Best Cruise Lines for Vegans: 10 Top Picks for 2026

The best cruise lines for vegans in 2026 are the ones that print a dedicated vegan menu rather than leaving you to piece a meal together. Princess, Carnival, Holland America and Royal Caribbean all have dedicated vegan menus in the main dining room, and P&O Cruises added more than 40 plant-based dishes across its fleet in late 2025. For a more upscale trip, Oceania, Celebrity and Windstar are the strongest picks. If you want every plate on board to be vegan, book an all-vegan charter cruise instead.

Free: download our 2027 Luxury Cruise Calendar →

Every big cruise line now says it caters for vegans, but how well it does so varies a lot. On some ships you hand a separate vegan menu to your waiter each night. On others you rely on the chef to adapt vegetarian dishes. Below you’ll find what each major line actually offers, how to tell them about your diet before you sail, and a comparison table for choosing quickly.

What makes a cruise line good for vegans?

When you compare vegan cruise options, check these four things:

• A dedicated vegan menu, not just vegetarian. Many lines mark vegetarian dishes clearly but treat vegan food as an on-request extra. A separate vegan menu in the main dining room means less explaining and more variety.
• Labelling at the buffet. Buffet dishes can hide butter, cream, egg or honey. Lines that label vegan dishes, or have staff who can check, make breakfast and lunch much easier.
• Options in specialty restaurants. A cover charge feels poor value if the only vegan dish is a side salad. Look for lines whose specialty venues have proper plant-based mains.
• A clear way to register your diet before sailing. Lines with an online form or a named team for dietary requests tend to have the galley ready on day one.

The best cruise lines for vegans in 2026

The list below covers lines that are popular with both US and UK passengers. The details come from each line’s own announcements and help pages. Menus change, though, so confirm with your line before you book.

1. Princess Cruises: best mainstream line for vegan dinners

Princess launched expansive vegan menus in late 2023. They run on seven rotating dinner menus in the main dining rooms across the fleet, so a week-long cruise needn’t repeat itself. Each menu has starters, salads, soups, pastas and mains. Examples from the launch include a plant-based shepherd’s pie, black beans on toast with tomato and avocado, and fettuccine with walnut sauce. You can request vegan meals before you sail through Manage Booking on the Princess website, through your travel agent or by phone, or simply ask once you’re on board. See the Princess announcement for details.

2. Oceania Cruises: best for food-focused vegans

Oceania has a strong reputation with plant-based travellers. In 2017 it introduced more than 250 plant-based dishes, and it later added more across its restaurants. Marina and Riviera also have juice and smoothie bars. Recent guest reports suggest the line now handles vegans more individually. If you note your diet on your booking, the dining team can arrange for the main dining room menu to be made vegan, and specialty venues such as Toscana and Red Ginger usually have good choices. For a premium line focused on food, it’s an excellent fit, but register your diet early rather than expecting a printed vegan menu on every ship.

3. Celebrity Cruises: best premium big-ship option

Celebrity’s main dining rooms mark vegan, vegetarian and lactose-free dishes with icons, and a separate vegetarian menu is available. Waiters normally ask about dietary needs on the first night. Celebrity also went a step further when Celebrity Ascent launched in 2023, adding a seven-course plant-based tasting menu to the ship’s signature restaurant, with optional vegan and organic wine pairings. That makes it a good choice if you want a special-occasion vegan dinner as well as reliable everyday food.

4. P&O Cruises: best for UK cruisers

For UK passengers, P&O Cruises made a big change in December 2025, when it teamed up with the plant-based food brand BOSH! to add more than 40 plant-based dishes. They appear on both Freedom and Club dining menus across the fleet, so you don’t have to be on a particular ship or dining plan to get them. Examples include gnocchi with a wild mushroom cream sauce and a key lime chocolate pie. On a UK round trip from Southampton, it’s now one of the easiest choices for vegans.

5. Carnival Cruise Line: best budget pick

Carnival rolled out a dedicated vegan dining room menu across its fleet in 2023. It has nine dishes, with three each of starters, mains and desserts. They’re made entirely from vegan ingredients and include plant-based “salmon” poke, a grilled tofu steak, an eggplant Parmigiana-style cutlet and a key lime velvet cake. The menu is short, so on a long cruise you may need to mix it with vegetarian dishes that the kitchen adapts, plus the buffet. On a three- to seven-night Caribbean cruise, though, it works well and costs little.

6. Royal Caribbean: good choice for families

Royal Caribbean serves vegetarian meals on every main dining room and Windjammer menu without you needing to ask. Vegan menus are available in the main dining room on request. Tell your waiter on the first night, or arrange it in advance through your travel agent or the “update personal information” section of your booking. For milk alternatives such as soy milk, Royal Caribbean asks for at least 45 days’ notice, or longer on some European and Asian sailings. If you have specific dietary needs, you can also email its special needs team. The details are on the Royal Caribbean dietary FAQ.

7. Holland America Line: a large dedicated menu

Holland America offers a 22-dish vegetarian and vegan menu at lunch and dinner in the main dining room at no extra charge. It includes dishes such as Vietnamese spring rolls, vegetable jambalaya, tofu kebabs and pad Thai. You need to ask for the menu, and the line recommends contacting its Ship Services department, or asking your travel agent to, before you sail. Not every dish on the combined menu is vegan, so ask your waiter which ones are.

