Carnival Cruise with Celiac
Hi all, wanted to share my experience taking a carnival cruise recently because we found posts like these really helpful when we were planning our travel. We did a four night cruise in the Bahamas. I am a symptomatic celiac. I'm pretty careful about avoiding gluten, cook most stuff at home and try to only eat at restaurants with gf protocols.
We chose carnival because we read that they are recommended for those with food allergies. When we booked the cruise, there was a space to put allergies, so we indicated celiac there. Then my partner also emailed their guest services to let them know as well. They confirmed and also said to visit guest services on the ship once we arrived to confirm it one more time. Once we got on the ship, there was a letter in our room acknowledging that they were aware of the allergy. It basically said they would take all precautions necessary but couldn't fully guarantee no cross contamination since it was a shared kitchen. It also said I should always make staff aware rather than assuming they knew. We visited guest services on the ship and they confirmed it was noted on my profile.
On our ship there were buffets, a few fast-casual style restaurants, and a main dining room with made to order food that had a daily menu you could choose from. We completely avoided the buffets (I think I would have done that even without celiac haha) and I didn't see anything from the fast-casual places that seemed easily gluten free so I skipped those as well. We ate all our meals in the restaurant, which was open for breakfast and dinner each day. There was a separate gluten free menu published for every meal - generally, it matched the main menu really well, no limited options! Eating at the restaurant was included in the cruise price, except for a few fancier dishes that had extra cost.
The first dinner, I told my servers about being celiac, gluten allergy, need for cross-contact precautions etc, and they seemed familiar with everything. I don't know why, maybe vacation brain, but I never really asked about shared friers, etc, so I can't report on that except below where I discuss symptoms. They bring the food out with a different color cover so you know the kitchen was aware of the allergy.
That first night the food was pretty slow to come out and they said it was because the kitchen was having to make it from scratch for me. After that first night, I was able to "preorder" my meals the day before, so the kitchen would have a heads up for what to have ready and it moved a lot faster that way. I tried to order things that would be naturally gluten free / easier to make gf, just to reduce the risk of exposure. We also tried to come earlier for meals so precautions wouldn't get lost in the dinnertime rush. Every meal I made sure to let the server know about the allergy and they would re-inform the kitchen.
The restaurant wasn't open for lunch and our trip had two days of off-ship excursions where they provided buffet lunch food for guests. I didn't try to eat either of those lunches, but I brought snacks from home (had them anyway in case the food didn't end up being safe) and honestly it didn't bother me too much. I think with the heat and being in the sun I wasn't as hungry.
In terms of symptoms, I had mild stomach aches the first two nights, but no other signs I usually get when glutened. I didn't drink on the cruise as that is something that can also upset my stomach. As time went on, I felt increasingly comfortable with the food. It was pretty tasty and you could order as much as you want without having to worry about the bill at the end which was really nice. My partner and I both agreed that eating together was our favorite part of the cruise.
I'm writing this post just to share my experience. I'm not endorsing carnival cruise in general or saying it is a perfectly safe option. I did find them to be thorough and well-informed of allergen precautions, but experiences can change from person to person and cruise to cruise. Someday I would love to go on the celiac specific cruise line, but for now carnival was a very budget friendly option and I was pretty satisfied with the experience all things considered.
I know everyone has different levels of comfort and this won't work for all people, please be nice in the comments!