Carnival Cruises with Special Diets

 

    In my opinion, cruising is the easiest way to travel when you have a special diet, and Carnival did not disappoint.  What's important, though, is knowing the best way to navigate dining with a special diet, so I'm here to give you the 411.

    Most cruise lines request that you inform them of your dietary needs before the cruise, but Carnival does not.  What they do ask you to do is inform each server you work with about any allergies or special diets.  Their special needs website (Facilities & Services for Guests with Disabilities | Carnival  > Guests with Dietary Needs) talks about a system called Menu Mate.  I never saw anything like this onboard, nor was it offered to me, but perhaps the crew uses it to figure out what is safe to offer.  

    Carnival is able to customize many of the menu options for different diets, but they need the request to be put in the day before so you will need to order something off the regular menu the first day.  Thankfully they have A LOT of options, so you should be able to find something you can eat.  Remember, that it is possible to mix and match.  So, if you want to order the steak but it comes with broccoli and you can't eat that, you can ask for a vegetable from another entree, or, like me, just ask for extra potatoes!

    Like other cruise lines, Carnival will have you order ahead for the next day if you have a special diet.  At dinner, your server will bring you the menu(s) for the next day.  Sometimes they will only bring you the dinner menu, but if you plan to eat breakfast and/or lunch in the dining room, you can ask for those menus too.  If there is a menu item you are interested in that usually contains an ingredient you cannot eat, you can ask for it to be prepared without it.  Sometimes this is not possible if the item comes pre-packaged, like ravioli, but if it is an item they make in house there are often options available.  For example, I wanted to have pancakes, but I cannot have gluten.  I ordered them the night before and the picture above is from my breakfast the next morning!  The catch is that they cannot make any of these things on demand.  The first morning of our Carnival cruise we went to the restaurant and found out that our server from the night before should have arranged for my breakfast in advance.  Because he did not my options were limited, but I did not go hungry.  Let this serve as notice to you, as with everything regarding your health, you have to be your own advocate.  You're always better off asking if you can preorder a meal than getting to that meal and finding that you should have.  

    The gluten free offerings were not the most delicious food I had ever tasted, but they WERE gluten free.  Other places I've eaten did not have any options available so I just had to go without. The exception to this on Carnival was the pizza.  On the Lido deck there is a pizzeria and you can request a gluten free pizza.  It will take extra time as they have to prepare it special, but it's worth it!  My husband tried the same pizza prepared on both the regular and gluten free crusts and said the gluten free was much better.  They had only one type of gluten free bread which was offered as before dinner bread, on sandwiches, and as a substitute for other bread products, like a pastry crust.  It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great.  I was thankful to have it though!  One afternoon we also saw several beautiful cakes being served in the buffet and my husband wanted to try one.  I asked if they had any gluten free options and they brought one out for me.  Again, it wasn't great, but it was an option!

    If I had Celiac Disease or another life-threatening allergy, I probably wouldn't cruise with Carnival as many of their gluten-free offerings were prepared on the same surfaces as their glutenous counterparts, creating cross-contamination issues.  On Norwegian they had a separate kitchen for special diets that prevented this.  Carnival might have the same setup for their main dining kitchen, but the counter service restaurants did not.

Here's the thing: I have had special dietary needs for a really long time and I've learned to work around most menus with them.  When I come across a place that wants to work their menu around my dietary needs, that is such a special treat that I really appreciate it.  No, they weren't the most amazing gluten free pancakes I've ever had, but friends, someone else made me gluten free pancakes.  That doesn't happen anywhere but on a cruise for me, so I very much enjoyed it!