Gluten Free on VO what is your experience

[PGI GUY]

We will be going on our third VO cruise and for the first time having to be gluten free. What has been your experience?

[zitsky]

So this is second hand information and relates to River but take it for what's it worth.  I have a good friend that recently cruised on River.  She said they did nothing to help her with her gluten intolerance.  She was pretty upset about it.

 

What I hope is that we get more success stories who have been on Ocean.

[knoxclone]

While I am not gluten free, my daughter is.  We were on Windmills and Tulips cruise this past March.  They were very accommodating on the ship  - and the only real problem was off the boat during the day, but she had brought snack bars and was prepared. 

 

When we boarded the first day, we met with the restaurant manager and went over our dietary restrictions ( I am on a cardiac low salt regime and the Viking restaurant manager /chef has been very cooperative and helpful on my past three river cruises).

 

Each morning at breakfast, the manager found us and provided several selections to chose from  for lunch and dinner.

 

Sorry that your friend was not happy  - hopefully that was just a one off experience.

[eylarson]

On Ocean, once you are "in the system" after talking to Guest Relations and/or a Restaurant Manager, info about you available in all dining venues, except Pool Grill.  Reminders to waiters in Restaurant, Chef's Table, and Manfreti's to make sure.  World Cafe IDs gluten free items and has options for pasta and some breads.  

 

[Peregrina651]

11 hours ago, zitsky said:

So this is second hand information and relates to River but take it for what's it worth.  I have a good friend that recently cruised on River.  She said they did nothing to help her with her gluten intolerance.  She was pretty upset about it.

 

What I hope is that we get more success stories who have been on Ocean.

 

Some River chefs are better about the allergy/intolerance thing than others. I did a B2B in March and the first chef was hard to work with (buffet night was the pits) while the second chef bent over backwards.  In other words, don't decide from the experience of one person on one ship that the whole fleet is the same way; it isn't.

 

Also, the River experience and the Ocean experience are quiet different. The Ocean vessels have a lot more space for storage and for dealing with the myriad of dietary issues we bring with us.

 

[CDNPolar]

I am not gluten free but we have very specific food restrictions.  On our last Ocean Cruise, I did notice that at the bread station in the morning in the World Cafe that they had gluten free bread options - behind the counter that you asked for.  I would assume that these would have been pre-ordered by guests.

 

Our experience has been very good on Viking.  We call 90 days before and give our food restrictions and then meet with the restaurant manager or chef on first day.  We have always been impressed with how Viking have handled our food restrictions.

 

Excursions with meals may NOT be able to accommodate and this is out of Viking's control because it is likely a small regional restaurant that is not equipped for restrictions.

 

We tend to eat 80% of our meals in the World Cafe as we have the option to choose.

 

For example, in the World Cafe, daily there would be pasta and some days it was cream sauce and some days prepared with cheese in the sauce - we are dairy free - they would make us a quick red sauce without cream or cheese on demand and we were happy with this. 

 

I have read other stories of people not happy with how Viking handled food restrictions, but for us, we have had only good experience.

 

I also find that when you have a food restriction, and especially if it is directly health and wellbeing related, that when you travel - in my opinion - we cannot expect that every dish is modifiable, and that you will have a more limited menu.  I just feel - again my opinion - that we have to understand that we may have more limited food options.

 

My recommendation is to stick to the World Cafe as there seems to always be selections there that will suit most diets. 

 

I tend to set my expectations lower and end up happy with what Viking have done for us.  

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

I did notice that at the bread station in the morning in the World Cafe that they had gluten free bread options - behind the counter that you asked for.  I would assume that these would have been pre-ordered by guests.

 

Or, they are deliberately kept separately from the other breads to prevent cross-contamination, a big problem for those with celiac disease, and so all anyone has to do is to ask for a piece. I think that there are enough people on board who are avoiding wheat and glutens at this point that anyone who asks will be served.