Gluten Free on Cruises

[Disco Duck]

I am new to the Gluten Free world and took a cruise in August on Carnival and it turned out to be a nightmare, even though they assured me they could accommodate me on Gluten Free food.

 

Has anyone taken a cruise and really enjoyed the Gluten Free food on it? Thank you for all information you can give me.

[cb at sea]

Nowadays, gluten-free is big business. Contact your "special needs" dept. for your cruiseline and let them know what you need....it will be done. You will have many and varied...and tasty options. Cruiselines are great with celiacs!

[sail7seas]

We've had some gluten-free threads on the HAL forum. Some folks said it was handled well. You may wish to look around on HAL and ask some questions there.

 

[Azulann]

Celebrity does a great job with special diets. My roommate needed to eat gluten free. She never had a problem, because the MDR waiter made sure she had choices with out any wheat of any kind, including the sauces.

Bartender found a volka that was made from potatoes for her martinis !:D

[sherryf]

A friend whose husband has celiacs cruise with Princess and had a very good experience. They catered to his needs, even arranging for gluten free pizza. He said it was one of the best vacations ever because it was so easy for him to eat and not worry about it.

[Bonnie J.]

My husband has acid reflux disease. We sail a LOT on Carnival. Every night the hostess brings him the next night's menu. He chooses what ever he wants for the next night. Then, the next night, he gets whatever he ordered. It is cooked just for him and comes with a different color cover so our waiter knows its for him. He has never had acid reflex since we've let the maitre'd know about it. (Special Needs said to just let the maitre'd know.) Now he doesn't have to take Beano or Tums before dinner!

[retird]

My wife has a gluten free diet and last year on RCI, we notified them in advance and every night the waiter would go over the next night menu with her so she could make her choises. With the odd exception, she was able to eat the same items we did except prepared gluten free. We are cruising again in November with RCI and her dietary needs have already been arranged. Also she takes a medicine unrelated to gluten free which makes late night eating very problematic. RCI was very good at ensuring she could eat in MDR at the early sitting.

[Alliezona09]

My husband has acid reflux disease. We sail a LOT on Carnival. Every night the hostess brings him the next night's menu. He chooses what ever he wants for the next night. Then, the next night, he gets whatever he ordered. It is cooked just for him and comes with a different color cover so our waiter knows its for him. He has never had acid reflex since we've let the maitre'd know about it. (Special Needs said to just let the maitre'd know.) Now he doesn't have to take Beano or Tums before dinner!

 

My husband did this for gluten free~ worked out perfect~! He was even able to get items that you wouldn't think would be gluten free! The first night you are kinda on your own but after that the hostess will come over with the next nights menu and you place your order!

[Disco Duck]

I have called Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Holland America. None of the ships will confirm that they can take care of gluten free. RC kept telling me that they have Gluten Free Bread over and over again. I guess they never heard of the saying "man doesn't live on bread alone." Unfortunately, I think I will have to pass on cruising until they really get their act together on the ships.

 

Thank you for all your replies. I appreciate it. :confused:

[6rugrats]

I have called Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Holland America. None of the ships will confirm that they can take care of gluten free. RC kept telling me that they have Gluten Free Bread over and over again.

People who answer the phones at cruise lines are often poorly paid and trained. ALL these cruise lines will accomodate a gluten free diet.

HAL:

 

Special dietary needs, such as vegetarian, diabetic or gluten-free meals, are easily accommodated with advance requests. Kosher meals and a Health Conscious Dining option are also available. To arrange special meals, please contact the Ship Services Department at 800-541-1576 800-541-1576 at least 90 days prior to departure. As You Wish® dining is currently available on each of our ships on all cruises

 

Celebrity:

 

A separate team of five chefs in the galley is responsible for vegetarian, vegan, kosher or diabetes-aware selections; even gluten-free or lactose-free options are available. To prearrange any of the above options, please email your special dietary request to specialneeds@celebrity.com or call 1-866-592-7225 1-866-592-7225 .

