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Bad Experience On Carnival Cruise

abigail

By abigail
in Traveling with Celiac Disease

Recommended Posts

abigail Apprentice
abigail
Posted

Hi there, I come back from our Carnival cruise vacation and I had bad experiencies about the gluten-free food that they offer on board,

They did carry gluten-free bread, pasta and pizza but they didnt had a clue about gluten-free, cross contamination and they thoug that gluten its in flour only!!!!

Im so lucky that my kid were fine eaating fruits and yougurt (great coincidence that was gluten-free)

please be carefull if you plan to travel!!

here is a copy of the letter that ive send them:

I came this Friday from a cruise and Im very upset, it was like a nightmare.

1 month ago Ive send a special request form, cause both of my kids require a Gluten Free diet, I wasnt nervious because Ive read in the Carnival web page that they are ready for this kind of requierments.

the Maitre D had no clue about Gluten free diet, and he wasnt cordial about the special requests.

I had to talk to managers, chefs and hostess who where cordial but are not well informed about gluten-free diets as well

putting my kids health on risk.

Ive herad things like: just stay away from the flour (I wish!) , or: none of the food of this ship contains MSG (sorry but I cant belive that when 80% of the supermarket items contain that!) , Ive been told by a chef that all the chesses were gluten-free and that only one kind was gluten-free buy a hostess,so many time they told me , yes "I think" its gluten-free (I think?? I nedd to be sure, this is not a joke!)

I cried the second day of the cruise, being in the middle of the sea with no food

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*lee-lee* Enthusiast
*lee-lee*
Posted

oh man, i'm sorry you had such a crappy experience. i hope you get some kind of positive response from Carnival. let us know what they say!

nothungry Contributor
nothungry
Posted

I am sorry to hear about your cruise. I have been watching for reviews of cruiselines that handle the food issues well. We are trying to decide on a cruise for one of our next vacations. I am certain that A disney cruise would be the best choice, but we are traveling with a large group (2 in my immediate family have celiac disease). They are not so convinced to spend the extra money on a Disney Cruise - although I don't want to spend my money on a cruise where my family cannot eat safely. Hmm....I look forward to what Carnival has to say.

  • 2 weeks later...
abigail Apprentice
abigail
Posted
  • Author

I still got ZERO news from carnival (what a shame...), so today Ive send them a secon email:

10 days ago Ive send an Email, telling about my bad expierence on the carnival cruise, when my kids where no well taken car with the gluten free food.

Its amazing that I still got zero answers,, not even one saiyng "sorry for what happened, let me find out more" or anything!!!

Are you there??

let me know whats happening because some people in the celiac.com forum (for prople who cant eat gluten) are waiting your response, and off course, me too!

please be cordial and answer my email.

Abigail.

Allan&Debbie Newbie
Allan&Debbie
Posted
I still got ZERO news from carnival (what a shame...), so today Ive send them a secon email:

10 days ago Ive send an Email, telling about my bad expierence on the carnival cruise, when my kids where no well taken car with the gluten free food.

Its amazing that I still got zero answers,, not even one saiyng "sorry for what happened, let me find out more" or anything!!!

Are you there??

let me know whats happening because some people in the celiac.com forum (for prople who cant eat gluten) are waiting your response, and off course, me too!

please be cordial and answer my email.

Abigail.

  • 4 weeks later...
COgal Newbie
COgal
Posted

Hi Everyone,

I just got back from the Carnival Elation and I thought I'd add my gluten-free experiences on Carnival Cruise Lines to the discussion. I want to preface my review by saying I didn't get sick once; but this was more from my own vigilance than the efforts by Carnival.

The formal dining room did a fairly good job. When I arrived the first night, I told the hostess about my diet, and she already had a sheet with my name and restrictions on it. They brought out Gluten-Free bread right away, and while it wasn't the best I've had, it was still very thoughtful (especially with the rest of my family eating the normal breads). The hostess couldn't advise me on what I could have and couldn't have; all she would say is that my order would be placed and the chefs would do their best to make it gluten free. I kept my orders to the steak, fish and chicken entrees; I didn't try the gluten-free pastas. Every night the chefs would make a special gluten-free dessert for me: chocolate mousse, strawberry mousse, creme brule, etc. The hostess would then come at the end of the meal and we would go over the next night's menu.

