The hassle of the plane rides was completely worth it, because once we arrived on the ship, the magic began…
(Mom, sister, and me, in Monaco. Note the castle in the background!)
To cruise all night and wake up in such exotic locations as Greece, Italy, Croatia… it was just unreal. Over the twelve days, we stopped in Monte Carlo (Monaco), Marseille (France), Barcelona (Spain), Livorno/Florence (Italy), Civitavecchia/Rome (Italy), Sorrento (Italy), Corfu (Greece), Dubrovnik (Croatia), and Venice (Italy). From an early-morning run through the streets of Monte Carlo to late-night Flamenco dancing in Barcelona, from exploring the walled fortresses of Dubrovnik to taking in the museums of Rome, from shopping in Sorrento to splashing at the clear beach of Corfu, I definitely packed in a full schedule. I took so many pictures and walked so much that I’m surprised my camera and feet held up!
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But putting aside the wonders of the excursions, even just being on the boat was an amazing experience. For anyone ever thinking of taking a cruise, I can’t recommend the Crystal Cruise line highly enough. The boat was so well-staffed it was almost as if there were more attendants than guests. Everywhere you looked, there was a friendly face eager to help, no matter your request. And each family was assigned personal waiters, so the staff really got to know us, and they were always greeting us by name. (Gosh, I know I sound soooo Paris Hilton-ish right now– personal waiters?!– but I swear I am not usually this spoiled! Lol I do NOT have personal servants at home, nor do I want them. I always felt badly about asking the staff to get things for me, and more than once they had to scold me for trying to clear my own breakfast dishes… or for trying to help our maid–who was soooooo sweet– make my bed.)
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I could write an entire book about the last twelve days. But since this is a vegan food blog, I guess I’ll try to keep the posts pertinent to food and veganism. (Plus, I really don’t think you all want to read a whole book about my adventures.)
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To be honest, I was extremely nervous about how the cruise employees would handle having a vegan on board. More than once, before I left Texas, I tried to contact someone for information, sample menus, anything that would put my mind at ease! But all I could get out of anyone was this: “Oh don’t worry, we’ve taken care of many people with special diets before. And our chefs are happy to make special meals.” I finally did manage to procure some sample menus and more specific information about what exactly “we can handle a vegan diet” meant. And I was reassured to know that our stateroom came equipped with a fridge. But I was still a bit apprehensive as I set off on my trip. Here’s a list of some of the foods I brought with me:
- soymilk and almond milk
- peanut butter and almond butter
- Mori-Nu tofu packages
- Clif Nectar and Z bars
- Larabars
- cans of Amy’s vegetable soup
- applesauce containers
- packets of my newest favorite protein powder (which I mix with almond milk)– Chocolate Green Super Food
- raw, unsalted cashews and pistachios (they had walnuts, pecans, almonds, and pine nuts on board)
Little did I know, I need not have worried!
(My family, about to enjoy dinner in the main dining room, where the meals were fancy-shmancy– tiny portions that looked more like art than food. But there were like EIGHT(!) different “restaurants” on board, so we didn’t eat “fancy” meals every night.)
I’ve always heard that cruises are nightmares for one’s diet (I was conjuring up images of deep-fried chicken strips, milkshakes, and double cheeseburgers). But I was easily able to eat a super-healthy diet on this cruise. The chefs were accomodating beyond my wildest dreams. It was like having an entire TEAM of personal chefs! They offered almost every variety of vegetable one could imagine (which they were happy to steam up sans butter), a never-ending salad bar (so many varieties of beans, greens, and nuts galore), and a fruit bar with some of the most succulent fresh fruits I’ve ever tasted– figs, cantaloupe, honeydew, grapefruit, oranges, plums, kiwi, and on and on. Plus, they had brown rice, whole wheat pasta, oatmeal, barley, and bulgur to boot! Oh yeah, and there was a first-class sushi restaurant on board (run by the famous Chef Nobu, with whom everyone in Hollywood seems to be obsessed), so this meant lots of piping-hot miso soup (they had no problem leaving out the bonito flakes), soba noodles, seaweed salad, and edamame. 
