Gluten-Free Experience on 12/28/14 Silhouette

[PAGA]

My husband and I are both non-Celiac Gluten Sensitive and I try to avoid dairy as much as possible. We sailed on Silhouette over New Years. We had an extremely positive experience with the exception of Murano, which I will detail later in this review.

 

We did call ahead to alert Celebrity we are gluten-free, but the GF notation that appeared on our cruise booking reservation as “special meals (no gluten)” seemed to only be used as a headcount for provisioning the ship. Neither our dining room servers nor our pre-booked specialty dining reservations had any advance knowledge we would require GF food preparation. That being said, it was not a problem in any location, and even though we specifically went to the specialty dining places and spoke to them ahead of our reservations they in no way made special advance preparation for us or did they alert our servers.

 

Now let’s talk food!

 

The Oceanview Café was easy enough to navigate without assistance on the handful of times we ate there. At breakfast I stuck with poached eggs, bacon, English ham and fruit. The poached eggs are available just to the left of the regular omelet station (near the toast where they make Benedicts…this is not advertised). I did not request GF toast at the buffet, but did successfully receive it when we ordered room service breakfast (and it was served in a separate basket from my son’s regular toast. I intentionally ordered my son white toast because the GF looks a lot like wheat toast which I knew from seeing it in the main dining room). My husband also tried the made-to-order waffles in Oceanview (there is a sign stating their availability at the French toast station); he said they were “ok.” At lunch I had salads with oil & vinegar, roasted chicken (a few days it looked like it had sauce, so I avoided it), carved meats & olives. During lunch, the station where omelets are made during breakfast turns in to a cooked-to-order station for proteins - so you can order a chicken breast, for example, that has not been sitting on the buffet. There were also signs noting the availability of GF pizza & pasta. My husband tried the pizza the first day and reported it was quite good (FYI – it took 15 minutes; they asked him to sit down and come back). We had the pasta around midnight one day and it was a bit under cooked, but I’m sure that will vary with each batch since it is made to order.

 

Although I’ve read on these Boards that the burgers served poolside may contain a binder that contains gluten, I did give a bun-less one a try and did not have a negative reaction (please note, I did not ask the servers whether the burgers were GF or not; I popped a “Gluten Ease 2X” pill and went for it. The smell of those burgers on deck were making me salivate!).

 

The Solarium Café didn’t offer many gluten free items (the poached fruit was nice considering there were pretty much no GF/DF dessert options in Oceanview Café), but at least their food labels did use the same GF/Vegetarian/DF symbols used on the main dining room menu. I wish they would do this in Oceanview, but since the confirmation email from Celebrity acknowledging my special diet request advised me not to eat at the buffet at all due to cross-contamination risks I can understand why they are not labeling the buffet foods for special diets.

 

We had an excellent experience both times we ate lunch at Bistro on Five. As soon as we were seated the server asked the chef to prepare batter for 4 GF crepes (2 entrée and 2 dessert for my husband and me). I do not feel we waited any longer for service than the other tables near us. Unfortunately, there’s no way around the dairy in this dining location, so it was a binge for me…

 

We had tea at Café Il Baccio (sp? - the coffee shop) on deck 5 a few times. They did not have anything noted gluten free in the pastry case, but after my son said he saw someone else get a gluten-free cookie one day we decided to ask. Turns out they had one flavor of cookie in the back…the barista called it peanut butter, but I think it was just an almond flour shortbread. Unremarkable and kind of dry, but there if you want something to dip in your coffee. By the way, if you used table-service, everything was served with a biscotti cookie on the cup saucer, so request to leave it off when you order if you are worried about cross-contamination.

 

Tuscan Grille was easy to navigate (salad, meat, potatoes) and the servers seemed knowledgeable about which menu items were GF. They did serve the GF focaccia bread that I had both heard raves about on the Cruise Critic Boards and also heard was discontinued. So it was available, but unfortunately it was incredibly dense and not so yummy. My husband and I did share a seafood pasta dish as an appetizer in which they substituted GF pasta for us…the pasta came out very undercooked, but they did quickly correct it for us, and it was very good. Based on our pasta experience in Oceanview Café and again here, I think some of their line cooks may not realize the cooking time on GF pasta is longer than regular pasta.

