Gluten free on serenade

Hi, I'm going on the Serenade for 11 days in December. We have cruised many times but this is our first time on Royal. I have heard Royal is fantastic with special diets. I have Celiac and need to eat Gluten Free.

Can anyone tell me of any experiences with GF on Serenade and if you ate in any of the specialty restaurants.

Thanks in advance!! Looking forward to our first Royal cruise!!!

Be sure to notify special_needs@rccl.com of your dietary restrictions.

Be sure to notify special_needs@rccl.com of your dietary restrictions.

Thank you! I definitely did that already.

Hi, I'm going on the Serenade for 11 days in December. We have cruised many times but this is our first time on Royal. I have heard Royal is fantastic with special diets. I have Celiac and need to eat Gluten Free.

 

Can anyone tell me of any experiences with GF on Serenade and if you ate in any of the specialty restaurants.

 

Thanks in advance!! Looking forward to our first Royal cruise!!!

Your dining room waiter should suggest preordering for the subsequent evening. You will be able to choose specific gluten free items from the menu. My personal experience is that choices are limited, but I am celiac and also somewhat of a foodie.

It is possible to eat successfully in the Windjammer. You may request that the chef point out reliably gluten free food. Generally the chef walks me around the various serving islands and buffet lines, pointing out which foods I can safely eat. (the chef, not serving staff or kitchen staff.) On several occasions the chef has ordered grilled fish prepared specifically gluten free (grilled fish in the buffet usually has a very fine dusting of flour.)

Gluten free toast is prepared in a dedicated toaster. Sometimes you have to wait, but staff is prepared to make the special toast.

Bring patience. Staff are busy. Sometimes there is a wait. Sometimes others will be served before you. Be careful of cross contamination.

I did a recent transatlantic on the Serenade and had no trouble adhering to a strict gluten free diet.

Your dining room waiter should suggest preordering for the subsequent evening. You will be able to choose specific gluten free items from the menu. My personal experience is that choices are limited, but I am celiac and also somewhat of a foodie.

It is possible to eat successfully in the Windjammer. You may request that the chef point out reliably gluten free food. Generally the chef walks me around the various serving islands and buffet lines, pointing out which foods I can safely eat. (the chef, not serving staff or kitchen staff.) On several occasions the chef has ordered grilled fish prepared specifically gluten free (grilled fish in the buffet usually has a very fine dusting of flour.)

Gluten free toast is prepared in a dedicated toaster. Sometimes you have to wait, but staff is prepared to make the special toast.

Bring patience. Staff are busy. Sometimes there is a wait. Sometimes others will be served before you. Be careful of cross contamination.

I did a recent transatlantic on the Serenade and had no trouble adhering to a strict gluten free diet.

Thank you for your input. I appreciate it. I'm excited to try Royal this time!

My seven day Caribbean cruise in rhapsody of the seas just ended today. At the buffet, I saw a section for gluten free diet. You will be well-fed.

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Hi, I'm going on the Serenade for 11 days in December. We have cruised many times but this is our first time on Royal. I have heard Royal is fantastic with special diets. I have Celiac and need to eat Gluten Free.

 

Can anyone tell me of any experiences with GF on Serenade and if you ate in any of the specialty restaurants.

 

Thanks in advance!! Looking forward to our first Royal cruise!!!

My husband and I will also be sailing on Serenade Dec 10 and I also have Celiac. Have had great experience with Royal and eating Gluten Free. Sailed Serenade a couple of years ago and never went hungry. I always bring some protein bars and some pre packaged snacks as I love my sweets.

Mary and Shane

I'm celiac as well, travelling on Oasis of the Seas 6/03 . thank you for the tips :):)

Thank you, I appreciate your reply

My seven day Caribbean cruise in rhapsody of the seas just ended today. At the buffet, I saw a section for gluten free diet. You will be well-fed.

 

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Thank you, Mary. I can't believe we will be on the same cruise. Have you eaten at any of the specialty restaurants on Serenade?

My husband and I will also be sailing on Serenade Dec 10 and I also have Celiac. Have had great experience with Royal and eating Gluten Free. Sailed Serenade a couple of years ago and never went hungry. I always bring some protein bars and some pre packaged snacks as I love my sweets.

 

Mary and Shane

Thank you, Mary. I can't believe we will be on the same cruise. Have you eaten at any of the specialty restaurants on Serenade?

I am sorry we did not eat at any of the specialty restaurants. I was well taken care of in the Windjammer, Main Dining room and Park Café. They had Udi's buns for the roast beef sandwiches in the Park Café, yummy.

Looking forward to chatting with you on our Roll Call.

