river cruises and gluten free

[bakcd]

Has anyone taken a river cruise with any of the companies and followed a gluten free diet? If so, please share your experiences and the line you traveled with.

[smeyer418]

in Europe or somewhere else? I think you may have a problem in China. You will have to know what you can and cannot eat yourself. Lactose intolerance pills were beyond the Chinese knowledge.

[lilreckster]

I too am interested in this question. Husband and I booked Avalon Waterways for July and I'm wondering if they can handle the request. Didn't get an answer at booking time because person's response was to fax a request to the special services dept...

[bakcd]

smeyer418, probably in Europe. I wouldn't consider any travel where I didn't check first. China is definitly out, they would never understand why I couldn't eat their soy sauce.

 

lilreckster, please let me know how this goes for you.

 

I emailed Grand Circle and had the response that the bread is passed and could be avoided. As long as I could eat meat, fish and poultry I shouldn't have any problems. Oh how I wish it were that easy.

[lilreckster]

The first response I usually get is "Are you on the Atkins diet"...I wish it were that easy. It would be nice if the Celiac Assoc. would send notices to cruise lines, river cruises, and airlines. I have had great luck on Celebrity Cruise Line, Oceania Cruise Line, Silver Seas and Radisson( all prepared gluten free bread for me as well as menus) and Delta Airlines. I have a tendency to bring some of my own products along just in case. It seems none of these venues want to deal with the problem until 30 days prior when you may submit a request.

[bakcd]

I didn't get the normal "Atkins" type response from GCT. GCT has responded to my second email where I explained what had to be avoided, I did not go into the contamination issue. This is the response I received: "Thank you for your reply. This would not be a problem on our river cruises. All food is prepared by fresh daily by our chef's and you would have plenty of alternatives. However, we could not guarantee your specific dietary requirements on our escorted land tours. These we have less control over the food preparation."

 

I've never had trouble on HAL and I don't request a special diet - I simply follow a modified Atkins type. The thing I miss is a sweet with afternoon tea. We are going to book a last minute cruise for January out of Florida and may not have time for a special request. I'm glad to know you haven't had trouble with Celebrity since that is one of the lines we are considering. Which Celebrity ship have you been on?

[lilreckster]

We've been on most of the Celebrity ships. The most recent was Summit and Constellation. The Constellation matre'd took very good care of my dietary request and even had a special dessert a few times. You only need to fax Special Services 30 days prior to your trip for dietary request/notification (our TA does this for me and gives me a copy of the fax). I then meet the Maitre'd upon arrival and check to see he has my request. I was more than pleased with the attention. He said he would tend to me in the Specialty dining room as well if I chose to dine there. I can adjust as you have, but if someone wants to spoil me, I'll gladly take it. I'm sure I will get some positive feedback when my TA contacts Avalon.