Our food allergy/gluten free experience on the Explorer

We just returned from the 9 night sailing on the Explorer of the Seas. I hadn't seen too many reviews of allergy dining from this particular ship and most of them were pretty old, so I thought I would update what we found.

I saw a recent review on the main cruise critic page from a 5 night sailing, and our experience was very different than that one. No, they didn't have gluten free muffins or cookies, but neither does any other place we visit.

DD9 is gluten free. I am also gluten free, and allergic to eggs, peanuts, tomato and avoid caffeine. All of them make me sick (vomitting) so I was very nervous going into the cruise, and made sure I had contacted RCCL ahead of time, as well as had our travel agent note it all over our reservation. I packed a small suitcase full of allergy free snacks, muffins, cookies, salad dressings and bread.

Upon boarding I went to the main dining room and was told there would not be a problem accomodating us at all, just to inform our waiter as soon as we sat down. We also went to Portofinos and informed them as well, and was told they had noted all my allergies and could certainly find me something to eat.

Next stop was Windjammer. This was my biggest concern. However, when we asked to speak to someone, the manager came out (with a really long name that I meant to write down and didn't) He was wonderful, walked DD and I through the buffet and showed us what would be safe and what would not be safe. He said anytime we came in to ask for him or 2 other people he introduced us to and they would gladly walk us through each day, for any meal. He also said that gluten free bread would be available to us and all we had to do was ask. He also said that the Island Grill would be able to do stir fry for us and we could ask for it to be made in a clean pan without stir fry sauce. We only did this once as the line gets very long and we felt bad making people wait while they went to get a new pan. Most days we were able to get rice, vegetables, salad, fruit and at least one meat option, if not more. There was usually at least one dessert option (jello, pudding, panna cotta) There is a concern of cross contamination from other people touching things, but DD and I are not sensitive enough to have that make us too ill.

In the main dining room the first night the head waiter came over and went through the first night menu and told us what was safe. After that, each night we were given the next nights menu and able to order our meals for the next day, with anything a possibility. I asked about room service (we were in a suite with full dining room menu), because we had the late seating and with DS6, it wasn't working out well, and was told if I ordered my meal in the dining room I could let them know we planned to dine in and they would arrange the gluten free meal to be delivered. We had dinner on our balcony 3 nights and it was perfect.

Our waiter, Jackson, and asst waiter, Jaime, were wonderful about keeping our meals separate, bringing gluten free bread (which was horrible :) ) and making sure we ordered our meals. Jackson always went to ask about desserts in the kitchen before we ordered, and when he saw a good gluten free option, he brought us double (last formal night we had 6 flourless chocolate mini cakes and 2 huge plates of cherries jubilee brought out!)

We had breakfast once in the dining room. Gluten free chocolate chip pancakes - just give them a days notice. They were not great, but they weren't horrible, and it made my daughter happy because they made a big production of serving her the chocolate chip pancakes that "no one else can get" ;) and doused them in whipped cream.

We were not able to eat anything in Cafe Promenade, all sandwiches, pastry and pizza. However, we made friends with the Ben and Jerry's worker and he was more than happy to open a new container and kept it hidden in the back freezer for us, and always used a clean scoop. DD and I may or may not have eaten an entire container of Chunky Monkey ice cream ourselves :rolleyes:

My biggest disappointment was in Portofino. I've read several reports in our roll call about how bad the service was that night, but ours was horrible. The captain and officers were in there, so maybe that threw the night off. Our wine came after our appertizers, our waiter made a big production about me ordering the pasta dish. "Someone will have to go to Windjammer to get the rice pasta for you and we are very busy". I ended up ordering the risotto just to keep the peace, which came out with tomato sauce, even though I had specified I was allergic to tomatoes. The menu didn't specify it was tomato based. He dumped our plates and left, and we didn't see him again until I stood up to leave because I had decided I'd better eat a couple of bites because I was starving as we had been there almost an hour and a half already. Not sure if there was something in the salad or if it was the tomato base, but I ended up sick.

They did send dessert with DH to go, but what a disappointment to have to leave in the middle of our anniversary dinner.

However, to give them a little credit, they take the icky gluten free bread they bring in the dining room, drizzle it with olive oil and garlic and grill it, so it was really good, especially with the spreads they bring out.

Our snack stash came in pretty handy, especially in ports. We tried to time our excursions to where we could eat on the ship before we left and then eat when we got back to eliminate the possibility of getting sick from eating something on the islands. We just snacked from our bag if the rest of the family was eating lunch. We had great luck in St Thomas when our guide visited a farm and we bought fresh fruit (mango, banana, coconut) to eat for lunch.

