Celebrity Cruise for Gluten Free

[gregoryC]

I have sailed several times with Royal Caribbean pre pandemic. If fact my wife and I were on one of the last ships before quarantine. However, post pandemic I recently got back from a RCL cruise and found while still gluten-free options the selection is bad. And the quality of food  has suffered greatly especially in the desert area. In fact get ready for pudding, jello, and did I mention pudding! All pudding based desserts! 
Good news! Just got off my second cruise this year with Celebrity and WOW! Not just options and great quality food, but a wide variety of selections! I always eat in the MDR (Main Dining Room) when available for increased safety. Just like RCL you place your order the night before for the next days breakfast and dinner. The difference with Celebrity besides high quality food was my desert selection was not limited to a “pudding based” dessert . And by chance you don’t like the dessert at the MDR, the buffet has  several different cakes and other desserts options with a huge selection of ice creams (both dipped and soft serve). Several toppings are available to make a sundae. 

We did have some failures. The kitchen tried several times to produce eatable pancakes but never to my satisfaction. The waffles did not fair much better. However I did have 4 perfectly prepared egg's Benedict with the egg’s poached perfectly and the best bacon!
Also the freshly prepared pizza was incredibly! It was so good we had to have another one made at midnight.
Give Celebrity a try I don’t think you will be disappointed. We found the selection to be  great even on the old ship's. 
Happy Cruising! 

[Scott Adams]

It's great that they are improving, and we actually have an article coming out on this topic on the 20th, regarding this article:

https://bnnbreaking.com/lifestyle/food/carnival-cruise-line-sets-sail-with-new-gluten-free-dining-options 

[Guest]

Thank you for giving a thorough comparison. It is good to listen to what you have experienced with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity after the pandemic. Celebrity seems to have improved a lot, particularly with the quality and variety of food. I will certainly think about choosing Celebrity for my upcoming cruise trip. The thought of choosing from more desserts than only pudding is very attractive, and it's hard to say no to pizza that has been made fresh. I appreciate your suggestion!

[T burd]

On 3/10/2024 at 8:15 AM, gregoryC said:

I have sailed several times with Royal Caribbean pre pandemic. If fact my wife and I were on one of the last ships before quarantine. However, post pandemic I recently got back from a RCL cruise and found while still gluten-free options the selection is bad. And the quality of food  has suffered greatly especially in the desert area. In fact get ready for pudding, jello, and did I mention pudding! All pudding based desserts! 
Good news! Just got off my second cruise this year with Celebrity and WOW! Not just options and great quality food, but a wide variety of selections! I always eat in the MDR (Main Dining Room) when available for increased safety. Just like RCL you place your order the night before for the next days breakfast and dinner. The difference with Celebrity besides high quality food was my desert selection was not limited to a “pudding based” dessert . And by chance you don’t like the dessert at the MDR, the buffet has  several different cakes and other desserts options with a huge selection of ice creams (both dipped and soft serve). Several toppings are available to make a sundae. 

We did have some failures. The kitchen tried several times to produce eatable pancakes but never to my satisfaction. The waffles did not fair much better. However I did have 4 perfectly prepared egg's Benedict with the egg’s poached perfectly and the best bacon!
Also the freshly prepared pizza was incredibly! It was so good we had to have another one made at midnight.
Give Celebrity a try I don’t think you will be disappointed. We found the selection to be  great even on the old ship's. 
Happy Cruising! 

I went on a celebrity cruise a bit over a year ago and they had a separate dessert table that always had one gluten-free dessert and then the ice cream and gelato were gluten-free. we always had crème brûlée for dessert option for dinner. and they had two other nights, where there were other options that they put together for us. They had regular udis toast for us for breakfast and dinner. My girls loved it and had salmon every night. While I am a steak person. There were always at least two good options.

we just did an MSC cruise for spring break and it was very depressing. The dinner time menu was great and we do love our savory breakfast of eggs and toast. My daughters would have loved pancakes, and they did not get those. They did have some prepackaged Italian brand croissants that they would provide for breakfast and if you request it dinner time the day before they make a lunch for you to take. All it is is some prepackaged bread, items and fruit.  They do love to give you prepackaged toast, which I think is a British thing. It’s basically bread that is a crouton. It has a great flavor, but it’s a crouton. They would give us that for dinner and breakfast.

they said they had a gluten-free cake for dinner, but it was more like the texture of toothpaste, with a little bit of pudding mixed in. very grainy like it was only made with rice, flour and pudding and that’s it. And they didn’t have any other options except ice cream. But during the day they didn’t have any kind of dessert options. Their self-serve ice cream isn’t even gluten-free.

