Keto on Carnival

Hello all!

I’ve been trying my best to find a bit of time to write about two things which I hold very dear which is Keto and Vacation!!

On June 5th, my girlfriend and I embarked on our 8th cruise with Carnival out of Manhattan on the Carnival Horizon, the brands newest ship.  She has recently joined me in the Keto lifestyle, not out of her feeling overweight or anything but sheer consideration for me and not having to cook two separate meals or potentially sabotage my progress by having non-keto foods on hand.

Anyone who’s been on a cruise before knows that the food is PLENTIFUL to say the very least.  There are so many opportunities to overeat, indulge in alcohol or just go completely off the rails over the course of the trip (ours being 8 days) but I wanted to share with everyone who might be considering going on a Carnival cruise some helpful meal ideas to keep you on track.  Now make no mistake about it, your willpower WILL be tested! These options I’ve listed below can be found on 95% of the ships in the fleet and can be verified through Carnival’s website as ships routinely go through dry dock upgrades to change ship features, restaurants, etc.

Ok, let’s start with,

Breakfast

Omelette Bar:  Just as it sounds.  These guys will impress you with their egg flipping skills making it look so easy that you’ll try it at home and make a huge mess of your kitchen.  Add to your creation with options like Mushrooms, Peppers, Onion, Spinach, Arugula (sometimes Kale), bacon, ham, tomato, hot peppers as well as both cheddar & mozzarella.   Also here are made to order fried eggs or even have your omelette made with just egg whites instead.  Very filling!

Seaside Brunch: On “Fun Days at Sea” you can go to any of the main dining rooms and enjoy other options from the brunch menu.

• Steak & Eggs: Filet Mignon with 2 eggs (be sure to hold the fries or substitute something else)
• Caesar Salad: May sound odd for a breakfast type option but very good.  Opt for the jerk bacon instead of the fried chicken on top.
• Grilled Salmon Fillet: This one comes with roasted tomato, peppers, black olives and capers.
• “Hen alla diavola”: Basically a split chicken grilled with lemon and hot pepper.

Lunch

Options for lunch are extremely plentiful, but be sure to bring your willpower along with you because I can see how easy it would be to load on extra carbs very easily.  Let’s start with my favourite, go-to option.

• Pig & Anchor BBQ: Smoked chicken legs, sausage, brisket, pulled pork!!  They offer coleslaw as a side but I’d either get just a little bit or avoid altogether since it tastes fairly sweet and can only assume loaded with sugar.  Also, avoid the specialty BBQ sauces you can get as well and stick with good ‘ol regular hot sauce if you need that extra kick but trust me, the food is so full of flavour you won’t need it.
• Guy’s Burger Joint:  This one can get a bit tricky but well worth it if you can stay on track.  Burgers and fries (hold the fries obviously) where you can get what’s called a “Pig Patty” as a substitute for a hamburger bun.  A Pig Patty is basically woven strips of bacon and cut into burger sized shapes!  That leaves you with a layer of bacon, beef then more bacon!  Top it off with low carb items at the condiment bar with options like lettuce, onion, pickle, more bacon (for the hardcore), tomato, chipotle mayo, mustard and regular mayo.  Pay no attention to the people giving you weird looks, they’re just jealous of the awesome on your plate.
• Blue Iguana Cantina: Best option here is the taco salad in a tortilla bowl (goes without saying but do not eat the bowl). Get your salad with grilled chicken or pulled pork and top it off with some sour cream, chipotle mayo, salsa and a sprig or two of cilantro and squeeze of lime.  Bueno!
• Lido Buffet: This one is hard to plan because their menu changes day-to-day and you’ll find yourself having to pick through the high carb items to find good keto options which will test that willpower even more.

Dinner

The trap has been set but you can neutralize it by having a good relationship with your servers.  As soon as you sit down, they’ll bring a basket full of warm buns.  Politely tell him to take that basket of evil back to hell ….. politely.  In the main dining rooms please keep in mind you can order as much as you want.  You want 3 appetizers?  Go for it!  Each day there’s a base menu which is offered every night and a “Port of Call” menu special just for that night which features dishes with a local flair.  Now I can’t comment on each Port of Call menu, I can tell you I’ve found many keto friendly options within such as the Jerk Pork Loin or Braised Ox tail.  Here are the nightly keto options.

• Caesar or Garden Salad
• Shrimp Cocktail: Cocktail sauce, I suspect, has more carbs than I think so go easy
• Salmon Filet: Get steamed broccoli as a side
• Grilled Flat Iron Steak: Peppercorn sauce is delightful.  Get steamed broccoli as your side
• Grilled Chicken Breast: Not the best option to keep the fat in your daily macros but still way better than breaded fried chicken!

For an additional cost, you can also visit the Steakhouse which offers things like Escargot in garlic butter, Beef Carpaccio (ewww, gross), various cuts and sizes of Steak, Rosemary Chicken, Lobster with garlic butter and Lamb.

Dessert

Now that I really have your attention, Carnival makes a good effort in providing a sugar-free dessert option every night which always tastes amazing such as Key Lime Pie (watch the crust), Cheesecake, Apple Pie and many others.

I hope I have given you a bit of insight and help, maybe even some peace of mind about going on vacation and cruising while still trying to reach your goals.  After all, why can’t you relax AND live your lifestyle at the same time?  I find that if I’m prepared mentally beforehand, I make better choices when it comes to eating outside of my own kitchen.

Other helpful tips I’d suggest is packing a few items to make things easier for yourself during your time on vacation to help, these aren’t necessarily keto related but I figured if I was going to talk a little about my trip and keto, I might as well mention little tips too.

Pack a reusable water bottle.  The cups provided on the ship are small, add ice to that cup and you’ve got maybe two mouthfuls of water.  Bring a bottle and fill it to last during your time off the ship so you don’t have to resort to purchasing water at the port or drinking the local water supply.  Save space in your luggage with a collapsible unit.

Bring keto urine strips instead of a blood glucose monitor.  Not only will this save precious bag space, but will still give you a good idea how far into ketosis you still are so you can make necessary changes while on board with your diet.

I encourage you to reach out to me below if you have any questions regarding anything really!  I’d love to hear about other cruise lines’ food options as well as any keto travel hacks.

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