Hopefully that gives a quick overview of our experiences. We ate well enough that I gained a pound while gone :p

This was a good review for those with food allergies. I'm glad to hear of those who helped make your trip successful and sorry about the Portofino experience. It's good you didn't let that ruin your whole cruise.

Chelley, thank you for your in depth review of going gluten free on a cruise ship. Sounds like you had a very positive experience with one exception.

May I suggest that you send a copy of this review to Lisa Bauer who is Sr. Vice President of Hotel Operations. Her email address is lbauer@rccl.com I know that she would be happy to hear about your positive experience......and the not so positive experience in Chops. The only way they can improve is knowing when something is being done incorrectly.

Thank you for posting your experience. My son has peanut allergies, so i am very sensitive to this. We didn't have any issues on HAL - but the service on HAL was excellent.

On Carnival DREAM, I had an issue in the buffet. I had asked the workers which items had nuts; was told "no nuts" and then came across things which were very clearly garnished with nuts.

In this day an age, so many people have food allergies, that i don't think its unreasonable to ask cruiselines to put a little peanut symbol on the food tag in the buffet, so it is very clear which items do and do not contain nuts. I fully understand cross-contamination, and like, you we take the risk that if the item is not intended to contain nuts .... then we assume that it was not contaminated.

Unfortunately, nuts get ground and hidden in cakes or pastries, or some are cooked with nut oils. In these cases, meals are specifally formulated with nuts, so i don't think its asking too much for a menu or meal tag to have a little universally accepted symbol on it, like a peanut.

I'm glad you had an overall positive experience, and I'm hoping for the same when we sail FOTS this summer.

It sounds like things mostly went as well & you were still able to gain a pound, so you did something right :D When we cruise with a group, one of our travel mates has a gluten allergy and we've always found the cruise lines (Princess, RCI & Carnival, so far) to be very accommodating. On our Carnival cruise last fall, we stopped in Bermuda and decided to get a day pass to the Hilton resort. Much to our surprise, they had a couple of gluten free options on their menu (lunch & a drink was included with our pass) so it was nice to see that gluten free options are becoming available in the least expected places!

Thank you so much for sharing. Glad you're overall experience was positive.

We're heading on our first Med cruise in less than 2 weeks. Our oldest DD is gluten-free, diabetic and mentally disabled. She had her first cruise last Nov. for her birthday and Carnival went out of their way to make sure her sensitivities and her pickiness were accommodated. We could not have been more pleased.

This will be our first RCCL cruise. I have heard good things about the way they handle people with special needs, diet and otherwise. Hopefully in a few weeks I will also be writing a glowing review.

In this day an age, so many people have food allergies, that i don't think its unreasonable to ask cruiselines to put a little peanut symbol on the food tag in the buffet

We always had the chef walk us through the buffet, but I noticed a few "This item contains nuts" sign on some dishes. I wish they could use the allergen guidelines with the little symbol or letter and red circle/slash on all their dishes. It would make it so much easier, especially on iffy dishes like the mashed potatoes (which contain gluten)

Great post- thank you! I'll be sailing on Explorer in August and I have a few food "issues" (allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame; lactose intolerance; and, to top it off, I'm also a vegetarian). I'm glad they were mostly able to accommodate you (esp in the MDR and WJ).

Thanks again!! :D

We just returned from the 9 night sailing on the Explorer of the Seas. I hadn't seen too many reviews of allergy dining from this particular ship and most of them were pretty old, so I thought I would update what we found.

 

I saw a recent review on the main cruise critic page from a 5 night sailing, and our experience was very different than that one. No, they didn't have gluten free muffins or cookies, but neither does any other place we visit.

 

DD9 is gluten free. I am also gluten free, and allergic to eggs, peanuts, tomato and avoid caffeine. All of them make me sick (vomitting) so I was very nervous going into the cruise, and made sure I had contacted RCCL ahead of time, as well as had our travel agent note it all over our reservation. I packed a small suitcase full of allergy free snacks, muffins, cookies, salad dressings and bread.

 

Upon boarding I went to the main dining room and was told there would not be a problem accomodating us at all, just to inform our waiter as soon as we sat down. We also went to Portofinos and informed them as well, and was told they had noted all my allergies and could certainly find me something to eat.

 

Next stop was Windjammer. This was my biggest concern. However, when we asked to speak to someone, the manager came out (with a really long name that I meant to write down and didn't) He was wonderful, walked DD and I through the buffet and showed us what would be safe and what would not be safe. He said anytime we came in to ask for him or 2 other people he introduced us to and they would gladly walk us through each day, for any meal. He also said that gluten free bread would be available to us and all we had to do was ask. He also said that the Island Grill would be able to do stir fry for us and we could ask for it to be made in a clean pan without stir fry sauce. We only did this once as the line gets very long and we felt bad making people wait while they went to get a new pan. Most days we were able to get rice, vegetables, salad, fruit and at least one meat option, if not more. There was usually at least one dessert option (jello, pudding, panna cotta) There is a concern of cross contamination from other people touching things, but DD and I are not sensitive enough to have that make us too ill.

