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Gluten Free


Stitch

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My wife has to eat gluten free & Royal is VERY accommodating!

First, you'll notice in the Windjammer that one section of the buffet is clearly labeled as Gluten-Free. And any of the made to order items can usually be requested to be made to accommodate any specific dietary restrictions.

Second, if you are eating the any of the specialty restaurants, just make your server aware of any of your dietary restrictions. They can also help in pointing our menu items that are already gluten free or can be prepared gluten free.

THIRD, AND MOST IMPORTANT, In the main dining room, your waitstaff (they will be your servers the entire cruise) will ask if there are any specific dietary needs/requests for anyone at your table. After you let them know about your need to avoid gluten, they will also help you to select that night's menu items that are already gluten free or others that CAN be made gluten free.

Here's where it gets good, following each night's meal, your server will present the next night's menu so that you can select items for the next night; items already gluten free as well as items that can be made gluten free with advanced notice. While others at your table are served rolls, your assistant waiter will bring you gluten free bread.

TIP: Ask about when flourless chocolate cake might be available!

You can also have "gluten free" noted on your reservation by emailing special_needs@rccl.com, with your reservation information(https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/dining-dietary-restrictions-customer-care).

I hope this helps! Like I started with, Royal Caribbean is VERY accommodating with all your needs!

PS: Navigator is a great ship! We sailed on it for our first cruise, too!

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Mrs Castle is Gluten Free and we had a fab holiday on Navigator in 2017.  The Cafe Promenade will do Gluten Free Pizza and you can also ask for GF Cookies.  

In MDR, if you ask for Fries, they get them freshly made in Johnny Rockets as this is the only fryer/cooking oil guaranteed to be GF.

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You will be asked to select what you want for dinner in the MDR the night before. There are GF items available in the Windjammer, but sometimes you need to ask a crew member as some of the items are kept behind the counter. The same is true for GF cookies at the coffee bar in the promenade. 

We enjoyed the specialty restaurants a little bit more as we didn't have to preorder our meals. 

Seek out the chef in the Windjammer. If you don't see him, just ask someone to get him. He will walk you around every item in the buffet and identify what is/is not gluten free. 

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  • 7 months later...
2 hours ago, Claudia Aparecida Galo Dum said:

I'm celiac and i've got a cross-contamination at Adventure of the Seas. It's not recommended! Be carefull!

Do you know if it was at the Windjammer or in dining rooms/restaurants? My mother-in-law and brother-in-law both have Celiac and I know they would be very apprehensive of the buffet, even if there was a GF section.

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On 4/17/2019 at 12:21 PM, gregorykicks said:

Do you know if it was at the Windjammer or in dining rooms/restaurants? My mother-in-law and brother-in-law both have Celiac and I know they would be very apprehensive of the buffet, even if there was a GF section.

In Windjammer it's a separate area. You can speak to someone on the ship and they will help you out and try to make sure your in laws are taken care of. Same for the main dining room, speak to the head waiter and then your personal waiters and they will look out for you.

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  • 2 years later...

This is so true!! I was on Serenade to Alaska, July 2021 and they were super accommodating. I have a gluten allergy so before we went on the cruise we emailed them to let them know ahead of time. They told us to go to the main dining room when you board and go talk with the dining room staff. They marked it on our account and they even called our stateroom phone to tell us our servers know that I have a gluten allergy. I would order my dinner the night before so they could make it gluten free - if it wasn’t already gluten free. They made me chocolate molten lava cake, my own French toasts for breakfast (we went to the dining room every morning), spaghetti and more. I brought my own GF tortillas and we used almost all of them. One day for breakfast they made me a breakfast burrito with my tortillas and for lunch they made me a steak quesadilla (all in the dining room). The head server every night would bring me my own GF bread on a plate. In windjammer, we asked if the hotdogs were GF and they were but they made me three because they wanted to make sure there was no cross contamination.  One lunch in the windjammer, they even made me my own pizza. They do a GF section in Windjammer.  To sum it all up, they were absolutely wonderful. 

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  • 9 months later...
On 4/17/2019 at 7:24 AM, Claudia Aparecida Galo Dum said:

I'm celiac and i've got a cross-contamination at Adventure of the Seas. It's not recommended! Be carefull!

I just got back from Adventure of the sea cruise and it was the WORST with lack of gluten free options and knowledge! I was glutened and was VERY limited on anythinf I could eat!! Will NEVER go on that cruise again!!! 

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13 hours ago, Kristin Bagley said:

I just got back from Adventure of the sea cruise and it was the WORST with lack of gluten free options and knowledge! I was glutened and was VERY limited on anythinf I could eat!! Will NEVER go on that cruise again!!! 

That's unfortunate. Adventure was a my first RC cruise a few years ago and it was pretty great concerning gluten free options and every cruise i've taken so far with royal they have more choices. I'm not celiac so it may be different for me. 