 

RCI:

 

We make every effort to accommodate our guests' dietary requirements whenever possible. We can accommodate dietary needs such as:

 

Food allergies Gluten-free Kosher Low-fat Low-sodium

 

Contact your travel agent or Certified Vacation Planner and request that the remark be noted in your reservation details. If you made your reservation online at royalcaribbean.com you may add your request to the "update personal information." section. You may also send an e-mail request to special_needs@rccl.com; please include in the e-mail the guests' names, booking number, ship name and sail date. E-mails will receive an automated response. We kindly ask that guests do not call Royal Caribbean International suppliers with specific questions.

[sherryf]

I have called Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Holland America. None of the ships will confirm that they can take care of gluten free. RC kept telling me that they have Gluten Free Bread over and over again. I guess they never heard of the saying "man doesn't live on bread alone." Unfortunately, I think I will have to pass on cruising until they really get their act together on the ships.

 

Thank you for all your replies. I appreciate it. :confused:

 

But you didn't try Princess? As I posted earlier, my friend's husband had absolutely no problems eating gluten-free on Princess and was very happy with how well they catered to his diet. Try Princess!!

[pgoody82]

My ex girlfriend was gluten free and dairy free when we went on our cruise in March. I notified my travel agent who set it up with Carnival, and whenever we ate in the main dining room a head waiter of some sort, can't remember her position, would assist my girlfriend in picking the right choices for the next day's dinner and breakfast in the MDR.

 

On Royal Caribbean the menus have gluten free and dairy free labels for the food items, among a few other labels.

 

For lunch buffets and things like that, there is always plenty of fresh fruit, fruit salads, salads, and meat being sliced, like ham, and roast beef.

 

She will have no problem surviving and even thriving on the cruise. The nice thing about the vacation is that you shed many of the every day stresses in life which will actually aid in digestion, and you are always near your personal bathroom, or at least within 1000 feet.

 

She felt better than usual on the cruise ship diet.

[spunkyhungry]

I ate gluten free on a Norwegian cruise, and it was fine. It was a little more inconvenient, but the waiters and chefs were knowledgeable about gluten free diets and were accomodating. If the waiters weren't sure if something was gluten free, they'd ask the chef. I usually got my 1st or 2nd choice from the menu. I had no problem with food that is naturally gluten free. The bread products weren't that great, but you can live without them for a week.

[MilliesMom]

I have food allergies ... here's what I have done on Princess, Carnival, RCCL with great success:

 

1. Notify the cruise line of my allergies (each had a special contact number).

2. Arrange for traditional NOT any time dining so that I had the same waiter each night.

3. The week before we cruise, I call the cruiselines again and remind them.

4. When we board, I go to the maitre'd and remind him of my food allergies. I have a small card printed out with my name, table number (it's on our sign and sail card), seating time and my specific allergies.

5. When we go to dinner the first night, I have a second copy of the card that I give to the waiter.

 

Fortunately, my allergies are such that I can get by with eggs at breakfast and either a hamburger, salad or sandwich for lunch. Those typically (not always) do I have to second guess ingredients. IF I needed to be 100% assured (no safe foods like I mentioned) then I would eat all meals in the dining rooms not the buffet. Each night they brought me the menu for the next night. It was either the Maitre'd or his assistance or once in a while the waiter. They were extremely careful with my choices and usually knew when they gave it to me what they chef had said to avoid. Then the next night I got exactly what I had ordered from the menu the night before.

 

As a result, I've never had problems on a ship with the food I have eaten. When I eat at the buffet, I never take a chance with things I am not familiar with or things that "might" contain the item. Example: Teriyaki sauce sometimes contains pineapple ... so I wouldn't eat it at the buffet because of the unknown factor.

 

I have found too that the specialty restaurants have been helpful too. If we make reservations I stop by there late afternoon or early evening one or two days before our reservations to check ingredients.

 

Our neighbor's daughter has celiac disease. It is amazing the items that contain gluten. I was going to make her peanut butter (no flour) cookies. Fortunately her mom asked what brand peanut butter I had purchased (forget what it was), but it contained gluten or had exposure to wheat in the factory. Now we run everything by the parents before I bake etc.

 

I hope you will be able to cruise and not bypass it all together.

