Cruises

[Turtle]

Anyone have any feedback about cruises and meeting gluten-free needs??? Or feedback about a cruise/cruiseline you've been on that met the gluten-free needs, etc.

We're considering going on one b/c we can get a great rate through the military, but I want to first get as much info and feedback before making a decision. It's not like there will be a PF Cheng's on board. HAHA!

Thanks!

turtledupree@hotmail.com

[carriecraig]

I went on the NCL Spirit out of NYC at the end of February this year. Here is my reply to another post:

Hi! I just got back from a cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line on March 5th, and I had the greatest experience. We decided to go at the last minute (within 3 weeks of sailing), and I just went through my travel agent to get the contact info of the coordinator on the ship. A few days before we left, I got a confirmation that I would meet with the executive chef, and we would go over the menu options. He brought along a list of all of the gluten-free foods that they had on board (and there was a lot – bread, pasta, bagels, waffles), and also had me get in touch with the maitre d in the restaurant to go over the menu choices for the following day. I got the royal treatment! I could order just about anything, and they would prepare it in a separate kitchen, so there was no possibility of CC. They also prepared gluten-free desserts every night, so I was so spoiled (chocolate mousse, flan, and chocolate decadence cake – heavenly). I ate great, and felt great the whole trip. I cannot say enough great things about my experience.

[Turtle]

WOW! That is so cool!!

Thanks for sharing....

[globetrotter]

Anyone have any feedback about cruises and meeting gluten-free needs??? Or feedback about a cruise/cruiseline you've been on that met the gluten-free needs, etc.

We're considering going on one b/c we can get a great rate through the military, but I want to first get as much info and feedback before making a decision. It's not like there will be a PF Cheng's on board. HAHA!

Thanks!

turtledupree@hotmail.com

Hi

My husband and I have travelled a lot, especially cruising. Most of the large cruise lines can offer you gluten free meals. If you go on to the cruise line site there usually an area for special servcies that should tell you this. Otherwise you can call your travel ageny or the cruise line and they can advise you. Some cruise lines want you to fill in a form, others just want you to advise them in advance.

Have fun

Globetrotter

[Turtle]

Thanks for taking the time to post! We'll have to look into this! YAY!!

[ajay]

Anyone have any feedback about cruises and meeting gluten-free needs??? Or feedback about a cruise/cruiseline you've been on that met the gluten-free needs, etc.

We're considering going on one b/c we can get a great rate through the military, but I want to first get as much info and feedback before making a decision. It's not like there will be a PF Cheng's on board. HAHA!

Thanks!

turtledupree@hotmail.com

Hi Turtle,

I posted some comments about Carnival Cruises under another thread which has "carnival" in the title... you can PM me if you can't find it. Let us know what you decide!

[natalunia]

I just got back from a 10 day Baltic Sea cruise on Oceania Insignia (small ship: 684 passengers). Oceania had me listed as gluten free in their computer months ahead of time, after I notified them. While onboard the waiters were great about helping me choose gluten free items, and even checked with the chef if they were uncertain. There was always atleast one dessert I could eat and usually 2-3 main entrees on the main dining room menu to choose from.

Overall it was great, with the exception of the last night when we ate at one of the specialty restaurants. I didn't want to bother our waitress with questions about what had gluten in it or not, and I had been good about choosing things for the prior 9 days, so I chose something that looking back now I should have suspected... It was my first appetizer (eggplant stuffed with veal, but I think they had flour or bread crumbs mixed in the stuffing mixture). By the time they gave us the dessert menu I had to rush back to the room for the rest of the evening (a fellow diner whom we had talked with before asked hubby if he had said something to tick me off to make me leave so abruptly!).

Anyhow, Oceania was great. They are a bit expensive for the average cruiser, but there are 4 staff members for each cruiser, so the experience is above and beyond average.... I recommend them if you are over 60 and want a very classy cruise experience (we are 29 and 43 yrs old and felt too young). I think we will stick with NCL in the future, just because there would be more people in our age group.

[alicegray27]

It has been 1 year for me eating gluten-free. We have always been big cruisers. We have been on Princess and Royal Caribbean since last year. They treated me like a Queen for the week. We travel with a group of people that can't belive how I get all this special care. We are getting ready to go with Princess in Nov. (can't wait)

We are traveling with Carnival In Feb. with a group of friends. My travel agent and I both contacted Carnival, It did not go well when I talked to them. They were rude to me and told me to bring my own food. The guy went as far to tell me his sister in law has celiac disease and she don't even go out to eat and maybe I should not cruise. I contacted my travel agent and she said she is going to look into this and get back to me. We have not cruise with Carnival. We love Princess but Carnival's Itinerary was what we wanted. Has anyone cruised with Carnival?

[celiacgirls]

We just got back from a Royal Carribbean cruise and it was wonderful. We ordered our food the night before and they prepared it separately. One of my daughters is a vegetarian so they had to make something especially for her. They made gluten free bread for us and served it at every meal. We are also casein free so there wasn't much for dessert for us, but it looked like just gluten-free would have had options. My kids did have jello every night.

