Great Experience On Celebrity Cruises..

[LauraB0927]

Hello everyone!

    I haven't been active in a while - very busy with my wedding plans, school, etc.  Now that it's all done I wanted to share my surprisingly fantastic experience on a Celebrity Cruise.  For our honeymoon, we booked a cruise through Celebrity for 12 nights in the Mediterranean (Italy, Greece, Turkey, Malta, Spain, etc).  Needless to say, I was absolutely terrified about eating and getting sick.  I dreaded the thought of being stuck in the bathroom for days when I should be enjoying my honeymoon with my new husband.  After calling the customer service line multiple times to confirm over and over again that the cruise line was aware that I had Celiac and needed to be on a very strict diet, I took a deep breath, boarded the ship, and waited to see what happened.  I couldn't be more surprised...

    Every single staff member new what "Celiac" and "gluten free" meant, even the ones that had some difficulty speaking English.  I never had a single problem finding food, even at the buffet where I thought I would have mini heart attacks every time I passed through there.  I was able to go to the Pizza Station in the all-day buffet and request a gluten free pizza.  A staff member would call for a gluten free crust to be brought up to the kitchen, staff changed their gloves, and they would make me any kind of pizza I wanted on a separate section of the oven reserved for gluten free items.  Same with the Pasta Station - they actually knew to boil new water for me and my gluten free pasta in a separate pot (trust me, I watched).  Every staff member was able to help me pick out gluten free items at the buffet (I know, we all cringe when we hear buffet, but it was a cruise with mostly adults and people were really good about keeping the spoons separate)   

    At dinner in the main dining hall, there was always warm toasted gluten free bread waiting for me each night.  Again, the staff were extremely knowledgeable about gluten-free food.  They had each item on the menu labeled to tell if you if it was gluten free, dairy free, nut free, or "no extra sugar added."  Regardless, they knew I had Celiac and made sure that my food was not cross contaminated.  I got to order my meal in advance to make sure that it was able to be prepared gluten free.  The food supervisor would come to my table each night with the next day's menu and would directly take my order.  

   I was even surprised that the specialty restaurants were able to accommodate me - the Asian restaurant was able to provide me with gluten free Pad Thai food with Asian fried rice with gluten free soy sauce.  The Italian restaurant made me fresh gluten free bread - it was so good that I actually had to ask the waiter to check to make sure it was gluten free.  They even had gluten free croutons for my salad.

   By day 2 I was incredibly comfortable and actually ate better on the cruise than I ever did at home (the extra 5 pounds I put on is proof of that!).  I WILL be sailing with Celebrity again because of this experience.  I wanted to share to let everyone know that you can have a good experience on a cruise!     

 

Laura

[notme]

that's awesome, laura!   my kids were looking at cruises - something we could all do together, as they are grown and live hither and yon lolz - and i was a little wigged at the thought of depending on Other People to keep me eating safely.  that is great news that celebrity can do it right  they were looking at the disney cruise, too, because of the grandkids.  so, that is something in celebrity's favor when they finally make up their minds!

 

congratulations!   and i hope the wedding was awesome but i hope the marriage is even better

[cyclinglady]

Best wishes to you!  

 

Have not cruised yet since my dx, but I'm glad to hear that Celebrity was so accommodating!

[MinnesotaCeliac]

Hello Laura,

 

I'm glad you had a positive experience. May I ask what ship you were you on? The staff and knowledge make all the difference in how comfortable one is on a cruise.

 

My wife loves cruises (and now so do I).  I  feel I can travel again knowing I'll have safe (and even hot) food. My first cruise I brought a full suitcase of food, now it is mostly just snacks.  I've had mostly positive experiences on all the cruise lines I've been on (Celebrity, RC, Princess and NCL).  I believe Celebrity was one of the first cruises after my DX.  I had a headwaiter/ Asst Maitre'd (I think his name was Marcel) he was pretty amazing. I was even able to take a galley tour to see where my (and others with special diets) were made (made me feel more comfortible). I just wish all meals were available including lunch. I still can't get past the Buffet hang-up, but good on you ( I hope I get there one of these days)!!!  I'm taking another cruise most likely on Celebrity this coming winter.

 

 

Thanks again for sharing!

 

~Erik

[LauraB0927]

Hello Laura,

 

I'm glad you had a positive experience. May I ask what ship you were you on? The staff and knowledge make all the difference in how comfortable one is on a cruise.

 

My wife loves cruises (and now so do I).  I  feel I can travel again knowing I'll have safe (and even hot) food. My first cruise I brought a full suitcase of food, now it is mostly just snacks.  I've had mostly positive experiences on all the cruise lines I've been on (Celebrity, RC, Princess and NCL).  I believe Celebrity was one of the first cruises after my DX.  I had a headwaiter/ Asst Maitre'd (I think his name was Marcel) he was pretty amazing. I was even able to take a galley tour to see where my (and others with special diets) were made (made me feel more comfortible). I just wish all meals were available including lunch. I still can't get past the Buffet hang-up, but good on you ( I hope I get there one of these days)!!!  I'm taking another cruise most likely on Celebrity this coming winter.

 

 

Thanks again for sharing!

 

~Erik

Hi Erik!  The ship we were on was the Celebrity Equinox - it stays mostly in Europe but it does some Caribbean tours too.  What did you mean when you said that you wished all meals were available, including lunch?  They didn't have lunch for you on your cruise???  I didn't have a problem with any meal and they always had gluten free bread and options available anywhere I went on the ship.  Sorry to hear that you may have had a problem!!  I too brought a whole bunch of snacks and didnt end up needing most of them - I would just take a few in my bag for the all day excursions off of the ship.  Glad to hear you had good experiences on other cruise lines!! 

[MinnesotaCeliac]

Hi Erik!  The ship we were on was the Celebrity Equinox - it stays mostly in Europe but it does some Caribbean tours too.  What did you mean when you said that you wished all meals were available, including lunch?  They didn't have lunch for you on your cruise???  I didn't have a problem with any meal and they always had gluten free bread and options available anywhere I went on the ship.  Sorry to hear that you may have had a problem!!  I too brought a whole bunch of snacks and didnt end up needing most of them - I would just take a few in my bag for the all day excursions off of the ship.  Glad to hear you had good experiences on other cruise lines!!

It wasnt a bad experience, just wishing that since i can always pre-order my breakfest and dinner in the main dinning room they would also do it for lunch (these are made in a designated area of the galley to mitigate cc risk) On some ships only the buffet is open for lunch and since I'm not comfortable with eating at the buffet I just skip lunch and eat a protien bar. I'll be on the Celebrity Reflection this coming winter and expect to have an awesome time. This will be cruise #5 since dx and the cruise lines are getting better and better regarding accomidating a celiac diet/safety each time. Cheers!