Has anyone had success with explaining the Ketogenic dietary needs to the dining staff when on a cruise – other than the keto cruise?
I recently – January – went on a cruise with a major entertainment company cruise line and eating there took the magic out of it for me.
Before the cruse, my wife and I discussed meals, she’s avoiding sugar now while I’m dedicated to being ketogenic to prevent health issues - my last two physicals I was creeping to prediabetes but have since dropped my A1C to 5.5 and I’m expecting it to be down again at my next physical this month. We’d skip breakfast and have lunch and dinner in the main dining. I figured, like past cruses, I could get a meat, some green vegies and be good with it.
It seems the main dining has gone less formal than in the past and everything had some sort of carb mixed in it; or sugar added where it didn’t need to be. We learned this at the first dinner. So I spoke with the head waiter about dietary needs. I told him that I was eating a Ketogenic diet. I got a deer in the headlights look, so I elaborated that I’m avoiding carbohydrates and am eating high fat, moderate protein, and the only green vegetables.
There answer, okay, well put you down as a gluten allergy. Whatever, the ship has internet, look it up if you don’t understand it. After that I soon learned that speaking up was a mistake.
Every lunch - you didn’t get your regular waiter even in the dining room as they had one dining area at lunch - the waiters would come up and say we have a food allergy here. I started replying yes, allergic to sugar, it causes high insulin. Strange looks. So they always started me out with gluten free bread - my son would eat it as it looked like French bread. When the main meal came, there was a huge, whole carrot on it. Didn’t even look like it was prepared other than washing it off. At first, I thought they were messing with me, but later got similar carrots, although smaller. I was able to fix this be asking for broccoli and cauliflower only.
Also, everything lacked flavor, which both my wife - who used to be a cook when she worked - and I attributed to a lack of fat. I used all the butter they would put on our table on the vegetables and sometime the meat, to add fat. It seemed the menu is catering to the low-fat clientele.
I was also not able to find heavy cream anywhere on the ship for coffee. I had to start asking for it at dinner with my desert - decaf coffee. My waiter would get either a creamer container or glass of heavy cream for me from the chef and I’d take what I didn’t use back to the room to last me the next day. I also found a pay coffee spot on the ship where they had canned whipping cream and – after I checked the label for carbs and ingredients - they would put it in the cup and then add expresso for me, so it would revert to a cream.
I believe I know why they avoid the heavy cream. I believe because the route had changed due to the stoma damage, they were pushing the speed and the ship was vibrating. In the morning, the cream started clotting, like it was being churned slowly overnight in the refrigerator. Didn’t bother me, but I understand why they didn’t want it out to serve. The last night on the ship, the cream came from he kitchen already clotted. The waiter commented that it happens all the time.
We started having our dinner with the children in the formal dining room and I’d only eat what was clearly plain food. Then we’d go to the buffet where they would have a carving station and, depending on what I ate for dinner, would have protein or a salad or vegetables.
It does seem that the cooking on the ship has really changed since prior cruises. We’ve been on this line and others and recall that back then – pre-Ketogenic diet more Atkins back in the day – it was easy to have a salad and meat and fat was liberally used in flavoring. I would like to find the proper communication to use so that the dining staff understand the needs and a cruise can once again be enjoyable. At this point, our thoughts are that we will go back to another cruise line when we decide to take another cruise.
