Gluten Free Eating on Disney Cruise

[TLovesDisney]

Has anyone had to eat gluten free on a Disney cruise? How does it work? Do they bring out food to you every night or do you get to order off of a special menu? And then what about the buffet and eating at Castaway and on excursions? Is there gluten free pizza?

If anyone had pictures that would be great.

Thanks

 

[MagicMe]

Disney is great with gluten free! The first night at dinner they will work with you on what they can do for that dinner. After you first dinner, they will bring out the next night's menu and discuss what you'd prefer from there and will prepare it. You can check with the CMs/Chef's on the buffets to see what is gluten free. My son's MIL is gluten free and reacts with even a slight cross contamination and she loved her cruise!!!

The Fantasy and Dream even have a separate kitchen to handle food allergies.

You will be very safe!

 

[natmom]

My daughter and I both have celiac. We tried a 4 night dream cruise last year. I was terrified ahead of time because my daughter is extremely sensitive , even the smallest crumb of gluten will cause a bad reaction. DCL was amazing. They went through the buffet with us, brought gf rolls to the table. The quick service had chicken fingers and pizza all cooked safely. Dinners were modified and delicious! Not even one tiny tummy ache the entire trip. We have booked a 7 night on the fantasy because it went so well

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

Disney is great with gluten free! The first night at dinner they will work with you on what they can do for that dinner. After you first dinner, they will bring out the next night's menu and discuss what you'd prefer from there and will prepare it. You can check with the CMs/Chef's on the buffets to see what is gluten free. My son's MIL is gluten free and reacts with even a slight cross contamination and she loved her cruise!!!

The Fantasy and Dream even have a separate kitchen to handle food allergies.

You will be very safe!

Perfect description. The Magic and Wonder have been absolutely fine too. I have a celiac wife and two kids that are sensitive to Gluten. The only thing I can add is you can go see the dining room manager when you board and arrange the first night's meal in advance.

 

[TLovesDisney]

Thanks everyone! Makes me feel better about our cruise in Oct.

Has anyone has experience on how the gluten free food works during the excursions? We are going to St. Thomas, St. Maartin, and Castaway.

 

[SeattleSuz]

I always like to read these threads to hear of more GF food on board, since my hubby is GF due to his Crohns. Everytime I hear of more GF food, I am so happy to tell him!! Thanks for posting!!

 

[jrabbit]

on last years WBPC cruise we had tablemates that were GF - And they ate well and were taken care of in all of the restaurants. I think for the most part for lunches they found out where our serving team was working and went to that location for lunch. DCL did a great job for them - that's one of the reasons they keep sailing DCL.

 

[DahliaRW]

I had a wonderful experience on the ship eating GF. The only time I wasn't totally pleased was at Remy, they were less accomidating than the MDRs. In the MDRs, they made anything I wanted gf, with the exception of some desserts (this was the only spot that was not great, but I was ok with what was offered).

It was much easier to go to the sit down breakfasts/lunches than it was the buffet. Just easier to order and let them deal with it rather than having the chef at Cabanas tell me what I could/couldn't eat, etc.

As for excursions, those are run by outside companies and I found that they were not very accommodating (a lot of people have no idea what gluten is). I'm not super sensitive, so I just ate what looked ok and was careful. But if you're Celiac or sensitive you'll want to bring some pre-packaged safe snack foods to tide you over or just book shorter excursions.

 

[Caropooh]

DD15 has Celiac Disease and we have cruised twice since she was diagnosed. The first time was 2 weeks after she was diagnosed and that was a Baltic Cruise in 2010! As everyone else has said, DCL is awesome with it. We've never had a problem.

 

[nancy drew]

Has anyone has experience on how the gluten free food works during the excursions? We are going to St. Thomas, St. Maartin, and Castaway.

On Castaway you can order a meal the night before at dinner and it will be sent over to Cookies (not Cookies Too) for you to pick up. Talk to your head server the night before and make arrangements.

