Gluten Free on NCL

[DM_KidAtHeart]

My aunt needs a gluten free diet. We realized too late that NCL wants a month's notice for a gluten free diet. We usually cruise RCI and they don't have that requirement.

 

We tried calling today, 3 weeks out. The phone call was not successful. They did say we should call back tomorrow during the day, which we will do.

 

On RCI, we've often just told them what we needed when in the MDR and they've usually bent over backwards to get us what we needed. So how much of an issue will this be on NCL? Is it possible to get dietary restrictions fulfilled once on board?

[garycarla]

You might want to join this current thread on the first page about this topic.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1843836

[kristine25]

If you have celiac I can't help but if you are just gluten intoleate, my husband is too and founds lots and lots of options on every menu we encountered!!

[betterthanvegas?]

I have the same issue. Someone here suggested I may have spoken to the wrong people and suggested I speak to the access/special assistance people. They emailed me back last night within 4 hours reassuring me that they would sort it out. It's worth speaking to them.

[DMLyons]

On RCI, we've often just told them what we needed when in the MDR and they've usually bent over backwards to get us what we needed. So how much of an issue will this be on NCL? Is it possible to get dietary restrictions fulfilled once on board?

 

Fill out the access desk paperwork and email it back. They had everything of mine in the computer in short order, and even the pre-concierge could read the list back to me. I still have the blank access paperwork and could email it to you, if you need it. That will save you the phone call. Just contact me, and I'll send it to you.

 

 

DML

[conderost]

Just got off the April, 14 Star and I am GF...I did however advise them 30 plus days in advance. I found the experience to be quite well,,,I just had to decide the night before what I was eating the next day and place my order. They always had my order ready for me when I gave them my room number...I did not bother GF ordering for lunch, as there was plenty to choose from the buffets or the outside grills to accommodate me..

[retired rascal]

I eat NO refined sugar and NO grains....I've eaten in the MDRs, buffet, specialty restaurants with no problems....I should say I can eat elegantly. Have two more cruises booked now. I never contact NCL because the word doesn't always get through to the line staff. Your server may have boarded the ship that morning....they come and go in most ports. I'd rather just be totally responsible. Thus I tend to eat the "clean" and fresh stuff....haven't had a problem. ENJOY YOUR CRUISE.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

Fill out the access desk paperwork and email it back. They had everything of mine in the computer in short order, and even the pre-concierge could read the list back to me. I still have the blank access paperwork and could email it to you, if you need it. That will save you the phone call. Just contact me, and I'll send it to you.

 

 

DML

 

I'm not sure how to contact you. I'd like to get that paperwork from you. I've tried friending you to see if that then gives me options for messaging you.

[DMLyons]

I'm not sure how to contact you. I'd like to get that paperwork from you. I've tried friending you to see if that then gives me options for messaging you.

 

Hmm...good point. You could email sunnie4168@comcast.net. Grin... Be glad to send them this morning, if I hear from you.

 

DML

[Barb Nahoumi]

When I booked my last cruise with NCL, my PCC asked me if I had any dietary restrictions that the ship needed to know about.

 

My friend, who was on the cruise with me, spoke to a dietition onboard to figure out what she could safely order.

 

If anyone has special dietary restrictions, they have the opportunity to tell NCL at booking time.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

When I booked my last cruise with NCL, my PCC asked me if I had any dietary restrictions that the ship needed to know about.

 

My friend, who was on the cruise with me, spoke to a dietition onboard to figure out what she could safely order.

 

If anyone has special dietary restrictions, they have the opportunity to tell NCL at booking time.

 

The sister who was doing the booking didn't know about the other sister's dietary needs at the time of booking.

[DMLyons]

When I booked my last cruise with NCL, my PCC asked me if I had any dietary restrictions that the ship needed to know about.

 

My friend, who was on the cruise with me, spoke to a dietition onboard to figure out what she could safely order.

 

They told me when I filled out my access paperwork that I would have to speak to one of the managers from the restaurant/food services when I got aboard, just to double check my allergies with that person.

 

But, just as the other poster who answered you said, you can't always know at the time of making the reservation what needs will be. For instance, someone allergic to a particular type of food (a particular type of shellfish or citrus fruit, perhaps) can have the allergy 'expand' over time to cover more (or all) of that type of food. For instance, one of my children was originally only allergic to lemon and lime but could have oranges/OJ, but her allergies have now spread to all citrus. This happened over a matter of months. She was fine drinking OJ in March (as she had for two decades), and in May...we started noting the same reaction (thankfully NOT a type requiring an EpiPen) she gets with other citrus from it. Her doctor shrugged and said, "Sometimes allergies change or worsen with time."

 

Additionally, someone may have concerns that were not known at the time of booking. A friend of mine spent years with severe gastric pain and had no clue why. Doctors were stumped. After more than a decade of this, they learned she couldn't digest corn properly. If it was highly refined, she was fine, because the processing itself destroyed much of the corn's fibers and such, so they kept missing it as a concern. If it was on the cob, kernel, grit as you make cornbread with...even lightly processed, her system couldn't break it down properly. So she might well have reserved without knowing and then realized it was a problem in between. It happens. Fortunately, she found out before a trip and not on it.

 

And if you make the reservation online or through a TA, you still have to go to the access desk later, because the ability to transmit what they need is not at your fingertips. Or you may want to double check to make sure the TA transmitted it for you, if the TA does take the information. But they decidedly do not take it at reservation online. I know. :rolleyes:

 

DML

[DM_KidAtHeart]

Additionally, someone may have concerns that were not known at the time of booking. A friend of mine spent years with severe gastric pain and had no clue why. Doctors were stumped. After more than a decade of this, they learned she couldn't digest corn properly. If it was highly refined, she was fine, because the processing itself destroyed much of the corn's fibers and such, so they kept missing it as a concern. If it was on the cob, kernel, grit as you make cornbread with...even lightly processed, her system couldn't break it down properly. So she might well have reserved without knowing and then realized it was a problem in between. It happens. Fortunately, she found out before a trip and not on it.

 

My mom has this same corn allergy. It's the first I've heard of someone else having the same thing.

[DMLyons]

My mom has this same corn allergy. It's the first I've heard of someone else having the same thing.

 

It certainly took her doctors long enough to find it. I have to hazard a guess that it's not overly common.

 

DML

[DM_KidAtHeart]

It certainly took her doctors long enough to find it. I have to hazard a guess that it's not overly common.

 

DML

 

My mom just figured it out by trial and error.