 

Murano was our only “off” experience dining GF…and it was made even more bizarre by the fact they handled my food completely differently than my husband’s. On 2 different courses, my husband’s meal was served with a phyllo or puff pastry garnish touching the food…on one appetizer our waiter just plucked the garnish piece off the top of my husband’s food and set it to the side saying “there you go” (and it’s good he did because both my husband and I thought it was a potato crisp, not phyllo…but still not acceptable if he were Celiac). The other problem for my husband was the dessert course – we both ordered sorbet, but only his came out surrounded in a circle of pastry. In this instance the server (not our waiter), took it back to the kitchen and just removed the pastry (we know this because he gestured and told us that he “just took it off”). The irony of this being our waiter was so careful with my food that he brought me the sauce and vegetable puree meant to accompany my pork belly appetizer when I was halfway finished eating it…he said “we thought they had gluten in them, but turns out they don’t and you’re missing a lot of flavor without them.” By the way, Murano offered the same very dense/dry GF focaccia that was served in Tuscan Grille. It was still a lovely dining experience with excellent food, but compared to our GF experience in all other venues where we ate it did not hold up to our expectations for GF precautions.

 

I’m saving the best for last – our main dining room experience was mind-blowingly perfect. I’ll get my one small complaint out of the way: the only GF bread available was toasted, sliced sandwich bread. It was a fine accompaniment to the few spreadable appetizers that would have come with crostini, but was not a suitable substitute for a dinner roll. But I don’t eat much bread anyway, so it wasn’t much of an issue for me…just my husband. Our waiter (Adrian) did not bat an eye when we told him we’d need gluten free food preparations. In fact my husband ordered a pork chop the first night that we didn’t realize based on the menu description would be breaded – when it came out I thought “oh no, our server doesn’t have a clue about GF,” but as soon as we asked he said the kitchen had prepared it special (with no advance notice) with GF breadcrumbs (and it definitely appeared different from the other pork chops we saw). At the end of each meal Adrian did bring us the next evening’s menu so we could see the items already marked gluten-free and decide if there was anything we wanted modified. I pretty much stuck to the menu, but my husband ordered a number of items and he was never told no (except the one night the assistant maitre'd reviewed the menu with us while Adrian was busy...Adrian stopped by later to make sure it had been reviewed with us and when my husband told him there was an item he'd been denied Adrian grabbed a menu, looked at it, and said he'd talk to the chef - and that item was presented to my husband GF the next day). My husband also had frog legs coated in GF breadcrumbs, mashed potatoes were substituted for the puff pastry shell on a mushroom appetizer, soy sauce was left out of a cold seafood appetizer, and there were many easy requests like leave the croutons or crostini off a soup or salad. Adrian was so emphatic about us having a positive dining experience he even showed up at our table in Murano to review the next night’s main dining room menu with us – now that is 5 Star service! Gluten free desserts were pretty limited – especially since I don’t eat much dairy. I had a fruit plate or sorbet most nights. There was a Chocolate Tombstone on the menu one night where I splurged on dairy since it was one of the only composed GF dessert options of the trip, and it was delicious. It was not identified as GF on the menu (nothing on the dessert menu has dietary notations), but our waiter alerted us of the item as soon as he gave us the menu and told us he had checked in advance to confirm it was GF. I do not, however, know if the Chocolate Tombstone is part of the routine dessert offerings…it was on our New Year’s Eve menu and marked with a red stamp as a “2015 special.” There were also a few of these “2015 special” items designated on the New Year’s Day menu, and I have to say that I am not confident the gluten free and dairy free designations were right on that menu; a tomato soup with croutons was marked GF and a salad was not designated as dairy-free even though neither the salad or dressing contained any (I ordered it, so I can confirm this). Moral of the story is read the description of the menu items and don’t assume all of the items are marked correctly. I think this may have been an oversight when they mingled the “2015 special” items with the regular menu, as it was the only night I saw what appeared to be errors, but always use your own knowledge of safe foods when navigating the menu.

 

One other note about the main dining room menus…I believe it was the 3rd night’s menu (it was our 2nd night, but they pushed back our first formal night until New Year’s Eve) that there were none – or maybe one – item designated as dairy free on the whole menu from apps to salads to soups to entrees. If you are dairy free and can view online copies of the menu schedule ahead of time this may be a good night to try specialty dining...or there is always the "every day" menu where you can order a chicken breast, sirloin or salmon.

