Comments on: Vacation Planning for Celiacs: Cruises

By: Cheryl DiBiase

Cheryl DiBiase — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:38:09 +0000

We recently cruised with Carnival. IT was a total disapointment. The first evening, I received a cold rock hard piece of tough as nails chicken.
I had to order a day in advance for every meal without any assistance from any crew member. Each plate was placed in front of me at least 6 minutes before any other guest at the table. And took at least 45 minutes to arrive while I watched them eat good tasting breads in variety. The GF bread was not even cooked all the way the first two nights.

Lunch was served in a different dining room. The service was terrible. Since I have no idea if the Iced Tea mix is GF, I brought a tea bag with me and asked for hot water. After 30 minutes of waiting and asking for it 4 times, I walked to the poolside buffet to get a cup of hot water myself. The server in that dining room stood around chatting with guests who she served at dinner every evening instead of get hot water for my tea.

I requested fried onions on my burger and cheese. The burger was a hocky puck and burnt thru. I was so hungry that I ate what I could force down and left without the rest of the party.

The dinners the rest of the cruse, I just ate my food and left early.

You are supposed to GAIN weight on a cruise. I lost 6 pounds on mine.

Before we left we called the Carnival agent to check on my options. We were assured that I would have a wonderful dining experience. Frankly, even choclate melting cake gets tiredsome by the 8th time you have eaten it. And if you plan on serving the exact same bread 3 times a day for 7 days, it had should taste out of this world. THe bread that I was served was grainy and tasted strange.

We will not be crusing Carnival again.

By: Jason Hodge

Jason Hodge — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:48:44 +0000

My wife and I are thinking about heading for a Carnival Cruise ship to Progresso, Mexico, as well as Cozumel. It is a 5 Day get-away going out of Mobile. Anyone have any experience with this type of cruise? We cannot obtain much information regarding Progresso

By: Arty

Arty — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 03:33:20 +0000

My wife and I are thinking of going on a Carnival Cruise trip into Progresso, Mexico, and Cozumel. It is a five Day cruise coming out of out of Mobile. Anyone have experience with this particular voyage? I aren’t able to find out much information with reference to Progresso

By: Lora

Lora — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:05:20 +0000

I have cruised with Carnival twice. The first time was fantastic. They took special care in the formal dining room to make sure my every need was met. They made me superb desserts ( I am also dairy free) and I was blown away.
The second cruise they seemed confused about what I needed. The hostess actually told me that “sometimes the chef’s aren’t very creative”. I basically had to fend for myself on the dinner and they were unable to make any dessert I could eat except for sorbet.
When I wrote them explaining the issue I had, they didn’t even care! They just said they were sorry I had a bad experience and hoped to welcome me back again.
I am looking forward to cruising again, but will NEVER go Carnival again.

By: Hilary

Hilary — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:16:53 +0000

In case you haven’t seen this yet, there’s an article about gluten-free cruising with Disney in the latest NFCA newsletter:

http://www.celiaccentral.org/News/NFCA-Newsletters/Online-Newsletter/205/#DisneyCruiseLine

I haven’t experienced Disney’s gluten-free hospitality personally, but I am truly impressed by everything I’ve read about the company.

By: Loretta

Loretta — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:01:10 +0000

I am also trying to plan a European cruise with my son (19) who has celiac disease, and my safe choice would be Disney but that’s all we have done since he was diagnosed. I would like to do something different but am afraid for him. Have you found any further information? Which cruise line would you definately stay away from? Which would you highly recommend?
Thank You!
Loretta

By: Fernando

Fernando — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:25:30 +0000

Greetings from São Paulo, Brazil!

I have discovered your website by accident and I think it´s wonderful! Very practical and filled with useful information!

Congratulations!!

By: The Celiac Husband

The Celiac Husband — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:54:50 +0000

As with all other areas of the service industry, I firmly believe you get what you pay for.

Carnival would equate Applebee’s, where Crystal equates Four Seasons.
That is however a biased and personal opinion. Mine.
For each dollar spent on food costs at Carnival, Crystal will spend six.
That is a fact.

With a little pre planning and firm requests you can be safe on most ships.

By: Janet Rinehart

Janet Rinehart — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:16:40 +0000

I have found from years of experience that Holland America also does gluten free very well. Holland America has tours from Alaska, the Carabbean, Europe, to New Zealand/Australia, and more. Also, Vantage and Viking tours in Europe are excellent. We have traveled on the rivers from Amsterdam to the Black Sea on various legs of river boat trips with Vantage (www.vantagetravel.com). The sightseeing (all included) is excellent and they do gluten free very well. It helps to have translated restaurant cards (laminate several to have with you) in English and the country’s language in which you are traveling for both the ship chef and off-shore restaurants.

Sincerely,
Janet Y. Rinehart
Chairman, Houston Celiac Support Group
http://www.houstonceliacs.org