Mary and Shane

We did Chef's table on Serenade when I was going through Gluten intolerance. My Gluten free meal, IMHO (and my husband's opinion also) was better than the regular courses. They happily accommodated my request. Was very impressed. :)

We did Chef's table on Serenade when I was going through Gluten intolerance. My Gluten free meal, IMHO (and my husband's opinion also) was better than the regular courses. They happily accommodated my request. Was very impressed. :)

Thank you for your reply. Not sure if we will do any specialty, but good to know I can!!

Thank you for your reply. Not sure if we will do any specialty, but good to know I can!!

You are most welcome! :)

My sister has full blown Celiac disease, cruises with us quite often, and never goes hungry. :)

Hi! I have a 24 year old daughter diagnosed with Celiac Disease a few years ago, and we have been on two cruises together in the last year, one on RCI Anthem of the Seas and another on HAL. I can't speak for Serenade specifically, but our experiences on Royal and HAL were similar, and I believe there is some consistency across cruise lines, so I will share with you the biggest points we learned (and we're still learning, planning cruise #3 on RCI).

Our biggest challenge on both cruises was embarkation day. Though there are GF stations in the buffets, neither had any servers or service available, despite asking, at those stations for lunch on day one. And for dinner, DD was not able to pre-order (at dinner the first night, she could pre-order her choices for the next night, and so on). This is not to say that there is no food available on day one, but it is very limited. On Anthem, we went to Sorrentos for GF pizza, which DD enjoyed actually, and on HAL we went to MDR, where her choices were very limited and she resorted to ordering a burger without bun or fries. I recommend either the dining room or a specialty restaurant, if available, for lunch on embarkation day. I just booked Chops for lunch on Freedom for our embarkation day next May. We did specialty dining on night 1 on both cruises since her MDR choices were limited and could not be pre-ordered. The specialty restaurants on both cruise lines do a great job with GF. After day one, expect smooth sailing!!

Bottom line recommendations

#1 - send that e-mail to the address Bob linked above.

#2 - note in reservations you have dietary restrictions in your party (if there's space provided for special requests)

#3 - on embarking, go straight to customer service and/or dining venue to mark special dining needs, make sure noted on all reservations

#4 - at Windjammer, ask to speak with manager to walk you through stations (be wary of cross contamination on any pod where passengers are serving themselves, ask for portions directly from the kitchen, ie not touched with serving spoons from the "wrong" dish)

#5 - personally, we avoid Windjammer day 1 lunch, but you may have a different experience.

Bon voyage!!

Hi! I have a 24 year old daughter diagnosed with Celiac Disease a few years ago, and we have been on two cruises together in the last year, one on RCI Anthem of the Seas and another on HAL. I can't speak for Serenade specifically, but our experiences on Royal and HAL were similar, and I believe there is some consistency across cruise lines, so I will share with you the biggest points we learned (and we're still learning, planning cruise #3 on RCI).

 

Our biggest challenge on both cruises was embarkation day. Though there are GF stations in the buffets, neither had any servers or service available, despite asking, at those stations for lunch on day one. And for dinner, DD was not able to pre-order (at dinner the first night, she could pre-order her choices for the next night, and so on). This is not to say that there is no food available on day one, but it is very limited. On Anthem, we went to Sorrentos for GF pizza, which DD enjoyed actually, and on HAL we went to MDR, where her choices were very limited and she resorted to ordering a burger without bun or fries. I recommend either the dining room or a specialty restaurant, if available, for lunch on embarkation day. I just booked Chops for lunch on Freedom for our embarkation day next May. We did specialty dining on night 1 on both cruises since her MDR choices were limited and could not be pre-ordered. The specialty restaurants on both cruise lines do a great job with GF. After day one, expect smooth sailing!!

 

Bottom line recommendations

 

#1 - send that e-mail to the address Bob linked above.

#2 - note in reservations you have dietary restrictions in your party (if there's space provided for special requests)

#3 - on embarking, go straight to customer service and/or dining venue to mark special dining needs, make sure noted on all reservations

#4 - at Windjammer, ask to speak with manager to walk you through stations (be wary of cross contamination on any pod where passengers are serving themselves, ask for portions directly from the kitchen, ie not touched with serving spoons from the "wrong" dish)

#5 - personally, we avoid Windjammer day 1 lunch, but you may have a different experience.

 

Bon voyage!!

Thank you for your reply. My only gluten free experience so far has been with Carnival. 1st one was great, last one not so much.

I agree embarkation day is the worst day. But at least I was able to have a decent selection for dinner with Carnival on first night.

We will have to decide about the specialty restaurants and make some reservations soon.

I appreciate your experience and reply!