They warn you that the buffet is not safe and you can go there and request them to make you food in the other kitchen. I did have them make us french fries two times. They do have the other dining room open for lunchtime, but I never made it for lunch. We ate all of our breakfast and dinners in a dining room though.
 we liked the chicken at the buffet some days that had the skin on it because we could take the skin off and not be too worried. 

honestly, though, I feel like I got cross contacted on both cruises, because I did eat at the buffets on both cruises. they say things are gluten-free, on the tags but they don’t really handle them safely. Celebrity had labeled couscous as gluten-free. And they didn’t seem interested in adjusting their signs. They had a naan-bred labeled as gluten-free, which was not also. That was the most aggravating part. They told me to verify each new thing that it is gluten-free. And their label on it should be the verification.
 

I would probably choose celebrity over MSC again. purely for the separate gluten-free dessert table and crème brûlée.

if anybody has been on other cruises that are great, I would love to hear. I did see somebody post that carnival will have a separate dedicated gluten-free menu for dinners now. and somebody else posted in the icon of the seas Facebook group that they have a section of buffet that is labeled gluten-free, but then people will come with their Gluten plates and touch the spoons to their Gluten already on their plates. 

 

[Scott Adams]

Thank you for the update on the current state of these cruise lines!

This part was very distressing, and if you're correct here they likely made many people very sick on a very expensive cruise:

Quote

Celebrity had labeled couscous as gluten-free. And they didn’t seem interested in adjusting their signs. They had a naan-bred labeled as gluten-free, which was not also.

How could they get this so wrong? Did you alert them about their errors?

[T burd]

2 hours ago, Scott Adams said:

Thank you for the update on the current state of these cruise lines!

This part was very distressing, and if you're correct here they likely made many people very sick on a very expensive cruise:

How could they get this so wrong? Did you alert them about their errors?

Oh yes. First thing you do on a ship is go ask food staff what you can eat. During your I was stern. ‘You cannot label that as gluten free!’  His response ‘you must ask the kitchen about everything’ I should have gone to customer service. It was the millennium. And a year ago. Maybe they fixed it? 

[gregoryC]

I did not see this on ours. I did notice both items and they were not listed as gluten-free. 

I have found the best experience starts with the Main Dining Room (MDR) head waiter. I have always talked to the MDR head waiter first, then he would bring the executive chef out to meet me at our table. Doing this I have found is the best time to challenge the staff to create some excellent desserts. Give that a try and happy cruising! 

[gregoryC]

Just finished my second celebrity cruise. My first was on one of their oldest ships, it was awesome! Now we have sailed on the edge class. Wow! Not only do they have so many gluten-free options but the selection is mind blowing! Any given day you will have between 5 to 7 different gluten-free cakes to try. Yes that is right, one day at the coffee shop I had to choose between 5 gluten-free cakes not including the several puddings on display. So they gave me a small piece of each. 2 were great, 2 were just good, and 1 I did not enjoy. But never have I had the tough decision of which cake to eat? 
These selections are from their normal options available for all guest. In the main dining room they always surprised me with some awesome desserts. 
In my opinion the best pizza was on the Millennium class and best buffet on the Edge class. Although these two ship vary in size they are both consistent and serving high quality food from the main dinning room. The edge class gives you 4 “main” dining rooms (all included). I was unsure how this would work with my gluten-free diet? It worked great! I was able to order or see the next night’s menu for each of the four dinning venues finding that very little to no modifications needed to be made due to their extensive gluten free options. 
The Millennium and Edge class ships provide the best gluten-free options from any of the cruise lines I have sailed with. You will find a larger selection and options on the edge class ships, however you will not be disappointed with the smaller Millennium class. Which is still my favorite cruise ship to date. 

 

[Scott Adams]

It's great to hear that cruise lines are stepping up and offering better and more quality gluten-free options for their guests! Given the fact that on a ship you're basically trapped with whatever food options there are, it makes a lot of business sense for all cruise lines to cater to the growing gluten-free crowd.

