Cruising has become enormously popular. We caught the cruising bug some years ago, but because we’ve been vegans for 36 years and were vegetarians for some time before that, we’ve had some interesting experiences with food, both good and bad, on ships with many of the major cruise lines. But things have improved over the years regarding how they’ve managed to cater to our vegan diet.

Things changed for us in the spring of 2016, when we joined a vegan river cruise on the Rhine River, from Switzerland to Amsterdam. It was arranged by a German travel company, Vegan Travel. Dirk, the enthusiastic young owner, joined us and the other 120 passengers on the cruise, where we were treated to 100 percent vegan food, all day, every day. During the cruise, Dirk announced his plan to join forces with a major company to offer an exclusively vegan cruise on an oceangoing vessel that could accommodate 1,000 passengers rather than 100! In October of this year, his dream came to fruition, and we’d been looking forward to going on the cruise and seeing the Norwegian fjords ever since booking the trip as soon as it became available.

Vegan Travel and the cruise company, Cruise & Maritime Voyages, worked together to make Dirk’s plan for a vegan cruise a reality by using the larger company’s largest ship, the Columbus. It has a capacity for more than 1,000 passengers and was filled with close to that number.

The variety of dishes available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner was fabulous. If you wanted to put on weight, the cakes and pastries served at afternoon tea tempted even the strongest willpower. Although Vegan Travel had arranged for a chef from Germany to work with the ship’s galley team, the head chef, who was from India, created the menus for the whole week through his own research. For this, he should be congratulated, as should all the galley team members who prepared and presented the food.

We enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the Norwegian fjords and had ample choices of excursions and places to visit at each of our ports of call (always with a schedule that allowed us to be back on the ship for our vegan lunch).

In addition to the usual shows and entertainment that cruise ships offer, a full program of lectures from experts in their fields had been arranged. Dr. Michael Greger’s talks in the ship’s theater were packed with people, and he was often seen around the ship answering passengers’ questions. Anyone who hasn’t signed up for his weekly e-mails and videos on nutrition at NutritionFacts.org should do so without delay and should also obtain a copy of his bestselling book How Not to Die.

Other notable speakers were Dr. Melanie Joy, author of Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows, and her husband, Sebastian Joy, with whom she cofounded ProVeg International, whose mission is to reduce “the global consumption of animals by 50% by the year 2040.”

A prevailing theme of the talks was the “plant-based diet,” which seems to be the new phrase that’s used when talking about the health and environmental benefits of what has traditionally been referred to as a vegan diet. Some of the facts and figures referenced regarding plant-based eating were astounding. And it was heartening to learn about the progress that’s being made with major multinational companies, nongovernmental organizations, and even government agencies.

Animal-welfare issues were not forgotten. Guest speakers from the U.S. and the U.K. discussed their work to establish animal sanctuaries that care for rescued animals. Joyce Tischler, founder of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, spoke of the group’s fantastic work in seeking compassion and justice for animals. Her organization is based in the U.S. and could have this unique slogan (as she put it): “We are the only legal firm where all our clients (animals) are innocent.” Her talk was truly inspiring!

Even though we’re long-term vegans, we learned a great deal and enjoyed sharing experiences with our fellow vegan passengers. People on board were from all around the globe—from Hong Kong to Hawaii, Australia to Japan, and Europe to North America. Not all were vegan when they joined the ship, but hopefully, everybody was a committed vegan by the time we all disembarked at the end of our seven-day cruise.

We can’t wait for the next one!