Gluten Free

[SissasMomE]

Can anyone who has had to eat gluten free on a cruise give me an example of what kind of meals they prepared for you? I'm fine with steak and a veggie every night, but was just wondering what they offered. Thanks!

[Cubechick]

Contact NCL. From what I have read you can select foods you like and they will stock them. Breads, waffles, pancakes, even pizza. It is my understanding you can have some access to these items even if you don't contact them, but they only stock so much "extras".

[SissasMomE]

Contact NCL. From what I have read you can select foods you like and they will stock them. Breads, waffles, pancakes, even pizza. It is my understanding you can have some access to these items even if you don't contact them, but they only stock so much "extras".

 

I sent the email to the access desk, and they told me they notated my reservation, but that's all I heard from them.

[SouthernBelle_N_Louisiana]

I sent the email to the access desk, and they told me they notated my reservation, but that's all I heard from them.

 

My son is celiac and is GF as well. I was told the same thing by our guy at NCL. That it was noted in his file and would be handled on board. However, since we will be in Haven, I plan to contact the pre-concierge desk once we are within 55 days of sailing to see what his options would be. He has not had a good Southern Biscuit or a yummy Cinnamon Roll in almost a year. :) I am hoping they can make him something special.

 

If you like, send me your email address and when I hear from them, I'll send you what they reply to me.

 

Email me @ robin.nichols@bossierschools.org :)

[SissasMomE]

My son is celiac and is GF as well. I was told the same thing by our guy at NCL. That it was noted in his file and would be handled on board. However, since we will be in Haven, I plan to contact the pre-concierge desk once we are within 55 days of sailing to see what his options would be. He has not had a good Southern Biscuit or a yummy Cinnamon Roll in almost a year. :) I am hoping they can make him something special.

 

If you like, send me your email address and when I hear from them, I'll send you what they reply to me.

 

Email me @ robin.nichols@bossierschools.org :)

 

Ok, thank you. We are not in the Haven until our November cruise, so I am curious as to how they will handle this. I am newly diagnosed, and really am not in good shape when I eat hidden gluten!!

[SMerritt]

My son is celiac and is GF as well. I was told the same thing by our guy at NCL. That it was noted in his file and would be handled on board. However, since we will be in Haven, I plan to contact the pre-concierge desk once we are within 55 days of sailing to see what his options would be. He has not had a good Southern Biscuit or a yummy Cinnamon Roll in almost a year. :) I am hoping they can make him something special.

 

If you like, send me your email address and when I hear from them, I'll send you what they reply to me.

 

Email me @ robin.nichols@bossierschools.org :)

 

We met a wonderful couple on the Breakaway in the Haven, their daughter was GF - the dietitian hovered over her daily. Some of us were actually teasing the dietitian that we wanted her meals. It was so nice to see all of the wonderful and fun meals and treats the young lady had.

[marelind]

On the ship tour on the Sun last September they took us to the special diet section of the galley. It is a specific area that handles all the special diets in such a way that there is no cross contamination. They said that those who request a special diet preorder their meals each day and their meals are served with the rest of their dining partners. I don't remember much else about it.

[anastasia3939]

Contact NCL. From what I have read you can select foods you like and they will stock them. Breads, waffles, pancakes, even pizza. It is my understanding you can have some access to these items even if you don't contact them, but they only stock so much "extras".

 

 

They used to send you an order form and you got to pick out things you wanted to have available to you on your cruise. I did this on my first NCL cruise and it was awesome!

I just cruised NCL again in February, and unfortunately they changed the way they do things. I guess because being gluten free is more common, they just have the ships generically stocked and mark your reservation. It meant no more cookies, pizza and very limited dessert choices :-(

Introduce yourself to the maitre de in the main dining room when you board the ship, and they will get the special diet coordinator for you. You then pre order your dinner, and he will meet with you every night to preorder your next nights meal. They do have GF bread, buns and pasta available, so you definitely won't go hungry. I was just disappointed with the lack of options compared to my cruise four years ago.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Edited March 17, 2014 by anastasia3939

[BritChickBN1]

My son & I are both gluten free and have had wonderful gf meals on Norwegian. We've taken at least 4 cruises on 3 different NCL ships since diagnosis. The most challenging was the Breakaway due to the sheer size of the ship it's hard to have just 1 point person. The first step is informing the access desk which I see you have done.

 

What happens then is when we embark we go right to the main dining room and ask to speak with the person in charge of special diets, they then go over the lunch menu and take our orders for lunch. Towards the end of the meal we will look over the dinner menu and order for that evening. At dinner we will look over the menus for the next day and place our orders for whichever meals we choose. You can pre-order breakfast, lunch and dinner the night before if you choose. When we go to the buffet we speak with one of the chefs there. Look for the tall hats. They will point out what is safe to eat and what is not.

 

As long as you order in advance they will make pretty much anything on the menu including gf gravies and sauces. They make a gf chocolate cake that is out of this world. I have always been able to order pizza, toast, bagels, English muffins, pasta etc. They use a quinoa/corn pasta. On our last cruise I had eggs benedict for breakfast..it was so good. The hamburger buns are really good too, and my son liked the hot dog buns. I didn't try them. The fries are safe, we eat more than our share of those. :rolleyes: My favorite dessert is happily gluten free also..the raspberry crème Brule from Cagneys. :D

 

You didn't ask about alcohol but I'll tell you anyway. All distilled alcohols are ok. Wines too. They will order and stock gluten free beer if you order it at least a month in advance. I ordered a case of beer a few cruises back and shortly after embarkation the food & beverage manager called me and asked which bars would I like stocked with the beer. They charged me per beer the same price as the bud light.

 

You will be in very good hands. Relax and enjoy. I'd be happy to answer any other questions you have.

[feeloftheocean]

On the Spirit, even the special chocolate buffet (offered once during the cruise) had a gluten free section!

[Va. Plumber]

I am sure every cruise line is dealing with just about every dietary need out there.

 

Interestingly, we once sailed out of Miami and there were several Orthodox Jewish families onboard. We noticed they would bring there own cookware to the buffet each morning.

 

An elderly widower in our church swears by NCL due to their GF offerings.

[Nauga146]

I have a lot of food allergies and Gluten is only one of them. We just got off the Epic on the 9th and it was the first trip that I didn't have any issues at all. We even ate at La Cucina one night. Something that helped me was that if we were going to a speciality resturant that night, I called them in the afternoon. La Cucina actually made me special pasta sauce that night as I'm allergic to black pepper. I asked a lot of questions, and was never meant to feel that I was an annoyance. That means a lot and we'll be back on NCL because of it. The GF bread was good, there was Indian on the buffet and if I was ever in doubt, people were helpful. They even had grits on the buffet for breakfast that were made without butter!!!! :D Dairy is another one of my allergies. :(

[kirsty_r]

NCL are very good with special diets - meet the person in charge as soon as you board. I would personally avoid the buffet due to cross-contamination risks.

[SissasMomE]

Excellent news - thanks all!

[BritChickBN1]

NCL are very good with special diets - meet the person in charge as soon as you board. I would personally avoid the buffet due to cross-contamination risks.

 

You can ask for items from the back at the buffet if you are worried about CC. I usually just have omelets, fruits, potatoes, cheeses etc.

 

We have a suite for our next cruise. I wonder how special diets are handled when dealing with the butler and haven staff?

 

Have a good cruise.