I sailed on MSC Seashore from 2/12 – 2/19/2022. My husband and I sailed in the Yacht Club. One of the reasons we chose the YC was because of my being Gluten Free. We have heard that the YC will bend over backward to do anything you need, so we thought that this would be perfect for me. In the past, I have sailed mostly NCL, and while NCL has done a nice job with gluten free, having to meet with the special diet person at every meal and preorder for the next day was a bit tedious. In addition, I always felt a little guilty if I preordered then decided at the last minute to eat at the buffet. Additionally, if we went to a specialty restaurant, I would then have to track down the special diet person to preorder for the next night. My hopes were that dining in the YC with MSC would be seamless and that I could have whatever I wanted, within reason, of course. This was far, far from the case.
While the gluten free situation was somewhat of a disaster, I cannot say that it ruined my cruise. After two days, I quickly lowered my expectations. There were times I just wanted to cry! If I think about it now, I want to cry, but honestly, it’s just food, so I tried to keep this in perspective! However, let’s face it, the dining experience is one of the things that one looks forward to on a cruise! I did not get that on MSC.
At the first lunch on board the ship, they presented me with the menu for the evening to preorder. There was gnocchi on the menu, which I normally cannot have. Therefore, I happily ordered it. The maître d’ mentioned something about it being just potato so that would be ok. Now, I know gnocchi is not just potato, but I figured the chef would just use gluten free flour and that would be that.
At the end of lunch, I knew there would be no special gf desert since I had just boarded the ship. I was prepared to eat ice cream the whole cruise if they couldn’t offer a gluten free dessert and I’d be happy to do that too! I love ice cream! When I told the waiter that I would be happy with ice cream, he said there is no gluten free ice cream. What? But there is no gluten in most ice cream! I’ll be happy with vanilla or chocolate. The answer was no. The gluten free kitchen does not have any ice cream. He said they would give me fruit. I could not believe it. He said he would try to get me some sorbet for dinner. What a disappointment. Seriously, I still could not believe this and thought this and that they would fix this.
When I turned up for dinner, the maître d’ said that the gf kitchen was unwilling to make gnocchi for one person and much to my horror said they had prepared spaghetti bolognaise for me! I said no, I can make spaghetti bolognaise at home. I mean, come on! I go on a cruise to get food that I don’t get at home. He then offered to give me gf pasta with the sauce that the gnocchi was supposed to come with. I said that was better and I would take that. I was still disappointed.
When I arrived to dinner the next night, they looked at me with a bit of surprise in their faces as if they were not expecting me. They said that there would be a bit of delay in my dinner, maybe 30-40 minutes. Apparently, they had to notify the gf kitchen that I had arrived so that they could prepare my dinner and then someone had to run clear across the ship to get it. Really? I had preordered. They knew I was coming. They couldn’t be a little more on top of this? After this, we let them know ahead of time that we were on our way. Let the games begin.
One of the interesting things was that the menu given to me to preorder from was not the same menu offered to all the other guests in the YC. This continued through the whole of the week. After several days, I asked the maître d’ why I was not ordering from the YC menu. He said, none too confidently, that this is what the gf kitchen is prepared to make. Now, I have been gf for many, many years, and I know what can easily be made gluten free. I could tell that his answer was complete BS. For instance, if that were the case, then they would have made the gnocchi on the first night. Moreover, offering things like lobster ravioli, and beef in puff pastry would probably not be on the menu. It finally occurred to me mid-week that since the gf kitchen and main dining room are connected, I was getting the menu from the regular dining room, not the YC dining room! Sure enough, I walked down to the main dining room one day and asked to see their menu and found it to be the same one that I had ordered from the night before for that day. Apparently, I was paying for Yacht Club, but getting Main Dining Room. Interesting and not impressed.
As an experiment, we decided to dine in the MDR one day for lunch. We just turned up unannounced. I had already pre-ordered my lunch the day before in the YC, and I wanted to see how the MDR would not only handle gluten free, but my showing up unannounced. They handled it like pros! I told them my room number and that I had pre-ordered the day before in the YC. I can’t remember if they asked me if I wanted a gluten free roll or if one was just brought to me. When my starter arrived, I asked to make sure it was gluten free and he said assured me it was and said that was why it took so long. Honestly, we had not been waiting any longer than 10 minutes! Not the 30-40 minutes that I had to wait in YC on one occasion when they should have been prepared. They even offered me a different dessert than I had got in YC (more on desserts later). Maybe the MDR is just better prepared as they get more people who are gluten free? Whatever the reason, I was happy with my one dining experience in MDR. But it was just one meal.
Here are some other thoughts:
Bread – They offered a decent gluten free roll at lunch and dinner. However, I was hardly ever asked, as everyone else was, if I would like bread. They would just put it in front of me. In fact, on one occasion, I specifically said I did not want bread, and they brought it anyway. All the other “normal” people are brought a lovely try of bread and asked if they would like bread. Not me! I was just given bread whether I want it or not!
