Yes — declare dietary needs at booking and most galleys handle vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, halal and allergy requirements well. Severe allergies need written confirmation.
Liveaboard galleys are used to dietary requirements and generally handle them well, but the key is timing: tell the operator at booking, not at boarding. Provisioning happens once, in port, before the boat leaves, and there is no shop at the reef.
Routinely accommodated: vegetarian, pescatarian, vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free, halal, kosher-style avoidance of pork and shellfish, and low-salt or low-sugar diets. Indonesian, Thai and Maldivian galleys are particularly strong on plant-based cooking; some Caribbean and Egyptian boats are more limited and lean heavily on rice, vegetables and eggs.
Severe allergies deserve extra care
Nut, shellfish and gluten allergies with anaphylaxis risk need written confirmation from the operator that they can prevent cross-contamination in a small galley — not just that they can avoid the ingredient. Bring your own antihistamines and adrenaline auto-injector, tell the cruise director where they are, and be aware that evacuation from a remote site takes hours.
Bring backup snacks if your diet is restrictive: protein bars, your preferred plant milk in tetra packs, or gluten-free crackers. Three or four dives a day burns a lot of energy, and having something you can always eat removes the anxiety.
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