Vegan Options on a Carnival Valor Cruise in 2023

This post is provided as photographic documentation of my own experience as an herbivore aboard the Carnival Valor cruise ship in 2023 so that potential vegan and vegetarian Carnival cruisers will have more information about the plentiful availability of plant-based foods onboard.

DAY 1

BlueIguana Cantina

Before my cruise, I found information stating that BlueIguana Cantina was the place to go for vegan and vegetarian burritos and tacos. This was my first stop and first cruise meal once I boarded the ship.

Apparently the information I found online about BlueIguana Cantina was incorrect. I personally was told that the beans have chicken fat in them and the rice has butter in it. I was told the only vegan options are corn tortillas, the vegetable toppings, and the many salsas at the toppings bar. So my first meal was 2 corn tortillas with pico de gallo, lettuce, cilantro, and salsa. While this was a good snack to enjoy as I waited for the cruise to start, it was a bit disappointing considering that I thought this would be my main dining spot during the 5 day cruise. I became very concerned that this may be as good as it would get for me. Vegans, don't stop reading. It gets much better than this.

The Washington Dining Room

Before the cruise, I read that I should contact the dining room staff or maître d' to request meal options ahead of time. The ship is huge, and I had no idea where to go to do that. I was able to find the dining rooms, but the large multi-leveled dining rooms were empty at the time of my arrival. I decided I'd just go with the flow, wait for dinner time, and optimistically go from there.

At dinner, I saw vegetarian options for each course and each meal. I asked the waitress if those items are or could be altered to be vegan. She said my selections were vegan. This is my first serving; Mixed Greens salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

The main course was called Featured Indian Vegetarian and included lentils, basmati rice, papadam, chutney, and raita. The waitress was incorrect about this being vegan. The raita was made with milk, and I could not eat that. The rest of the meal appeared to be safe. It was excellent. This was loaded with the bold flavors experienced at a good Indian restaurant.

After this first satisfying meal I was able to request the vegan meal options for the entire cruise. From that point on, the dining room staff knew to prepare the vegan "Chef's Special" options for each of my meals. They know ahead of time to prepare something special. If you get this meal plan you need to be there each evening or let them know when you will not be there. But you will want to be there. The dinners are awesome! 

 

Rosie's Restaurant

There's drink stations with unlimited coffee, tea, water, and lemonade located in several places around Rosie's Restaurant, which is the buffet service area on the lido deck. These drinks seem to be available at all times. Fruit juices are also available for breakfast service. I had evening tea and took it to the Serenity deck for a peaceful moment.

DAY 2

Rosie's Restaurant

I started the day early at the buffet in Rosie's Restaurant. Vegan items found include plain grits (yay, no butter in them), several kinds of fresh fruit, several breads and toasts, and toppings such as peanut butter and jam. I enjoyed mine with coffee, and then orange juice.

Everything about this breakfast was great. I had plenty to eat, and my worries of starving on this cruise were completely gone. Vegans can eat well on Carnival Valor!

 

I returned for lunch, this time enjoying a plain baked potato sprinkled with cracked black pepper, a side of onions and peppers, and some hot sauce.

 

The buffet has a large salad area with anything you may want on a salad. It's one of the best salad bars I've seen. Even omnivores will enjoy this buffet. The vegan dressings seem to be limited to oil and vinegar, but that's my first choice anyway. Check out this massive serving of plant foods!

 

I was very pleased with this salad bar. And the line was short. Most of the cruisers were trying to hoard the meats and sweets.

 

And here's the lemonade, clearly made with real lemons. Notice the pulp. This is available around the clock, day and night.

 

 

Coffee Bar 

Carnival Valor has a fancy coffee shop! Vegans, they have almond milk, but they didn't have my first choice, oat milk. Don't miss this tasty treat on deck 5 near the casino. This is an extra cost item, but the prices are not too bad.

 

The Washington Dining Room

My second dinner started with a slice of baguette. It came with butter, but I set that aside and used olive oil and pepper as a dip.