Above, soba soup– with lots of fresh bok choy
Above, soba soup– with lots of fresh bok choyAnd if somehow I couldn’t make do with “only” this, the chefs assured me that they would be thrilled if I challenged them to make special vegan meals– every night if I so desired (see, I told you the hospitality was incredible). Some of the wonderful meals they made me included watermelon gazpacho, regular gazpacho, a portabella mushroom salad, vegetable soup, homemade tomato sauce for my whole wheat pasta (ingredients: tomatoes, basil, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, onion powder, and that’s it!), and one day they even cooked up some spelt berries that I bought in Italy!
But I’m not finished yet! There was also an ice cream bar on board that offered at least one flavor of sorbet each day (0ne day, the flavor was Sangria. Talk about exotic!). Now, sorbet is not my favorite thing in the world… but I do love smoothies, and the ice cream station was equipped with a milkshake/smoothie-maker 
. The ice cream man (who told me I was his favorite customer lol) let me store my soymilk and almond milk (I brought some from home) in his fridge. Whenever I wanted a smoothie, all I had to do was bring him the ingredients and he’d blend them up for me. A perfect smoothie and no mess to clean up? What could be better?!
. The ice cream man (who told me I was his favorite customer lol) let me store my soymilk and almond milk (I brought some from home) in his fridge. Whenever I wanted a smoothie, all I had to do was bring him the ingredients and he’d blend them up for me. A perfect smoothie and no mess to clean up? What could be better?!
Even the bathroom amenities were vegan-friendly!Thank you so much, Grandma, for giving us this trip of a lifetime!
And congratulations to everyone who made it to the end of my intermineable post!
More cruise posts and pictures to follow…
{ 53 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, it sounds like you had a GREAT time! Those memories will last a lifetime, I’m sure! You have such a wonderful family!
What an amazing trip! It sounds like an incredible experience
I want to go on a cruise like that…
Wow- your trip sounds like it was fantastic! It’s great to hear how nice the staff was and how willing they were to make sure that your meals were delicious. Glad to see you had a wonderful time
Absolutely amazing! I’ve never been on a cruise, but it sure does sound like something very special. And all that FOOD–almost as if you had a personal chef for 12 days! Glad you had such a great time. And what a gorgeous family you all are!
OMG!! What an amazing trip you had there – I’ll definitely choose Crystal Cruise over other cruises when I’m ‘rich’ enough to go on one some day in the future :0)
wow that trip sounds great! and that makes me soooo much more comfortable about traveling abroad and such…it’s kind of my biggest fear that i will travel and not have anything to eat! thanks for the great post and the confidence booster
Your trip sounds so wonderful, CCV! I’m really glad the staff was so open and willing to make sure you had some good eats!
And wow, eight different restaurants?! That’s insane! But soo much fun
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F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S. twinny, darling! I couldn’t be HAPPIER that you had such an amazing vacation! What a divine grandmother she is, indeedy-do! I will DEFINITELY choose Crystal Cruises in the future! LOVED THIS POST SO!
what an amazing trip! i love that they had vegan options for you and that the smoothie-man was so awesome!!!
i’m begging the hubby to take me on one now
can’t wait to hear about the rest! enjoy your evening!
looks like you had a great vacation! traveling is always rough when you have a restricted diet, and it’s awesome they could accomodate you so wonderfully!
Woah, you must have had the time of your life! I already thought you were extremely cultured for having lived outside of the U.S. before, but you visited so many different cities! I’m so glad the cruise ship staff took such good care of our CCV, and the list of food supplies you brought to “prepare” yourself for the cruise is quite impressive. (And I really like the Chocolate Green SuperFood powder too — I got a lot free when I used to work at a smoothie place. It’s sooo good mixed in steamed chocolate non-dairy milk with a shot of espresso, which I know sounds really weird b/c the powder has all those greens…Anyway.) But you look so pretty and happy in your pictures. I can’t wait to see more!
And it doesn’t surprise me at all that you were the ice cream man’s favorite customer.
Hey Katie,
Did you get my email?
I know what you mean about waking up in exotic places.. When I was sailing in Australia, we would pull into a hidden cove in the middle of the night. You couldn’t see anything but the lights on other boats on their anchors nearby.. Then in the morning when you poke you head out the hatch… WOW!
Sounds like you had an awesome time!
I’m so glad! (And so jealous, haha!)
That fruit bar sounds amazing. I too have had lovely lovely figs recently – aren’t they divine?
Wow! Definitely a trip of a lifetime! And to do it with the food being a joy and not a stressor is even better!!
