graceinmelbourne

Let me know how you go on the cruise. We were in the USA in 2012 and with a lot of research beforehand we managed fine. Without research it would have been difficult but for sure it is improving. Here it is unusual for a cafe or restaurant to not have gf marked on menu. It is going to take longer in the US to get to that stage because of the huge population and the lack of a national celiac society raising awareness there. There are many celiac groups in the US but they are very regional rather than national with makes it hit and miss with regards to celiac awarenes in certain places. We were in Hawaii last year and That has improved also.

I think you will be fine with RCI as we have been on two cruises with them and had no problems. The last cruise we went on with the Oasis of the Seas they had gf marked on the menu which was very helpful. i know on the RCI cruises out of Australia they also mark gf at the windjammer buffet but not sure with the ships out of the USA. I heard that American passengers were confused as to what gf meant but that may have changed. Most Australians know what gf is so it is not an issue here. I think you can relax knowing that RCI go out of their way to accommodate dietary requirements and seem to be improving all the time. Their policy regarding this is across all ships. You are doing all the right things in letting them know ahead etc but even if you didnt you would be fine. I would not hesitate in recommending RCI for you or any celiac based on our experiences. I know our teenage celiac daughter enjoyed the food and had plenty of choice.

Most people know that Orient beach has a nude section so I don't know why they are shocked to see actual naked people. Also so many people concerned that their kids might see someone naked. We went there with our kids and went for a walk along the beach where we ended up on the nudist side of the beach. Yes, the kids (teenagers) thought the sights were amusing and not particularly attractive in some cases but I don't see how it is going to have any sort of negative impact on them. They have been to beaches here in Australia with nudists when they were much younger and we didn't have a problem with it and neither did they. It is just the human body, some of it in better shape than others but perfectly natural. Americans in general do seem to be a lot more prudish about nudity than many other cultures. Extreme violence on TV seems to be acceptable but if so much as a butt crack or nipple is shown than there is uproar. The only thing I objected to at a clothing optional beach in Greece was that some people were sitting at the beach side cafes naked. I don't want to sit on any chair that some person has sat naked on.

I also would suggest you get 2 cabins. We are doing that this time with the 2 kids who will be 15 and 12 in a cabin across the hall from us. This gives everyone more space and privacy. We are are on deck 11 and we have the ocean view and the kids have the boardwalk view. I think you will find the cruise works out cheaper than Club Med too. It is really good value we think as long as you don't drink too much!

We are going in these coming September school holidays with our 12 and almost 16 year old. It is a quieter time apparently as American kids have finished their holidays and are back at school so there won't be thousands of kids like there would be in their holiday break in June-August.

We have been on one Royal Carribbean cruise in the Mediterranean and we all absolutely loved it. The kids thought it was fabulous and they can't wait for the Oasis as it is an amazing ship with so much to do.

We will let you know how it all goes. We are doing the eastern itinerary on Oasis of the Seas.

I didnt even make it thru your entire post...but as a mother to dd 2, 5 & 8 (who have all travelled since infancy)...my suggestion to you is DO NOT start your dd first flight with 5 hours long! It is such an experience and they are essientially trapped in that cabin with no where to go. IMHO that is just too long to expect your children to handle on their first flight. How is their attention? Can they make it through a movie? If so then mayne start out with about a 2 hour flight....thwn build on that. At least in a car ride you can stop, take a break, let them run around at a rest stop for a while, etc.

I think it depends on their ages. An active 2 year old would find a 5 hour flight a challenge but older kids might not. Yes, it can be boring but if you have in flight entertainment systems on the plane than it goes really quickly for them. Otherwise bring along a portable DVD player or Ipad etc. 5 hours is nothing for us - try 24 hours to Europe!!

On a cruise you don't have to cook, clean, shop or think about what is for dinner. You have all the meals provided for you, kids are entertained and you can relax and enjoy. If you rent a condo you still have to make the beds, maybe cook and do some cleaning if you use the kitchen. A cruise would be more relaxing for you and the kids will have a great time also.