That was followed by Baby Spinach Salad. It would normally come with walnuts and blue cheese dressing. My vegan option may have been misinterpreted to omit nuts. This was just a plate of spinach. I put balsamic vinegar on it. It was good, but it left me wanting something more.

This is where things really got good. The chef made a vegan version of the Root Vegetables In A Pie Crust. This was amazing! It tasted like the best Thanksgiving dressing mixed with potatoes, carrots, and corn in a pot pie crust, and there was what seemed to be a tapioca sauce on top. This was so good in so many ways. This was among the best plant-based food I've ever had.

 

DAY 3

Rosie's Restaurant

Here's another good breakfast at Rosie's. There's nothing new here, just more grits and a bagel. Perfect!

The Rosie's buffet had tofu. Can you believe that? I asked buffet cook (with a red tie, possible a leader) if the tofu was vegan and what else may be vegan. He said if I'm vegan he could make me a plate with all the vegan items. Completely surprised, and partially doubtful, I said sure. I'll try that. He said he'd send it to my table. A few minutes later I was served this beautifully dressed plate of tofu and fried rice with veggies and sauce.

The food and service was fantastic! I didn't even expect anyone to know the V word. I was surrounded by hundreds of vicious carnivores hoarding mountains of dead flesh, and here was this miracle meal that happened as if I wished it into being. I hope this buffet cook got rewarded by the positive comments I sent to Carnival. This was more than I ever expected. 

And since the food is almost always there, why not have another bagel with peanut butter and banana with coffee?

DAY 4

The Washington Dining Room

This meal started with bread and salad as the others did. Both were great but my photos were not so great. So let's move on. The main dish was the vegan Chef's Special again. This time it was a stuffed tomato with veggie patties in a tomato sauce. This tomato was stuffed with quinoa and veggie chunks. Just as the last main dish from the dining room, this was excellent in every way. This was real food from a chef. With food this good, I didn't want to leave the ship. I was eating like royalty.

DAY 5

Rosie's Restaurant

I couldn't resist. I had to have even more of this for my last breakfast aboard the Valor.

 

BlueIguana Cantina

I ended this cruise where it started, BlueIguana Cantina. This time the toppings bar was completely raided, and I was forced to get my taco toppings from the Guy's Burger Joint toppings bar on the other side of the deck. But it worked out. This was my last sad snack as we cruised back to New Orleans and floated back to reality.

Vegans, vegetarians, herbivores, do not think for a moment that you will starve on Carnival Valor. You can eat almost all day long, non-stop, like a grazing cow, on real plant-based foods, even raw vegan foods! There's so much food it's unbelievable. Most of it is for the omnivores. It's slightly limited, mostly for breakfast, but plant-based food is there for us. 

The Deli can make a very simple vegan sandwich with sourdough bread, lettuce, pickle, tomato, and onion. Just be very clear that you want it uncooked and with no cheese or dressing.

I read that Guy's Burger Joint has a vegan burger option, but I wasn't confident in that information after seeing the kitchen and the food. It was crowded and it looked like there would be a cross-contamination issue, so I didn't bother asking about it. The bun looked glossy like it was an egg bun grilled with bacon grease. They also had seasoned fries for vegetarians, but it's unclear if those are vegan.

Other options for lacto-vegetarians are all over the place. The Deli has french fries and a veggie patty sandwich that looked good. Pizza Pirate has cheese and margherita pizza. An abundance of foods like cookies, pasta, grilled veggies, casseroles, mac and cheese, breakfast cereal, and hash browns can be found at Rosie's Restaurant. Those who are more relaxed about cross-contamination can enjoy the Mongolian Wok's vegetarian stir fry.

Tips For Vegan Valor Cruisers

• Do not miss the opportunity to eat every dinner in the dining room. Make a request for vegan options for each dinner on your cruise. The chef will probably not disappoint you.
  
• Get to know Rosie's Restaurant for breakfast and lunch. Some buffet areas remain the same each day, and other areas have new foods each day. Just ask a red tie leader what is vegan.
• You can skip room service. It's not for us. Take bananas from the buffet back to your stateroom for late night snacks.
• Don't expect to find any ingredients lists online or at the restaurants. It's all a mystery. Go with what you know is safe. Assume the food is not vegan until you have reason to trust that it is.
  
