Cruising after surgery

[heatherdbby 70]

Hey everyone, we are looking at a cruise in october, debating between Carnival and Disney.

We have previously done disney and love it, but are very tempted by Carnivals lower price point for the same itenary same week.

The cruise will be the week after I hit one year. What kind of menu will I find in Carnivals main dining room? Do they rotate MDR's?

[kla7403 49]

Every carnival cruise I've been on had a huge selection. Main dinning room menus have a lot of variety. You should be able to find examples online. There's usually always other options like a steakhouse, burger joint, bbq place, pizza place and deli. Usually a large buffet too.

[vsg2410 41]

Carnival has a wide variety. They have a few standard dishes that will be on the menu every night but the rest of the dishes rotate. If nothing is appetizing on the menu you can always take a trip to the buffet or get room service.

[Recidivist 1,141]

All major cruise ships have a wide array of food choices, particularly at the buffet, which makes it quite easy to eat the right things (and in the right amounts) after surgery. I went on a cruise for my 60th birthday three months after surgery and was able to stay on my diet very easily.

The issue, of course, is willpower. You will be tempted by a variety of bad food choices around the clock. In addition, you will surrounded by people who are in vacation mode and will be eating and drinking way more than they normally would. If you can resist those distractions, you will be fine.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Recidivist

[The Greater Fool 1,971]

Disney rotates dining rooms because each is a unique venue, really a show. This is not so with most other cruise lines and definately not so with Carnival.

I've never been on Disney and only Carnival, as it turns out, last October (and one time about 25 years ago). We've mostly done another cruise line over the years as it's my spouse's preference.

Dining room fare, with varying levels of quality, are about the same across cruise lines. Carnival is the bargain end, Disney is more mid-midhigh range. I worked for Disney Studios for a while and they feel "Disney" is worth a premim. Buffets also vary in quality likely with a similar variance. We weren't impressed with Carnivals offerings, but they also weren't terrible. Carnival does have quite the variety of alternate venues, both paid and included, the variety was nice.

I'm told Carnival actually has better child care / camps / etc. offerings than Disney, but I imagine it's very much in the eyes of the beholder.

If you really want to explore differences, go to CruiseCritic.com, they live to compare and give (generaly good) opinions.

Good luck and enjoy,

Tek

[heatherdbby 70]

On 2/22/2023 at 7:47 PM, The Greater Fool said:

Disney rotates dining rooms because each is a unique venue, really a show. This is not so with most other cruise lines and definately not so with Carnival.

I've never been on Disney and only Carnival, as it turns out, last October (and one time about 25 years ago). We've mostly done another cruise line over the years as it's my spouse's preference.

Dining room fare, with varying levels of quality, are about the same across cruise lines. Carnival is the bargain end, Disney is more mid-midhigh range. I worked for Disney Studios for a while and they feel "Disney" is worth a premim. Buffets also vary in quality likely with a similar variance. We weren't impressed with Carnivals offerings, but they also weren't terrible. Carnival does have quite the variety of alternate venues, both paid and included, the variety was nice.

I'm told Carnival actually has better child care / camps / etc. offerings than Disney, but I imagine it's very much in the eyes of the beholder.

If you really want to explore differences, go to CruiseCritic.com, they live to compare and give (generaly good) opinions.

Good luck and enjoy,

Tek

which cruise line is your SO's preference?

[The Greater Fool 1,971]

Just now, heatherdbby said:

which cruise line is your SO's preference?

Princess.

Enjoy your vacation.

Tek

[vsg2410 41]

If you’re open to looking at other cruise lines my favorite is Holland America. I’ve been on carnival, royal Caribbean, and celebrity. I’ve always preferred Holland America. As a child/teen there were still a lot of kids around on break weeks but not as many as carnival so I actually developed some friendships during the cruises, and the kids/teen club was rarely full so I was able to do all activities. As an adult in my opinion the food is much better than carnival, the staff is amazing, and the ships are much less chaotic (especially on non school break weeks). Take a look at cruise critic and you can often find the menus for the Holland America cruises ahead of time. I went on these cruises pre surgery but they have always been accommodating to my dietary needs and preferences. Ultimately though a cruise will be an amazing vacation, have fun!

