Low Carb Coffee Option on Allure?

[Steve4TW]

Hello, I am a 1st time cruiser and will be on Allure in August. I am debating picking up the prepaid cafe select coffee card, but I am diabetic and am unsure of the sugar free options on board. I love the price on the select card, but would starbucks be better? Also where on the ship can you get specialty coffees? I typically get a mocha or cold brew iced coffee with heavy cream and typically like sugar free chocolate, white cholate, vanilla, raspberry, and sometimes Carmel. Also does anyone know if the complementary lemonade on board is sugar free?

 

As an extra question, if anyone has any tips for someone who is diabetic on the cruise when it comes to food, desert and cocktail options , that would be great. From looking at the menu I am thinking there aren't really any low carb desert options. No added sugar, but that doesn't really mean low carb from my experience. Thank you for any help!

[PG Cruiser]

I'm not a diabetic but I was able to keep the Keto diet while on the Allure last year.  I stayed with the meats and low-carb veggies.

For the coffee,  I got Cappuccinos and Lattes.  I asked them to put a few packets of artificial sweetener in them.  They had no sugar free syrup options.  I think they had almond and/or soy milk, if you wanted to avoid the sugars (lactose) in the milk.

[smokeybandit]

Coffee is low carb. It's all the stuff people put in it that has the carbs.

 

[AshleyDillo]

 

7 hours ago, Steve4TW said:

I am debating picking up the prepaid cafe select coffee card, but I am diabetic and am unsure of the sugar free options on board. I love the price on the select card, but would starbucks be better?

Starbucks is probably the better option since they should have at least the SF vanilla syrup and they do have heavy cream.

The rest of the specialty coffee places usually don't have heavy cream and if you ask for cream you are getting half and half. They don't have the SF syrup options.  It's also hit or miss whether the specialty coffee places have straight iced coffee, though you can always get an iced Americano if you're into stronger coffee.  Allure didn't when I last sailed her, but all of the ships have switched over to serving Starbucks beans at Cafe Promenade, so the menu reflects a handful of the Starbucks staples, but it isn't officially the Starbucks full menu you can get from the kiosk.

If you can deal with potentially a stronger form of coffee and not as heavy fat content of a creamer and no flavoring, then the coffee card is a good buy.

You can order specialty coffees in the main dining room, specialty restaurants, Cafe Promenade, Vitality Spa and I believe Park Cafe on Allure.

8 hours ago, Steve4TW said:

Also does anyone know if the complementary lemonade on board is sugar free?

You can ask to see the box that the concentrate comes in. The iced tea is sugar free, but I'm not sure about the lemonade. They also have complimentary flavored waters which don't seem sugar sweet to me, but I'm not completely sure they're made with a sugar substitute.  You can always bring some Mio or powdered drink mix sticks to flavor water yourself if you have to have some flavor to your drink!

As far as non-complimentary drinks, the CocaCola Freestyle machines do have the full range of zero sugar options including flavored waters, sparking waters, lemonades, Powerade Zero, etc. It may be worth it to get the soda package that comes with the cup to use the Freestyle machines.

8 hours ago, Steve4TW said:

As an extra question, if anyone has any tips for someone who is diabetic on the cruise when it comes to food, desert and cocktail options , that would be great. From looking at the menu I am thinking there aren't really any low carb desert options. No added sugar, but that doesn't really mean low carb from my experience

You are definitely right. There truly are no menu low carb, no added sugar desserts. Even fruit itself is relatively high in carbs. They do have sugar free ice creams, but again, they're made with milk so will have carbs from the milk sugar.

As far as food, if you can order sauces and dressings on the side you can sample them to see if they seem sweet or not.  There are a lot of protein and veggie options on the menu and they will let you special order to the extent where you can order just the meat and get a different veggie.  Windjammer and Park Cafe always have a salad bar option. Park Cafe has the Kummelweck sandwiches, which is basically sliced to order beef. You can get them to just slice some onto a plate and get a customized salad and make a meal of that!

[ChessE4]

16 hours ago, Steve4TW said:

Hello, I am a 1st time cruiser and will be on Allure in August. I am debating picking up the prepaid cafe select coffee card, but I am diabetic and am unsure of the sugar free options on board. I love the price on the select card, but would starbucks be better? Also where on the ship can you get specialty coffees? I typically get a mocha or cold brew iced coffee with heavy cream and typically like sugar free chocolate, white cholate, vanilla, raspberry, and sometimes Carmel. Also does anyone know if the complementary lemonade on board is sugar free?

