The good news? I will lose 15 pounds in a month. The bad news? My calorie intake is considered “starving”. My name is Kiki and I am one of the many vegans working on board a Cruise Ship.

Traveling has always been a priority for me, so when I received an offer to be a Cruise Director, you better believe I accepted that offer. At the ripe age of twenty-one I was sailing the seven seas and living the dream being paid to be the “face and voice” of a company that could not provide me the basic human right of eating. I was lucky because I had a high ranking position which allowed me to befriend the Executive Chef, which helped immensely. However, my last contract led me to realize that I need to speak up for the vegans who aren’t high ranking officers.

A social event that vegans could only observe.

For the first time, most of my staff were meat-free. Upon realizing that their boss was vegan, their words of frustration fell upon me like a waterfall. A few of them even considered filing an “HR Report” for discrimination towards vegans. After all, can employees be told what they have to eat by their employers? 10 out of 10 options at the buffet are loaded with hidden ingredients like milk, butter, fat, gelatin, eggs and who knows what else.

First of all, if an employee attempts to speak up for their rights, there is no soundboard to hear them. Buffet line workers don’t know what the ingredients are or what being a “vegan” even means. Secondly, if the vegan fights hard enough to get proper nutrition, management treats them like they are a nuisance and continuity is impossible. They cannot be bothered three times a day everyday for the vegans when they have two-thousand around-the-clock hungry guests to feed. In the end, the constant resistance and discouragement leaves vegans with one option: The salad bar.

Sounds fair enough, right? What’s wrong with a salad bar? Two words: cross contamination. The smart vegans will go to the salad bar just as it opens because within minutes sardine juice has fallen into the carrot section or bacon bits have fallen into the beet section. And you’d think that at least the balsamic vinagerette is vegan, right? Of course not. That too has, “Carmine;” an animal product. So, what are we left with? Semi-fresh greens, nuts, seeds and olive oil (not the quality kind).

Extravagant food displays using plant-based foods only for decoration — to be thrown out at the end of the event.

According Article 9 of the European Convention for Protection of Human Rights, “Veganism” is a protected right. In Ontario, Canada vegans are also a protected class. It is grouped into the same category as “Religious Freedom.”

As a vegan, I do not believe the lack of options towards us is malintended nor do I believe the frustration from the workers having to accommodate us is meant to make us feel like an afterthought. I do believe, however, that politics prevents employees from speaking up for their right to not consume animals if they choose. Working on board a cruise ship is like living in a micro-chasm of the real world and all seasoned employees know that playing politics is very important if you want to keep your job. This means, do not make anyone’s life difficult; don’t make waves and suffer in silence. With this culture, we vegans will continue to starve on cruise ships while most eat enough for three.

Luckily for me, I just resigned and I have no intention of playing politics anymore. If cruise lines want to be honest when they talk about “sustainability” they must go meat-free. If cruise lines want to remain relevant in the world conversation of food trends then they need to go meat-free. If cruise lines want to aviod lawsuites from employees then they need to go meat-free. For the companies that have gone meat-free, they’ve seen a world of support from celebrities, political personalities and venture capitalist. Furthermore, there is a huge market for growth here. I have no doubt that the first company to do so will see huge financial benefits in addition to having no competition.

I’m not sitting here and writing this in hopes that they’ll veganize one day. I already know that’s the direction in which the world is going. I’m sitting here writing this to help speed up that process for my fellow vegans still lost at sea.