Thanks so much for your very detailed review of the Oasis. Love the pictures too. We are going in September with our 2 teenage girls as part of a 3 week trip to the USA. I am looking forward to the cruise even more now after reading your fabulous review. Thank you!:)

Thanks for posting the contract of 'rules'. I am going to print that out to take with us. The kids will think it is lame but I will make sure they read it and understand it.

Our basic guideline for our tweens is to think about what they're doing, and if it's something that they wouldn't do if we were supervising (we have stricter standards of behavior than most people), then DON'T do it. We're fine with giving them some freedom to roam (buddy system required), but the minute they are observed by one of the adults in our party, by a staff member, or by another adult on the ship acting UNsupervised, they WILL be CLOSELY supervised for the rest of the week.

My parents used similar guidelines with us, and we've used them with our children before, and they've been pretty effective since the expectations for behavior have been pretty consistent since day 1.

This sounds very reasonable and I think we will use your guidelines with our 12 and 15 year old on our cruise.

Anyone with experience on Holland America? We are locked into them at this point, but will probably take a cruise next year and it would be worth it to go on a line that is helpful with dietary restraints. We are pretty spoiled here in Oregon since there is so much awareness.

 

In our particular case, my younger son has an issue with wheat. Having things labeled GF or wheat-free is a big help to him. He is willing to eat a wide variety of things and is conscientious about sticking to wheat-free. In his case it causes mood issues and (TMI, I know) bedwetting. We don't have to worry about trace amounts but it is nice to know the ingredients. Here many restaurants label menu items that will work on various diets (veg, vegan, GF, dairy-free) -- seems like that could be a low-cost way for the cruise lines to be more sensitive.

It would be great if cruise lines labelled items in the buffet as to whether they are gluten free, dairy free, etc. It would be very helpful to passengers and staff working at the buffet wouldn't be asked questions all the time. Royal Carribbean don't usually label food in the buffet but they do in cruises sailing out of Australia. I think it must be because there is a high level of awareness here about GF so passengers expect it. Why can't they do it with all cruise lines?? I can't be that difficult really.

Wow this is going to take me ages to get through but I would like to thank you for posting your reviews of the food on the Oasis. It's going to make it hard though for us to decide where to eat each day. I am thoroughly enjoying reading it even if I am only up to page 6 so far.

I like the sound of the drink - the BBC your wife discovered. I will definately be noting that one down.

I have a question though - what is pretzel dog? I have recently discovered what a corn dog is but can't quite work out the pretzel dog. Not sure if it's something I would want to try but I am still curious.

Actually I do have another question. Do you recommend booking in advance to go to Chops (ie. before the cruise) or do you think it is okay to just reserve on the day you want to go?

Hi, we are planning a cruise in September. Our flight will leave FL for Los Angeles at 7pm. The cruise ship arrives at 7.00am. I am not sure what time we would expect to get off the ship but it will be quite a few hours before we need to get to the airport. Any suggestions what to do with our luggage? We have never been to the USA before so are not familiar with FL. We are happy just to walk around the town, shop, eat and maybe go to the beach for the day but the problem is our luggage. How far is it to the airport from the RCI cruise terminal? Is it worth it for us to hire a car for the day? How much is average car hire? Apologies for all the questions. Thank you for your help!:)

Wish I had found this thread when I was looking before I sailed (I think more people need to put Gluten Free in the titles of their posts and make them more descriptive/informative) but I am so glad it's here as I have been looking for the right forum to post my gluten free gripes. Hopefully the louder we speak up the more likely we are to see change. I don't see my gluten intolerance as a disability, illness or hassle and I don't see why other people should treat me with any disdain because of it.