[Sinppu]

There is a new thread about the Gluten Free diet food on Royal:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1723737

[wantocruisemore]

I am new to the Gluten Free world and took a cruise in August on Carnival and it turned out to be a nightmare, even though they assured me they could accommodate me on Gluten Free food.

 

Has anyone taken a cruise and really enjoyed the Gluten Free food on it? Thank you for all information you can give me.

 

 

What ended up specifically the problem? We've done a couple of cruises with my disabled DD who has to have a Gluten-free diet. BOTH Carnival and RCCL handled things basically the same. I sent into Special Needs ahead of time. I confirmed with the Maitre'd on the first day. At the buffet the first day I asked to speak to someone who could tell us what foods were GF. On Carnival someone came out and told us. On our Med Navigator cruise the head chef came out and told us then when we were going around he walked around the Windjammer with us and stopped us from a gravy because he said they just changed the recipe from corn starch to flour. We told our waitersthe first night. Each night they came out with the menu from before. On RCCL the Maitre'd did it, on Carnival a woman who's only job was to make sure the special needs were accommodated came and did it. On Carnival we ordered our breakfast ahead of time for the MDR and once we went in they pulled her menu and fixed her food.

 

Cruising has actually turned out to be easier and safer for my DD's special needs. I could not have asked for any better.

 

I am curious as to what went wrong with your experience?

[tigercat]

I have just returned from the Carnival Dream. I have traveled a couple of Carnival ships and Princess as someone who is gluten free. I have not had any trouble at all. The hostess came over on both each evening so that I could place my order. I winged it at breakfast as I do not eat much. At the buffet I asked someone to help me out with the choices and had no problems. Both lines had gluten free pizza's but on Princess I had to order my pizza the night before. I was able to do the Chef's Table on the Carnival ships but not on the Princess ship.

Both lines really took care of us.

tigercat

[cruisechaos]

I have cruised three times since being diagnosed with a gluten intolerance last year: twice with Princess (69 days total) and once with Celebrity (14 days).

 

Princess handled my dietary restriction very well. Gluten-free pizzas, pasta, bread, muffins, pancakes, desserts, etc. I could order nearly anything off of the menu and they would figure out a way to do it. By the end of the 55 day trip I started challenging the kitchen and even got a gluten-free Tiramisu for Italian night -- it was amazing. I'm looking forward to cruising with Princess again next month.

 

Celebrity was a little more difficult. I had to have a long discussion with the guy at the grill who put my hamburger on a bun, despite the fact that I asked for a "Hamburger no bun," about why I couldn't just take my hamburger out of the bun and eat it. He made me a new burger but wasn't happy about it. I wasn't able to eat by bread at dinner one night because they brought it out in the same basket at the "real" bread. The real problem occurred on the last night of our cruise. My pasta dish came out and it looked identical to my husband's (who is not gluten-free). He tasted mine and didn't think it was gluten-free. I asked my waiter and he assured me that it was gluten-free. I asked the Assistant Maiter d' and he went into the kitchen and brought out the empty Tinkiyada bag and he assured me that it was gluten-free. So I ate it. Half way through my meal my waiter came running up to our table and grabbed the plate out from under me and said it wasn't gluten-free. Long story short (I know ... too late), I'm having a hard time trusting Celebrity again.

[MapleMama]

I have cruised a few times since I was diagnosed with Celiac 3 years ago. First experience was on Azamara - they were fantastic. I could find the maitre d' at any of the buffets, or specialty restaurant and he took care of me at dinner. They would surprise me with dessert each night (I preordered my meals) and I always enjoyed my meals. Buffets were a bit more difficult because it was a small ship. Pool grill was also difficult - one guy working and he just didn't understand (until the maitre d' stepped in). My second cruise was on Celebrity - they were also pretty good - but not as good as Azamara. I preordered my dinners, but found lunch to be a challenge. Dessert was also disappointing - I was constantly being offered ice cream or creme brulee (come on there are alot more gluten free desserts than that!).

