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Going On A Royal Caribbean Cruise


blondebombshell

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blondebombshell Collaborator

how's the food for us gluten-free folk? this is the first time cruising gluten free and i am not happy about it, lol!

i am going to miss johnny rockets onion rings!

any suggestions for the boat or off the boat?

going to st. marteen, st. thomas, aruba and curaco

thanks so much!


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Respira Apprentice

I don't have any advice. But please report back..I am going on a cruise in February for the first time since going gluten free, I have been on 8 cruises and all the memories of the food have me scared to death

Daxin Explorer

On St Thomas, there is a place called "Delly...something" at the Havensight mall. They have great food at great prices. I had the ahi tuna ceaser salad. They use an oil and vinegar style dressing, and were more than happy to leave off the crutons. As for the others, I can't say. We jsut got back from a cruise to that area.

I found the food on the ship to be WELL ABOVE par for normal Gluten Free cooking. Breakfast buffet was not too bad, and they had a loaf of gluten-free bread on the toast station. Dinner in the main dinning room was awesome, and very flavorful. Make sure you've told them ahead of time though, and they will not dissappoint. They even kept Rice pasta on the italian staiton at the buffet, but they would cook it to order so there was laways that option as well.

We crusied Holland Americal, but I have read reviews on most of the major cruise lines, and they deal with sepcial diets all the time.

  • 3 weeks later...
patton Newbie
how's the food for us gluten-free folk? this is the first time cruising gluten free and i am not happy about it, lol!

i am going to miss johnny rockets onion rings!

any suggestions for the boat or off the boat?

going to st. marteen, st. thomas, aruba and curaco

thanks so much!

Went on Carnival in Aug'07 and on Royal Caribbean in Dec '07. RC much better let them know in advance of cruise you need a gluten-free diet and they will cater to you at dinner in the dining room. They will even be able to arrange for you to have gluten-free french toast in dining room in am. Fabulous gluten-free deserts in dining room. They bring the following day

  • 1 month later...
BCLinME Newbie

Hi, I just came back from doing two cruises, 02/08. First was Carnival Glory. These were our ninth and tenth cruises but first gluten free. Carnival's food in the dining room was great, the bread was iffy but they tried. What was immediately apparent to me was that they will use what they have on both ships to accomadate you but they evidently do not know there are hundreds of companies selling gluten free desserts out there. I saw a lot of fruit for dessert. On this cruise I just went with the flow, found what I could but made no waves!!!!! Next was the Emerald Princess 10 day cruise. I expected more and by day three I was dissapointed. The people were great and once we expressed our dissatisfaction things turned around. My husband told them he expected there to be something for me at afternoon tea and the next day there was. Next I stopped getting up early to go to the dining room and had eggs and bacon from the buffet. There were no gluten free muffins etc. in the dining roon so why bother. I also, against my husbands advice, I had packed my own cereal, I knew I would get sick of eggs. One day I was talking to a chef and he offered to make me pancakes the next day!!!!! They were great until I asked for real maple syrup, as you see this is a work in progress for cruise ships. The chef did walk me though the buffet to show me what I could have there, very helpful. In the International Cafe I spoke to a supervisor and the next day had gluten free quiche, the next day gluten free pizza. I would often walk through the buffet to look to see what they had, then would find a gluten free dessert. I always asked to be sure and always got a quick answer. The only thing that annoyed the blazes out of me was constant reference to my gluten free diet at the table on both ships. For example, "here is your gluten free dinner" or "this is your gluten free dessert". Also being approached in the middle of a meal to decide the next days meal was a pain. Lessons learned here are, Ask for what you want!!!! Cruising isn't cheap and the cruise lines tell you they can provide gluten free food. Hold them to the promise. Also if there are things you love, take some with you, in my case it was cereal and croutons. I felt bad the third day asking for what I needed but as my husband told me, "you will just make it better for the person coming next week". True! Overall Princess did a great job and I wasn't sick once.

