Food allergies/dietary needs in isolation or quarantine

[CatLadyFemme]

Have any of you who have had to isolate in your cabin, or move to the red block/quarantine rooms had to navigate food allergies or dietary concerns? I keep seeing that they allow you to order room service. However, as a vegetarian with celiac disease (super sensitive to gluten), I am also told when i register my celiac with RCCL not to order room service as they cannot guarantee it is gluten free (plus they don’t have any GF items that are also vegetarian). I think ai could handle most of quarantine as I love a good book,  but am most worried about not being able to get food I can safely eat. Wondering if a phone has had experience navigating this.

 

As a side note, if I am in an accessible ADA room and needed to quarantine, would they have an ADA room for me to quarantine in?

 

thanks!

[Biker19]

5 hours ago, CatLadyFemme said:

I think ai could handle most of quarantine as I love a good book, but am most worried about not being able to get food I can safely eat.

For the foreseeable future, don't cruise with worries like that.

[D4]

Those are interesting questions.

 

I’ve been cruising for 30 years and was diagnosed with celiac 15 years ago.  I don’t recall a warning about room service, but I never ordered room service even before I was celiac.

 

I bring a lot of prepackaged food on cruises.  (My family laughs - who packs a lot of food to go on a cruise?)  Your post made me realize that my food stash would also be very useful if I was quarantined.  People have said their room service often takes well over an hour.

 

In case you’re wondering, these are some of the things I bring: 

jar of cashew butter, large bag of tortilla chips, bags of crackers (to eat with cheese), cashews, sprinkles for ice cream, chocolate, and snacks.  We usually do B2Bs so I need a lot.  Most is in my checked luggage, but some is in my carryon for flights.

 

I’ve always been allowed to bring my prepackaged snacks onto islands even when they inspect your bag as you get off the ship.

 

I hope someone replies with personal experience, but I also know Royal excels at being inconsistent.

 

 

 

 

[JT1962]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

For the foreseeable future, don't cruise with worries like that.

I totally agree. Things are too uncertain currently. Any special requests / requirements may be an issue if quarantined. 

[CatLadyFemme]

Thanks all. My next cruise is in April, so really hoping things are better by then. When I first got my DX in 2016, I brought SO much food on board like @D4, but after several years, realized between the MDR, custom dishes in WJ, GF pizza at Sorrentos, and Udi’s cookies from the cafe, I was ok. If things are anything like they are now in April, we would cancel, but if they look much better, we really hope to go (I have been isolating for 22 months at this point. It’s really hard being chronically ill and having auto immune issues during this), but even if cases are low, I would want to make sure I could eat. I think I would just stock up on food (just like on my early March 2020 cruise, I took 4 weeks of my meds with me instead of just one week, in case). Thanks all.

[D4]

I’m glad the ship food is working well for you.   I definitely eat the ship’s food, but I need my extras to keep me happy.

 

I’ve been bringing all my extra food for 15 years and I eat most of it every time.

[docethen]

We have been worried about this exact thing.    We are to sail march 31 with celiac.    I can’t get a straight answer from anyone 

We are even sailing with a travel group called Celiac Cruise and they have not responded to my question asked a week ago.    

[D4]

@docethenThat is crazy that the Celiac Cruise group doesn’t know the answer to that!

 

I’ve  never heard of that group.  I just googled it and joined their email list. Thank you!

 

Their website says your group will have a private dining room with 100% gluten free menus.  Since Royal is making special food preparations for your group, they certainly would be better prepared to get gluten free food to any of your group that gets quarantined.

 

You would be in a much better position than the rest of us celiacs on regular cruises.

 

Please post back here if you get any answers.

Edited January 15, 2022 by D4

[Meem47]

On 1/11/2022 at 12:47 AM, CatLadyFemme said:

Have any of you who have had to isolate in your cabin, or move to the red block/quarantine rooms had to navigate food allergies or dietary concerns? I keep seeing that they allow you to order room service. However, as a vegetarian with celiac disease (super sensitive to gluten), I am also told when i register my celiac with RCCL not to order room service as they cannot guarantee it is gluten free (plus they don’t have any GF items that are also vegetarian). I think ai could handle most of quarantine as I love a good book,  but am most worried about not being able to get food I can safely eat. Wondering if a phone has had experience navigating this.

