Gluten free on Celebrity?

[Apila]

We just booked our first cruise on Celebrity and I'd like to know are there options for people with celiac disease?

[Nashna]

I asked the same question last month and received lots of very encouraging posts from travelers who raved about Celebrity's diligence in providing food for GF passengers. My husband has Celiac and it is a huge issue for us as well.

[wallie5446]

My wife has Celiac and the staff on Celebrity do a most wonderful job.

 

Also, there are many threads about the subject that are worth the time to do a search and read thru.

EW

[SWFL Cruisers]

I know one thing for sure...they serve Tito's Vodka and it is 100% Gluten free! So you have that going for you! LOL

[specialdiet]

There are lots of gluten free options. However, ensuring you actually have a gluten free experience does require a fair bit of diligence and assertiveness on your part, as training/procedures are a bit of a mixed bag. This applies to all cruise lines, not just Celebrity. Am currently on Solstice and have run across a few situations this trip that would definitely cause problems for celiacs.

 

Have a peek at the info on my cruisespecialdiet.com website to learn about the steps you can take to minimize your risks of getting sick..

[goofysmom99]

I've been cruising on Celebrity since I was diagnosed with celiac in 2002. It's gotten a whole lot easier in that time. In 2014, I spent 4 weeks on the Constellation and another 4 weeks on the Reflection and wrote this about the Reflection. Probably hasn't changed much in the intervening year.

[Dowunder]

Absolutely no problem with GF on Celebrity in fact they are fantastic and will adapt menu dishes to GF. Just tell the waiters or chief steward and they will oblige. They will even search the ship for almond milk if you prefer that. Respect for people with allergies has improved considerably.

[ozark74]

Last summer on the Solstice the head chef gave us the galley tour. He told us that because of the number of GF request that all bake good were GF. I am guessing they mean all the time GF. Check to make sure but that makes sense. That should be fleet wide.

Edited January 23, 2016 by ozark74

[gsmiles4u]

It's unlikely that all baked goods are gluten free; it would be very costly to do that for the general public. They do prepare gluten free and other allergen free meals in a dedicated kitchen. Maybe that's what the chef was referring to.

[gsmiles4u]

Your biggest challenge will be in the buffet. You will need to find a manager who can take you through each area and help you choose your food. Every time. On another cruise line, I found bread between layers of bacon, used to soak up grease! Eating as often as you can in the MDR is a good idea.

[Redtravel]

On Summit now. Gliten free choices are excellent.

[KKB]

GF choices noted on menu (though you can discuss other choices possibly being prepared GF) with your server.

 

Served me GV bread every night...luv me my escargots, need bread to sop up all that good garlic butter! (tho one night I got cinnamon raisin toast:confused:)

 

YUMMY GF treats at Bacio.

 

I have heard they have GF pizza at the buffet; never sought it out, tho probably will this time.

[gdpups]

Just off the Reflection yesterday and had yummy gf pizza in Oceanview Cafe, but you need to ask for it at the pizza station and wait about 15 minutes but it was worth it this time. Also, don't miss the gf foccasia bread in the specialty restaurants, we had it in Muranos and Tuscan Grill. and it was tasty.

 

We did an excursion that included a private tour of the galley. On the tour the chef pointed out the separate section of the galley that was for gf preparation by a special chef. If you are celiac just be sure to watch for cross contamination, not all waiters and servers are educated about it.

[NorbertsNiece]

Will be posting GF live from Solstice next month. Watch out on the board for 'A bit of a blog'...... there will be lots of pics....

 

I seriously doubt a ship served only GF bread to everyone.... It can be hit and miss but then my experience has only been on RCL, and on only one of those ships was the GF bread worth sharing (Freedom).

[JuliaMS]

What is the best option for embarkation day. I hate going to the buffet and asking for someone to come out and show me what I can eat.

[Nashna]

What is the best option for embarkation day. I hate going to the buffet and asking for someone to come out and show me what I can eat.

 

Please don't worry. I have found that once the staff knows that you have an issue, they will go out of their way to help you. If you really don't wish to ask on your first day, then I'm sure you will be able to choose foods to eat that are naturally gluten free such as salads, hamburgers (without the bun), chicken, steak, fruit, rice, most ice cream, etc.

 

On Azamara, my husband would request GF pizza for the next day. Azamara also had gluten free bread available in all restaurants. Most times, the waiter would deliver the bread to the table. I am very confident that our March sailing on the Silhouette will provide my husband with the same level of dietary confidence that he had on Azamara.

[TravelKnitter]

Last summer on the Solstice the head chef gave us the galley tour. He told us that because of the number of GF request that all bake good were GF. I guess they mean all the time GF. Check to make sure but that makes sense. That should be fleet wide.

 

He might have meant "all baked foods," as in baked main dishes and side dishes, but not baked "goods" such as bread, muffins, etc. If he was from outside the United States, he might have used the wrong terminology.

Edited September 28, 2016 by TravelKnitter

[TravelKnitter]

I just wanted to let everyone know that my gluten-free experience on Celebrity Summit was good. I'm in the process of writing a blog post about it.

 

If anyone sails Summit and has food allergies or intolerances, look for Maître D' Ken. Or, if you find Maître D' Ken on one of the other Celebrity ships, be happy! He is outstanding and will go out of his way to help you--definitely above and beyond.