[gregoryC]

Agree, and on this cruise I did the worst case scenario. I did not meet with any dining room staff. Out of 7 nights I only had to request 1 night to see if they could make a cuban themed seafood plate for me. They did! It was awesome! I cannot emphasize enough how much Celebrity beats Royal Caribbean on quality and options for not only Gluten Free options but all food choices! 
Best prime rib, steak diane, steak and lobster, and spaghetti bolognese, just a few! WOW! 
Also ate one night at the buffet. I took a small spoon size portion of most hot items to try. It took me two trip using the largest plate I could find. Doing this I still was not able to sample all the options. I also did not take my enzymes before each meal and did not get sick!
It was a try vacation!

Go Celebrity! 

[T burd]

16 hours ago, gregoryC said:

Just finished my second celebrity cruise. My first was on one of their oldest ships, it was awesome! Now we have sailed on the edge class. Wow! Not only do they have so many gluten-free options but the selection is mind blowing! Any given day you will have between 5 to 7 different gluten-free cakes to try. Yes that is right, one day at the coffee shop I had to choose between 5 gluten-free cakes not including the several puddings on display. So they gave me a small piece of each. 2 were great, 2 were just good, and 1 I did not enjoy. But never have I had the tough decision of which cake to eat? 
These selections are from their normal options available for all guest. In the main dining room they always surprised me with some awesome desserts. 
In my opinion the best pizza was on the Millennium class and best buffet on the Edge class. Although these two ship vary in size they are both consistent and serving high quality food from the main dinning room. The edge class gives you 4 “main” dining rooms (all included). I was unsure how this would work with my gluten-free diet? It worked great! I was able to order or see the next night’s menu for each of the four dinning venues finding that very little to no modifications needed to be made due to their extensive gluten free options. 
The Millennium and Edge class ships provide the best gluten-free options from any of the cruise lines I have sailed with. You will find a larger selection and options on the edge class ships, however you will not be disappointed with the smaller Millennium class. Which is still my favorite cruise ship to date. 

 

I went on celebrity millennium at Christmas 2022. You saying more cake variety is now offered at once? After the cruise I did make suggestions for gluten free in a survey. Sounds like they implemented my ideas... keep giving feedback to cruises to see results. 
 

[gregoryC]

The Millennium class ships (we went on the Summit) do have constrains due to their size. I still like them better then the edge class ships (my wife and I enjoy small crowds ) even though I only have 3 different cakes to choose from at any given time at cafe al Bacio or the buffet. When ordering from the main dining room if you want a special dessert you will need to order the night before. We will be sailing in the spring on the Constellation. I will let everyone know when completed. 
 

[gregoryC]

[gregoryC]

The gluten-free section on the buffet 

[gregoryC]

The gluten-free cakes at cafe al Bacio

[gregoryC]

The best gluten-free pizza is on the Celebrity Summit, but the Celebrity Beyond Pizza still beats and land gluten-free pizza. 

[T burd]

4 hours ago, gregoryC said:

The gluten-free section on the buffet 

I love that there's wheat all over the wall paper for the gluten-free section. It looks good. Was the café included in the free meals or was that extra? 

[gregoryC]

Everything I had was included in the cruise fare. The coffee at cafe al baico is not but,  ALL baked goods are! If you want a coffee, latte, or espresso the charge is $4 to $5. Not bad for some excellent coffee! The buffet and spa cafe has free coffee and drinks. Also large selection of the best ice cream, sorbet, and gelato at sea for free! 
with Celebrity I don’t feel like I have a handicap. 

[Scott Adams]

Note to self--never go on a Celebrity cruise!😉 I can't imagine how much weight I would gain!!! Their gluten-free selection is amazing!

[Mrs Wolfe]

I’m on the he Celebrity Beyond right now.  The gluten free options are plentiful as displayed in the previous pictures.  The dining staff begin by asking if anyone at the table has allergies and do not act as if you’re inconveniencing them at all. The menus in the restaurants are plainly marked. It’s been some years since my husband and I have cruised and since I’ve only been diagnosed for about a year I was planning on it being difficult.  It’s has been easier than when I’m home!!  I can’t say enough about the Celebrity Beyond experience.  

[Scott Adams]

Feel free to let us know how your cruise goes with the gluten-free options.