By Brad Scott

My wife and I recently returned from a one week cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas. We did a similar cruise last year to celebrate my mom’s 90 birthday. When we went on a cruise somewhere in the early 90s, Carnival had a separate vegetarian menu (two options each night), as did Celebrity in the late 90s. Last year, there was a vegetarian option on the regular menu every night, but almost always involved cheese.

The food situation was very different this year than last. I’m not sure if Royal Caribbean changed or if it is because this year’s ship was much larger. On the regular menu on the first night, I was pleasantly shocked to see one of the entrees was Soy Chili with Tortillas. There was always a vegetarian option (often with cheese), as well as Linguini w/ tomato sauce. Other nights the regular menu offered Soy Meatballs with Lentil Chili and Sweet and Sour Vegetarian Chicken. On the nights with the cheese, they made (just for me) a tofu stir fry, spinach and black bean chili in Tortillas, and Channa Masala. At lunch, I was able to request a veggie burger in the buffet area (not an option last year). So, it was much nicer to be able to look forward to dinner in the main dining room rather than sneaking off to the buffet for the Indian option or the veg sushi.