 

My next cruise will be on Celebrity Eclipse. We'll see how it goes!

[Nashna]

How were the pizza, muffins and rolls? Hope they have improved the quality. Our complaint was with the food. The service was outstanding.

 

 

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[ngaspar]

How were the pizza, muffins and rolls? Hope they have improved the quality. Our complaint was with the food. The service was outstanding.

 

 

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Just off the summit as well. Pizza crust is still the same odd consistency. No muffins, no rolls, unless you mean the usual "eye" rolls when you ask for gluten free bread (which is store-bought Canyon Bakehouse, widely available.)

 

Any actual gluten free desserts are a gelatin-type consistency with a weird crust similar to the pizza. There is some effort being made but in my opinion they aren't up to par with land based restaurants in quality or knowledge, and it isn't close.

 

Also be careful...some things marked at the buffet as GF are clearly not (like a frosted layer cake made with regular flour or barley soup). Ask someone who seems to know. They'll tell you the item is not GF and then remove the GF sign. Unfortunately someone later in the week will put the sign back up.

[wallie5446]

We just booked our first cruise on Celebrity and I'd like to know are there options for people with celiac disease?

As you can now tell, as mentioned, they do an excellent job.

Edited December 1, 2016 by wallie5446

[TravelKnitter]

How were the pizza, muffins, and rolls? Hope they have improved the quality. Our complaint was with the food. The service was outstanding.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

No muffins. No rolls. The pizza would probably be good if they learned how to prepare it. If they used a dedicated cast iron skillet, rubbed oil on the bottom and baked it until the crust gets brown and crispy, it would help.

 

Also, watch in the pizza prep area and, if possible, ask a trained chef to oversee the preparation. I had the pizza three times. The first time was fine, and Maître D Ken oversaw the preparation of it.

 

The second time, I ordered at the station without additional supervision, and I had a mild reaction. I assumed it wasn't the pizza, so I tried the pizza a third time and had a mild reaction again.

 

Whatever caused the cross-contamination was slight. I'm one of those highly sensitive types, and I react to the smallest trace of gluten. I'm so sensitive; I can't even use a lot of products labeled "gluten-free," which are 20ppm or less. I do best with "Certified Gluten Free" which is 10 ppm or less.

 

So, someone else might be okay with the pizza.

 

The pizza crust is made with rice, but the crust is so mushy, it tasted more like a very thick polenta. Crazy, but if I told myself that I was eating polenta with a pizza topping, I enjoyed it more. The toppings were delicious.

Edited December 1, 2016 by TravelKnitter

[TravelKnitter]

Just off the summit as well. The pizza crust is still the same odd consistency. No muffins, no rolls, unless you mean the usual "eye" rolls when you ask for gluten free bread (which is store-bought Canyon Bakehouse, widely available.)

 

Any actual gluten free desserts are a gelatin-type consistency with a weird crust similar to the pizza. There is some effort being made but in my opinion they aren't up to par with land based restaurants in quality or knowledge, and it isn't close.

 

Also be careful...some things marked at the buffet as GF are clearly not (like a frosted layer cake made with regular flour or barley soup). Ask someone who seems to know. They'll tell you the item is not GF and then remove the GF sign. Unfortunately someone later in the week will put the sign back up.

 

Be careful in the main dining room, too. One day, they had an item marked gluten free on the large menu outside the entryway, but it was not marked gluten free on my menu. I asked the server to check with the chef, and he returned to say "Yes, Chef said that as long as it is marked gluten-free, it is gluten-free."

 

When I took one bite of my meal, something told me there was gluten in it, and sure enough, when I asked a second time, I was told the dish was NOT gluten free.

 

The good news: I only had one small bite.

 

The bad news: I had a bad reaction -- so bad that I plugged the toilet in our cabin!

 

The individual menus were correct, but the large sign was not. I have a feeling that when the server asked the chef about it, he didn't communicate that there was a discrepancy between the menus and only communicated that there was a "gluten-free" symbol on the menu.

 

On the buffet, it could be problematic to have a gluten-free dessert since, most of the time, the gluten-free items were next to gluten items. A lot of time, people would serve themselves and cross-contaminate the gluten-free desserts by touching a glutened serving utensil to the gluten free serving plate.

 

Many of the gluten-free desserts were self-contained, but even then, there was a risk if they were sitting with the other, glutened desserts. Twice, I saw a server drop crumbs from glutened items on the self-contained gluten-free items.

 

To Celebrity's credit, before I sailed, they send me an email cautioning me that if I ate at the buffet, it was risky. They suggested I eat in the main dining room only, since my sensitivity to gluten is so great.

 

I travel a lot, and I've come to expect mistakes to happen. They shouldn't happen, but as long as they don't happen a lot, I am forgiving.

 

99% of my gluten-free experience on my 14-day cruise was positive! For us gluten-free folks, it always pays to be diligent and double check everything, no matter where you go.

 

As of this month, Celebrity is supposed to institute the Dine Aware Program, developed to give greater education to staff on how to handle food sensitivities and allergies. There's a thread about it on Cruise Critic here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2427411

 

I am SO GLAD to see Celebrity do this, and I hope it makes my next Celebrity cruise even better than my last.