Holistic Holiday at Sea review

[napagirl]

Two weeks ago my husband and I went on the Holistic Holiday at Sea cruise and met a wonderful couple named John and Connie. All four of us have been to Santa Rosa to do an ASW weekend but we thought we'd take this cruise because of the wonderful speaker line-up and no oil menu that was available in the dining room. We will both post our reviews of the cruise so that anyone who is thinking about making a reservation for next year (which you can do right now!) will have more information than we had (which was very little).

My husband and I took a vacation week and took this cruise mostly because we like cruising but have always had difficulty with the food. This cruise was perfect for us. We ate almost exclusively in the dining room, all three meals and chose the oil free vegan menu. A regular menu was available to those who weren't vegan and also a gluten free and regular vegan menu too.

The ports and excursions were amazing. There were so many excursions to choose from that it took us a long time to choose. We went to four ports and took four excursions. We felt 100% safe (even zip-lining in Jamaica) and well taken care of while we were away from the ship. Some of these were highlights of our trip.

The guest speakers and seminars were also amazing. Dr. Campbell, Dr. Esselstyn, Dr. Greger, and Dr. Barnard were among our favorites. Ann Esselstyn's presentations were rowdy and fun. I hope one day Dr. McDougall can get Ann Esselstyn to do a cooking demonstration or a session at an ASW, she really made the crowd laugh and she is very down to earth. There were way too many classes to attend and it had my husband and I splitting up in order to take advantage of as many as possible. You could stay on the ship the whole week and never attend them all or you could do like we did and be selective about the classes but visit every port. We felt like it was the best of both worlds.

The website to sign up for the cruise is atasteofhealth.org, and it can answer many of the questions you might have or if you post a question on this forum, one of us will try to answer it for you.

In closing, I have to say that we didn't know Connie and John before we left for the cruise. They live in Florida and we live in California but we connected here on this forum. I'm so glad we did because we feel like we could be life long friends and hope to see them again soon. Attached is a picture we took at the farewell party, one of the many parties that the cruise had for us that week. I highly recommend this cruise to anyone who is considering it.

[CHEF AJ]

It was a great cruise and I think it gets better every year! I would have loved to see Ann but they put me up against her! Btw, she has appeared at an ASW before.

[PeripateticDanielle]

Thanks for posting this information, it sounds like a great time! I would have wished it was longer that a week with all the happenings you describe.

[TerriNC]

Thanks for sharing! I'd love to do this one day. Adding to my bucket-list!

[Jerry Angelo]

Thank you for your review Napagirl, I appreciate you taking the time.

I'm glad you had a wonderful time, I would love to do the same with my wife and son one day.
I have a question if you don't mind answering... My son exclusively eats only organic.. would he do well on this cruise?
Are the menus helpful in highlighting which foods are or aren't organic?

Thanking you in advance

[CHEF AJ]

They do not guarantee that anything is organic, they are feeding 5,000 people.

[Jerry Angelo]

Thank you, I was just asking...

[CHEF AJ]

You could also email or call the cruise organizers Snady Pukel or Jan or Jahn Belleme. They are very responsive. It really is a unique vacation if you get the chance to go. You get all the fun of the cruise, the elaborate Broadway style shows, ship activities and excursions, plus all of the wonderful cooking classes and lectures by icons like Dr. Campbell, Essletyn, Barnard, Greger and Klaper. They are all very accessible and hang out at the nightly parties and talk to you. There are also amazing fitness classes offered by athletes like Rich Roll and Robert Cheeke and the ship had good classes like underwater spinning,

[patty]

Thank you for your review Napagirl, I appreciate you taking the time.

I'm glad you had a wonderful time, I would love to do the same with my wife and son one day.
I have a question if you don't mind answering... My son exclusively eats only organic.. would he do well on this cruise?
Are the menus helpful in highlighting which foods are or aren't organic?

Thanking you in advance

Power is in the perception:) It is the seeing that sees. I would try in emailing the company and explain the situation with your son. They might charge extra or they might not if they can make up a menu of organic foods for him. I know hotel kitchens adapt with requests. It sounds like it would be a wonderful time for your family.

