Getting Nervous....

[Monstica]

Hi, a little background on my family, we are a family of four with two young sons ages 9 and 11. We are scheduled to cruise on the NCL Breakaway sailing on September 13th to Bermuda. We aren't a fussy family we make the best of every situation and see the positive side of situations. We used to cruise quite a bit before we had children with a total of 10 cruises under our belt. Carnival, RCL, NCL (old Norway Ship), and Celebrity. Celebrity was my favorite but my husband is excited about the NCL freestyle concept and "casual" dining experience. He used to describe our cruises as 7 day wedding events with dressing up every night lol! Totally in a different place now that we have kids. I have two concerns, lately I have been reading a lot of bad reviews about service, again we aren't fussy and happy to be cruising right out of NY 25 minutes from home! Second worry is my eldest son has been recently diagnosed with Celiac disease and was hospitalized back in January. We now have it completely under control and have been doing well on a strict gluten free diet. This will be our first vacation since his diagnosis, we use to vacation in Mexico, Jamaica etc. but figured cruising was our best option with my sons new gluten free diet. I have informed my travel agent, called NCL directly about his dietary restrictions. Does anyone else have any advice on what I should do once I board. Thank you in advance for any advice or suggestions. Sorry so long winded!

[mjkacmom]

Do a search on this site for gluten free - it's been brought up many times. Dd12 was diagnosed with celiac 6 years ago, and has cruised on NCL with no issues.

[cruzsnooze]

Make sure the dining room staff knows about your son's allergy. On NCL it's harder then other lines where you have the same wait staff. Since it's freestyle tell them every single meal. Be vigilant, your son's health is very important.

[rbrugler]

First of all, IMO the staff of Norwegian is fantastic. Ask your steward for whatever you need in the room.

 

As for gluten free, be sure to attend the M&G and talk to the chef who attends. You can also go to the information desk when you board, and you will get a call from a chef. Do both, just so you feel more comfortable. My daughter is a strict vegan, and she has always had special meals prepared, even in the buffet. She calls every morning to tell the kitchen folk where she will be eating, and they take it from there.

 

Are your boys going to the kids club? Be sure to talk to the staff in case any food is served. I also think that this program is great.

 

I think you will be pleased, and have a wonderful time!

[Jenjer]

Your boys are a great age to really enjoy all the activities breakaway has to offer. Water slides Ropes course who can beat that.

 

I have found staff to be a friendly and as helpful as you are respectful to them. Smile they always smile back, Ask don't demand. Everyday manors we use all the time but it seems like some people check their manners with the porters :-) We have never sailed Breakaway but on our Quantum cruise out of NY area there seemed to be more negative nellies than ever before. The crew was just so beat down from complaints out of their control. Just treating them like humans made them return the positivity.

 

For the Gluten free diet make sure you tell every waiter that serves you make no assumptions that they know. You may have told 10 people but don't assume the 1 person you need to know does.

[www3traveler]

Have you notified the Access/ Special Needs Desk? Email AccessDesk@ncl.com, giving them your cruise information and they will notify the Food and Beverage Director of The Breakaway of your needs. You may want to met with him and the Restaurant Manager once you board.

[pambo]

Have you notified the Access/ Special Needs Desk? Email AccessDesk@ncl.com, giving them your cruise information and they will notify the Food and Beverage Director of The Breakaway of your needs. You may want to met with him and the Restaurant Manager once you board.

 

I agree that this would be your best course of action. I have dealt with the Access Desk on many occasions for other issues and they are wonderful. I'm sure all will go smoothly for you....enjoy your cruise!

[mjkacmom]

Have you notified the Access/ Special Needs Desk? Email AccessDesk@ncl.com, giving them your cruise information and they will notify the Food and Beverage Director of The Breakaway of your needs. You may want to met with him and the Restaurant Manager once you board.

 

Yes, and you will most likely have a phone message waiting for you in your cabin. This is the person you will meet with daily to arrange special meals. They have many gluten free products on the ships- bread, muffins, pasta, waffles, pancakes, pizza....