 

A final note on alcohol…I have a wheat sensitivity in addition to a gluten sensitivity so I avoid wheat-based alcohol. The martini bar and the molecular bar had Chopin potato vodka; most bars had Smirnoff. There was also Strongbow Cider at the pool bar (and perhaps other locations, but this is the only place I looked for it). I did not come across any gluten-free or gluten-removed beers. My husband and I are also big wine drinkers, and we attended the 12 wine “around the world” tasting in Cellar Masters on the final sea day. Among the canapés offered were celery pre-filled with hummus, cold shrimp on toothpick skewers, rice-filled grape leaves (which I think were GF, but I didn't try or ask), and cheeses – so other than the breadsticks a GF participant definitely got their money's worth.

 

I’ve provided reviews for all the locations at which we ate, so I can’t share anything about The Porch, Blu or Qsine – but if you have any other questions I’ll be happy to answer them!

 

Overall it was a really great GF experience!

Edited January 8, 2015 by PAGA

[Essiesmom]

We are not gluten free, but when sailing Infinity in 2013, I ask the waitress how a chicken dish that was breaded could be labelled gluten free, and she said all of the breaded items are done with gluten free breadcrumbs. EM

[Max Circus]

Thank you so much for posting your experience. This is so helpful for our upcoming cruise on Summit with my MIL who is celiac GF. We've been researching for a year or so on what her options will be. On Equinox, we talked to a woman who had great experience in Blu - so that will be perfect for Breakfast since we're both in Sky Suites.

 

On Equinox they explained how they do the pasta in the buffet. The GF pasta is all cooked at once in the morning in separate water then stored. On request, it is then added to a clean skillet pan along with whatever other ingredients are asked for. They told us all the sauces were GF. Not sure about the meatballs.

[wallie5446]

Thanks for the Review and comments, we always watch for returning post about GF experiences.

 

Did you notice if the Gluten Ease helped in any way?

[cherylroslyn]

My husband and I are both non-Celiac Gluten Sensitive and I try to avoid dairy as much as possible. We sailed on Silhouette over New Years. We had an extremely positive experience with the exception of Murano, which I will detail later in this review.

 

We did call ahead to alert Celebrity we are gluten-free, but the GF notation that appeared on our cruise booking reservation as “special meals (no gluten)” seemed to only be used as a headcount for provisioning the ship. Neither our dining room servers nor our pre-booked specialty dining reservations had any advance knowledge we would require GF food preparation. That being said, it was not a problem in any location, and even though we specifically went to the specialty dining places and spoke to them ahead of our reservations they in no way made special advance preparation for us or did they alert our servers.

 

Now let’s talk food!

 

The Oceanview Café was easy enough to navigate without assistance on the handful of times we ate there. At breakfast I stuck with poached eggs, bacon, English ham and fruit. The poached eggs are available just to the left of the regular omelet station (near the toast where they make Benedicts…this is not advertised). I did not request GF toast at the buffet, but did successfully receive it when we ordered room service breakfast (and it was served in a separate basket from my son’s regular toast. I intentionally ordered my son white toast because the GF looks a lot like wheat toast which I knew from seeing it in the main dining room). My husband also tried the made-to-order waffles in Oceanview (there is a sign stating their availability at the French toast station); he said they were “ok.” At lunch I had salads with oil & vinegar, roasted chicken (a few days it looked like it had sauce, so I avoided it), carved meats & olives. During lunch, the station where omelets are made during breakfast turns in to a cooked-to-order station for proteins - so you can order a chicken breast, for example, that has not been sitting on the buffet. There were also signs noting the availability of GF pizza & pasta. My husband tried the pizza the first day and reported it was quite good (FYI – it took 15 minutes; they asked him to sit down and come back). We had the pasta around midnight one day and it was a bit under cooked, but I’m sure that will vary with each batch since it is made to order.

 

Although I’ve read on these Boards that the burgers served poolside may contain a binder that contains gluten, I did give a bun-less one a try and did not have a negative reaction (please note, I did not ask the servers whether the burgers were GF or not; I popped a “Gluten Ease 2X” pill and went for it. The smell of those burgers on deck were making me salivate!).

 

The Solarium Café didn’t offer many gluten free items (the poached fruit was nice considering there were pretty much no GF/DF dessert options in Oceanview Café), but at least their food labels did use the same GF/Vegetarian/DF symbols used on the main dining room menu. I wish they would do this in Oceanview, but since the confirmation email from Celebrity acknowledging my special diet request advised me not to eat at the buffet at all due to cross-contamination risks I can understand why they are not labeling the buffet foods for special diets.