• Be creative. Vegan food is not on any menu. Use the menus to find out what vegan items are in the kitchen, then carefully make special requests, such as the cold veggie sandwich at The Deli.
  
• Servers may not know what's vegan, but the team leaders will.
• Many of the Carnival Valor vegan food suggestions floating around online are just daydreams. Some people are wishing those foods were vegan, and they want to enjoy themselves, so they decide to just eat what they want. That's fine for them, but they're sharing false information. I saw no evidence of vegan burritos, vegan burgers, vegan sushi, or vegan pizza. Vegans will not starve on the Valor, but it's still a bit of a challenge to eat anything other than salad, fruit, and bread during the day.
  
• Relax. Don't worry too much about the food on Carnival Valor. Eat whatever you can onboard. You can save your worries for Mexico. Good luck finding food there.
  

I had an amazing, life-changing experience on my first cruise with Carnival. It feels like it was all just a dream now. If you'd like to have a great time on the water you should go to www.carnival.com

Home-made Vegan Crumpet with Tea

I made home-made vegan crumpets from a recipe I found online. This was very spongy with a crisp ring on the edge. Very good! I used an egg ring to make it look nice and pretty. I topped this crumpet with 100% real maple syrup and a small scoop of Earth Balance Buttery Spread.

My tea was Tetley British Blend with raw cane sugar and almond milk.

 

A Vegan Breakfast at Dunkin Donuts

Because my body is most balanced and satisfied with plant material as fuel, I don't often eat popular  breakfast foods. Typical breakfast food in the US consists almost entirely of fried dead animals and various other concoctions involving body fluids or reproductive tissues. If I have breakfast at all it is usually something like peanut butter on saltines or just black coffee.

I wanted to try something new for breakfast. Dunkin added vegan items to the menu, so I figured I'd give them a visit.

My vegan breakfast order included:

1. A large coffee with oat milk

2. Avocado Toast

3. A plain English muffin with strawberry jam

This was a really good meal. I was very impressed by the flavor of the coffee with oat milk. It's the best coffee I've had in a while. It seems that Dunkin knows coffee. The avocado toast was very good. The tangy, lemon-garlic avocado spread was a treat. The sourdough bread had a really nice yeasty flavor. It was chewy around the edge, as it should be. The English muffin was bland. I guess its placement on the menu is mainly to support the heavier, non-vegan toppings. The strawberry jam made it worth the price as a secondary item.

Overall, this was all much better than expected. Dunkin is becoming more inviting to vegans with these breakfast options. I plan to return for more, whenever they aren't so crowded.

A Mustard Biscuit

This home-made vegan biscuit was made with only flour, salt, baking powder, water, and Earth Balance Buttery Spread. I split it like sandwich bread and put mustard on it. This was very satisfying.

I learned to enjoy mustard biscuits during my time living in poverty. During my more flexible vegetarian days, I could go to fast food restaurants and order a plain buttermilk biscuit and coffee for just a couple dollars. I used the free mustard packs and ate it inside so I could get a free refill of coffee just before leaving. Sometimes I'd get 2 biscuits and eat the second one later. They keep well in the paper bag.

It's good to remember the hard times. I recommend it to everyone, because it helps us all appreciate the good things in life. It also makes our life stories more complete. We can see the big picture when we reflect and use those memories to enhance the present.

Marmite Avocado Toast

What you see here is Dave's Killer Bread toasted with melted Earth Balance, Marmite, and sliced avocado. This was an excellent light breakfast.

Home-made Vegan Yorkshire Pudding WIth Vegan Onion Gravy

This is another attempt to create a more perfect Yorkshire Pudding using only common vegan ingredients. It's difficult to get the right lift without eggs and milk, but I believe I'm very close to getting it right. I'll gladly continue practicing.

This Yorkshire Pudding is very much like fluffy American breakfast biscuits, except these have really nice crunchy bottoms where the oil fries them in the muffin pan as they bake. The insides are airy and fluffy. The tops are almost flaky. Traditionally, Yorkshire Pudding is served as a side with meat-based dinners. The meat gravy is poured over or around it just like American biscuits and gravy. I used onion gravy on my vegan version.