[Monstica]

Already feel better! Really appreciate all the information and advice. I will keep on top of the situation, be polite, go to the meet and greet and contact the access desk via email. Truly believe you need to treat people with respect. I have a friend who worked on a cruise ship out of Hawaii years ago as a waitress. She told me just as she was ready to drop from exhaustion she would be able to keep going when she got that extra smile or kind gesture from the passengers.

 

Again, thank you all who have responded! :)

[Monstica]

My son will be so happy, Pizza, Waffles, Different Breads!!

[Sparkygirl]

Please be proactive, email access desk and ask for the access form that you complete and send back. That form is what officially makes a note of your son's dietary needs. The food and beverage manager ensures there are sufficient quantities of gluten free options based on that form for each sailing. Once onboard also be proactive, explain it is a new diagnosis and you'd like to talk to the chef and restaurant manager. My 4 year old daughter has a life threatening latex allergy and for her needs we have a meeting after lunch with key staff from each department that will be involved in keeping her safe (food and beverage manager, hotel director, restaurant manager, housekeeping and medical) We have the phone number of the restaurant manager and call each morning with where we will be eating dinner. Food preparation gloves are an issue for her so even though the food and beverage manager assured me that no latex gloves are onboard for food prep use there is always the box of gloves waiting on our table when we are seated. I confirm the box is safe and send it back to the kitchen with our order.

 

 

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[Sparkygirl]

Also, splash academy does not allow food inside and does not use food in their programming. During port days parents can elect and pay for their child to be taken to eat by splash academy staff. Splash Academy staff request that due to my daughter's latex allergy and cross reactive foods that a) she not participate in the meal time option. B) a responsible family member remain onboard the entire time she is in splash academy. Does your celiac son also have a contact wheat allergy? If so splash academy is really good with wiping everything down especially if they know there is a need to increase the disinfecting process. When you get onboard also go to splash academy and register your sons. The counselor will go over allergies and specific needs as they apply to splash academy at that time.

 

 

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[newmexicoNita]

Hi, a little background on my family, we are a family of four with two young sons ages 9 and 11. We are scheduled to cruise on the NCL Breakaway sailing on September 13th to Bermuda. We aren't a fussy family we make the best of every situation and see the positive side of situations. We used to cruise quite a bit before we had children with a total of 10 cruises under our belt. Carnival, RCL, NCL (old Norway Ship), and Celebrity. Celebrity was my favorite but my husband is excited about the NCL freestyle concept and "casual" dining experience. He used to describe our cruises as 7 day wedding events with dressing up every night lol! Totally in a different place now that we have kids. I have two concerns, lately I have been reading a lot of bad reviews about service, again we aren't fussy and happy to be cruising right out of NY 25 minutes from home! Second worry is my eldest son has been recently diagnosed with Celiac disease and was hospitalized back in January. We now have it completely under control and have been doing well on a strict gluten free diet. This will be our first vacation since his diagnosis, we use to vacation in Mexico, Jamaica etc. but figured cruising was our best option with my sons new gluten free diet. I have informed my travel agent, called NCL directly about his dietary restrictions. Does anyone else have any advice on what I should do once I board. Thank you in advance for any advice or suggestions. Sorry so long winded!

 

 

If you let the ship know ahead of time or even as soon as you board, you will have no problems with your sons special needs. The ship goes overboard (no pun intended) to make sure diatary needs are met. of course his choices will be somewhat limited.

 

As for service, where are you reading bad reviews on the service? We have rarely had anything other than outstanding service. yes, because of open dining concept the MDR service can be spotty once in awhile. On our last cruise we had one server that was anything but outstanding, but other than that we had no problems. Some are saying bar service, with the the new UBP is slow. I can believe this might be the case sometimes. Again, on our last cruise we had only one time we waited more than a minute or two for a drink. That was the main atrium bar, which is a coffee bar as well and is always busy with activities going on. I did wait about 5 minutes for our drinks.

 

Enjoy your cruise, don't worry and I am so happy to hear your sons condition is under control.