As for the excursions, you are on your own. You can bring pre-packaged food (granola bars you brought from home, sealed bag of chips, etc.) but you cannot take a meal off the ship. We went to Atlantis and had lunch vouchers, and literally the only thing I could eat (because I am vegan AND gluten-free) was fries and chips. The quick serve chef made me a HUGE order of fries in clean oil, and the woman at the register gave me 2 bags of chips because she felt bad that I couldn't eat anything and wasn't getting my money's worth. So I would plan to bring your own sealed food, even if meals are included with your excursion.

Also if the excursion is short, you could just bring a snack and eat when you get back on the ship.

 

[DahliaRW]

When I travel, I always pack a few of these: http://www.gopicnic.com/GoPicnic-Meals_2/Gluten-Free_2 Be careful, as some contain meat which may not be allowed. But some would work for excursions if you need food, and they are convenient and all pre-sealed.

 

[micheleq]

My DH has a gluten intolerance that he was diagnosed with just over a year ago. We had a great experience on the Wonder last year, and we'll be on the Fantasy in less than two weeks so I can report more after that for you.

Palo at dinner was exceptional about his allergy, the Executive Chef came out twice to talk to us and ensure that he had a wide selection to chose from. We had the same Palo server for brunch a few days later so again, it was easy and issue free.

We'll be traveling with another friend who is recently GF, so I think that will ensure our servers are on top of it. We've got Palo dinner & brunch scheduled as well as Remy dinner. DH is looking forward to being in an environment where they understand GF needs.

 

[MsJiminyCricket]

When I travel, I always pack a few of these: http://www.gopicnic.com/GoPicnic-Meals_2/Gluten-Free_2 Be careful, as some contain meat which may not be allowed. But some would work for excursions if you need food, and they are convenient and all pre-sealed.

I love GoPicnic! The only thing I find is that they have a lot of salt which can cause it's own issues.

 

[kuhltiffany]

My DH is gluten free and DCL works great for us. We were in Palo on our last cruise, they even made a gluten-free chocolate soufflé for him!

 

[SeattleSuz]

Oh wow! So many choices for GF people. Love this thread!!!

 

[DesertGal]

My DH is gluten free and DCL works great for us. We were in Palo on our last cruise, they even made a gluten-free chocolate soufflé for him!

Wait, what???? I had no idea. This is my first time cruising since having to go GF because of ulcerative colitis. We booked brunch and dinner at Palo, and I was sad because the chocolate soufflé is one of the only desserts that I really would miss. I am beyond excited. I am fine going without desserts (in fact, it helps with my fitness goals), but the chocolate soufflé is just so tempting.

Thanks for this info.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

I love GoPicnic! The only thing I find is that they have a lot of salt which can cause it's own issues.

These are great, especially since they aren't refrigerated.

As others have said DCL is great for GF. I do tend to eat lunch and breakfast at a sit down restaurant when possible. The chef will come out and help you at the buffet but I always feel awkward and like I'm holding up other guests. Also, the fantasy had fantastic chicken fingers and okay pizza on the pool deck. But the Wonder was not able to offer the same choices. And our head server who was awesome was very good about making sure there was food available on castaway cay. I've only sailed on the wonder and the fantasy since I've been GF. I would say that the wonder was very good and the fantasy was excellent about meeting my needs.

 

[VbChristy]

I would like to revitalize this post. I believe the OP was cruising in October- I was curious about your recent experience. I am recently diagnosed with Celiac's and will be on the Magic in January with my family.

 

[TheRichFam]

I'll be the lone voice of dissension here

While I agree 100% that DCL will bend over backwards to take care of your GF family member and that the service is great, I'll simply say that my wife and I were actually very surprised at the low quality of the food in MDRs and at the quick service food locations. While our meal at Remy was among the ten best meals we've ever had, it was by far the exception, not the rule. I'm not GF and my wife has only been GF for a few years now, so we both know what "good food" tastes like.

I'll also say that if your itinerary stops at Castaway Cay, the barbecue lunch there was very good also. All in all, the food disappointed us but didn't keep us from re-booking!

 

[ufgrad98]

Does anyone know if the chocolates that they leave in your cabin on your bed at night are gluten free? My girls have Celiac and if those chocolates aren't gluten free, then I will bring some hershey kisses for them instead. Thanks!!