Daryl Newbie

Overall, were you satisfied with Carnival? We're sailing on teh Triumph in April. My wife spoke to someone the other day who told here there are gluten free breads, rolls and pasta on board. They indicated that the buffet's would be the toughest. I assumed that. They also said we were free to bring whatever food we wanted on board. I'm thinking of packing cereal, chips, snacks that I know I can eat. When you brought your cereal on-board, were you questioned about food etc.? or given a hard time about it? I was just going to stick the stuff in our bags. We cruised Disney 6 years ago, and I honestly cannot remember the boarding process we went through.

Michelle1234 Contributor

Hi, Thanks for your reports!

I love to cruise but haven't been since going gluten free. I was hesitant to try Princess since I had not yet seen a good report. We are Platinum on Princess so it has been one of my favorite lines.

To perhaps look at one thing a little differently if a server at a restaurant delivers a meal to me and doesn't mention that it is gluten free I ask. So I would be one who appreciated confirmation that they realized I needed the special meal and had in fact grabbed that one and not one of the others that may look just like it.

Thanks again!

Michelle


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    • catnapt
      thank you so much for your detailed and extremely helpful reply!! I can say with absolute certainty that the less gluten containing products I've eaten over the past several years, the better I've felt.   I wasn't avoiding gluten, I was avoiding refined grains (and most processed foods) as well as anything that made me feel bad when I ate it. It's the same reason I gave up dairy and eggs- they make me feel ill.  I do have a bit of a sugar addiction lol so a lot of times I wasn't sure if it was the refined grains that I was eating - or the sugar. So from time to time I might have a cookie or something but I've learned how to make wonderful cookies and golden brownies with BEANS!! and no refined sugar - I use date paste instead. Pizza made me so ill- but I thought it was probably the cheese. I gave up pizza and haven't missed it. the one time I tried a slice I felt so bad I knew I'd never touch it again. I stopped eating wheat pasta at least 3 yrs ago- just didn't feel well after eating it. I tried chick pea pasta and a few others and discovered I like the brown rice pasta. I still don't eat a lot of pasta but it's nice for a change when I want something easy. TBH over the years I've wondered sometimes if I might be gluten intolerant but really believed it was not possible for me to have celiac disease. NOW I need to know for sure- because I'm in the middle of a long process of trying to find out why I have a high parathyroid level (NOT the thyroid- but rather the 4 glands that control the calcium balance in your body) I have had a hard time getting my vit D level up, my serum calcium has run on the low side of normal for many years... and now I am losing calcium from my bones and excreting it in my urine (some sort of renal calcium leak) Also have a high ALP since 2014. And now rapidly worsening bone density.  I still do not have a firm diagnosis. Could be secondary HPT (but secondary to what? we need to know) It could be early primary HPT. I am spilling calcium in my urine but is that caused by the high parathyroid hormone or is it the reason my PTH is high>? there are multiple feedback loops for this condition.    so I will keep eating the bread and some wheat germ that does not seem to bother me too much (it hasn't got enough gluten to use just wheat germ)    but I'm curious- if you don't have a strong reaction to a product- like me and wheat germ- does that mean it's ok to eat or is it still causing harm even if you don't have any obvious symptoms? I guess what you are saying about silent celiac makes it likely that you can have no symptoms and still have the harm... but geez! you'd think they'd come up with a way to test for this that didn't require you to consume something that makes you sick! I worry about the complications I've been reading about- different kinds of cancers etc. also wondering- are there degrees of celiac disease?  is there any correlation between symptoms and the amnt of damage to your intestines? I also need a firm diagnosis because I have an identical twin sister ... so if I have celiac, she has it too- or at least the genetic make up for having it. I did have a VERY major stress to my body in 2014-2016 time frame .. lost 50lbs in a short period of time and had severe symptoms from acute protracted withdrawal off an SSRI drug (that I'd been given an unethically high dose of, by a dr who has since lost his license)  Going off the drug was a good thing and in many ways my health improved dramatically- just losing 50lbs was helpful but I also went  off almost a dozen different medications, totally changed my diet and have been doing pretty well except for the past 3-4 yrs when the symptoms related to the parathyroid issue cropped up. It is likely that I had low vit D for some time and that caused me a lot of symptoms. The endo now tells me that low vit D can be caused by celiac disease so I need to know for sure! thank you for all that great and useful information!!! 