 

In the main dining room the first night the head waiter came over and went through the first night menu and told us what was safe. After that, each night we were given the next nights menu and able to order our meals for the next day, with anything a possibility. I asked about room service (we were in a suite with full dining room menu), because we had the late seating and with DS6, it wasn't working out well, and was told if I ordered my meal in the dining room I could let them know we planned to dine in and they would arrange the gluten free meal to be delivered. We had dinner on our balcony 3 nights and it was perfect.

 

Our waiter, Jackson, and asst waiter, Jaime, were wonderful about keeping our meals separate, bringing gluten free bread (which was horrible :) ) and making sure we ordered our meals. Jackson always went to ask about desserts in the kitchen before we ordered, and when he saw a good gluten free option, he brought us double (last formal night we had 6 flourless chocolate mini cakes and 2 huge plates of cherries jubilee brought out!)

 

We had breakfast once in the dining room. Gluten free chocolate chip pancakes - just give them a days notice. They were not great, but they weren't horrible, and it made my daughter happy because they made a big production of serving her the chocolate chip pancakes that "no one else can get" ;) and doused them in whipped cream.

 

We were not able to eat anything in Cafe Promenade, all sandwiches, pastry and pizza. However, we made friends with the Ben and Jerry's worker and he was more than happy to open a new container and kept it hidden in the back freezer for us, and always used a clean scoop. DD and I may or may not have eaten an entire container of Chunky Monkey ice cream ourselves :rolleyes:

 

My biggest disappointment was in Portofino. I've read several reports in our roll call about how bad the service was that night, but ours was horrible. The captain and officers were in there, so maybe that threw the night off. Our wine came after our appertizers, our waiter made a big production about me ordering the pasta dish. "Someone will have to go to Windjammer to get the rice pasta for you and we are very busy". I ended up ordering the risotto just to keep the peace, which came out with tomato sauce, even though I had specified I was allergic to tomatoes. The menu didn't specify it was tomato based. He dumped our plates and left, and we didn't see him again until I stood up to leave because I had decided I'd better eat a couple of bites because I was starving as we had been there almost an hour and a half already. Not sure if there was something in the salad or if it was the tomato base, but I ended up sick.

 

They did send dessert with DH to go, but what a disappointment to have to leave in the middle of our anniversary dinner.

 

However, to give them a little credit, they take the icky gluten free bread they bring in the dining room, drizzle it with olive oil and garlic and grill it, so it was really good, especially with the spreads they bring out.

 

Our snack stash came in pretty handy, especially in ports. We tried to time our excursions to where we could eat on the ship before we left and then eat when we got back to eliminate the possibility of getting sick from eating something on the islands. We just snacked from our bag if the rest of the family was eating lunch. We had great luck in St Thomas when our guide visited a farm and we bought fresh fruit (mango, banana, coconut) to eat for lunch.

 

Hopefully that gives a quick overview of our experiences. We ate well enough that I gained a pound while gone :p

We found pretty much the same on Freedom in April. Our 1 year old had an issue with dairy and soy so she and my wife could not have any products with dairy or soy in it. Everyone on Freedom had it right and understands how serious it is. Glad to see they were this way on Explorer also. Royal Caribbean got an A+ from our family on this.

Compared to our trial of Holland America in November they just could not get it right. It also appeared that they did not care or understand either. Because of the way my wife was treated with the food allergy on Holland we won't sail with them again.

Thank you so much for this review. My DS has a peanut allergy. I am very nervous about cross contamination of foods:eek:. I am planning on brining his epi pen(s), does the ship carry any?

We always had the chef walk us through the buffet, but I noticed a few "This item contains nuts" sign on some dishes. I wish they could use the allergen guidelines with the little symbol or letter and red circle/slash on all their dishes. It would make it so much easier, especially on iffy dishes like the mashed potatoes (which contain gluten)

Good to know! My experience is with Carnival. We never had a problem on HAL, and this will be my son's first cruise with Royal.

Thank you so much for this review. My DS has a peanut allergy. I am very nervous about cross contamination of foods:eek:. I am planning on brining his epi pen(s), does the ship carry any?

I'd bring your own. Not sure what they cost in the US, but in Canada an adult pen will run you $100 and a child's pen is closer to $35 (I think!). I can imagine it will cost a lot more on the ship!