Gluten Free Dining on HAL

[SunniLicious]

We are sailing on HAL for the first time this winter. Both my husband and son have celiac disease, so avoiding all gluten is not optional for them. Those with celiac disease, how has the on-board dining experience been? Did you contact HAL's special needs desk in advance of your sailing? Did that seem to help? Any info you could share would be great, they were both just diagnosed earlier this year so we're still adjusting to all this. TIA!

[Gblasingame]

There is a form you can fill out before you board to list your allergies.  Once on board, just go to the Head Waiter  and tell them of your diet restrictions.  They will accommodate you with no problem.  Usually in the Main dining room you will be asked to select your options for the next night so that the staff can make sure its prepared Gluten Free.  This also applies to the specialty restaurants.  I am GF and have had no problems eating on HAL ships.  The Lido buffet market also has GF options for you.  

[Cruise Suzy]

 

From HAL's accessibility page

(https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/about/our-company/accessibility)

The form is at https://book.hollandamerica.com/specialServices/login.action

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For guests with food intolerances or allergies that are not life-threatening, please contact our Ship Services Department at (800) 541-1576. For guests with life-threatening food allergies, we ask that guests provide detailed information to our Guest Accessibility Department by completing a Special Requirements Information (SRI) Form. Guests should indicate on this form which foods may potentially cause a severe reaction.

Guests with a variety of severe food allergies sail with Holland America Line regularly. Our galley staff on board is accustomed to and experienced in dealing with these types of needs. The galley itself has many different areas of food preparation, which can help reduce the possibility of cross-contamination. It is important to note, however, that meals are prepared in mass quantities on board, thus there is always the possibility of some cross-contamination. As such, Holland America Line cannot guarantee that a guest will not come in contact with those items. Although our Guest Accessibility Department will provide the ship with an advance notice of all food allergies detailed on an SRI submitted to them, it is recommended that guests also contact the Dining Room Manager upon boarding to review the details of these special dietary needs.

[sailawayward]

As others have stated, you're in good hands. We sailed on the Rotterdam in June and informed HAL well in advance of the sailing that I was gluten-free. We then just confirmed everything with the Maitre d' after we unpacked on our first day. I'd recommend doing this as soon as you can, so you can talk to someone in the dining room before the first dinner rush. On the Rotterdam, there was a desk by the Pinnacle Grill to make arrangements for Specialty Dining; but we went directly to the Dining Room to speak with the head Maitre d' just to reassure ourselves. He was lovely. I didn't find it necessary to request meal prep in advance. I felt absolutely taken care of with each meal. Our server in the MDR made a point of bringing gluten free bread I preferred (they had a basket of 3 options I think), and he remembered gluten-free options for every seating. You should have the same experience at any Specialty Dining - just remind your server at the beginning of each meal. If you're concerned about anything at the Buffet, don't hesitate to ask about ingredients or preparation. Believe me, you'll still be able to find safe & tasty options. And when you're at the dessert buffet, DON'T FORGET TO ASK FOR THE GLUTEN FREE COOKIES. They have other GF dessert options, but the GF cookies were just delicious - they kept them hidden under the other desserts at the buffet. I confess, I usually asked for 3 or 4 lol.

Edited September 17, 2023 by sailawayward

[cruisn71]

My wife has a gluten intolerance.  My best advice is try to get the same waiters every night.  Especially the attentive ones.  You will have the most dining options available by asking for the next nights menu and pre-selecting your meals.  For dessert you can ask for creme brulee and they will make it for you.

 

In the Lido seek out the sous chefs with the tall paper hats for advice on what is gluten free.  Most of the people doling out the food at the counter don't really know anything.

 

If your husband likes martinis, they use spaghetti to skewer the olives.

 

Last piece of advice: If a food item that normally has gluten (i.e. trifle) and you ask and someone says it is gluten free, it probably isn't.  Same with the labels.  Mistakes happen.

[sailawayward]

I don't consume alcohol, but they did not have gluten-free beer on our sailing. Also: I did not confirm how they made their bloody marys. Most blody mary mixes like the Zing Zang brand contain soy sauce and are therefore not gluten-free, so double check!

[disneyochem]

Good advice from previous posters.  I’m celiac and HAL is great accommodating my dietary needs.  But, one still needs to be a strong advocate once on board.  Even though I fill out the special needs form every sailing, I don’t assume that all staff know about my needs.  On the first day, I meet with the restaurant manager ( not quite such of the title) and find out what to do/who to talk to on the ship.  Getting gf food is pretty consistent in the MDR—just be sure to request the same table and staff for each night. Your hubby and son will be given the MDR menus for the following day and they will select what meals/food they want.  HAL will try to accommodate their wishes.

 

Ask to meet with the chef in the buffet.  He/she/they will walk you around the buffet and let you know what is safe and where to get the gluten free food.  Sometimes there are signs.

 

One can get gf pasta at the buffet, gf pizza and gf buns at the Dive In (the fries are not gf).  I also stay away from drink mixes and ask for gf alcohol in my drinks.  I ask staff to use clean spoons/scoops/ladles if I notice some cross contamination issues.  Just pay attention to what and how the food is served!