    • trents
      Welcome, @catnapt! The most recent guidelines are the daily consumption of a minimum of 10g of gluten (about the amount found in 4-6 slices of wheat bread) for a minimum of two weeks. But if possible stretching that out even more would enhance the chances of getting valid test results. These guidelines are for those who have been eating gluten free for a significant amount of time. It's called the "gluten challenge".  Yes, you can develop celiac disease at any stage of life. There is a genetic component but also a stress trigger that is needed to activate the celiac genes. About 30-40% of the general population possesses the genetic potential to develop celiac disease but only about 1% of the general population actually develop celiac disease. For most with the potential, the triggering stress event doesn't happen. It can be many things but often it is a viral infection. Having said that, it is also the case that many, many people who eventually are diagnosed with celiac disease probably experienced the actual onset years before. Many celiacs are of the "silent" type, meaning that symptoms are largely missing or very minor and get overlooked until damage to the small bowel lining becomes advanced or they develop iron deficiency anemia or some other medical problem associated with celiac disease. Many, many are never diagnosed or are diagnosed later in life because they did not experience classic symptoms. And many physicians are only looking for classic symptoms. We now know that there are over 200 symptoms/medical problems associated with celiac disease but many docs are only looking for things like boating, gas, diarrhea. I certainly understand your concerns about not wanting to damage your body by taking on a gluten challenge. Your other option is to totally commit to gluten free eating and see if your symptoms improve. It can take two years or more for complete healing of the small bowel lining once going gluten free but usually people experience significant improvement well before then. If their is significant improvement in your symptoms when going seriously gluten free, then you likely have your answer. You would either have celiac disease or NCGS (Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity).
    • catnapt
      after several years of issues with a para-gland issue, my endo has decided it's a good idea for me to be tested for celiac disease. I am 70 yrs old and stunned to learn that you can get celiac this late in life. I have just gradually stopped eating most foods that contain gluten over the past several years- they just make me feel ill- although I attributed it to other things like bread spiking blood sugar- or to the things I ate *with* the bread or crackers etc   I went to a party in Nov and ate a LOT of a vegan roast made with vital wheat gluten- as well as stuffing, rolls and pie crust... and OMG I was so sick! the pain, the bloating, the gas, the nausea... I didn't think it would ever end (but it did) and I was ready to go the ER but it finally subsided.   I mentioned this to my endo and now she wants me to be tested for celiac after 2 weeks of being on gluten foods. She has kind of flip flopped on how much gluten I should eat, telling me that if the symptoms are severe I can stop. I am eating 2-3 thin slices of bread per day (or english muffins) and wow- it does make me feel awful. But not as bad as when I ate that massive amnt of vital wheat gluten. so I will continue on if I have to... but what bothers me is - if it IS celiac, it seems stupid for lack of a better word, to intentionally cause more damage to my body... but I am also worried, on the other hand, that this is not a long enough challenge to make the blood work results valid.   can you give me any insight into this please?   thank you
    • trents
      The biopsy looks for damage to the mucosal lining of the small bowel from the inflammation caused by celiac disease when gluten is ingested. Once you remove gluten from the diet, inflammation subsides and the mucosal lining begins to heal. 
    • Theresa2407
      Our support groups in Iowa have tried for years to educate doctors and resource sites like this one.  We have held yearly conferences with continued education classes.   We have brought in Dr. Murray, Dr. Fasano, Dr. Green and Dr. elliott.  In those many years we may have had 2 doctors attend.  We sent them information, with no response.  I talked to my personal doctor and she said their training for Celiac was to show them a skinny man in boxer shorts and a huge stomach.  Saying if you see this, it is Celiac.  If it isn't in their playbook then they don't care.  Most call it an allergy with no mention of our immune system.  There is so much false information on the internet.  Then people don't understand why they can't get well and are acquiring more immune diseases. I mention this site to everyone.  Scott has working hard for the Celiac community.
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