My most recent cruise was on Disney - and they were absolutely amazing with food allergies (not just gluten, but someone in our party had a nut allergy). I preordered my dinner each night, and even pre-ordered dessert as well. All you have to do is ask one of the servers in the buffet for gluten free options, and they immediately call a chef over to help. They even had gluten free hamburgers, pizza and chocolate chip cookies at the pool grill (which were all amazing!). The chef even made sure I knew they had gluten free donuts and muffins at breakfast. The gf bread wasn't great, but their buns/rolls were pretty good.

I would definitely sail on Disney again, and would try Celebrity or Azamara again. My sister is also a celiac and has had great experience with Celebrity.

Don't give up on cruising! :)

[Disco Duck]

Thank you for your information. I did hear just recently that Disney does a wonderful job. Well...I did some more searching since I first posted my question and I found a cruise on Royal Caribbean that I think might work. We are going in March on the Allure of the Seas. I called RC and explained my problem and they told me "it wasn't a problem for them". I was a little reluctant but did it. I can already see a huge difference. The information is right on my paperwork. They had me fax over what I would like to bring on board (so I did tell them I would like to bring Kind bars). This way I will have something good to eat if all else fails. We are really looking forward to this cruise and I really do hope it goes like it has been promised. Thank you again...I really do appreciate it.:)

[MapleMama]

Have a great cruise Disco Duck! I'm sure Royal Caribbean will do a good job with gluten free - it seems like all the cruise lines are taking dietary issues alot more seriously. If you have any issues - don't give up! Just find a maitre d' to speak to and voice your concerns!

[wantocruisemore]

I'm glad you decided to cruise. RCCL did a great job for my DD last summer and they do put it on their paperwork that you require a gluten-free.

 

But please do not stop there and assume that eveyone gets the information on the ship. I would still contact Special Needs and I would still make sure the maitre'd has it in the computer about it when you board. Also, if you are going on any ship's tours or other tours, be sure to mention again and ask for accommodation if meals are part of the tour.

 

You never answered my question as to what went wrong with Carnival. Perhaps if you can be more specific we can let you know what all of us here did differently that made the gluten-free work so well.

 

Thank you for your information. I did hear just recently that Disney does a wonderful job. Well...I did some more searching since I first posted my question and I found a cruise on Royal Caribbean that I think might work. We are going in March on the Allure of the Seas. I called RC and explained my problem and they told me "it wasn't a problem for them". I was a little reluctant but did it. I can already see a huge difference. The information is right on my paperwork. They had me fax over what I would like to bring on board (so I did tell them I would like to bring Kind bars). This way I will have something good to eat if all else fails. We are really looking forward to this cruise and I really do hope it goes like it has been promised. Thank you again...I really do appreciate it.:)

[Disco Duck]

I have taken my complaint directly to Carnival and they didn't do a thing about it. I really don't see any need to go into again. I did everything I possibly could of to make sure that they knew I had CD. They didn't care. I have been on 14 cruises before getting CD. I didn't know that Carnival treats people with food allergies differently and they did. I would like to leave it at that.

[wantocruisemore]

I have taken my complaint directly to Carnival and they didn't do a thing about it. I really don't see any need to go into again. I did everything I possibly could of to make sure that they knew I had CD. They didn't care. I have been on 14 cruises before getting CD. I didn't know that Carnival treats people with food allergies differently and they did. I would like to leave it at that.

 

It's your choice of course not to elaborate, but keep in mind that by not clarifying exactly what you did you may run the risk of the same thing happening on RCCL.

 

We took the same steps both before and during our Carnival and RCCL cruises. No problems at all. You're actually the first one I have heard that has had problems with Carnival and gluten free.

 

I guess my hope is that you will not just depend on the fact your cruise documents say gluten free. That by itself is not enough.

[IamAlyce]

on the Carnival Triumph. The first night was a little rocky, but after that, every night both the Assistant Matre'd and the Hostess would come over and go over the menu with me. My food the next night was prepared and brought out separately, as was fresh baked bread! They were very concerned and very at tentative. Next up is NCL and I have contacted them ahead of time. I am to check in with the Front desk upon arrival and will report back how it goes.

Elaine