how's the food for us gluten-free folk? this is the first time cruising gluten free and i am not happy about it, lol!

i am going to miss johnny rockets onion rings!

any suggestions for the boat or off the boat?
going to st. marteen, st. thomas, aruba and curaco

thanks so much!

I don't have any advice. But please report back..I am going on a cruise in February for the first time since going gluten free, I have been on 8 cruises and all the memories of the food have me scared to death

On St Thomas, there is a place called "Delly...something" at the Havensight mall. They have great food at great prices. I had the ahi tuna ceaser salad. They use an oil and vinegar style dressing, and were more than happy to leave off the crutons. As for the others, I can't say. We jsut got back from a cruise to that area.

I found the food on the ship to be WELL ABOVE par for normal Gluten Free cooking. Breakfast buffet was not too bad, and they had a loaf of gluten-free bread on the toast station. Dinner in the main dinning room was awesome, and very flavorful. Make sure you've told them ahead of time though, and they will not dissappoint. They even kept Rice pasta on the italian staiton at the buffet, but they would cook it to order so there was laways that option as well.

We crusied Holland Americal, but I have read reviews on most of the major cruise lines, and they deal with sepcial diets all the time.

Went on Carnival in Aug'07 and on Royal Caribbean in Dec '07. RC much better let them know in advance of cruise you need a gluten-free diet and they will cater to you at dinner in the dining room. They will even be able to arrange for you to have gluten-free french toast in dining room in am. Fabulous gluten-free deserts in dining room. They bring the following day’s menu the evening before to help you choose a gluten-free choice and even will make special sauces. Unfortunately Johnny Rockets is only a milkshake. French fries where gluten-free at the buffet, I did lunch at buffet and did dinner in dining room, breakfast a bit of both. Had a great time!!!! We even planned our shore excursions to eat lunch on ship when time allowed. Have fun!!

Hi, I just came back from doing two cruises, 02/08. First was Carnival Glory. These were our ninth and tenth cruises but first gluten free. Carnival's food in the dining room was great, the bread was iffy but they tried. What was immediately apparent to me was that they will use what they have on both ships to accomadate you but they evidently do not know there are hundreds of companies selling gluten free desserts out there. I saw a lot of fruit for dessert. On this cruise I just went with the flow, found what I could but made no waves!!!!! Next was the Emerald Princess 10 day cruise. I expected more and by day three I was dissapointed. The people were great and once we expressed our dissatisfaction things turned around. My husband told them he expected there to be something for me at afternoon tea and the next day there was. Next I stopped getting up early to go to the dining room and had eggs and bacon from the buffet. There were no gluten free muffins etc. in the dining roon so why bother. I also, against my husbands advice, I had packed my own cereal, I knew I would get sick of eggs. One day I was talking to a chef and he offered to make me pancakes the next day!!!!! They were great until I asked for real maple syrup, as you see this is a work in progress for cruise ships. The chef did walk me though the buffet to show me what I could have there, very helpful. In the International Cafe I spoke to a supervisor and the next day had gluten free quiche, the next day gluten free pizza. I would often walk through the buffet to look to see what they had, then would find a gluten free dessert. I always asked to be sure and always got a quick answer. The only thing that annoyed the blazes out of me was constant reference to my gluten free diet at the table on both ships. For example, "here is your gluten free dinner" or "this is your gluten free dessert". Also being approached in the middle of a meal to decide the next days meal was a pain. Lessons learned here are, Ask for what you want!!!! Cruising isn't cheap and the cruise lines tell you they can provide gluten free food. Hold them to the promise. Also if there are things you love, take some with you, in my case it was cereal and croutons. I felt bad the third day asking for what I needed but as my husband told me, "you will just make it better for the person coming next week". True! Overall Princess did a great job and I wasn't sick once.

Overall, were you satisfied with Carnival? We're sailing on teh Triumph in April. My wife spoke to someone the other day who told here there are gluten free breads, rolls and pasta on board. They indicated that the buffet's would be the toughest. I assumed that. They also said we were free to bring whatever food we wanted on board. I'm thinking of packing cereal, chips, snacks that I know I can eat. When you brought your cereal on-board, were you questioned about food etc.? or given a hard time about it? I was just going to stick the stuff in our bags. We cruised Disney 6 years ago, and I honestly cannot remember the boarding process we went through.

Hi, Thanks for your reports!

I love to cruise but haven't been since going gluten free. I was hesitant to try Princess since I had not yet seen a good report. We are Platinum on Princess so it has been one of my favorite lines.

To perhaps look at one thing a little differently if a server at a restaurant delivers a meal to me and doesn't mention that it is gluten free I ask. So I would be one who appreciated confirmation that they realized I needed the special meal and had in fact grabbed that one and not one of the others that may look just like it.

Thanks again!
Michelle