 

We had an excellent experience both times we ate lunch at Bistro on Five. As soon as we were seated the server asked the chef to prepare batter for 4 GF crepes (2 entrée and 2 dessert for my husband and me). I do not feel we waited any longer for service than the other tables near us. Unfortunately, there’s no way around the dairy in this dining location, so it was a binge for me…

 

We had tea at Café Il Baccio (sp? - the coffee shop) on deck 5 a few times. They did not have anything noted gluten free in the pastry case, but after my son said he saw someone else get a gluten-free cookie one day we decided to ask. Turns out they had one flavor of cookie in the back…the barista called it peanut butter, but I think it was just an almond flour shortbread. Unremarkable and kind of dry, but there if you want something to dip in your coffee. By the way, if you used table-service, everything was served with a biscotti cookie on the cup saucer, so request to leave it off when you order if you are worried about cross-contamination.

 

Tuscan Grille was easy to navigate (salad, meat, potatoes) and the servers seemed knowledgeable about which menu items were GF. They did serve the GF focaccia bread that I had both heard raves about on the Cruise Critic Boards and also heard was discontinued. So it was available, but unfortunately it was incredibly dense and not so yummy. My husband and I did share a seafood pasta dish as an appetizer in which they substituted GF pasta for us…the pasta came out very undercooked, but they did quickly correct it for us, and it was very good. Based on our pasta experience in Oceanview Café and again here, I think some of their line cooks may not realize the cooking time on GF pasta is longer than regular pasta.

 

Murano was our only “off” experience dining GF…and it was made even more bizarre by the fact they handled my food completely differently than my husband’s. On 2 different courses, my husband’s meal was served with a phyllo or puff pastry garnish touching the food…on one appetizer our waiter just plucked the garnish piece off the top of my husband’s food and set it to the side saying “there you go” (and it’s good he did because both my husband and I thought it was a potato crisp, not phyllo…but still not acceptable if he were Celiac). The other problem for my husband was the dessert course – we both ordered sorbet, but only his came out surrounded in a circle of pastry. In this instance the server (not our waiter), took it back to the kitchen and just removed the pastry (we know this because he gestured and told us that he “just took it off”). The irony of this being our waiter was so careful with my food that he brought me the sauce and vegetable puree meant to accompany my pork belly appetizer when I was halfway finished eating it…he said “we thought they had gluten in them, but turns out they don’t and you’re missing a lot of flavor without them.” By the way, Murano offered the same very dense/dry GF focaccia that was served in Tuscan Grille. It was still a lovely dining experience with excellent food, but compared to our GF experience in all other venues where we ate it did not hold up to our expectations for GF precautions.

 

I’m saving the best for last – our main dining room experience was mind-blowingly perfect. I’ll get my one small complaint out of the way: the only GF bread available was toasted, sliced sandwich bread. It was a fine accompaniment to the few spreadable appetizers that would have come with crostini, but was not a suitable substitute for a dinner roll. But I don’t eat much bread anyway, so it wasn’t much of an issue for me…just my husband. Our waiter (Adrian) did not bat an eye when we told him we’d need gluten free food preparations. In fact my husband ordered a pork chop the first night that we didn’t realize based on the menu description would be breaded – when it came out I thought “oh no, our server doesn’t have a clue about GF,” but as soon as we asked he said the kitchen had prepared it special (with no advance notice) with GF breadcrumbs (and it definitely appeared different from the other pork chops we saw). At the end of each meal Adrian did bring us the next evening’s menu so we could see the items already marked gluten-free and decide if there was anything we wanted modified. I pretty much stuck to the menu, but my husband ordered a number of items and he was never told no (except the one night the assistant maitre'd reviewed the menu with us while Adrian was busy...Adrian stopped by later to make sure it had been reviewed with us and when my husband told him there was an item he'd been denied Adrian grabbed a menu, looked at it, and said he'd talk to the chef - and that item was presented to my husband GF the next day). My husband also had frog legs coated in GF breadcrumbs, mashed potatoes were substituted for the puff pastry shell on a mushroom appetizer, soy sauce was left out of a cold seafood appetizer, and there were many easy requests like leave the croutons or crostini off a soup or salad. Adrian was so emphatic about us having a positive dining experience he even showed up at our table in Murano to review the next night’s main dining room menu with us – now that is 5 Star service! Gluten free desserts were pretty limited – especially since I don’t eat much dairy. I had a fruit plate or sorbet most nights. There was a Chocolate Tombstone on the menu one night where I splurged on dairy since it was one of the only composed GF dessert options of the trip, and it was delicious. It was not identified as GF on the menu (nothing on the dessert menu has dietary notations), but our waiter alerted us of the item as soon as he gave us the menu and told us he had checked in advance to confirm it was GF. I do not, however, know if the Chocolate Tombstone is part of the routine dessert offerings…it was on our New Year’s Eve menu and marked with a red stamp as a “2015 special.” There were also a few of these “2015 special” items designated on the New Year’s Day menu, and I have to say that I am not confident the gluten free and dairy free designations were right on that menu; a tomato soup with croutons was marked GF and a salad was not designated as dairy-free even though neither the salad or dressing contained any (I ordered it, so I can confirm this). Moral of the story is read the description of the menu items and don’t assume all of the items are marked correctly. I think this may have been an oversight when they mingled the “2015 special” items with the regular menu, as it was the only night I saw what appeared to be errors, but always use your own knowledge of safe foods when navigating the menu.