 

We have just returned from 12 days in the Baltic on RCI Jewel. Whilst you can hop off the boat and find wonderful gluten free pastries and cakes in both specialised and regular bakeries in Sweden (we visted both Stockholm and Gothenburg), along with GF in most Macdonalds (if that's your sort of thing) the GF experience on board the Jewel was pretty dismal. By the end of the trip I felt very much humiliated by staff who were too busy or ignorant to be bothered to help me. In any case the 'normal' food on the Jewel varies from good to inedible.

 

I feel RCI, on this ship at least, are just not really trying. In fact cruise lines in general need to cotton on to the fact that there are are lots of coeliacs out there and mostly they travel with families or friends. If they do not cater for the coeliac in the group then the whole party will go elsewhere next time so mulitplied up that's quite a lot of disgruntled people. All it takes is a separate area to cater for speciality foods and special diets (not just GF) and healthy eating, with careful labelling, separation to avoid cross contamination and an appointed catering crew member with dietary knowledge to make contact with those on board with special requirements to ensure they get a VARIETY of safe foods. Surely they are missing a trick here - they could make healthy eating a selling point. We don't all want beans, chips and burgers coeliac or not. Have just read about the processed eggs - glad i did not have any of those.

 

I cruised 10 years ago on the old Airtours Sunbird and they did much better than this. As knowledge of Coeliac disease amongst the general public is much better now than it was then I really assumed that my experience would be even better this time. There is no excuse in this day and age for RCI's performance here.

 

I will post a full run down of my experience here when I have calmed down.

 

:mad:

 

Regards

 

Drift Wood

 

PS. The ship and the cruise by the way were fantastic (apart from the Northern European weather).

Hi Drift Wood,

What a shame that you didn't have a good gluten free experience aboard your cruise ship. It seems to that as far as RCI goes that even though they do say that they can cater for those on a gluten free diet that the experience can differ from ship to ship. Our experience aboard RCI Brilliance of the Seas was great. They went out of the way to ensure our daughter had plenty of food options. I think it might depend though on the head chef and the wait staff as to how it is handled. Our waiter was knowledgeable about a GF diet and the head chef came to our table on the first night to talk to us about it. The head waitress also was very knowledgeable and told me there were at least 25 other coeliacs on that particular cruilse. Obviously they do get many passengers with food allergies and intolerances so RCI need to educate their staff across all ships. As you said it would be very helpful if in the Windjammer they labelled all the foods with signs indicating if they are gluten free, dairy free, nut free etc. We avoided the Windjammer and stuck to the MDR most of the time which was a much more pleasant experience anyway.

I read many positive reports about RCI and how they handle the gluten free diet before we went and we were happy with our experience with RCI. Unfortunately for you the ship you were on was not up to the standard that would be expected from RCI. Perhaps you should send them an email letting them know of your dissatisfaction.

We were at the Guylian store- on the street running parallel to the water where the Holiday Inn and Rocks market are- in Sydney back in 2009 when I tried to get chocolate and they alerted me to a problem and advised me not to eat it. Before that I thought only Godiva had the flour.

 

Here is what they say on their website-

 

Is there gluten or barley malt in Guylian chocolate?

We cannot guarantee that Guylian chocolates are gluten free. The following Guylian products contain traces of gluten:

Chocolate truffle seashells and extra dark seashells

Guylian's Temptations, Individually wrapped chocolate truffle seahorses

Guylian's Temptations, Individually wrapped milk chocolate truffle seahorses

Guylian's Temptations, Individually wrapped extra dark chocolate truffle seahorses

La Trufflina

Opus

Solitaire

No Sugar Added chocolate bars

 

==============

 

Oh, snickerdoodles are soft sugar cookies with cinnamon on top. A very old fashioned cookie, probably from Europe.

It's funny you should mention Guylain chocolate. We had a friend over for dinner and she brought us a box of Guylain chocolate. On the back it does say 'May contain traces of nuts and gluten'. As far as the ingredients go it is fine but it is whether they are using that statement to cover themselves or whether there is a genuine risk of cross contamination I don't know. Sometimes when there is a 'may contain' statement I call the company to find out why. Sometimes other gluten containing products are made on the same line so there may be some contamination but other times they just put it on there because they make gluten containing products in the same factory (not on the same line).

