Gluten-free in Blu & MDR on B2B Reflection cruises

Gluten-free on the Reflection was pretty good for the Eastern Med (6 Oct, 11 days, Blu) and Transatlantic (17 Oct, 15 days, MDR Select). There was no real difference in the GF selections or quality in either venue. The best news is that they had three kinds of decent bread! It was a miracle!! Bad news is that they're still using that dreadful 100% rice flour for pizza crusts, even at the Lawn Club. Eat the toppings and skip the inedible crust - toppings were delicious.

The bread was from Canyon Bakery out of Colorado. Choices were 7-Grain, Cinnamon Raisin, and Deli Rye Style. It's very good, not dense, and holds together just like "real" bread. The deli rye obviously isn't rye but it tries to be reminiscent of it with the addition of caraway seeds. Not my favorite but toasted, it made a respectable hamburger bun. Best hamburgers were from room service: ordered cheeseburger, no bun, pickles, onion, tomato, and lettuce, and two slices of toasted gluten free bread (be sure to specify "not raisin" or you may get surprised). French fries onboard are NOT gluten-free (coated) and room service didn't have potato chips but you can get a bowl of them up in the Oceanview. Ditto tortilla chips.

The weather on both cruises was so fantastic, I used my balcony for many more meals than usual. I wrote-in "2 slices of gluten-free toast" on the room service breakfast menus. All the room service sandwiches can be ordered sans bread and then request two slices of GF bread/toast. Oceanview had tuna/chicken/egg salad at the sandwich bar which I'd take back to the room and order toast from room service. It was difficult to get GF bread in the Oceanview at lunchtime. It's kept at the pizza station, of all places, and I got tired of reminding the servers to change their gloves after patting out pizza dough with their flour-covered hands. Easier to order toast sent to my cabin. BTW, ordering the toast on the side, so to speak, kept it from getting soggy.

Because Reflection has lots more pax (add'l 160? in Aqua Class) in Blu than the rest of the fleet (all those extra cabins on Deck 12 but the same size Blu), they were slammed most of the time. There were no special desserts this cruise and they had to go down to the MDR for GF desserts most nights. Ice cream became the easy choice. The waiters in Blu on the Reflection just couldn't provide the same level of service I had for 27 days on the Constellation in the Spring. I'm hoping with the addition of suite-class dining, Blu will become a better, less frantic experience on the Reflection. Outstanding maitre'd (named Or) in Blu though!

The Porch only had salad as a GF choice; said they couldn't obtain the sandwich contents minus the bread because the paninis were sent up already prepared. I honestly would have paid double for pastrami just one time. I'm just now thinking that the next time I have a suite, I'll see what my butler can do about that. Bet it's possible.

The Cafe al Bacio had something GF every day but sadly, that could mean jello. The only cookies there were soft, moist macaroons once in awhile. They don't keep GF in the case so you do have to ask. Every now and then I'd see things in the al Bacio case or the main serving line in Oceanview that I recognized as GF from previous cruises (one was a passionfruit mousse thingy with a coconut crust). When I asked the chef about it, come to find out, they were GF but not marked as such, plus they were in amongst regular desserts (tongs used for GF and non GF). Sometimes they'd be able to bring out a new tray from the back which was much appreciated. I could always count on ice cream/gelato.

In the Oceanview, if nothing else looked good, the Mexican food line always had chili, chicken and beef fajita meat, guacamole, corn tortilla chips, etc., to make a pretty good taco salad. The maitre'd(s) in Oceanview never knew what was GF so they'd go find the Oceanview chef, who was an all around great guy. He always found blue cheese, a grilled chicken breast, or a hardboiled egg to add to my salads, or take me on a field trip of the day's GF offerings. GF soy sauce is always available (brought my own this trip but won't bother anymore) so you can have a very good stirfry in the Oceanview for lunch or dinner. I enjoyed it so much on the last formal night, may skip formal nights altogether in the future. Certainly would save luggage space.

Only "glutened" one time, for sure, in 26 days (Tuscan Grille). Qsine did a great job seamlessly including me in our large group of 11.

On the Transatlantic, I was served both the best and worst meals that I've ever had on a cruise. Best was a filet in the Lawn Club Grill - 2 1/2 inches thick, perfectly charred medium rare, and it had as much flavor as a rib eye. Reeeeally fine piece of cow - so worth the upcharge. The next to last night in the MDR, they had pork schnitzel, chicken kiev, meatloaf and two other things (the schnitzel and chicken were GF offerings) on the menu. Our table of 7 ordered schnitzel, chicken, and meatloaf. The schnitzel was the worst thing I've ever been served.....anywhere, going all the way back to 7th grade home ec! It looked like a catcher's glove and was about as tough and with as much taste. Horrible. Another tablemate said the same about the chicken kiev, and the two who had meatloaf ate half and said it was "just OK," not a ringing endorsement. However, the food for all the other 25 nights was quite good, with an occasional overly-salted soup thrown in.

