How to Not Lose Your Waist on a Cruise

Everyone knows that a cruise can be your waist’s worst enemy. With all the food and beverage options that are available, at no additional charge, anytime day or night, it is easy to over-indulge and come home with a few extra pounds. Some people accept that as a fact. Others do everything they can to avoid gaining a single pound. I imagine that most folks are like us and fall somewhere in the middle.

It is a vacation, after all… a time to indulge a little. It’s no fun being “good” ALL the time! A cruise doesn’t have to mean completely sabotaging your diet. Here are a few steps you can take to minimize or eliminate weight gain.

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Hit the Salad Bar

The buffet will undoubtedly have plenty of not-so-good offerings such as pizza, hamburgers, pasta and all the desserts you can imagine. It also will probably have a salad bar. On Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas, the salad bar was actually right inside the door of the Windjammer. That is a plus…the first thing you see is vegetables!

So, grab a plate and get started! Just be sure to make good choices here…there can still be plenty of bad options on a salad bar, including cheese, creamy dressings and pasta salads. Stick to the vegetables, fruits and lighter dressings and you’re off to a good start.

There also is generally a carving station of some sort of meat, at least at dinner. That is usually a safe choice as it is generally high in protein. Then you can search around to find some vegetables to accompany your main dish.

While I can’t say that I always make the best choices at the buffet, I generally do start with a salad. I figure that gets me some vegetables and fills me up with something at least slightly lower in calories than the other buffet options!

Look for the Healthy Menu Offerings in the Main Dining Room and Specialty Restaurants

Royal Caribbean calls these items their “Vitality Menu” and they are lower in calories than their other offerings. Granted, this menu is very limited, often with only one or two options for each course, but at least there are some good options.

For those die-hard healthy eaters, these are the items you will want to order. For the rest of us, maybe one or two courses can come from this menu some nights and you can splurge somewhere else.

Take the Stairs

On our most recent cruise, we never got on the elevator. Seriously, not once. We took the stairs everywhere. While I realize not everyone is physically fit enough to do this, it can be a great way to burn a few extra calories.

This past cruise, our stateroom was on the ninth floor. The pool, rock wall, buffet and gym were all on the 11th or 12th floor. The main shopping area was on the fifth floor. Our dining room was on the third floor. The gangway (ramp to get on and off the ship at each port) was on the first floor. This meant LOTS of floors to climb.

After three or four floors, our legs were burning. But, it was worth it to know that we were sneaking in some exercise.

The one downside to this: On Royal Caribbean, and probably other cruise lines too, the elevators actually have a carpet insert with the day of the week on it. If you forget what day of the week it is, hop on an elevator. Or just enjoy being on vacation and not needing to know the day of the week!

Hit the Gym

I know, it’s vacation. But, if you really want to avoid gaining weight, spending some time in the gym is a great way to burn off some of those extra calories that you undoubtedly consumed. I am confident that all the major cruise lines have a gym with all the standard equipment – treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes, weight machines and free weights.

Most will even offer groups classes, though those usually come at a cost.

Yes, it means packing yet another set of clothes for the day, but since you only have to unpack one time on a cruise, that really isn’t that big of a deal.

We spent 30-45 minutes on several days out of our week-long cruise in the gym. It was just enough time to burn a couple of hundred calories on the treadmill, but not enough time to feel like you spent your entire vacation working out.

There also is generally a walking track around one of the top decks, usually just above the pool. While this can be a good option late at night or early in the morning, during the day it is often too crowded to really be useful for exercise!

Choose Your Cruise Excursions and Daily Activities Wisely

There are unlimited options of things to do both on and off the cruise ship. Choose activities that will keep you moving!

Rather than taking a bus tour of the island, choose an excursion that goes on a hike. Or go to the beach so you can swim. Or even just walk through town rather than take a taxi. All these things will keep you active and help burn a few extra calories.

On the ship, if you don’t want to hit the gym, there are plenty of other options such as playing basketball, trying the simulated surfing or ice skating. Of course, these options will vary by the cruise line and even by ship, but there are sure to be something active that you can do on the ship.

If all else fails, just wander around the ship exploring. With most ships have 12 or 14 floors, there is plenty to see and do without just sitting in one place.

Don’t Get a Beverage Package

Full disclosure…we do NOT follow this tip! Yes, we purchased the alcohol package on our past two cruises. But this is a vacation and, for us, doing all the things above allows us to not feel quite as guilty when we splurge on beverages.

But, if you really want to avoid gaining weight, then avoiding the empty calories in alcohol and other drinks is one of the best steps to take. The only drinks that will be included in your general cruise pricing are water and juice. If you stick to just those drinks, not only will you save calories, but you’ll also save a good deal of money.

There are generally a few different options of drink packages. Some will cover soda; some will cover alcohol; some will include coffee and other “specialty” drinks. Any of these that you choose are going to add calories to your diet.

Enjoy Yourself

At home, we try to work out most days and eat reasonably well. We both have an Apple Watch now to help us keep track of our activity level and when we are really trying to lose a few pounds, we will track our calories.

But, vacation is a time to enjoy! We try to make good decisions and not completely over-indulge, but we also want to enjoy the local offerings and unique choices. We try to make sure that we are being active, either through our excursions or by hitting the gym or simply walking around the ship. But, we also want to enjoy food and drinks that we can’t get at home.

Our advice: Get your workouts in where you can. Enjoy food and drink where you can. But, remember, you are on vacation! So, wherever you fall on the “gain weight or not while on vacation spectrum,” we hope you will enjoy yourself!

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