My biggest problem with the cruise was that I was left on my own for breakfast and lunch. The Elation has two options for dining; the restaurant and the buffet area. We chose the restaurant for breakfast on the second day of the cruise. I alerted my breakfast waiter that I required a gluten-free diet and got a VERY stern lecture about how I couldn't have anything AT ALL on the breakfast menu and that I could only order gluten-free at dinner. This was the most upsetting situation I've been in since I was diagnosed. I've never had anyone refuse to work with me; especially when I saw that half the things on the menu could be prepared gluten free (eggs, sausage, bacon, fruit, etc). All I needed was for the chefs to know to be careful of cross-contamination with me. After that awful experience I didn't even try to alert my breakfast waiters.

The buffet areas weren't very good either. They were extremely crowded at all times, the servers were harried, and when asked had no clue about the ingredients of the dishes and couldn't figure out who to ask to get answers. Once again, I kept my choices to meats and vegetables.

If anyone has any specific questions about my experience, I'd be happy to answer them!

  • 3 months later...
travel1 Newbie
travel1
Posted

I just returned from the Carnival Glory. I had a good experience with the gluten free choices on the cruise ship. I had filled out a request about a month prior and they had my request at hand. The dining room was very helpful showing me the things that I could have or what they could fix special for me. The french onion soup was excellent as was the melting cake that was specially prepared -yum! The gluten free pasta was the best I have had since becoming gluten free 4 years ago. They would prepare french toast for me in the main dining room for breakfast if I had wanted but I ate enough sweets for dinner that I could pass on the sugar at breakfast! I stayed in the buffets for breakfast and lunch and was able to find plenty of food choices. Fruit, veggies, salad, eggs, potatoes. I would eat the topping of the pizza which was fine. The staff in the dining room was more helpful than that in the buffet service but the buffet service people don't seem to be trained to handle such a request. I can't blame the cruise ship for that. Learning what is safe to eat has taken me a long time and I have a vested interest. The buffet staff were very willing to go and ask the chef about ingredients if I wasn't sure-for example the tortilla chips -four or corn- they checked for me. When in doubt I just made a different food choice. I have been on 5 cruised since being gluten free, Carnival, Princess, and Celebrity. All have been helpful and I have never gotten sick from the food. I am careful about my choices but treat it much like I would going out to any restaurant. I enjoy traveling and have learned to enjoy the experience of different cultures and customs rather than focusing on what I can't eat!

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  • 2 weeks later...
jmreed Rookie
jmreed
Posted

My wife (she's the celiac) and I just got back yesterday from a Carnival Cruise and had a great experience. We were on the Carnival Legend. Here is some advice to make your experience a little easier on board.

Day 1. When we first arrived, we discovered that the main dining room where gluten free would be easiest was closed until dinner. We went into the buffet and asked for a "Red scarf chef." He ended up making my wife a meal especially for her. It was great. Other days in the buffet, on of the "red scarf chefs" would show us around the line and tell her what she could eat.

Break-fast - We ate in the main dinning room for breakfast every morning. She most often ate an Omelet (make sure you ask for "fresh egg" apparently they often use a powdered mix for the omelets and scrambled eggs that is not gluten free). She also had bacon, and lots of fresh fruit. She also got gluten free toast whenever she asked for it.

Lunch - When we had lunch in the dining room, we would ask for a hostess and she would go over what gluten free with my wife. In the buffet we would ask for a "red scarf chef."

Dinner - Every night the hostess would go over the next night's menu to pre-order my wife's food. She, like others on this forum, loved the flourless cake.

Dessert - Creme briolette was great as was the flourless cake. My wife also had their ice-cream a few times. (only scooped ice-cream in the main dining room - the hostess said that the mix in the ice-cream machines is "dangerous")

24 hour pizza - No it's not gluten free, but we did discover that for late night cravings, the pizza counter could make her a chicken Caesar salad (with no crouton

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