To me, it was a wonderful experience where I could eat out and not worry about the whole gluten issue.

[natalunia]

Alicegray27, if you have been cruising with Princess you will not like Carnival. My hubby used to work for Carnival Corporation and the caliber of cruisers on Carnival are not like that of Princess. Granted they are both owned by Carnival Corp, but they are two different animals. I don't know if you are aware of the cruisecritic website, but you can do a lot of research on there about any cruise line that exists....

You'd be happier with NCL if you are looking for a cheaper alternative to Princess, but with a little bit less rowdy crowd. From what I understand NCL treats their gluten-free travelers like royalty, but their officers are mainly Norwegian, so maybe they have officers who are celiac who they have to feed.

I know we used to cruise on Carnival lines, but switched to NCL and got hooked. Then we wanted to try Seaborne, but our agent talked us into Oceania instead. We still felt it was too formal (even though there was no formal night) for us. We will definitely be cruising with NCL for our future cruises.

[Kasey'sMom]

celiacgirls;

We ordered our food the night before and they prepared it separately.

We're going on Royal Carribean this fall and we haven't cruised since DX. I'm so glad to hear that you did well. Did you pre-order breakfast and lunch as well as dinner?

Anyone other tips on food would be great!

Thanks

[celiacgirls]

celiacgirls;

We're going on Royal Carribean this fall and we haven't cruised since DX. I'm so glad to hear that you did well. Did you pre-order breakfast and lunch as well as dinner?

Anyone other tips on food would be great!

Thanks

We didn't pre-order breakfast and lunch. They did bring the gluten-free bread on request at those meals. We ate eggs, bacon, and grits along with the bread. They also would bring peanut butter on request since my kids don't use butter.

For lunch, I ordered off the regular menu but asked about each item. You have to talk to the head waiter but they seemed to be very knowledgeable about it. I had lettuce wraps with no soy sauce, almond crusted fish, and steak.

I always ate in the dining room. There was another place with a buffet that the food just looked to questionable.

One problem we had is that we had signed up for a day long trip in Mexico. Lunch was to be provided but it had to be a specific lunch. (a tuna salad sandwich, cookie, muffin, and chips) They said no substitutions were allowed. I don't know what would happen if you were caught with other food but I had my 2 young children with me and didn't want to find out. We changed to a shorter trip so we could find our own food.

[Kasey'sMom]

Thanks!

I'm so glad that gluten-free bread can be requested at other meals. My dd should be content, she loves bread!

This is her first cruise and she has celiac disease as well. I'm concerned about the ports to. I think we may do beach days at most of the ports, plus it should save some $$. I can just see us sick on a bus traveling around Mexico with no bathroom in sight. Much less no food. Did you go back to the ship to eat? I was thinking that's what we'd need to do in Coco Cay and Labadee.

It seems like our dd likes to snack a lot! I was hoping to find some fresh, whole fruit like apples etc. I'm always scared about buffets. Did you find that most of the drinks were safe, juice, tea, etc?

Did your children participate in the Adventure Ocean program?

Also , did you take some non-perishables with you?

Thanks again for the information. This is our first big trip since diag. so I'm just a tad nervous.

[celiacgirls]

I took some gluten-free treats with us. The kids had that for snacks. They drank soft drinks or water so I'm not sure about the juices. Our plan was to go back to the ship to eat but we were often too late for the regular lunch so we ate at restaurants at the port.

My kids loved the Adventure Ocean club. They begged to go. They go to many camps at home and are less enthusiastic about them so it must have been good.

If you are celiac as well, I did think the alcoholic drinks on the cruise were gluten-free. I looked at the mixers the first day and didn't see any suspicious ingredients and felt fine the whole time.

[celiacgirls]

Also, I think you need to let the ship know you are coming and need to be gluten free. Then they will know to have the flour they need for the bread. My travel agent did this for us, but I think you can find an e-mail address on the RC website.

[Kasey'sMom]

You have no idea how much you've helped. I've been dying to talk first hand with someone's who's been with children. I'm getting really excited after reading your posts!!

Our TA sent our gluten free request so I'm hoping they will have our information when we get there. I ended up faxing it again this week to be on the safe side. Did you pack the snacks in your checked luggage or your carry on?

We're doing Eastern on the Mariner and then the Western. I tried to do some searches on gluten free restaurants but couldn't find any. Do you have any recommendations? I thought about getting some dining cards to take with us.

I'm so glad to hear that your children loved AO. My dd will be in the younger group. I thought I would go the first day and explain our situation. From what I've read the children don't actually eat in the AO rooms? I was hoping that some of the activities would be safe for her to enjoy. The only thing on the AO fact sheet for her group that she wouldn't be able to do were playdough sculptures. From what I could tell at first glance, other things looked OK.

I'm Celiac as well and my husband also eats gluten-free. This is great news about the drinks. What did you try?

Thanks again!