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?