 

One other note about the main dining room menus…I believe it was the 3rd night’s menu (it was our 2nd night, but they pushed back our first formal night until New Year’s Eve) that there were none – or maybe one – item designated as dairy free on the whole menu from apps to salads to soups to entrees. If you are dairy free and can view online copies of the menu schedule ahead of time this may be a good night to try specialty dining...or there is always the "every day" menu where you can order a chicken breast, sirloin or salmon.

 

A final note on alcohol…I have a wheat sensitivity in addition to a gluten sensitivity so I avoid wheat-based alcohol. The martini bar and the molecular bar had Chopin potato vodka; most bars had Smirnoff. There was also Strongbow Cider at the pool bar (and perhaps other locations, but this is the only place I looked for it). I did not come across any gluten-free or gluten-removed beers. My husband and I are also big wine drinkers, and we attended the 12 wine “around the world” tasting in Cellar Masters on the final sea day. Among the canapés offered were celery pre-filled with hummus, cold shrimp on toothpick skewers, rice-filled grape leaves (which I think were GF, but I didn't try or ask), and cheeses – so other than the breadsticks a GF participant definitely got their money's worth.

 

I’ve provided reviews for all the locations at which we ate, so I can’t share anything about The Porch, Blu or Qsine – but if you have any other questions I’ll be happy to answer them!

 

Overall it was a really great GF experience!

Great post. That story about Adrian coming to the specialty dinning venue to take your order for the next night, and negotiating with the chef after you were told no is sooooo cute.

 

I hope you filled out a comment card about him:)

 

 

So sweet:)

 

My daughter has the same intolerance and she is sailing with me for the first time in October. I am excited to hear how good your experience was.

[KKB]

I have determined a wheat/gluten sensitivity in the last year (thought I had severe IBS & severe arthritis...NOPE!). If you are gluten sensitive, you will be wheat sensitive as all wheat has gluten.

 

Glad to hear they have GF bread--I was going to buck up & use a roll to sop up all that garlic butter goodness when I get escargots!

 

The wheat beer has been the toughest thing to give up/replace for me. You just can't drink wine or vodka soda all night the way you can Blue Moon...well, you CAN, but the result isn't usually the same!:eek: (I haven't noticed any issue with any vodka brands--gluten is removed in the distillation process of making hard liquor) I have caved every once in a while & had a wheat beer--and I always know the next day:(

 

Do I need to let them know before? I generally just avoid things with a lot of wheat & seem to be OK. I don't worry about things with a small amount of flour, or even a bite of cake or roll, only seem to have reactions with a full serving of a true wheat-based item.

[wallie5446]

I have determined a wheat/gluten sensitivity in the last year (thought I had severe IBS & severe arthritis...NOPE!). If you are gluten sensitive, you will be wheat sensitive as all wheat has gluten.

 

Glad to hear they have GF bread--I was going to buck up & use a roll to sop up all that garlic butter goodness when I get escargots!

 

The wheat beer has been the toughest thing to give up/replace for me. You just can't drink wine or vodka soda all night the way you can Blue Moon...well, you CAN, but the result isn't usually the same!:eek: (I haven't noticed any issue with any vodka brands--gluten is removed in the distillation process of making hard liquor) I have caved every once in a while & had a wheat beer--and I always know the next day:(

 

Do I need to let them know before? I generally just avoid things with a lot of wheat & seem to be OK. I don't worry about things with a small amount of flour, or even a bite of cake or roll, only seem to have reactions with a full serving of a true wheat-based item.