Hi

 

Many thanks for the info

 

I do tend to stick to the MDR for eating in the evening as like you say the waiters get to know you and your likes/ dislikes. Roll on October!

One more thing - at lunch time on sea days they have a great salad bar in the main dining room. You can pick and choose your ingredients and they make up a big salad for you. Delicous and plenty of gluten free options.

Gelato in Italy sounded like heaven, so when we went in 2008 I had practiced all my phrases like "sono celiaca" and "sans glutin" and was ready for major indulgence.

 

In Naples I had great success at a little shop on the way to the museum. The woman went to the back, got a clean scoop, scooped from the front instead of the back and I was a happy camper - no problems.

 

Got to Florence, went through the same routine, but- big miserable problem. In Rome- 1st shop - a Mom and Pop- great. 2nd day, new shop and despite all their care- big problems. I decided to give up and regroup. I just can't take chances like that. The pain is not worth the pleasure for me.

 

When we went back in 2010 I knew from all my reading I wasn't alone in having problems with the gelato, but didn't have a clear idea why. But I did find out about Grom and knew that there was a company that would assure me of a safe experience. So for me, why bother risking it.

 

In Paris I found a great looking gelato chain shop where they understood GF. One of the workers had an aunt who was GF. They would only let me have sorbet, but couldn't give me any detail. Just that her aunt couldn't eat anything other than sorbet. Well, the sorbet was wonderful so no problem. The next day - of course we went back- the manager was there and explained to me that the ingredients were "supposed to be" gluten free, but they weren't always and they never knew what was "actually used." He said that if I had only minor problems, perhaps it would be worth a try, but they had lots of reports that there were problems. He suggested I stick with little shops where they made their own gelato on site and could tell me what they had used.

 

Now we are talking vanilla in all cases where I ate gelato.

 

I know better that to risk chocolate. (In Belgium I went to 9 chocolate makers asking if anyone had heard of making the chocolate without flour. Got 9 "nos". As one explained - "if it doesn't have flour, it isn't Belgium chocolate."

 

Dee

We were going to go to Grom in Florence but I forgot the address and we coudn't find it. We ended up going somewhere else that made their own. As you said if they make their own gelato it is usually okay, but if they buy it in from somewhere else that is when you can strike trouble.

I didn't realise that Belgian chocolate had flour in it. Do you mean the hand made type or the boxed varieties?? Is it for dusting the moulds? I am pretty sure that Guylian Belgian choc. is gluten free but the boxed variety might be different to the hand made choc that you would find in Belgium.

Hello again,

 

I am sorry if my posts upset or bothered you in any way.

 

"No worries, mate."

 

I just got back from the gluten-free bakery & market - blueberry pie, snickerdoodles, scones and chocolate brownies. When our local baker found himself needing to be GF, he came to a great solution and started a new business. I'm trying to be supportive, but it is packing on the pounds. Never had that problem in the '90s when everything tasted like cardboard.

 

Gluten free food takes so good now that is it often hard to tell if it is gluten free or not. Pastry is the only thing which is hard to do gluten free, it tends to be hard in texture. What is a snickerdoodle??

I'm glad I looked at this particular thread. I have recently seen a review of the Brilliance which was none to complimentary regarding how they had been treated in relation to their food allergy( they do not mention what particular allergy they suffer with) which concerned me as I will be on her with my OH in October.

Having seen a couple of recent posts stating that they had been treated well on the Brilliance it has put my mind at ease. This will be our first cruise on RCCL so I was hoping that there would be the same good experiences as on previous cruises with Celebrity, P & O and Fred Olsen who have all catered for me extremely well.