Crunchy/chewy things were infrequent. The MDR Select maitre'd finally turned-in a request for coconut cookies which they delivered to my table or cabin every other day. They were amazingly dry but the thought counted a lot.

So overall, with the addition of the new breads, GF was lots easier and much tastier this trip and rated as my best, with the exception of the service and crush in Blu.

Great report for those who have gluten issues. Thanks so much for the post.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! We will be sailing the reflection on Dec 13-20 and I am so grateful for your gluten free review. I have been concerned regarding gluten free options, as i am such a foodie! So glad to hear about the bread! I have spoken to celebrity regarding my gluten free needs and they have it noted on my booking. Will that be sufficient, or will i need to notify anyone else? Did you happen to notice if there were any gluten free beers? I feel so much better knowing you were able to enjoy your gluten free cruise, you just made my day :)

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! We will be sailing the reflection on Dec 13-20 and I am so grateful for your gluten free review. I have been concerned regarding gluten free options, as i am such a foodie! So glad to hear about the bread! I have spoken to celebrity regarding my gluten free needs and they have it noted on my booking. Will that be sufficient, or will i need to notify anyone else? Did you happen to notice if there were any gluten free beers? I feel so much better knowing you were able to enjoy your gluten free cruise, you just made my day :)

I was hanging out with winos this trip (you know who you are ;)) so didn't try to find any GF beer. On previous cruises however, there always has been GF beer but no one knew it. Each time I was told there wasn't any and I had to finally meet with the Food and Beverage Manager who tracked it down and had it brought up from somewhere.

Re notifying anyone that you're GF, they'll know who you are in the dining rooms. Whenever I checked-in in Blu or the MDR and gave my room number, they'd know immediately that I was the GF one in our group. Still, I always told the waiter since in Blu and Select you don't necessarily get the same waiter each night.

You're going to have a wonderful time.......just don't order the schnitzel if it's offered (although I can't believe they'd ever do that again)! :D

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! We will be sailing the reflection on Dec 13-20 and I am so grateful for your gluten free review. I have been concerned regarding gluten free options, as i am such a foodie! So glad to hear about the bread! I have spoken to celebrity regarding my gluten free needs and they have it noted on my booking. Will that be sufficient, or will i need to notify anyone else? Did you happen to notice if there were any gluten free beers? I feel so much better knowing you were able to enjoy your gluten free cruise, you just made my day :)

I don't know about an actual G.F. beer, but I know they carry Strongbow hard cider. I hope that helps. :)

In the email I received from the special needs dept., it said that I could bring non-perishable food items on board. So I will probably bring some G.F. crackers and a few cookies with me to keep in my room.

I am sad to hear about the french fries being coated. :( I guess I will have to drink my calories at the coffee shop. :D

Thanks so much for the gluten free review. It puts me more at ease for my upcoming cruise.

On the Infinity I had Estrella Damm. It was kept in Michael's Club before it became a private lounge, the supervisor there made sure it was stocked in at least one other bar so I could find it during the day.

Coated fries, I have read ingedients on many coated fries and they are usually coated with rice flour. I haven't had a problem with them but would not tell anyone they are safe.

Goofysmom, you may want to write a letter to Michael Bayley and the culinary team. They could be commended for having stocked a better bread. I can't believe they are still making pizza crust and cookies with plain white rice flour. We recently sail with HAL, 14 days and the gluten free was so far above Celebrity. True, many items were purchased in the prepared form but they were good. I had pizza, burgers with buns, muffins, cookies, cereal, etc. in addition, not all desserts were dairy based. I am sure I will be doing a comparison on my next two Celebrity sailings.

On the Infinity, GF soy sauce was available one evening in the Lido but the next time I requested it, I was told it was returned to the kitchen and I could not have it.

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

Ruth,

Thanks for posting. :)

Thanks for this very informative post. I've recently figured out that wheat is a migraine trigger for me, so while I'm not gluten intolerant and can stand to eat small amounts of wheat with no ill effects, If I want to eat bread, pasta, pizza, etc. on our upcoming Summit cruise, it will need to be gluten-free. Hopefully the better bread you mention will have found its way onto the Summit by next fall. Thanks again for taking the time to write this up. It's much appreciated!

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I'm not gluten free, but last year on Infinity, I asked the waitress how a chicken item that was breaded could be listed as gluten free. She said all of the breaded items were done with gluten free bread crumbs. EM

Good to know I'll be able to eat GF bread onboard! Yay!:D