Kris, fill out and fax in the 'Special Needs" form, that will not only get the information listed on your booking, but on your dinning assignment.

 

Also go to the suplement section of the grocery or health food store and find these. My wife is stage 4 Celiac and they help her alot.

[KKB]

Kris, fill out and fax in the 'Special Needs" form, that will not only get the information listed on your booking, but on your dinning assignment.

 

Also go to the supplement section of the grocery or health food store and find these. My wife is stage 4 Celiac and they help her alot.

 

Thank you so much for these; I have not been tested, and frankly eliminating food sources that have a lot of gluten seems to be doing the trick. I have noticed the longer I go without gluten, if I have a sneak (a cookie, a small muffin), the worse the reaction...:( I have to keep reminding myself IT ISN'T WORTH IT. (sometimes that Leine's Summer Shandy IS...:rolleyes:)

 

I thank God my FIL was watching the Wheat Belly doc on Dr. Oz last year; FIL has RA & he saw huge benefits, I figured it was free & easy, why not. DH was the one who noticed the huge difference in me.

[rogcamper]

Thanks for the post-I have celiacs and was a little concerned about having enough to eat but it sounds like it will not be a problem.We are leaving 2-14-15 on Summit.

[The Shutterbug]

Thanks for posting this :) I have the same intolerances and was hoping it would be easy enough on board.

[PAGA]

Thanks for the Review and comments, we always watch for returning post about GF experiences.

 

Did you notice if the Gluten Ease helped in any way?

 

 

I have been using "Gluten Ease 2x" at the start of every meal prepared outside my home since pretty much the day I received the news I am gluten and casein (dairy protein) sensitive. So I am not really a good judge of whether it makes a difference since I removed known gluten from my diet and began the pills simultaneously. I have definitely still been "glutened" in restaurants (not on Celebrity) and felt bad...not sure how much worse it would have been without the pills.

[PAGA]

I have determined a wheat/gluten sensitivity in the last year (thought I had severe IBS & severe arthritis...NOPE!). If you are gluten sensitive, you will be wheat sensitive as all wheat has gluten.

 

Glad to hear they have GF bread--I was going to buck up & use a roll to sop up all that garlic butter goodness when I get escargots!

 

The wheat beer has been the toughest thing to give up/replace for me. You just can't drink wine or vodka soda all night the way you can Blue Moon...well, you CAN, but the result isn't usually the same!:eek: (I haven't noticed any issue with any vodka brands--gluten is removed in the distillation process of making hard liquor) I have caved every once in a while & had a wheat beer--and I always know the next day:(

 

Do I need to let them know before? I generally just avoid things with a lot of wheat & seem to be OK. I don't worry about things with a small amount of flour, or even a bite of cake or roll, only seem to have reactions with a full serving of a true wheat-based item.

 

 

Actually, my understanding is you can have a wheat sensitivity that is on top of the gluten sensitivity - my blood tests indicate this is so. My tests, for example, indicate I am actually not sensitive to barley...if you could only remove the gluten from it! So with vodkas, someone who is only gluten sensitive can drink any vodka because - as you note - gluten is supposedly removed in the distillation process. I, however, need to drink potato (or other non-wheat) vodka because vodka distilled from wheat is still wheat even when the gluten is removed in the distillation process. And yes, I feel much different on the occasions I've independently tested this...

 

If you are not worried about small quantities of gluten I would not report your dietary request to Celebrity or your waiter. The menu has symbols indicating which items are gluten-free and you can get a sense of how much gluten may be in other items from the descriptions. You can always request small things like "hold the croutons" when you order. The exception to this is if you plan to request gluten free bread or order gluten free pizza/pasta/etc - I do think they provision the ship based on advance reports of dietary requests so I'd hate for them to run out of these specialty items for someone who is Celiac and must have them available.

[sassyw]

Gluten free means no wheat, barley or rye. There is not a separate allergy to wheat. Also distilled alcohol gets rid of 99.9% of the gluten in the distilling process. I am a true celiac and I drink all kinds of vodka. Beer is different.

On one cruise I went on I brought a bag of rice flour mix and gave it to the chef and he used it to coat foods that are otherwise coated with flour.