 

This is an excellent thread - thankyou :):)

Hi:)

Well as I mentioned in my previous posts we had an excellent experience on the Brilliance. My daughter was well and truly fussed over by the waiters, the head waiter and the chef. I heard there were over 25 other people on board requiring a gluten free diet. I did meet a couple of American ladies who were celiac and they had a positive experience also. Mind you they were cheating a bit eating Kellogs cereal. With regards to the Windjammer ask to speak to the head chef? of the Windjammer. He will walk you around and point out which items are gluten free. I even sent him an book that we have here which lists ingredients and whether they are gluten free to help him and his staff identify gf foods. I am not sure if the same guy is still there. His name was Paul and he is English. I would recommend eating in the Main Dining Room as much as possible as you get to select your meal for the next night and they adapt it to gf if they can. It is a much nicer eating experience in the MDR anyway but the waiters get to know you and your needs there. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask.

I've had a hard time forcing myself to come back to this thread, so obviously (to me) on some level I had real problems with these posts, much as I tried not to. So let me start with a the most important tips I can give - more generic than ship related - then I'll see if I can get into a little more depth and then help bring this back on topic.

 

The "experts" on celiac/ gluten sensitivity/ intolerance are the unmasked guts of the people who have the problem. If your child or gluten-sensitive friend says "I have a reaction to XYZ" -believe them. Don't let anyone tell them they are wrong/ making it up/ not in accordance with someone's reading or differing from the current level of science of the day.

 

No matter how well meant, reading about the reactions is not the same as actually having them. Use all the gluten-free sites, stay up on the current science, read the different POVs (including mine) but only use them as a guide.

 

We all have many symptoms and reactions we share, but we also all differ. (One of the latest research trends suggests as many as 15 different variants.) Time will tell.

 

There is a lovely line in a Buffett song about "the pleasure being worth all the pain" and that is certainly true when it comes to dealing with gluten issues. Most of us have played the "eat it anyway" game at some point after we became aware of our problem. This will change for each person over their years of living with the reactions. For me, after 12 years of conciously dealing with this, my gut is getting nastier and I am finding less and less is worth the pain.

 

My second tip on this line of thought -

 

Do everything you can to get your child or celiac "unmasked." This might mean avoiding that favorite snack once in a while to make sure it is still okay. Until the gut has been well rested and safe for a while it may not react and give warning when it should.

 

"to be continued"

 

 

 

 

 

Hello again,

I am sorry if my posts upset or bothered you in any way. That was not my intention. I don't doubt that you have had the reactions that you have had. I understand that there are a small percentage of celiacs who do have more extreme reactions to things that most would not and perhaps the medical/science fraternity doesn't understand why as yet. Yes, the experts world wide have been saying for over 10 years that glucose syrup is okay as there is no detectable gluten but I have had a few people say to me that they feel that they do react and are extremely sensitive. Part of my job is a support for newly diagnosed celiacs and those who have been celiac for a while. My job is to educate and inform them of the latest information and research. I have come across people on internet forums, at the support centre and who I have met who are unnecessarily restricting their diet because they don't understand what they can and cannot eat or on the other hand are eating gluten without realising it. There are also many uninformed people with regards to celiac disease. On the cruise I went on last year I met 2 American women who were eating Kellogs cereals not realising that they could not have malt extract. Of course I explained to them why they shouldn't be eating it but they didn't really care and continued to eat it. You said that you couldn't eat gelato in Italy because most of it was not gluten free whereas I begged to differ and say that most gelato we came across was in fact gluten free. I am assuming the reason that you think it is not gluten free is because of the glucose syrup??? I believe you if you say that you react to glucose syrup but I also think that most celiacs would not and it would be safe to consume for them. As I said I am not doubting your reaction to the toaster situation or the gelato. That is your experience and you understand yourself better than anyone. As you said you can take all the advice on board but it is up to the individual what they do or don't do and to work out what is right for them.

My gf son and I just returned from our E. Caribbean Oasis cruise.

