For those of us who are addicted to cruising, one of the many perks is the nearly endless availability of food. From scrumptious buffets to exotic specialty restaurants, there are delectable dishes to tantalize even the most discriminating taste buds. You can even indulge around the clock with late-night pizza or room service in the privacy of your cabin.
But for many cruise-aholics, the temptation to go overboard when it comes to food could result in bringing home extra baggage—and I don’t mean a suitcase stuffed with souvenirs.
After more than 20 cruises, I took a different approach on my journey aboard MSC Meraviglia last January and challenged myself with making this a cruise to lose rather than gain unwanted pounds. As you’re packing for your next ocean voyage, keep in mind the following tips if you want to enjoy all the amenities a ship has to offer while still fitting into your clothes when it’s time to head home.
Keep your focus off food when planning a cruise.
Taste is subjective and not everyone has the same culinary preferences, so don’t be fixated on food when researching cruise ships. The reasonable fare, appealing Eastern Caribbean itinerary, and convenience of leaving from Brooklyn, a short drive from home, were our primary considerations when choosing Meraviglia.
Being enticed by five-star cuisine each night could be a struggle if your priority is to avoid gaining weight. With small portions and healthy choices like grilled chicken breast and salmon, the main dining room offers options so you can stick to a diet.
Seated at an adjacent table to us were Toni Caserta and her husband, John D’Andrea. “I know about food, so I tend to be more critical than the average bear,” explains Toni, a volunteer chef at a Montreal food bank. “If the food is tasty, you tend to eat less. If you’re not satisfied, you go around grazing, looking for flavors. You’re more tempted to seek out things that are gratifying, ” she says.
With the Marketplace Buffet open until 2 a.m., it was difficult to refrain from late-night snacks and pizza, even if we enjoyed our dinner and conversation with our new Canadian friends.
Skip specialty dining and bypass the buffet.
“Why pay extra for specialty restaurants when the fare includes dinner in the main dining room?” questions my husband, Bob, a former finance executive who is somewhat frugal.
With generous servings of gourmet cuisine, specialty dining venues will thin out your wallet and thicken your waistline. However, after a couple of dinners, Bob was willing to splurge on an upscale meal at the Butcher’s Cut steak house and the Ocean Cay seafood restaurant. Since we prefer to eat early, we saved money and calories because the only available reservations were late at night.
As another alternative, we considered dining in the buffet which offers international selections, ethnic specialties, an expansive salad bar, and decadent desserts.
Toni explains how she handles the buffet: “I don’t want to waste food and overindulge. I take a spoonful of this and that just to have a taste.”
I don’t have nearly as much self-control, so we bypassed dinner at the buffet where I would be tempted to pile too much food on my plate and go back for seconds.
Avoid the booze on a cruise to lose.
With the ship’s captain as your designated driver and the party atmosphere at sea, you may be tempted to overindulge when it comes to alcohol.
I prefer to eat my calories rather than drink them, so we usually pass on pricey drink plans. We made an exception on an NCL voyage that included the beverage package as a free perk. But after gaining eight pounds on a 10-day cruise, I couldn’t justify the added cost and calories.
Surrounded by seductive bars and lounges, it might be hard to resist a few cocktails. Choose lower-calorie libations such as a skinny margarita or white wine spritzer rather than frozen tropical concoctions like a piña colada so you can indulge without creating a new bulge.
Head to shore instead of the buffet.
The more time you spend off the ship gallivanting around the islands, the less time you’ll have to fill your plate at the buffet. You’ll also burn calories by exploring the cruise port on foot rather than sitting in a sightseeing bus.
Since we had previously cruised to the islands in our itinerary, we saved money on excursions with our own….
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By Julie Guthmann
