Cruise Ship Diet Update

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Many of us have made up for being locked out of international travel for two years by traveling more in 2022.

Taking a Viking River Cruise through France a few weeks before a Mediterranean cruise aboard Regal Princess gave me a unique opportunity to compare the two.

Both have their pluses, and surprisingly they both come out shining by comparison, as long as you understand from the outset that they are not intended to be the same.

A funny observation I have frequently made is that after returning from any cruise on which I ate rich, delicious foods spread through multi-course meals ending with indulgent desserts at lunch as well as dinner, I somehow end up losing weight.

The chefs on both Viking Delling and Regal Princess turned out amazing dishes throughout the cruises, accompanied by delicious free-flowing wine.  I had unlimited beverages throughout both cruises, with Silver Spirits on Delling and Princess Plus on Regal, so I easily imbibed more than double my normal at-home alcohol consumption, and as we all know, alcohol contains calories too.

So, what's the hopefully not-too-fat bottom line?

I once again seem to have lost a few pounds on my Princess cruise, but I'm pretty sure I gained weight on Viking.  Granted, this is not exactly a scientific observation, because I don't have a scale and haven't had my annual doctor's checkup since August, but in simply looking in the mirror while shaving or pulling on my usual Levis once I was back home, that's what I see.

Why?

I have a theory.

Regal Princess is a huge ship, and so even with an excellent mid-aft location on a middle deck from which most of the ship is readily accessible, I got a lot of exercise just going between various events and our balcony stateroom.  Yes, I did have two cappuccinos with a pre-breakfast bran muffin almost every day along with my morning crossword, but I walked down four flights of steps to reach the International Cafe.  In fact, if there were less than four flights of stairs, I usually walked stairs rather than taking elevators.  It wasn't unusual for me to take stairs from the Lido Deck or Sports Deck down or less frequently up about twice that many flights.

By comparison, we had a relatively inconvenient room on Viking Delling, on the bottom deck (yes, one of those "river view" rooms where we basically look out high windows just above the water level).  We had to go up one flight of stairs to get to the dining room or the gangway to ports.  One more flight higher was the lounge or Aquavit, the outdoor dining space where we regularly had breakfast.  And then one more flight to get to the outside deck, which is where we went for scenic cruising days.  While we never used the elevator even once, we undoubtedly walked fewer flights and definitely took lots fewer steps while on board Delling relative to Regal.

Then there is the process of getting off the ship and to wherever we want to go in port.  It is a well-known advantage of river cruising that ships frequently dock very close to town centers.

As mega-ships grow larger and larger, ocean liners often dock hundreds of yards from transportation necessary to reach Mediterranean centre villes.  Even people on ship-sponsored excursions have pretty long walks.  Perhaps ocean cruising should tout this as a weight-loss advantage.  Most of us, however, tend to forget those long pier walks as quickly as possible, seeing them in the same light as air flights being essential to get where we want to be.

Finally, with Viking, an excursion is included in each port.  Because the Viking system is to offer one standard excursion and then charge for any alternative or additional excursions, it tends to include an easier walking regimen.  After all, the tour must accommodate a group of people mostly between about ages 55 and 75 at varying levels of physical fitness.  That does differ from Ama Waterways, for example, which actually categorizes several alternatives as being active or easy walking, with the guests self-screening, which is why even on other river cruises I have found I usually lost weight.

Perhaps it came down to some extent on my personal choices.  If instead of taking the train excursion in Tournon, France, I had taken the Hermitage Winery tour, I might have gotten in more steps.  Whatever the reason, I exercised less on Viking, though I never hit the gym once on either cruise.  We did walk laps on sea days aboard Regal Princess, but we had ports every day on our Viking Delling cruise.

On Regal Princess, we only booked one ship-sponsored shore excursion, so we were going full tilt most of the time, including finding where we would meet a Viator guide to take us on more strenuous walking tours.

So, while I ate lots of delicious meals on both Viking and Princess, on the ocean cruise, I definitely climbed more stairs and walked more steps (over five miles walking per day according to Julie's iPhone).  

Whether you want to lose a few pounds or simply enjoy gourmet meals with someone else doing the dishes, it is hard to beat a cruise for culinary delights.

Where will you enjoy your own cruise ship diet next?

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