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My sister has severe celiac disease. She also has issues with diverticulitis and other related problems. The main problem she has to deal with is cross contamination. At some land-side restaurants, when we say Gluten free…we are asked whether that’s by choice or medical. I know many people choose to have gluten free dining while others, like my sister, are highly allergic to gluten and even the smallest bit of cross contamination can cause an attack. So the kitchens in many celiac-sensitive restaurants are very careful…utilizing separate preparation areas and utensils, ensuring their isn’t any possibility of even the smallest chance of cross contamination. And the servers are very well trained and know how to make sure they don’t inadvertently cause a problem. 
Does anyone have experience with cruising and dining with this level of concern? Please share. Thank you!

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35 minutes ago, BrianB said:

we are asked whether that’s by choice or medical

That's great that they ask.  I get uncomfortable when people find out it's not celiac because they immediately seem to think it's by choice but the itchiness and other symptoms I get say otherwise. I do understand the extreme difference between celiac and intolerance tho so my issues are nothing near a celiac's but I wish it was taken seriously and not as a fad type thing.

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35 minutes ago, BrianB said:

My sister has severe celiac disease. She also has issues with diverticulitis and other related problems. The main problem she has to deal with is cross contamination. At some land-side restaurants, when we say Gluten free…we are asked whether that’s by choice or medical. I know many people choose to have gluten free dining while others, like my sister, are highly allergic to gluten and even the smallest bit of cross contamination can cause an attack. So the kitchens in many celiac-sensitive restaurants are very careful…utilizing separate preparation areas and utensils, ensuring their isn’t any possibility of even the smallest chance of cross contamination. And the servers are very well trained and know how to make sure they don’t inadvertently cause a problem. 
Does anyone have experience with cruising and dining with this level of concern? Please share. Thank you!

Oldest DD developed Celiac at age 15 - she's almost 26 now, so we've been dealing with this for a while. She's gone on 2 cruises, and had no problems with any kind of cross contamination.  DH took a ship's tour, and they brought them to the kitchens & showed them the allergy prep area - completely separate from the rest of the kitchen.  She will say it's a gluten allergy if people don't understand celiac, so that they take it seriously.   Unfortunately, the longer she is gluten free, the worse the consequences are for accidental ingestion - her body really doesn't tolerate it well, severe stomach upset, brain fog, etc for a few days after.  That being said, while she found the MDR safe, & got special help in Windjammer (buffet) some people are concerned about the specialty restaurants, as they do not have separate prep areas.  We did Chops and Giovanni's on Adventure without an issue for her, but she is careful to order simple items, ones that are less likely to be contaminated.  MDR waiters gave her the next days menu each night, & she told them what she wanted. Even if it wasn't labeled gluten free, most of the time it could be prepared that way. Exceptions were things like ravioli or lasagna, which did not have gluten free options. Sometimes, she got a baked potato instead of whatever the other potato option was if it had gluten in it.  She never had as many options as the rest of us, but she never went hungry.

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@MaryCS62Thank you! She is very hesitant about cruising with severe Celiac. She suffers the same reactions as you described…even with the slightest cross contamination. Three years ago, I finally convinced her to go on a cruise with us on another line. It was the only one with the dates available to her, and the port location being nearby in Manhattan. I researched their gluten-free options and procedures and found them to be pretty good. They took very good care of her…just like you mentioned. The MDR manager had her choose her next day’s meals and he handled the service himself just to make sure. 
But since that time, I have found Royal is a much better experience in every way and I have become absolutely loyal to Royal. Your experience makes me feel better about inviting her to cruise with us on Royal out of Port Liberty. Thank you!😎

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2 hours ago, BrianB said:

@MaryCS62Thank you! She is very hesitant about cruising with severe Celiac. She suffers the same reactions as you described…even with the slightest cross contamination. Three years ago, I finally convinced her to go on a cruise with us on another line. It was the only one with the dates available to her, and the port location being nearby in Manhattan. I researched their gluten-free options and procedures and found them to be pretty good. They took very good care of her…just like you mentioned. The MDR manager had her choose her next day’s meals and he handled the service himself just to make sure. 
But since that time, I have found Royal is a much better experience in every way and I have become absolutely loyal to Royal. Your experience makes me feel better about inviting her to cruise with us on Royal out of Port Liberty. Thank you!😎

You're quite welcome!! If she is truly nervous, I would stick with the MDR unless a specialty restaurant can set her mind at ease.  Only issue is that on port days, MDR is usually closed at lunch time, so we have done Windjammer, & DD asks someone for the head chef to help her pick (or cook her something fresh), unless there is a specific gluten free section (which can still be contaminated if other passengers are not careful, so getting something fresh might be best)

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