Gluten Free - Upcoming Infinity Sailing

[BlueSkiesTX]

This will be my 15 year old daughter's first time sailing as gluten free. She has a newly diagnosed wheat intolerance (within the past year). She is not celiac, yet.  I have read through the threads and plan to talk with the maître de after the muster drill or as soon as we can. We have the same dining reservation every night in anytime dining, so I expect we will have the same service team nightly. I have just emailed "special_needs@celebrity.com" to alert them. Is there any other form or any other pre-cruise notifications I can give them? I didn't see any way to indicate this in the cruise planner.  

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

12 minutes ago, BlueSkiesTX said:

This will be my 15 year old daughter's first time sailing as gluten free. She has a newly diagnosed wheat intolerance (within the past year). She is not celiac, yet.  I have read through the threads and plan to talk with the maître de after the muster drill or as soon as we can. We have the same dining reservation every night in anytime dining, so I expect we will have the same service team nightly. I have just emailed "special_needs@celebrity.com" to alert them. Is there any other form or any other pre-cruise notifications I can give them? I didn't see any way to indicate this in the cruise planner.  

 

That is fine. That's all I've ever done - the email prior to sailing. Then I just check in with my service team in the dining room. I have almost always been given the menu for the next night during dessert so that I can place an order and they can be prepared.

[BlueSkiesTX]

4 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

That is fine. That's all I've ever done - the email prior to sailing. Then I just check in with my service team in the dining room. I have almost always been given the menu for the next night during dessert so that I can place an order and they can be prepared.

Thank you! Just confirming, I sent the email to the appropriate email address/team, correct?

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

6 minutes ago, BlueSkiesTX said:

Thank you! Just confirming, I sent the email to the appropriate email address/team, correct?

Yes. That's the one I used.

[BlueSkiesTX]

2 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Yes. That's the one I used.

Thanks again! 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

31 minutes ago, BlueSkiesTX said:

Thanks again! 

You're welcome!!

[kokopelli-az]

There is a form (attached, see last section: other disability related needs...).   The Special Needs Dept will probably request that it be completed.   We were on the Reflection a couple of weeks ago and they had signs indicating the gluten free breads and pastries in the buffet.  

CEL-Special-Needs-Form-Revised-062221x.pdf

[Ex-Airbalancer]

We just did a 16 night on the Connie , our daughter is anti gluten 😁

our daughter didn’t do anything before boarding , the waiter asks if anyone has any allergies,and he walked her though the menu , and than they would give her the next night menu where she would pick out what she want 

We were in anytime dinning and had multiple tables without having any problems 

She did like the mashed potatoes 🤣

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

23 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

We just did a 16 night on the Connie , our daughter is anti gluten 😁

our daughter didn’t do anything before boarding , the waiter asks if anyone has any allergies,and he walked her though the menu , and than they would give her the next night menu where she would pick out what she want 

We were in anytime dinning and had multiple tables without having any problems 

She did like the mashed potatoes 🤣

 

I will just say from experience that the ship provisioning will order a small percentage of gluten-free bread, etc. over those who have reported needing it, but it's not a huge percentage. I was on a sailing (RCCL, but provisioning works pretty much the same way - especially under the same umbrella like X and RCCL) and about halfway through the cruise my server asked if I wanted cinnamon raisin bread with dinner or no bread and said that there were many more people who were gluiten-free than had reported and it was above the percentage. We were fortunate that Venice was also an embarkation port so they were able to get more gluten-free supplies. But ever since then I've made 100% sure that I've reported it beforehand. It's just better to let them know so they can be as prepared as possible.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

9 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

I will just say from experience that the ship provisioning will order a small percentage of gluten-free bread, etc. over those who have reported needing it, but it's not a huge percentage. I was on a sailing (RCCL, but provisioning works pretty much the same way - especially under the same umbrella like X and RCCL) and about halfway through the cruise my server asked if I wanted cinnamon raisin bread with dinner or no bread and said that there were many more people who were gluiten-free than had reported and it was above the percentage. We were fortunate that Venice was also an embarkation port so they were able to get more gluten-free supplies. But ever since then I've made 100% sure that I've reported it beforehand. It's just better to let them know so they can be as prepared as possible.

You cannot compare Celebrity with RCCL 😁

Italy is great for anti gluten foods , did you know Italians take the problem so seriously that people suffering from Celiac disease receive a stipend from the government of up to €140 per month.

 

[563toM]

@BlueSkiesTX Your daughter will be well taken care of and have a large selection of food.  We have cruised for years with RC and I always take a small suitcase of gf food just in case.  When we used to cruise on RC I would eat thru most of the suitcase.  

 

We cruised on Summit and I came home with 98% food still in my suitcase.  The gf food was delicious, servings were perfect and they are well versed in food handling to keep us safe.  In the Oceanview Cafe (buffet) I ate a Panini sandwich and Pasta for the first time in 12 years while on vacation.  For the Panini sandwich there is a dedicated grill, they change gloves and they have their own cutting board and tongs.  At the buffet every item has a placard above which shows all 4 allergens.  If the item is duplicated above then it's safe if you are gf, vegetarian etc.

 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

1 hour ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

You cannot compare Celebrity with RCCL 😁

Italy is great for anti gluten foods , did you know Italians take the problem so seriously that people suffering from Celiac disease receive a stipend from the government of up to €140 per month.

 

I am aware. But that doesn’t help on the ship when way more people than reported are requesting gluten-free stuff.

 

It is always better to let them know so they can be prepared adequately. It would suck for your “anti gluten” daughter to not have adequate options because a lot of people decided not to let them know in advance.

[bjahil47]

Everyone gave you good information.  I am gluten free and bring my own gluten free bagels and crackers on board as they do not have those.

Enjoy!

[talljules1]

Perhaps similar to your daughter I am somewhat intolerant of wheat/gluten but I don't have coeliac disease. Generally if I sub out bread, pasta and pizza with GF alternatives I am fine. I always report it before we go, but have never had any problem. The gluten free bread is fine (maybe not as good as what I have at home, but adequate). I usually take a box of GF crackers with me for cheese. Otherwise, always a good selection to choose from, with things clearly labelled, so I can decide what I might risk and what not.

[Boatharbour]

I was very happy with the way GF was handled on board. I did submit the special needs form before boarding. It was obviously noted because in every dining room the staff were aware I was GF without me telling them. 
After several weeks of land travel where I often struggled to find GF food, it was a relief to find GF options so easily. The only glitch was the night we ate at Fine Cut and there wasn’t a single GF dessert so I chose from the MDR menu instead.