 

As an extra question, if anyone has any tips for someone who is diabetic on the cruise when it comes to food, desert and cocktail options , that would be great. From looking at the menu I am thinking there aren't really any low carb desert options. No added sugar, but that doesn't really mean low carb from my experience. Thank you for any help!

They didn't have Stevia packets on the two ships we sailed recently--pink, yellow, and blue packets (plus raw and refined sugar).

[PG Cruiser]

2 hours ago, ChessE4 said:

They didn't have Stevia packets on the two ships we sailed recently--pink, yellow, and blue packets (plus raw and refined sugar).

I bring my own alternative sweeteners. I prefer Allulose, Monk fruit, and Erythritol.

[Xaa]

1 hour ago, PG Cruiser said:

I bring my own alternative sweeteners. I prefer Allulose, Monk fruit, and Erythritol.

I've heard of coffee snobs, but never a sweetener snob.

[Steve4TW]

Thank you all very much. I appreciate the insights and am especially thankful for your long post Ashley. There was some good advice in here, especially the mio and bringing sweetener if desired (some like Allulose and monk fruit are better for your system and taste much better than the usual suspects). I have only drank water and a cup or 2 of coffee a day for years, which is what keeps me from the soda packages, but I may bring some mio in case I want a sugar free vacation lemonade or something. Other than that, I think I will skip the coffee card and just have the occasional Starbucks and basic ship/diner coffee style option with hopefully heavy cream. I saw somewhere else some recommendations for zero sugar powdered mixers for cocktails as well. So I think I will pick those up as well.

Thanks again everyone! Now just dreading the trip from Houston to the cruise terminal! I did not realize the difficulty of the port before we booked. I think we will pay the $230 or so for a shuttle (fam of 4) since even though it seems uber is cheaper, I have read horror stories of  pricing going up as high as $180 one way. I also read its hard to get an uber to the cruise port if you are in Galveston. So it looks like we may need to stay close to the airport so we can get back for the shuttle. Anyone with any experience? 

 

 

 

[wordell1]

4 hours ago, Steve4TW said:

 

Thanks again everyone! Now just dreading the trip from Houston to the cruise terminal! I did not realize the difficulty of the port before we booked. I think we will pay the $230 or so for a shuttle (fam of 4) since even though it seems uber is cheaper, I have read horror stories of  pricing going up as high as $180 one way. I also read its hard to get an uber to the cruise port if you are in Galveston. So it looks like we may need to stay close to the airport so we can get back for the shuttle. Anyone with any experience? 

 

 

 

Lyft has a contract with the port that allows them to enter the area close to the terminal.  

I'm not sure how your flights are set up, but If you are arriving early enough the day before, I would stay in Webster and visit the Johnson Space Center.  You should have no problem getting a Lyft from there.  I would ask your TA or call Royal to see if they have transfers for after the cruise - assuming you are heading straight to the airport.

[Steve4TW]

19 hours ago, wordell1 said:

Lyft has a contract with the port that allows them to enter the area close to the terminal.  

I'm not sure how your flights are set up, but If you are arriving early enough the day before, I would stay in Webster and visit the Johnson Space Center.  You should have no problem getting a Lyft from there.  I would ask your TA or call Royal to see if they have transfers for after the cruise - assuming you are heading straight to the airport.

Thank you. We are arriving the day before and I have booked a room at the new Hilton opening up in January in Galveston. I had seen the Space center and was trying to talk my wife into staying near it or even coming 2 days before so we could go. She was worried that uber/lyft would be surge pricing or would rather go back and forth to get the airport people, making it hard for us to get a ride. I have found a few transports I am looking into (express, limo, and salt water moms), but I will check RC as well. 

[Mark_A]

las time I sailed Liberty out of Galveston, I just rented a car from the airport.  It was around 250 for the week, but I didn't have to worry about Uber/lyft etc and could be on my own schedule getting to and from where I needed to go....

[D Alt]

On 11/14/2022 at 4:46 PM, smokeybandit said:

Coffee is low carb. It's all the stuff people put in it that has the carbs.

 

Exactly.  Drink it black.   

that's the healthiest way.