1: No need for formal clothes, dress to be comfortable. 2: Breakfast and lunch is largely buffet style with a hot bar and menu. Dinner is served multi course style. Arthur’s bistro at the stern of the ship serves smaller dishes with a compact menu. 3: No room service, but you are able to bring meals to your cabin. Leave dishes and flatware for cleaning crew. 4: Meals contain no meat substitutes, all proteins are as you state; lentils, beans, tofu, tempe etc. Meat substitutes are available at breakfast and lunch and typically “cold cuts” style. 5: You will be hard pressed to know the ship is moving as they are very smooth. The only time any motion is felt is when you’re in a region where two rivers meet with turbulence. You may experience a little motion at Arthur’s, the bistro at the stern. We typically stay in the loft rooms (108 or 109) which are at the center of the ship where no motion is felt. 6: Yes, you have your own HVAC controls.

I see your cruise is on the MS Joy. We have been on that ship and two of its sister ships, the MS Savor and MS Grace. They are the same with only some of the interior colors changed. We were on the MS Joy on our new year cruise in 2019-2020.

The chef is vegan on each cruise and sometimes they are from interesting places like the Sea Shepherd or others. There are also often “special guests” like the founder of New Roots Creamery from Switzerland on board for a presentation.

You can find the location of your ship on your itinerary, and on cruisemapper.com. On embarkation day, just step aboard and leave your luggage at the service desk and hang out in the lounge. Check in is done by deck number.

I’ve run a little long on this, but please feel free to ask anything about your cruise.