. Which was suprising to me as it would be a trek back and I would miss family time. I decided to stick to the fruit and the salad. The chef came back to my table and said that he was getting a vegan burger delivered from the ship, a few minutes later he brought out a cooked burger. Seemed too fast to have come from the ship so I am not really sure what happened here. Paul is my burger tester to make sure something is vegan when it is questionable and he said it was. The cheese definitiely was vegan.

We headed back to the ship a little early so we could get out of the sun. I had been eying one of the specialty coffee drinks at the coffee shop on board. We stopped by to get a spiked coffee- the Caribbean. Then we headed to the arcade to play a few games with my nephew!

We headed to dinner in the dining room after this.

The appetizers we chose this night were the Stuffed Mushrooms and the Smoked Poblano and Corn Soup. I preferred the mushrooms out of the two and I'm usually not that big of a mushroom person, maybe I am warming up to them. Fun fact: these two appetizers are my favorite colors haha!

For the mains we picked Roasted Artichoke, Potato and Cheese-Cake and the Featured Vegetarian Indian: Palak Tofu Kofta Curry, Chana Madra, and Peas Pulao. The savory cake was spot on and glad we ordered that one. We also had some of the best Indian this night, comparable with the first night.

Palak Tofu Kofta Curry, Chana Madra, and Peas Pulao

We did get some dessert this evening. We went with the Bartlett Pear Almond Cake and the Melting Chocolate Cake with raspberry sorbet. Nothing beats that chocolate cake!

After dinner, we decided to go to the evening show. We tried to go to a comedy show after, but it was standing room only and I was so tired at this point.

DAY FIVE: Day at Sea

Last day at sea! We joined the whole family (all 12 of us!) for coffee in the cafeteria and then went on a double date with my parents to the dining room.

Menu Page 1

Menu Page 2

For breakfast I ordered the Spiced Quinoa and Chickpea fritters and Paul got the Egg Benedict again because he liked it so much! The fritters could have used some sort of sauce to enhance the meal.

After breakfast, we went to a towel folding class and learned how to make a dog, elephant, and a teddy bear. My youngest nephew loved the towel animal art in the room each day so we knew he would enjoy this class. We ended up hanging out by the pool and watching the ice shaving. We grabbed lunch from Blue Iguana Cantina, I tried the tacos this time. It would be awesome if they had tofu as an option for the protein!

In the afternoon we decided to play bingo. I love playing bingo but have only done it a few times at a local bar and the prize is a free beer. I won the black out bingo and got $1,000! We were ecstatic!

For our last dinner we celebrated in the dining room!

For appetizers we had the Fried Tomato and the Beet and Petite Greens.

For our main entrees, we went a little crazy and ordered all of them: the Hamburger Steak, the Enchiladas, Penne, and the Featured Vegetarian Indian- Malai Kofta Curry, Mixed Vegetable Avail, and Malabar Rice. The Indian was probably my favorite out of all of the options this evening. On the last night, we decided to skip dessert since we ordered so much!

Malai Kofta Curry, Mixed Vegetable Avail, and Malabar Rice

Overall, I was really impressed by the vegan options on the Carnival Cruise ship. My suggestion would be to at least have one vegan option in the cafeteria. The ship we went on was the Carnival Elation. Before booking, please verify with dining that your cruise ship also offers the vegan menu! Cheers!