 

As a side note, if I am in an accessible ADA room and needed to quarantine, would they have an ADA room for me to quarantine in?

 

thanks!

I have Celiac and have been cruising with Royal/Celebrity since 2014.  While I don’t know about quarantine, I have ordered room service plenty of times with no issues.  I have even “requested” on the breakfast room service menu for “GF toast/muffins” etc. and they always bring it.  Never had an issue with dinners either, as it’s noted on my reservation and I remind them on phone.  
 

I will be sailing next week and hope to avoid quarantine but can report back if I end up isolated.  

[boogybaby]

We were quarantined on celebrity silhouette and I’m coeliac. We had an Aqua balcony and our restaurant was Blu, every day the maitre D phoned me to check I was ok, he sent menus for me to choose my food and it was delivered at a time of my choice with wine. I agree with others take snacks with you and approach the maitre D  and ask if he could take care of your orders in the event of quarantine. We used room service menus on port days but again it was ordered via Blu. They won’t want to make you I’ll due to gluten and will do their best to protect you. I don’t know about accessible cabins but we were moved to another balcony on deck 6. Enjoy your cruise

[D4]

@boogybabyThanks for the information and great advice.

I get to know my head waiter well since he takes my order each night for the next night.  I’ll talk to him at the beginning of my next B2B about getting gf food if I get isolated/quarantined.  I think it would really help to have a specific person to reach out to that actually knows you if you need help.

[docethen]

On 1/15/2022 at 4:01 PM, D4 said:

@docethenThat is crazy that the Celiac Cruise group doesn’t know the answer to that!

 

I’ve  never heard of that group.  I just googled it and joined their email list. Thank you!

 

Their website says your group will have a private dining room with 100% gluten free menus.  Since Royal is making special food preparations for your group, they certainly would be better prepared to get gluten free food to any of your group that gets quarantined.

 

You would be in a much better position than the rest of us celiacs on regular cruises.

 

Please post back here if you get any answers.

I talked to them  yesterday.   They will ensure if we are quarantined the room service food would come from our dedicated kitchen.    There are 500 people I believe so yes in better position given the kitchen is already in place.    I am not sure why they didn’t respond on the cruise event page but felt much safer after discussing protocol with them.    

[docethen]

21 hours ago, boogybaby said:

We were quarantined on celebrity silhouette and I’m coeliac. We had an Aqua balcony and our restaurant was Blu, every day the maitre D phoned me to check I was ok, he sent menus for me to choose my food and it was delivered at a time of my choice with wine. I agree with others take snacks with you and approach the maitre D  and ask if he could take care of your orders in the event of quarantine. We used room service menus on port days but again it was ordered via Blu. They won’t want to make you I’ll due to gluten and will do their best to protect you. I don’t know about accessible cabins but we were moved to another balcony on deck 6. Enjoy your cruise

Did you move to special quarantine room?   Glad it went ok. 

[docethen]

On 1/15/2022 at 2:34 PM, docethen said:

We have been worried about this exact thing.    We are to sail march 31 with celiac.    I can’t get a straight answer from anyone 

We are even sailing with a travel group called Celiac Cruise and they have not responded to my question asked a week ago.    

Talked to the group organizer at least on our sailing protocol is in place for safe room service.  

[boogybaby]

9 hours ago, docethen said:

Did you move to special quarantine room?   Glad it went ok. 

Yes we were moved from deck 11 to deck 6

[xpcdoojk]

On 1/11/2022 at 6:31 AM, Biker19 said:

For the foreseeable future, don't cruise with worries like that.

Or ever….😇

[CatLadyFemme]

On 1/17/2022 at 10:49 PM, xpcdoojk said:

Or ever….😇

Wow. That’s a bit uncalled for.

[xpcdoojk]

 A sense of humor is so lacking in so many people.  So many seem to want to be offended.  JMHO.  

 

I apologize for failing to be witty.  

[CatLadyFemme]

On 1/20/2022 at 9:45 AM, xpcdoojk said:

 A sense of humor is so lacking in so many people.  So many seem to want to be offended.  JMHO.  

 

I apologize for failing to be witty.  

As someone who deals with such casual ableism daily, I assure you that I have a sense of humor. You’re ableism just isn’t funny.