We spoke with the dining room Maître’d upon boarding. Get there early. We were there at 11:30 and already, there was a line. Next, I went to speak with the head chef at each dining venue. Don't waste your time with the food staff! Go straight to the chef. They were extremely accommodating. Even when busy! I can't say enough about the wonderful staff on board this ship.

That said, if you are traveling GF don't worry about putting on any weight. The frozen custard station by the pool only had cones. My son asked for a cup at the bar and got a large beverage cup without a spoon. With the lines at the machines and the slow speed with which it dispensed, my son decided not to use the large cup for fear of mutiny. He was embarrassed. He did find that the Wipe-Out Cafe at the rear by the sport court also had a frozen yogurt machine. Since it is a fast food buffet, he could grab a bowl and a spoon to use and get the frozen yogurt right there.

But being a tween this put him out of place with his group as they could jump from the pool to get their treat. They did spend a lot of time at the back end of the ship though so he did have a chance to eat a plain burger and frozen yogurt back there.

The French fries on the ship are coated with wheat. The steak fries and hash brown potatoes found in the main dining room, and the fries and breakfast potatoes at Johnny Rockets were the only GF food, other than meat that he regularly ate.

He does not have a severe reaction if he eats gluten. So for this reason I didn’t worry too much about him grabbing a burger at the Wipe Out or Windjammer buffets on his own with his friends. I knew from research that Johnny Rockets was going to be a fall back. He ate lunch there often and ordered a shake too. They were awesome to him there too. Note that you are going to pay a $5.00 cover and $5.00 for the shake at Johnny Rockets. Of course my son was a generous tipper too!

For breakfast we ordered room service, bacon and potatoes with milk for the cereal that I brought and hot water for our cocoa. He also went to Johnny Rockets (free) for bacon and potatoes and hot chocolate. In the main dining room he had grits, bacon, potatoes and pancakes. The pancakes were not as good as my gf pancakes at home. (Kind of rubbery)

At dinner we had the most amazing staff. I tipped Sabbanni, his waiter, and Ricardo our head waiter on the first night. Sabbanni put a large platter of Steak Fries on the table every night, right in the center of the table, for all of the boys to share when the bread came out.

I was so impressed by this gesture. He didn’t want my son to sit there and salivate while the other boys chowed down on the bread and butter. The French fries had gluten so he made sure to have the steak fries available.

My son chose to have steak just about every night. So he had steak, steak fries, and a vegetable. He also had the grilled chicken and a burger once.

The burgers on board are thin patties. JR's offers a thicker burger option.

My son is 12 so he spent most of his time at the back end of the ship where the flow riders, sport court, zip line, rock climbing wall, putt putt course and teen lounge are. And…yes he lost weight.

Here is the breakdown for tween GF survival:

Bkfst- Johnny Rockets-potatoes, bacon, ham, eggs, cocoa/ Main Dining- potatoes, bacon, grits, fruit, pancakes/Solarium-fruit, whole eggs (not prepared) grits/ Windjammer-didn’t go but assume it is the same (ask about the eggs)

Lunch-Johnny Rockets-burger, fries, shake/ Windjammer buffet -burger patty and fruit/ Wipe-Out-Café-burger patty and frozen yogurt

Dinner-Main Dining-Steak, grilled chicken , steak fries, burgers

For a tween the other venues were too much work and too much time.

Sorry I answered your other post without realising you had a further post down the page. Thanks very much for posting this. Very interesting to hear about what your son ate on the Oasis. Our daughter had a wide variety of food in the MDR besides steak such as seafood, salads etc. Steak is always a good option but it can get tedious after a while. Did he try the salad bar that they have in the MDR on sea days. I think its called the Tutti Salad Bar or something. I am guessing they have it on all the RCCL ships. They have all the salad ingredients behind the counter and you just point out the ones you want in your salad and they make it up for you. Most of the ingedients were GF as were most of the dressings. I tried to get her to try grits but we don't have grits here and it didn't look particularly appetizing. Breakfast was mainly pancakes, bacon, potatoes, fruit, smoked salmon etc. The frozen yoghurt machine was visited way too often and they gave her oodles of icecream for dessert. So were the Johnny Rockets fries GF?