Dessert – After the first night when I got mango sorbet, I was told that there was cake! They were very enthusiastic about this and frankly so was I! After that, I was given the same cake at every meal! It might have been different if it had been good but it was not especially good. It was mostly whipped cream. Yet again, while my husband was given the menu and asked what desert he would like, most often that darn piece of cake would just appear before me without anyone asking me if I wanted desert or not!
Salad – Twice I got a salad and there was no dressing on it. The first time I thought it was a mistake, and then the second I figured it was because they do not do a gluten free dressing. I had a tex-mex salad, which was supposed to have a cilantro lime dressing on it. The salad came with lettuce and some plain chicken on it. No dressing. Without the dressing on it, it is hardly tex-mex, you know? I ended up with boring oil and vinegar on it. Not very good and not what I had ordered. Since I did not have the menu in front of me (remember it’s from the main dining room and I was in YC), I’m pretty sure the salad was missing other bit that made it tex-mex. The next salad I ordered, I made sure to say, I WANT THE DRESSING ON IT! It should not have been this difficult!
Ocean Cay – Lunch on the island was preordered the day before as usual. This time, I could order from the menu that was served in the YC restaurant on the island. Wow! How special! I ordered a salad (with dressing specified) and the lobster roll. I thought I would be bold and ask for crème caramel for desert. I could feel the maître d’ just cringe when I asked for the crème caramel. The next day on the island, everyone who got their lobster roll got on a nice roll with a side of fries. Of course, I was not expecting a sandwich, but they could have put it on the bread that I get with my meals, or at least included a roll with my lobster roll. My “lobster roll” came as a strip of lettuce on a plate with a small amount of lobster salad on top of it. It was about the same amount that was put on everyone’s sandwich, but that was it! No roll, no French fries or anything else. It was the saddest looking plate ever. The crème caramel – well, I have to give them points for effort, but it was just awful. Honestly folks, there is no gluten in crème caramel! I mean what the heck? While the other people got these lovely lunches, mine was just pathetic. Again I wanted to cry. But the island was beautiful and I tried to not focus on the poor food I was given.
Pizza - Everyone says that MSC has the “best pizza at sea”. Guess what? They do not do gluten free pizza! I even asked our butler to see if he can get it for me. Because everyone said to ask your butler and he/she will get you anything you want! Nope. No doing. Another disappointment.
Among other irritations were the snacks they bring to the room every day. It’s a lovely perk of being in YC. I have to say that about 4 of the 7 days they were not things I could eat. Now, the butler might not have any say in what is delivered to the room, but what is the point in bringing cookies to someone who cannot eat them? Yes, my husband could have eaten them, but that’s not the point. They know someone in the cabin was gf, so why could they not bring something that was gf? I know, that gripe is a little over the top, but it just goes along with all the other small gripes against them that they could not deal with gf, particularly in YC. Afternoon tea, the snacks in YC, the buffet in YC where there was nothing for me to eat after returning to the ship from the private island. It all was just too much.
Instead of going on about their other gf failures, I will say some of the things that they did right. The lobster night was fantastic. (Only offered in YC) They even gave me lobster and steak! The quality of food is generally very good, portion size is fairly large for cruise standards, and what my husband had was generally top notch. The coffee is seriously excellent! They had pre-packed gluten free muffins for breakfast in the buffet on the YC pool deck. The wonderful guy who had to fetch my food from the gf kitchen every day brought them to me. If not for him, I am sure no one else would have bothered to offer me anything gf at breakfast. In addition, if you are VERY gluten sensitive, I think you can rest assure, that you will be VERY safe eating with MSC. It may not be very exciting, but it will be safe! I am very gluten intolerant and I try my very best to eat a fully gluten free diet. I do know however, that if dining in a restaurant, I can tolerate some amount of cross contamination, but it would not work if I were doing that for a whole week. I would ruin my vacation for sure! Some people said I should never have identified myself as gluten free and should have just said “I’d like that with no gluten” or “I’d like that with gluten free pasta”. However, I would not expect to walk on a ship and expect that they would provide me gluten free upon my asking. In addition, you cannot tell by what’s on the menu what will have gluten on it. For instance, on the last night, there was butter chicken on the YC menu. There should be no flour used to make butter chicken, so I would have thought it be ok. However, they made one “without flour” for me. Therefore, if you eat gluten free, you need to identify yourself as such before the cruise. I just wish I could have found a way to get something better than what I received.
Bottom line is, I will go back to NCL (or Celebrity where they also did a fine job) where they have made me most anything off the menu that I want, within reason of course. I truly believe I can eat much better in MDR on NCL than I ate in YC on MSC. Maybe I would be better off in the MDR on MSC, but honestly, I am not willing to give them another go.