 

I also bring on board my own crackers/cookies/snacks.  A lot of times the ship runs out of gf snacks or doesn’t provide them!  I personally get tired of crème brûlée or ice cream for dessert and like other options!

 

It does take some time and effort to sail safely with celiac but it is doable!

[Song in my heart]

As others have said it is possible to eat gf on HA ships but you have to be very careful.  On two separate occasions the head chef at the buffet told me something was safe for me.  When I asked him to double-check the ingredients he did and was embarrassed and admitted they did have something that was not safe for celiacs.  I was fortunate in having one of the people at the salad station make me a fresh gf honey mustard salad dressing as most others weren't safe.  In the MDR I previewed the next day's menus and the Maitre'D took note of what I would like.  He then asked the head chef if they could make it celiac safe.  Sometimes they could.  Sometimes they couldn't.   Lol.  They tried.  We were on a 52 day cruise.  The gf bread choices became limited quickly.  The safe desserts often became sorbets or a variety of creme brulee.  Every once in a while they surprised me with an absolutely, delicious chocolate dessert.  Your husband and son will be able to find gf items but be disappointed there are not more choices.  Such is the life for celiacs unfortunately. 

Edited September 27, 2023 by Song in my heart

[sailawayward]

It's sad to hear you felt your GF options were limited and not completely safe. That was not my experience at all.

[Sandjan]

My husband is gluten and dairy intollerant.  We cruised the Koningsdam last Winter and everyone went out of their way to help him.  So we booked the same cruise again.  This time it was completely different.  They have changed the dining room menu selection and many times there wasn’t anything that could be made.  Usually plain protein and veg would be acceptable.  So we tried the Tamarin restaurant as many Asian items are usually safe, not this time, and the Morimoto Special meal was over cooked and tasteless.  We wrote to Hal complaining but of course have not received a response.  So I believe service is only as good as the current crew are prepared to offer unfortunately.

[GeezerCouple]

Our experience is from just barely "pre-Covid" (late Nov to mid Dec, 2019), and many things have changed since then, everywhere.  DH was diagnosed very late in life with full celiac disease (*not* just a prefer gluten free, etc.), so it's been a constant learning experience for us for just under 10 years.

 

First, *definitely* contact the Special Needs section of HAL (or *any* place you are going that serves food... hotels, restaurants, etc.).  Given them advance notice so that IF there are any changes necessary, they'll have the time.  For a large facility like a major cruise ship, "gluten free" is frequent enough these days that they will already have appropriate foods.  The trick is to make sure that "appropriate foods" get to *you*!

 

In addition to advance notice, we ALWAYS announce the "medical need for gluten free" when we arrive someplace.  If it's a hotel or cruise ship, that means notifying the cruise line in advance AND then once on the ship, finding the appropriate person.  On some ships, there will be a designated contact person to discuss your dietary needs from the start.  Depending upon the type of need, one may need to request meals a day in advance, if special preparation is required.

 

Then, when being seated at a restaurant (at land or sea), we ALWAYS announce/remind them of the "medical need for gluten free".  Then, when someone from the waitstaff comes to take the order, we *repeat* this!  Then we order.  And EVERY TIME something is served, we ask, "This is GLUTEN FREE, correct?"  and we make sure that they are paying attention and not just nodding a polite "yes" without quite noticing.

 

We also try to find good waitstaff, even though we dislike assigned times/seating for meals.  So if we find someone(s) good, we'll make a note of their name and location, and then when we arrive at the check in desk, we'll ask if we can be seated at a table with <name>.  But we still ALWAYS repeat the "GF" statement when ordering AND when being served.

 

We found that HAL (this was Noordam, in NZ/Australia) had a good selection of GF food available, including breads and rolls.  ONE TIME, the wrong basket of bread/rolls was brought, so it was a good thing we asked and double checked *each* time.  It was promptly snatched back and the proper basket brought.  That didn't happen again with that group of servers...

 

In DH's case, fortunately, he won't get seriously ill if he happens to eat something.  He'll have some damage, but it wouldn't be catastrophic.  Some allergies are much more serious in that the consequences are much more severe, and at times very quick.

We are incredibly careful now, but we'd only need to be a bit "more careful" otherwise.

Also:  We, too, always travel with some GF snacks, such as snack bars.  That way, he *always* has "something else" to eat if some food prep site isn't properly prepared.

 

Some years ago, having/traveling with celiac disease was probably much more difficult.  These days, with some high visibility adverse outcomes for a variety of food allergies, the dietary/nutrition area takes this all more seriously and is also generally better prepared.

Still, the responsibility is on the *person* with the allergy to double check.  There's just no way around that!

 

By the way, before we went to Italy for the first time after DH's diagnosis, we were pretty discouraged, because of the great pasta.  We also figured it might be difficult to avoid "pasta".

Surprise:  ALL of the restaurants had lots of choices for GF pastas!  🙂  However, in some cases, the menu mentioned there might be a bit of a longer wait, but there was indeed always GF pasta, and it was *very* good!  (I think it's required nowadays.)

 

GC