Your grandmother is a wonderful person!!
What a vacation – great Grandmother to give such a gift to your family. You look so happy in the photos. I am glad you were able to eat well on your trip and that they were so incredibly accommodating. It definitely was the cruise line because you went on a first-class trip – other cruise lines would not be so friendly since they would be catering to a different crowd. It’s exciting that you got to spend some quality time in each place.
Hey Katie,
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your trip sounds amazing! I’m glad you had such a good time and enjoyed such great food!
I’m real jealous
But I will be going home (Germany) over Christmas and will be doing a bit of travelling over there. Not comparable to a summery cruise in the Mediterranean, but it can be quite magical, the European winter.
Hope, you’ve settled in again at home.
Looking fwd to chocolate covered posts
Love
madeleine
I can hardly believe that it was so easy to eat vegan during the cruise. You lucky girl!
You have such a perdy family! I have never been on a cruise, and to be honest it has never been something that interested me…but after reading your post, I’m thinking, yeah, I could get down with that! Such a wonderful experience for your family to share!
That is so great that they took care of you like that! I always worry about going away, especially out of the country. When I went to Jamaicia on my honeymoon I ate pasta with red sauce almost everynight! Not very Jamaician!
I’m so jealous!! What an amazing trip. Personal chefs AND beautiful cities! I would like to take a cruise someday…as long as I can see the shore the whole time. I must say, I wish I’d had the foresight to take along all that food with me when I went to Moscow last summer–I found tofu ONCE and it was about $10…and I don’t think they’ve even heard of soy milk!
Aw rats, I thought that I had responded this… apparently it didn’t go through *pouts*
But it sounds like you had an AMAZINg trip, its so awesome that the cooks were so nice:]
That sounds absolutely amazing! I LOVED reading this post. I can’t believe all the great places you got to go. And how great and accomodating the staff and cruise in general were. The food sounds absolutely perfect. When thinking of a cruise I would never even begin to imagine the staff getting so personal and friendly with individual guests, but the ice cream guy even stored your milk in his fridge? That’s SO cool. I can’t wait for more about your trip!
Wow you are so beautiful! You should seriously look into modeling.
you have GORGEOUS EYES!!!! and how cute is your grandma!!! sounds like the food options were spectacular…what great news!
I agree with anonymous. Chocolate Covered Vegan, you are definitely pretty enough, and skinny enough, to be a model.
And your trip sounds like so much fun. Bring me along next time, ok?
Wow it sounds like you had such a good time! And it was so sweet of everyone to be so accomodating of your being vegan =)
I’m so jealous you got to go to all those places in Europe, I’ve been to them too (not on a lovely cruise though!) and I loved all of them so much!
That sounds INCREDIBLE! I am so glad you had a good time. It is really cool that the staff was so nice – I had no idea that there was such good service on cruise ships.
I’m excited to read more!
What an amazing trip!! Sounds like you ate very well and saw lots of fun places. I will have to remember the name of that cruise line for future reference!
Oh, and the potluck in Dallas was cancelled… but we might be makng a trip up for labor day weekend or sometime in the fall, I’ll email you when I know for sure!
aww i’m so glad that they were so great with you about being vegan! I’d be nervous about that too.. looks like you had a blassst!
That sounds so great! I’ve heard some horror stories from vegans on cruises, so it’s good to hear they’re not all like that!
Well that just sound absolutely fabulous! I’m happy to hear you had such a wonderful time and found the staff to be so accommodating of your needs. I can’t wait to hear more about it!
Wow – talk about an awesome trip! I’m sooo jealous
(However, I am glad that you got to experience the Paris Hilton life for a bit – LOL!)
Thanks for sharing your trip with us! Very cool!
That’s awesome that the chefs were so accomodating! All the meals they made you sound wonderful!
It’s been so long since I’ve looked at your blog! I’m glad to see that life is treating you well.
Love the pictures!:-)
Wow! What a trip! How was Croatia? I’m hoping to go there next summer to visit family.
Aren’t cruises amazing? The food is always so good and the service always seems to be top-notch. Its awesome to know that they are so accommodating with a vegan diet….I’ll keep that in mind if I ever will be on a cruise again!
Cheers to your grandmother for treating you all to such a wonderful vacation!
Yah!! Who doesn’t love aveda products in the bathroom. You look so happy!!! Travel is such an important thing to do if we are lucky enough to do it…and with your family!! That’s such a great experience to share with each other!