Again thanks for all your useful information.

My son was just diagnosed in September, after we had made this reservation. He loves to cruise! We cruise with neighbors and there are always many boys his age in our group.

My concern is that he will be going around the ship with his buddies who will be able to eat anywhere as well as eat all of the forbidden goodies like pizza.

I immediately had the travel agent register him as needing gluten-free dining. Of course everyone says that it isn't a problem in the MDR and that you can ask at other venues to see what’s available. I just know how very embarrassed my son feels about the extra work it takes on his behalf. I’m hoping to make his time on board easy as he will be going around the ship on his own.

So...I plan to take notes and video my efforts on board the Oasis. I plan to post them so that everyone can know the "teen/child" perspective when they travel with their GF kids. I see so many posts about adults or children who have counselors or parents with them at all times but not many posts for the "tween" group.

I've done a lot of work already by calling the cruise line direct and speaking to a special needs representative. Not bad, but not very enlightening. I was told that I had to check at each food station and talk with the Food Managers. I've also called Johnny Rockets headquarters about their food.

I’ll post more as I put it together.

I am very interested in hearing about your experiences on Oasis of the Seas. We are thinking of going on the Oasis next year. We had a great experience on RCCL Brilliance of the Seas in Europe but I would love to hear about the Oasis specifically. Our daughter is the celiac and she is 14 years of age. She never tries to eat food she shouldn't so we are lucky in that respect. She is probably too careful in fact. There are so many more places to eat on the Oasis compared to the smaller ships so I am wondering whether they are up to speed in each of the food outlets.

Well hello Graceinmelbourne! I had come back to comment on the message from Irish and found oodles of questions. It might take me a while to get all the answers, but let me get started.

 

First let me say how impressed I was with the work of the Celiac groups when we were in Australia. Loved going to restaurants and seeing the GF by the menu items. Some places like Sydney and Melbourne were really on the ball. Still, I found it was best if I only used the GF as a beginning and then still asked all my questions and then listened for some of the "hidden" problems.

 

Now, to the question of the toaster. Yes, I have read the 20-60 minute rule according to some of the Celiac Groups and I would love for that to be true for me, but it isn't. My best guess is that I'm not alone on this. I have had reactions as short as 5-7minutes with some types of gluten and as long as 45-60 on others.

 

On the question of "ingestion" - Yes, I get it. It is really easy to think of "ingestion" as just eating, but it really isn't. If I had kept my mouth shut I may not have had a problem, but I was chattering away, having a good time and really didn't think about all the particles in the air. In both occassions I was in the area close to 30 minutes. I don't think there would have been a problem if I had just been walking through.

 

When I wrote the original comment, I knew it was the first time it had happened on ship and was thinking it was the first time ever. A couple weeks ago I had to go into a local bakery and had a similar reaction. Talking about it with my DH, he reminded me that it had happened @12-15 years ago in a bakery in Canada that had a high level of flour in air.

 

Having someone staying up to date on all the new research is really great. Any time we can learn without experiencing pain I call it a big win.

 

However, there are those of us who have sadly been on the cutting edge of gluten knowledge and learned a bunch of things the hard way. I'm sure the research is coming, but my gut doesn't wait. It reacts now... and it really hurts. As all of us with gluten problems have learned -YMMV.

 

Oh, hate to leave without a hint.

Ask your waiter to use the Salamader when he toasts your bread. This will eliminate the cross contamination from regular bread going thru toaster.

 

I have to get back to work, but I'll come back in a few days and we can talk gelato. (Sadly, I do have to stand by what I said- wish I didn't!)