8. Windstar Cruises: best small-ship choice

Windstar calls itself the official cruise line of the National Health Association, which promotes whole-food, plant-based eating. Plant-based dishes are offered on every voyage, from smoothies and oatmeal at breakfast to dishes such as eggplant cannelloni and citrus and pumpkin risotto at dinner, plus vegan desserts. Diets free of salt, oil or sugar can be catered for on request. Its yachts carry only a few hundred guests, so the galley can often adapt dishes more easily than a mega-ship can. See Windstar’s plant-based dining page.

9. Virgin Voyages: relaxed and adults-only

Virgin Voyages has no traditional main dining room. Every restaurant has at least one vegetarian option, and Razzle Dazzle serves vegan and vegetarian versions of comfort food. The line asks you to tell the crew in each eatery about your diet, and it notes that its kitchens are not allergen-free. Many vegan passengers rate it highly because restaurant dining is included in the fare. Do check each menu, though, because the official promise is vegetarian rather than vegan in every restaurant.

10. MSC Cruises: good value in Europe

MSC says it includes vegetarian and vegan dishes on both its main restaurant menus and the buffet. For special diets, it recommends the main restaurants, because it can’t guarantee there will be no cross-contamination at the buffet. Register your diet through the Special Needs Form before sailing, then confirm it with Guest Services or the maître d’ once on board. For what you can expect to eat day to day, see our guide to eating vegan on MSC Cruises.

Other lines worth a look

Norwegian Cruise Line marks vegetarian dishes on most menus. It asks guests with special diets to tell it at least 30 days before sailing and to speak to the restaurant manager once on board, which matters with Freestyle dining because you won’t always have the same waiter. Disney Cruise Line serves vegan food on request, and there are some lesser-known options worth knowing about. Our Disney cruise vegan guide covers them. Smaller luxury lines such as SeaDream Yacht Club have offered a full plant-based dinner option and will take specific requests before sailing.

Vegan cruise lines compared

If food is the main reason you cruise, our round-up of the cruise lines with the best food compares the wider dining at each budget level.

How to request vegan meals before your cruise

Top-ranking guides often skip this step, but it makes the biggest difference. A few minutes of preparation means the galley stocks plant milks and has your menu ready, instead of improvising on day one.

1. Add it to your booking straight away. Most lines have a dietary field in the online booking area: Manage Booking at Princess, the guest information section at Royal Caribbean, or the Special Needs Form at MSC. If you booked through an agent, ask them to add it.
2. Know the deadlines. Norwegian asks for 30 days’ notice. Royal Caribbean asks for 45 days for milk alternatives, and up to 90 days on some European and Asian itineraries. Aim for at least 45 days whichever line you choose.
3. Say “vegan”, not “vegetarian”. Spell out that you avoid dairy, eggs and honey. Some crew still treat the two words as the same thing.
4. Find the maître d’ on the first day. Ask whether there’s a printed vegan menu. On some lines you can choose tomorrow’s dishes tonight, so the kitchen has time to prepare them.
5. Ask about plant milk and desserts. Coffee bars and buffets don’t always put oat or soy milk out unless you ask. Vegan desserts are often available, but only when requested.
6. Treat the buffet with care. Ask staff about sauces and baked goods, and remember that lines such as MSC say they can’t guarantee there’s no cross-contamination at the buffet.
7. Plan for port days. Ship excursions with lunch included may not cater for vegans unless you warn the shore excursions desk in advance.

All-vegan cruises: when every plate is plant-based

If you want to be sure everything on board is vegan, including the buffet, the bar snacks and the cooking demos, look for a vegan charter rather than a regular sailing. Two well-known names:

• Holistic Holiday at Sea runs an all-vegan Caribbean cruise each spring on board a mainstream ship, with talks, cooking classes and fitness sessions. Its most recent sailing ran from 1 to 8 March 2026.
• Vegan Travel runs fully vegan river and small-ship cruises. Its 2027 programme includes Amazon river voyages in January, a 14-night Caribbean cruise from St Maarten in March, a Norway and Svalbard expedition in April, Croatia and Greek island sailings in summer, Mekong and Vietnam trips in October, and Danube river cruises over Christmas and New Year.

Popular vegan cruises often sell out early, so book well ahead, and check each operator’s site for current availability.

Which vegan cruise line should you choose?

• Most variety on a mainstream ship: Princess or Holland America.
• UK departure with fleetwide plant-based dishes: P&O Cruises.
• Tightest budget: Carnival, or MSC in Europe.
• Special-occasion vegan dining: Celebrity or Oceania.
• Small ship and a health focus: Windstar.
• Nothing but vegan food on board: a Holistic Holiday at Sea or Vegan Travel charter.

FAQs

Do cruise ships have vegan food?

Yes. Every major cruise line now offers vegan food. Princess, Carnival, Holland America and Royal Caribbean have dedicated vegan menus in the main dining room. Others adapt dishes on request, so tell the line about your diet before you sail.

Which cruise line is best for vegans?

Princess is one of the best mainstream choices, with seven rotating vegan dinner menus. Oceania and Celebrity suit vegans with a bigger budget who love food, and P&O Cruises is the strongest option for UK departures.

Do I need to tell the cruise line I’m vegan before sailing?

Yes. Add it to your booking at least 30 to 45 days before departure, and longer on some European itineraries, so the ship can stock plant milks and other supplies. Then confirm with the maître d’ on your first day.

Is there an all-vegan cruise?

Yes. Holistic Holiday at Sea runs an all-vegan Caribbean cruise each spring, and Vegan Travel operates fully vegan river and small-ship voyages in Europe, Asia, the Amazon and the Caribbean.

Are cruise buffets safe for vegans?

Buffets usually have plenty of vegan choices, but labelling varies and cross-contamination can happen. Ask staff about sauces and baked goods, and use the main dining room for meals you need to be sure about.