I’m awed at the level of service you got!!! It sounds like your trip was a dream come true, and you have definately opened my eyes to cruising.
Oh what a fun trip! And how wonderful that the cruise ship was so accommodating!
that’s one heck-of-an accommodating cruise! WOW! looks like everyone had a wonderfully super stellar trip! thanks for sharing with us!
Thankyou for the lovely birthday message.
I am so glad that you had a nice time on the cruise and that being vegan was no problem at all! If me and my family go on another cruise, I will definitly push for a Crystal one!
An email will be on the way soon (I was away this weekend and am just catching up with things!)
That sounds amazing! Thanks for blogging about your food on the cruise–did you eat off the ship at all? (I’m wondering about vegan food in Greece, Italy, Croatia, etc…maybe that’s coming up in a future post!
) It’s WONDERFUL that the cruise ship staff was so accomodating! The smoothie station sounds amazing!!
Wow! It looks like you guys had SO much fun! I’m so jealous! Going to check out the cruise line right now…
Anonymous and Sara—
Aww, thanks guys… I am nowhere near tall enough to be a model, though (I’m only 5’5).
Andrea—
Wow, thank you so so much for leaving such a sweet comment!
Caitlin—
We never got to spend more than one day in any given city, so I never became extremely knowledgeable about how vegan-friendly any of the cities were. And most of the days, we would eat breakfast on the boat, go out into the cities, and then be back on the boat for dinner. I always packed a lunch and snack to bring into the cities (except in Italy, since I KNEW I’d find vegan options there). In Greece, we stopped at a café near the beach that was very UN-vegan-friendly. It seemed lamb was their specialty. The only vegan thing on the menu was hummus. So I was VERY glad I had a packed meal. In Croatia, we stopped at a pizza place (I had a salad and some stuff I brought). And in Barcelona, we stopped at a tapas bar (once again, heavy on the meat). I’m sure if I’d researched the cities beforehand, I could’ve found some vegan-friendly restaurants… but I didn’t have time to do that, and plus, I didn’t want our excursion time to be taken up looking for vegan foods.
wambalus–
Wow, what a great law! I wish they had a law like that here in the US.
And hopefully I WILL get to go back to the UK soon. I really wished I could’ve gotten out of the airport to experience London, as I haven’t been there since I was five (I was born there).
Thanks so much for sharing your cruise food with us! I always wonder what kind of vegan food you’d really get on a cruise, it looks like they took good care of you.
It was a great idea to bring Chocolate Green SuperFood with you. Great travel food!
Vegan bathroom amenities? Now that is impressive.
Wow, I am so glad to hear how accommodating your cruise was! We’re planning on cruising soon but I wasn’t keen on eating iceberg lettuce and baked potatoes for a week. So glad you had an amazing trip!
Wow! I’m so glad you had such a great time and what an awesome place to holiday (aboard the ship included!) Yay for vegan friendly holidays!
You say you are skinny due to genetics, but from these pictures, it doesn’t seem genetic (not saying your family is large). You seem to have lost quite a bit of weight since your initial blogs, too. Which is strange because your blog name is “how to gain weight on a vegan diet”
I’ve heard the food is the best part of a cruise! Personally, I would prefer the touring of the foreign countries, but that’s just me
Btw, you are really pretty!
WB—
I take after my maternal grandmother who to this day is still a beanpole LOL. And please be assured that I have definitely not “lost quite a bit of weight since [my] initial blogs”.
Josie—
Your comment gave me a HUGE smile. Thank you sooo much!!!
I already thought you were extremely cultured for having lived outside of the U.S. before, but you visited so many different cities! I’m so glad the cruise ship staff took such good care of our CCV, and the list of food supplies you brought to “prepare” yourself for the cruise is quite impressive. (And I really like the Chocolate Green SuperFood powder too — I got a lot free when I used to work at a smoothie place. It’s sooo good mixed in steamed chocolate non-dairy milk with a shot of espresso.
Hi Katie, I just started reading your blog recently, so I missed this post in August. What a wonderful experience. I can’t imagine being totally free of responsibilities for that time and to see so many different cities. And it makes me smile to think you could trust in the chefs and the staff to provide gourmet vegan food for you every day.
Thanks for sharing. Your family is beautiful.
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