 

DEE

Hi Dee,

Thanks for your reply. It was interesting to read of your experiences. You are obviously very sensitive when it comes to gluten having had that reaction to the air borne particles in such a short time. I would say the vast majority of people would not react like that but as you said there are some people who are at the extreme end of the spectrum. The woman who runs the coeliac society where I work is a coeliac and coincidently her husband is also a coeliac. His profession is a baker so he spends his days baking bread in a flour filled environment. It has not had any negative effect on him but I wonder if he makes a conscious effort not to open his mouth or perhaps he wears a mask. I will ask her about that. It would be very easy to ingest some flour in that environment.

Obviously you have travelled a great deal so have plenty of experience travelling on a gluten free diet which can be a challenge especially in certain countries. How long ago were you in Australia? We are lucky here in that there is a good level of awareness and it is improving all the time. We just had our Coeliac Awareness Week and there was plenty of publicity on radio, magazines, newspapers and tv which was great. This is thanks to a very well organised coeliac society which does a great job raising awareness and educating.

I look forward to your response regarding my questions re. gelato. and further gluten free discussions. I am also interested in what awareness is like in Canada and if you have a simliar set up with regards to a coeliac society or equivalent.

Good tip by the way regarding the cruise ship toaster. When we were on the cruise they toasted my daughters bread somewhere else in the kitchens. I didn't like the look of that toaster either .

GracieinMelbourne, I am always happy to see good, up-to-date information posted. To further your statement concerning glucose syrup, Shelley Case in the most recent printing of Gluten-Free Diet, A Comprehensive Resource Guide, states that you find insignificant levels of gluten in glucose syrup (R5 ELISA) and goes on to say "The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has permanently exempted wheat-based and barley-based glucose syrups from allergen labeling based on this recent research.

 

I enjoyed gelato more than once on our recent Celebrity cruise onboard the Constellation.

 

I do hope your experience on the Brillance was not solely due to your intentions to write an article but because the cruise lines see the need to step up to the plate. When your article is published, please post a link here so we may all read it.

Thanks for your further information re. glucose syrup. Glucose Syrup, caramel and dextrose has been deemed safe for celiacs for about 10 years here. I know that has been the case in Europe also. Wheat starch is allowed in some European countries but it is not considered to be safe in Australia and I think that is the same in the U.S.

I think the article should be printed in the June issue. The magazine comes out 4 times a year. There is a backlog of travel articles that needed to be published so mine had to wait. I do wonder at times if that made a difference to our experience. I would like to think that all passengers who require a special diet are treated the same. I will post a link when it is published.

Allergy Card - I mentioned how to do this a few posts ago. It worked beautifully! In Luxemberg one waitress read in French and her assistant in German. In Barcelona they were so happy to see I had translated into Spanish AND Catalon they gave me lots of special attention. I wore out 3 copies.

 

GROM Gelato - One of the worst things about going to Europe and seeing all those lovely gelato shops is the realization that all but the sorbets have gluten. GROM has one flavor with gluten and all the rest are gluten free. Even better is the gluten-free plastic box with it's own cups, scoops and spoons. I went to the website and printed out a list of all the locations where we might be going. Ended up trying four of them. Loved the smart way they behaved in all of them. There are shops in many ports - NY, (Paris), Venice, Florence (right of the duomo) and LA is coming.

 

Florence, Italy - I got to eat pizza!! There is a restaurant near the duomo on the left side called La Botteghe di Donatello. They have one page of their menu that lists gluten free items.

 

Italy - gluten free products everywhere there was a green or red cross

Why do you think that all gelato except for the sorbet has gluten in it? In my experience the majority of gelato is gluten free in most cases except for those that obviously have wafers, biscuits, cake etc mixed in. Is it the glucose syrup from wheat you are concerned about that is sometimes used in ice cream? Glucose syrup from wheat is gluten free as there is no detectable gluten due to the processing. Having said that I do always ask and check and did so in Italy. The majority of gelato was gluten free even the non sorbet variety with a few exceptions. I found this to be the case in at least 6 places that we visited in Italy. Sorry I am not trying to sound like a smart a**e but I work for the coeliac society so I am very up to date with information related to coeliac disease.