Gluten Free Dining

[rsurban]

My wife is restricted to a gluten free diet.  We sailed on the Miracle earlier this month and were disappointed with the gluten free options.  MDR gluten free bread was gross, pizza and blue iguana had not gluten free options, for example.  We will be sailing on Panorama in February.  Any suggestions on gluten free food/dining choices?

[HarborHermit]

You might check out Life with Favor on YouTube for some suggestions. She has to have gluten free food, and she sails on Carnival sometimes.

[iamsteph]

17 hours ago, rsurban said:

My wife is restricted to a gluten free diet.  We sailed on the Miracle earlier this month and were disappointed with the gluten free options.  MDR gluten free bread was gross, pizza and blue iguana had not gluten free options, for example.  We will be sailing on Panorama in February.  Any suggestions on gluten free food/dining choices?

Carnival does gluten free pizza. It's not listed on their menu, you have to ask for it. Room service can also make sandwiches gluten free, as can the deli. 

 

I somewhat agree with you about the main dining room bread though. While not gross, there are a lot of options out there that are so much better. 

[mz-s]

Is there a such a thing as good gluten free bread? I've never experienced it if so.

[lasekeye]

At the buffet, ask a server behind the cake counter.  They always have a gf option (kept out of sight behind the counter).  One day the attendant gave me a blank look when I asked for the gf option that day….I asked to speak to the chef.  When he was summoned, he told me that a gf option wasn’t prepared that day (maybe this was embarkation day??), and that he would be sure to have something every day from then on.

At Guys burger, I asked about gf buns….was told if I could wait 15 min….the chef could make some.  They weren’t bad…but I usually eat them without buns now, fork & knife are my way to eat a burger.

In the dining room, I always pre order my evening meal the evening before.  The chef is able to tweak offerings to be gf.

 

So, the theme here is “just ask”, whether it’s the buffet or main dining room.

[jetsfan58]

The solution to getting any type of meal request is to contact the Maître D and on the first sit down night let your head waiter know that you will need special meals during the entire cruise. The night prior to the next dinner night they will take your special reservation and give it to the Chef. The requested food will be prepared and made ready when you arrive for your evening meal.  

 

This process was successful during our last Cruise. I can't speak for every Carnival Cruise Ship but the staff on our last cruise made this process happen for several in our party.

[Wanna_Cruize]

Yes, we've done this for DH, (low sodium). On embarkation, we went to the spot where  you can meet with the Maitre'D, and they had us choose from a couple of options available that evening. That evening our waiter brought DH the dinner menu for tomorrow and let him order from a much wider selection, because when they know in advance how many special meals they need, they can create enough 'batches'. He was also able to pre-order for Sea Day Brunch, or any breakfast in MDR the night before. It worked out well. 

 

ETA: He as able to order even the soup as low-sodium. We tested it because I ordered the regular version that night, and we could really tell the difference between the two minestrone versions. 

Edited May 1, 2022 by Wanna_Cruize
More info

[jpennin217]

Sorry you were disappointed and my wife has to have GF also. We have sailed many times with RC, NCL, and Carnival. Carnival does the best with GF sailing hands down and just stay completely away from NCL.  All you have to do is ask and they pretty much make it happen. Pasta, bread (not the best), pizza, and in the main dining room they can make most of the next days meal GF. We even had the head chef make a point to come out and talk with her as the next nights menu was going to be hard for them to make some of the items GF. He made her a special meal and desert. 

[jrtmouse]

Just sailed Panorama a few weeks back.  My wife seemed pretty content with the GF options.  

 

As Lasekeye stated earlier, MDR staff were always good about bringing the menus for the next day (both breakfast and dinner menus) so she could preorder for both she and my daughter.  

 

There seemed to always be a GF option at the cakes near the buffet.  To that I'll also add I had VERY LOW expectations of the cakes when I tried them on the first day.  OMG, they were surprisingly amazing, like REALLY good!  So do try them and they change from day to day!  Even the GF options I personally hadn't realized were GF until my wife told me were delish!

 

While the burgers at Guys were GF, she didn't trust the fries so opted out.  When she asked one of the staff at Guys about a GF roll on day one and he then proceeded to roll his eyes, she gave up and ate the plain patties.  You'll know who I'm talking about too.  That wasn't the only time I saw him give attitude. (PS, there was a lot of attitude from staff that week!)

 

If you're willing to wait EXTRA long, there are options at the pizza place but be prepared to wait.

 

As far as the buffet, yes, there is a kiosk there with someone to help you but from what I saw, the buffet was extraordinarily pathetic so we never bothered.   

Edited May 2, 2022 by jrtmouse