Aloha, patty

[eshqua]

Thanks much for the review! This cruise is very tempting but work interferes for me. But retirement is around the corner... Sounds just great to be with a big group of like-minded people.

Question: Do you know how many were at this conference and how many on the ship? Just wondered the percentage of people there for the conference vs. just cruising.

[Conialex]

Another Holistic Holiday at Sea Review:

My husband and I attended the recent Holistic Holiday at Sea Cruise, meeting up with Debi and Dan - fellow “McDougallers” who we had corresponded with on this discussion board pre-cruise - and now our dear friends! We thoroughly enjoyed the entire trip - it greatly exceeded our expectations.

From the cruiser’s perspective, the ship was lovely and large, and even our inside cabin was spacious with plenty of storage space. The personnel working on the ship couldn’t have been kinder or more hard working and and wanting to please. The excursions available were quite extensive, including a few which provided vegan lunches during the excursion. That being said, we chose not to attend any, although we left the ship at some of the ports, to walk around the area on our own (and in Jamaica to lay on the beach). We had been to all the ports a couple years ago - but still went on the cruise as the program of speakers/presenters and the food were a HUGE draw for us.

On the topic of food, we were very pleased. Although at home we cook what might be labeled more of a peasant food approach to WFPB no-oil, it was a nice treat to have more elegant dishes prepared and served to us - and still WFPB no-oil! At lunch and breakfast there were buffet tables set up right in the main dining room, which allowed us to supplement what was served with additional grains, greens and fruits, which we took advantage of. With a 20 hour a day buffet on the top floor of the ship, which contained a limited number of vegan food items, no one went hungry!

The speakers, as mentioned in the first HHS cruise review - were superb! The “heavy hitters” were all there (except Dr. McDougall, sadly) and we attended as many of their presentations as possible. For an excellent summary of their key points see the following link http://www.veganmuscleandfitness.com for a perspective from a vegan body builder who attended for the third year in a row, with his young family. Other speakers new to me before the cruise, but who we really enjoyed learning from were Dr. Ronald Peters who spoke on the myth of diagnosis and the reality of prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, Dr. David Blyweiss who spoke about the GI tract and the importance of our microbiome, and Jessica Porter who spoke about the healing power of your subconscious mind.

Not only were there great lectures and cooking demos to attend - but physical activity classes and meditation classes too! Some which we particularly enjoyed were taught by Robert Cheeke (Functional Fitness), Dr. Sharon Gutterman (Mindful Meditation), Chandrakant Hiester of the Amrit Yoga Institute (Yoga, Yoga Nidra, and the Amrit method of integrative relaxation), Kiersten Mooney (flow style Hatha yoga), Bhava Ram (Deep Yoga). My husband and I split up many times each day to attend different classes or lectures, and we still missed some we would’ve liked to participate in!

And finally, the part of the cruise experience that was probably the most special to me - we met so many like minded people and as a bonus they were all really nice. Open dining facilitated this greatly, as we sat with different people at most every meal. We had some very good conversations where we all learned from and inspired each other. (side note: for the few people we met who were unfamiliar with Dr. McDougall - I sang his praises heartily. I think several couples will now be looking into traveling to Santa Rosa in the near future!) While there is a lot to be said for going down the road less traveled - which eating a WFPB no-oil diet guarantees - it was very heart warming to be among hundreds of others who were on that road with us, even if just for one week.

My greatest endorsement of the cruise is this - more than once every day, my husband or I would turn to the other and say “this is so fun”, or “I’m having such a great time”! We returned home more learned, extra jazzed about our way of life, relaxed and limber, and having made some new friends. What could be better than that?!

[Naffa]

Hi ConiAlex
Thank you for such a comprehensive review of the Holistic Holiday at Sea. I live in Australia and am considering joining the 2018 cruise in Feb. It is a long way for me to travel and quite expensive, so reading your review was terrific. Now I just have to find someone to share a cabin with me. So far this is proving rather difficult. Wish me luck.