[heatherdbby 70]

On 2/24/2023 at 9:18 AM, vsg2410 said:

If you’re open to looking at other cruise lines my favorite is Holland America. I’ve been on carnival, royal Caribbean, and celebrity. I’ve always preferred Holland America. As a child/teen there were still a lot of kids around on break weeks but not as many as carnival so I actually developed some friendships during the cruises, and the kids/teen club was rarely full so I was able to do all activities. As an adult in my opinion the food is much better than carnival, the staff is amazing, and the ships are much less chaotic (especially on non school break weeks). Take a look at cruise critic and you can often find the menus for the Holland America cruises ahead of time. I went on these cruises pre surgery but they have always been accommodating to my dietary needs and preferences. Ultimately though a cruise will be an amazing vacation, have fun!

I will look and see! We arent tied into a certain line yet, but we have to go a certain week in october to accomadate everyones schedules

[justsillyme 0]

I love Carnival! We are booked on Carnival for the first week of October which will put me at 7 months post-op. My mom had WLS a few years ago and she finds tons of foods to eat..or “pick at” as she calls it. The main dining room has lots of options and there is a huge buffet. You can even look up the menu for this year as it doesn’t change. Enjoy your cruise whichever you choose!

[heatherdbby 70]

59 minutes ago, justsillyme said:

I love Carnival! We are booked on Carnival for the first week of October which will put me at 7 months post-op. My mom had WLS a few years ago and she finds tons of foods to eat..or “pick at” as she calls it. The main dining room has lots of options and there is a huge buffet. You can even look up the menu for this year as it doesn’t change. Enjoy your cruise whichever you choose!

did you book on the horizon?

[justsillyme 0]

We booked on the Dream. This will be our first time on this ship

[heatherdbby 70]

On 2/28/2023 at 12:15 PM, justsillyme said:

We booked on the Dream. This will be our first time on this ship

i hope you enjoy!!

[marfar7 1,532]

We've been on 9 Carnival cruises and 1 Royal Caribbean. We took a "carnival break" last year just to check out another line just to see what we were missing - seems not much. We like Carnival better, at least better than RC. We're booked on the Dream from Galveston for a 6 day (now that we've done an 8 day, a 6 day is a tease but it was free, well, with taxes, port charges, and gratuities, not really free, but the room with a window and drinks in the casino are free, so we couldn't say no!). And yes, every cruise I've ever been on has a huge variety of WLS friendly food to choose from. I'm not a HUGE fan of the buffet but we've eaten there occasionally (like when u first board, they corral you there with ur luggage when u first board until ur room is ready). U can always pick at the salad bar and some fish or chicken.

We always eat bfast and dinner in the dining room, as I enjoy getting served - that's the whole cruise experience for us. We usually do the steak house once also. And the menu is varied (Carnivals menu is usually the same all the time, however - and that part DOES suck, I wish they changed it up a bit for the people who enjoy their cruises so much! It'd be nice to have a varied menu over the years! lol). But over the course of the cruise from day to day, it's always different. And whats cool about Carnival that I enjoy is they always have something "weird" to try (Ox Testicles, Frog, Snails, Alligator, etc). I always try it. Why not? You only live once. Oh, and btw - you may not enjoy the ox nards! But the alligator is worth it! And the portions aren't huge cuz u can always ask for 2nds (my husband asks for 3rds sometimes on lobster nite! Sometimes he asks me to ask for more, cuz he's too embarrassed to ask for even more!). lunch is usually either while we're in port or in one of many specialty places (Guy Fieri burger joint, Blue Iguana burrito place, pizza, sushi, etc. Or even room service. Or we may have just eaten a later bfast and are not hungry and skip lunch altogether. We play it by ear. We're not that couple that eats our way thru a cruise that comes out gaining 20 lbs. For sure. The only thing that gets weighed on the scale in the gym on the nite before debarking is our luggage to make sure its not overweight if we have to fly the next day and we don't hafta pay more for it! lol

So, have fun! But not too too much fun! There's plenty of healthy safe food to eat on a cruise, both on and off the ship. Just like in the "real world". Just pace yourself. Just watch those beverages also - those can be the death of u! Not only can they be laden with a ton of calories but they can make you feel invincible, like you can eat anything and get away with it! Have so much fun! And if you choose Carnival - AVOID THAT MILE LONG chocolate BAR THEY PUT ON! It's a trap! lol

Marci