If you want to give it a try, here's how I did it.

Vegan Onion Gravy

I can't give exact measurements for this gravy because I didn't keep notes, and I was cooking freestyle. I cooked about a quarter of a white onion in a skillet on medium heat with oil and water until it was a soggy mess. I transferred it to a pot and added almond milk, miso paste, about one teaspoon of Marmite, plenty of crushed black pepper, and small amount of Earth Balance Buttery Spread. I adjusted the ingredients and added water as needed. It simmered on medium heat for about two hours, maybe longer. 

Vegan Yorkshire Pudding

I preheated the oven to 430 degrees Fahrenheit. I mixed 2 cups of all-purpose flour with a teaspoon and a half of sea salt, one teaspoon of egg replacement powder, and a tablespoon of baking powder. I mixed in 2 cups of almond milk and created what looked like pancake batter. I poured about a tablespoon and a half of oil into each space of a muffin pan. I heated the oil and pan in the oven until I heard the oil popping and crackling. I carefully removed the pan with oil and poured the batter right into the bubbling hot oil, almost to the top of each muffin pan space. Oil ran over the sides a bit, but that was expected. I put all of it in the oven for about 18 minutes trying not to peek into the oven. I let them cool for about 10 minutes. The oil made it easy to remove these with just a twist.

I would like to mention that I'm American, and I've been an herbivore for decades. I have never eaten real authentic Yorkshire Pudding. I honestly have no idea how far off I am with this recipe. All I can say is this was very satisfying. I seriously doubt that adding animal ingredient would greatly improve this recipe.

English Beans And Toast

I wanted to connect with my English heritage. Here in the United States it seems a bit strange to put beans on toast for breakfast. Beans are usually served for dinner with cornbread and pickled peppers over here in the southeast. I love beans almost any way they come, as long as they are vegan. What you see here is toasted Dave's Killer Bread 21 Whole Grains And Seeds with Heinz Beans In Tomato Sauce dumped on top.

I got the beans from the international section of the supermarket. They are real English beans from England. Over here in the United States, I believe most of us would say these taste like "baked beans". They're small, mild, and covered in a slightly sweet and tangy tomato sauce. This is a great breakfast. I have no reason to dislike this. It's still weird, but I'll gladly eat this anytime.

Vegan Biscuits And Gravy At Mason Dixon Bakery In Huntsville AL

I've been wanting to try something new at Mason Dixon Bakery for a while. I finally made my way back. This time it was for breakfast. Here's what I ordered.

Vegan biscuits and gravy!

Vegan Biscuits And Gravy At Mason Dixon Bakery In Huntsville AL

The COVID-19 pandemic forced me to enjoy this breakfast in the front seat of my car. Mason Dixon was only doing curbside service. The curbside service was fast and friendly.

This was a very good vegan version of a southern classic breakfast. They did a good job with the vegan biscuits. Those can be tricky. These didn't have the light fluff of real buttermilk biscuits, and they did seem a bit heavy, but the taste was nearly right on. The gravy was very flavorful with large chunky, funky mushrooms. The peppery creamy gravy, along with the exotic flavor of the mushrooms, gave my tongue a tingle. This was almost a mushroom overload with mushrooms in every bite. Because I usually have a very light breakfast, if any at all, I was unprepared for the heaviness of this traditional breakfast. This should satisfy any regular breakfast eater.

The price was a bit high for biscuits and gravy, but there's really no other place that I'm aware of to get this in Huntsville. And this was very good. It was worth the price as a special occasion. The price was $9.

Once again, Mason Dixon Bakery gave me another really good meal to remember. This was another rare vegan breakfast option in Huntsville.

Click here to see the Mason Dixon Bakery website

Homemade Jalapeno Hash Browns And Field Roast Apple Maple Breakfast Sausage

 

Vegan Cinnamon Pancakes

With the exception of the burnt one, these were pretty good. I just mixed up some wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and water. I fried it in my skillet with olive oil then let some Earth Balance melt on top.