[bakcd]

Just off the Silhouette this am. I found Canyon Bakehouse bread in the Lido along with a dedicated toaster, tongs, and a server who changes gloves. I also reqested the same bread at dinner. This was a major improvement. They had seven grain, raisen and rye.

 

Estrella Damm Duara beer was available inCellar Masters. If you want it when this bar is closed, talk with them and see if you can make arrangements to find t elsewhere. It was included inthe Classic beverage package.

 

The breaded pork chop is no longer gluten free but still was designated as gluten free. My daughter saw this evenings menu and the gf was removed.

 

As for the pizza crusts, cookies and other replacements, they are still better left alone as they are very dry. The second formal night I was served a sponge cake, peach, chocolate dessert that was very good. Perhaps there will be changes there as well.

 

The staff was very willing to help and pleasant.

[chamima]

Kris, fill out and fax in the 'Special Needs" form, that will not only get the information listed on your booking, but on your dinning assignment.

 

Also go to the suplement section of the grocery or health food store and find these. My wife is stage 4 Celiac and they help her alot.

 

Wallie

just re-read your post.

Where is there a "Special Needs" form?

I searched and searched and all I could find was something for physical handicaps so finally gave up and called the Captain's Club where a (fairly nasty) young woman told me she'd take care of it but I should have told my TA to do it.

We've been cruising for almost 45 years and I have NEVER had to have my TA take care of those little details! :(

Edited January 18, 2015 by chamima

[bakcd]

Wallie

just re-read your post.

Where is there a "Special Needs" form?

I searched and searched and all I could find was something for physical handicaps so finally gave up and called the Captain's Club where a (fairly nasty) young woman told me she'd take care of it but I should have told my TA to do it.

We've been cruising for almost 45 years and I have NEVER had to have my TA take care of those little details! :(

 

I usually tell my TA that I require a gluten free diet when booking. I also follow up by completing that "Special Needs" form and write in my requirements. I'm sorry to hear you had an unpleasant experience with the Captain's Club line.

[wallie5446]

Wallie

just re-read your post.

Where is there a "Special Needs" form?

I searched and searched and all I could find was something for physical handicaps so finally gave up and called the Captain's Club where a (fairly nasty) young woman told me she'd take care of it but I should have told my TA to do it.

We've been cruising for almost 45 years and I have NEVER had to have my TA take care of those little details! :(

 

Sorry bout being a tad slow to respond.:o

There is only one form i know of that they have, but at the bottom there is a spot for "Other" inc, Allergies. See if this was the same one:

http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard-celebrity/cruise-activities-special-needs?cS=Footer&ICID=Cel_10Q4_web_hp_ftr_accessibility

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard-celebrity/cruise-activities-special-needs-form

EW

[chamima]

Sorry bout being a tad slow to respond.:o

There is only one form i know of that they have, but at the bottom there is a spot for "Other" inc, Allergies. See if this was the same one:

http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard-celebrity/cruise-activities-special-needs?cS=Footer&ICID=Cel_10Q4_web_hp_ftr_accessibility

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard-celebrity/cruise-activities-special-needs-form

EW

 

Yes , that's it. I never thought to use the "other" box.

Contrast this to Princess which has a "special Dietary Request" form as part of the sign-in information. When we filled it out someone from Princess contacted us!

Special Dietary Requests

 

 

Princess is happy to meet your request for low-sodium, low-fat, low-sugar and vegetarian diets. Visit Cruise Personalizer® to indicate your dietary preferences.

 

 

 

And when we got on the ship, the Maitre D' already knew about us and met with us.

Edited January 20, 2015 by chamima

[wallie5446]

That was how it was for us on the Reflection in 2013, and I hope it would have been on the Equinox last yr. But we changed MDR tables 3 times ( our fault added friends 2 times ) and did 5 night in Speciality.

 

Anyway, if it were I:rolleyes: there would be a note sent to the office of you know who about the attitude of the CC CSR.

 

EW

[screwsmcernst]

Thanks so much for the information. I have Celiacs, and it is nice to know that when we sail on Saturday, I will have options.

 

I filled out the special needs form when we booked, and got a response from SN Dept. the next day telling me they noted it on my information. They also recommend that I go and speak to the MDR Maitre'D to make sure our wait staff know.

 

I am a little sad that the burgers may have a binder, and the fries are coated. :( But at least there is a pizza and pasta option. I am considering taking some G.F. rolls with me, and bring one to dinner. DH just shook his head at me. :p I guess I won't. :D