This past weekend, my husband and I took a four day cruise together to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico. The cruise was memorable for me since I've never been on one before while my husband last took a cruise in 1995. Prior to going on our cruise, I checked out the HappyCow website in order to find vegan friendly eats while in Catalina Island and Ensenada. We left Long Beach and boarded the Carnival cruise ship Imagination with stops to Catalina Island followed by Ensenada, Mexico then returning back to Long Beach.
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| Carnival Cruise Ship Imagination |
The first day on board the ship, we ate at the buffet and I was pleasantly surprised that there was a veggie burger as well as cheeseless pizza and sweet and sour tofu. Dinner that evening was an Indian style meal with a curry and rice. During dinner on the first night, my husband and I let the waiter know about our special diets (hubby has severe nut allergies and I'm vegan) and the waiter promised us that our meals would be specially made from that point forward.
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| Veggie burger |
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| Cheeseless pizza with olives, mushrooms and arugula |
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| Sweet and sour tofu |
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| Indian curry and rice for dinner |
On the second day of our cruise, we visited Catalina Island and I was pleasantly surprised to find C.C. Beau restaurant on the island. The prices were reasonable compared to other places and the food I got which were a natural granola bar and avocado and hummus toast were light yet filling.
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| C.C. Beau restaurant |
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| Off the Farm Strawberry Coconut Bar |
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| Avocado and hummus toast sandwich |
Dinner that night was a delightful meal of green bell pepper stuffed with couscous, fried eggplant on top and a piece of pastry with spinach inside. Dessert was interesting in that it was rice with sugar and it tasted liked they cooked it in vanilla soymilk. Not the best dessert I've ever had but I appreciate the effort to make a vegan dessert.
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| Bell pepper with couscous |
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| Rice dessert |
The next day, we visited Ensenada Mexico and started the day with breakfast at the Spirit fine dining restaurant. Breakfast was marsala dosa crepe, a spicy soup along with a bagel and fresh strawberry jam.
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| Marsala dosa and bagel from breakfast |
Having looked at HappyCow before going on the cruise, I was excited to discover a vegan bakery in Ensenada. Once we arrived there, hubby and I took a tour bus to downtown Ensenada and after walking a few miles from the touristy places, we located Pistachio Vegan Bakery.
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| Entrance to Pistachio Vegan Bakery |
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| Vegan chocolate chip cookies |
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| Vegan snickerdoodle cookies |
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| Vegan peanut butter cookies |
Dinner that evening was a light vegetable spring rolls with sauce followed by vegetable lasagna and a pudding with raspberries.
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| Vegetable spring rolls |
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| Vegetable lasagna |
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| Pudding with raspberries |
For the final night, we had a flaky vegetable pot pie and a dessert soup with pomegranate and raspberry puree.
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| Vegetable pot pie |
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| Pomegranate puree |
Before leaving the ship, we enjoyed one final breakfast of avocado toast with garnish of lettuce and tomatoes.
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| Avocado toast for breakfast from Spirit Fine Dining |
I really enjoyed the food I ate while on the cruise and with as long as you are clear with the wait staff your specific diet, they will do whatever they can to accommodate you. My only issues with the food choices were the limited amount of vegan options at the buffet. Although there were several vegetarian options, most were not able to be made vegan such as pasta salad with bacon and mixed greens with feta cheese. While the lack of vegan food choices on cruise ships is annoying, I will continue to go on other cruises to see what type of vegan options are available as well as see how creative chefs can be when challenged to provide meat free dishes.