Onion Bagel with Hummus, Tomato, and Lettuce at Bruegger's Bagels

This is one of my favorite breakfast foods. This time they gave me some really limp lettuce. I picked off the bad part. The remainder of the meal was excellent!

Onion bagel with hummus, tomato, and lettuce at Bruegger's Bagels

Croissants With Blueberry Preserves

I found some croissants in a can that appear to be vegan. And I bought a jar of blueberry preserves as a filling. There were many ingredients in the croissants that great-grandma wouldn't recognize, so I'm not going to claim this is a health way to eat. It did taste very good, and it was easy to make.

Blue Plate at Laughing Seed Cafe In Asheville NC

I went back to Laughing Seed in Asheville for another fantastic vegan meal. And here's it is.

The Blue Plate was on the Sunday brunch menu. This plate included organic scrambled tofu, a vegan gravy biscuit, smoky potatoes, seitan “sausage” and a kale pickled onion salad". Every bite was perfect. The gravy biscuit and potatoes were the highlights of this meal.

If you order this, be sure to ask for the vegan version. Laughing Seed Cafe does offer this as a vegetarian meal with eggs. This meal was priced at $14 and did throw my budget off quite a bit. But this was real food made from scratch by professionals. It was worth the price, but I must save this kind of eating for special occasions.

So Delicious Strawberry Dairy Free Yogurt Alternative

I found this at Kroger for 99 cents. So Delicious Strawberry Dairy Free Yogurt Alternative is a strange product. The flavor is like a strawberry pudding. It's lightly sweet and refreshing with a strange tangy, smokey aftertaste.

I've never had real yogurt. I assume all yogurt has a texture like thick pus. The taste is good, but I don't understand the obsession with yogurt. I didn't grow up with it. I may buy this again. Maybe I can use it as a fruit dip next time.

Breakfast Beans

Amy's Tofu Scramble

Amy's Tofu Scramble has been one of my almost-regular meals for years. I usually grab a couple of these when they go on sale. This is quick and easy to make, and it tastes good. The serving size is perfect for breakfast. Non-GMO, gluten-free, and vegan!

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Click here to see the Amy's Kitchen website

A Vegan Breakfast at Honest Coffee Roasters in Huntsville AL

Honest Coffee Roasters has a few items on the menu that are clearly marked vegan. I ordered the Daybreak Bagel with black coffee at the Huntsville AL location. Look at this beautiful vegan breakfast!

Daybreak Bagel at Honest Coffee Roasters in Huntsville AL

This was excellent! Everything about this breakfast was perfect. The Daybreak Bagel is a blueberry bagel topped with almond butter, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, and chia seeds. I will definitely be back for more of this!

Click here to see the Honest Coffee Roasters website

A Vegan Breakfast at SpringHill Suites

SpringHill Suites had some pretty good breakfast choices for vegans. Here's the oatmeal. They had brown sugar, raisins, walnuts, and almonds to put on top.

A Vegan Breakfast at Comfort Inn

I had this perfectly acceptable vegan breakfast at Comfort Inn near Asheville NC. The other guests had plenty of non-vegan items from which to choose. So we were all satisfied!

First, I opened a paper envelop containing plain grits, not bacon, not buttered. I used the coffee maker to add the hot water. I stirred well and added salt.

I toasted a plain bagel, then got one of those little single serving containers of peanut butter for my topping. They also had grape jam, but I was in a peanut butter mood. I also made a cup of black coffee with sugar.

They had fruit, so on the way back up to the room I grabbed a banana and made another cup of coffee. I was happy to see ripe bananas that were ready to eat. I do not like hard green bananas. This one was perfect.

This was all pretty good. It sure beats eating peanuts from the vending machine. Everything was fresh. The breakfast bar was clean. The attendant was friendly.

Vegan Cheese Grits And Gimme Lean Vegan Sausage

I found some Bob's Red Mill organic grits. I cooked that and added Daiya cheddar shreds to make vegan cheese grits. I added two fried slices of Gimme Lean vegan sausage to make this tasty breakfast.