I am so excited to share my newest review with you all – My Honest Review of Celiac Cruise! Last week my husband and I sailed off on the 5th Celiac Cruise!

Yes, you read that right! A cruise specifically for celiacs!

The cruise is NOT 100% entirely gluten-free. However, the Celiac Cruise team does an INCREDIBLE job of making sure the cruise is still safe for celiacs and I’ll explain how they do that below. 

While the cruise isn’t completely gluten-free I can say that I felt 110% confident in eating at the assigned places and times.

That’s why I wanted to take the time and write this honest review for Celiac Cruise! I was really impressed with the time and dedication the Celiac Cruise team put into this journey.

There were some things I didn’t LOVE, but don’t worry – I’ll break it all down for you below in “My Honest Review of Celiac Cruise.”

If you do book Celiac Cruise out of Cape Canaveral be sure to check out my “Gluten-Free Guide to Cape Canaveral” so you’ll know where to eat and stay the night before departure!

Now let’s jump right into it!

What is Celiac Cruise? 

You can check out celiaccruise.com and read the full “Our Story” page, but here’s a quick sneak peek into what exactly is a Celiac Cruise!

”In the Fall of 2018, we reached out to Royal Caribbean and presented an idea to them. A gluten-free cruise! Would they be interested? Would they be open to the thorough education necessary to FULLY understand what being 100% gluten-free entails?

Well, not only were they open to it, they invited my entire family onboard to test drive and open the kitchen galley doors for a full gluten-free inspection! I was so impressed and have done my best to share that experience on this site.” 

So, after many meetings with Executive Chefs, Food and Beverage Managers, and Royal Caribbean executives, the Inaugural Celiac Cruise was set! After months of planning, preparation, meetings, and site visits – our Inaugural Cruise set sail in January 2020 and was a HUGE SUCCESS!” 

Celiac Cruise

That’s how Celiac Cruise began and after talking to some of the people behind it I can say they have gone above and beyond in order to make sure that Celiac Cruises are as safe as possible for those with celiac disease. 

Important: In order to be part of Celiac Cruise and to have access to Celiac Safe Dining you MUST book directly through celiaccruise.com. You cannot book via Royal Caribbean or another 3rd party site. 

Is Celiac Cruise Celiac Safe?

I can with great confidence say that if you follow their directions on where to eat that Celiac Cruise IS celiac safe!

One of the best parts about Celiac Cruise is you are NOT limited in your choices of food. Celiac Cruise trained multiple places on the ship so you can eat safely there, but there are a few places that are not celiac-safe. 

We did the 2023 Cruise to the Bahamas on the Independence of the Seas and I’ll go through and list the different places that were celiac-safe there! 

 Main Dining 

About 2 weeks before departure we received a detailed email outlining dining for Celiac Cruise as well as other Celiac Cruise events. 

The main dining room was where we ate most of our meals. I tried to get breakfast, lunch, and dinner there every day because EVERYTHING in the Deck 5 Main Dining Room was prepared in its own dedicated gluten-free kitchen. You could go for breakfast at any of the times listed above. However, dinner was at exactly 5:30 PM. With Celiac Cruise you do not get to choose your dinner time. You are assigned the 5:30 dinner time so that way they can ensure your food is safe!

The breakfast menu stayed the same every day while lunch and dinner changed each day. Everything on the menu was 100% gluten-free!

Cruise Tip: You CAN order more than one appetizer, entree, or dessert at a time!

I eat a very high-protein diet so unfortunately one dinner entree did not cut it for me. But fortunately, you can order multiple! Take full advantage of it!

Celiac Cruise Breakfast Menu

Celiac Cruise Lunch Menu

Celiac Cruise Dinner Menu

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos of the dinner menus. Sorry!! Those menus rotated daily but I can share with you some of the meals we got. 

Appetizers

• Escargot in a butter parmesan sauce
• Fig, Avocado, and Melon Salad
• Scallops in a butter parmesan sauce
• Antipasti
• Twice Fried Tostones with salsa and black beans

Entrees

• Beef Tenderloin over mashed potatoes
• Leg of Lamb 
• Turkey with mashed potatoes and vegetable medley
• Seafood Linguini in cream sauce
• Sirloin Steak
• Garlic & Herb Shrimp 

Desserts

• Royal Chocolate Cake
• Peach Trifle
• Strawberry Shortcake
• Coconut Cake
  

There were PLENTY of options in the main dining room. They were also willing to accommodate other allergies, restrictions, and preferences including vegetarian and vegan. 

Honest Review of Celiac Cruise Main Dining

Overall, the food was good. I had some great meals on board. I highly recommend getting red meat every time. The Beef Tenderloin was hands down the best Beef Tenderloin meal I have had. The sirloin was also incredible. 

The rest of the meals I would say were quite good. I can’t say I was jumping for joy over the rest of them. However, being able to have such a diverse selection of meals, being able to order multiple items per course, and knowing that everything was dedicated gluten-free made it an above-average dining experience.

Unfortunately, the service in the Main Dining Room was not spectacular. At dinner, you sat at the same table every night and had the same wait staff. At lunch and breakfast, you were seated where there was availability so those servers were different every time. 

I DO NOT blame the wait staff themselves for the service not being up to par. Here, I think the fault lies with Royal Caribbean for not having enough servers and workers.

All of our meals were at shared tables – meaning we were seated at a 4 to 8 top with other couples and families. 

At every breakfast we were at something wasn’t right with at least one of the orders. Everything from getting incorrect meals or incorrect sides to sides never arriving. If you pointed out the mistake the staff was quick to correct it and apologetic. However, most of the time everyone ate whatever they were given instead of waiting on a new meal to be made. 

Lunch and Dinner did not have many errors. The service was just slow. Our waiters were running around between multiple tables and there were so many meals being served. However, on more than one occasion our food came to us slightly colder than anticipated. It also took me 35 minutes to get a glass of red wine. 

Even with all of that said, I still HIGHLY recommend making full use of the main dining services. I would just recommend not to book anything for 7 PM. Twice we had various reservations at 7 PM and even though we showed up to dinner between 5:15 and 5:30 we still had to rush our desserts to make sure we made those reservations.  

Buffet Dining – Windjammer Cafe

Royal Caribbean refers to its Buffet as the “Windjammer Cafe.” As noted in the picture above the Windjammer Cafe is a shared dining facility – meaning there is gluten in the same dining area. 

However, there IS a dedicated Gluten Free Kitchen for the Windjammer Cafe. In addition, all gluten-free food was served on one specific side of Windjammer marked by the Celiac Cruise Banner. All gluten-free food was labeled clearly as well!  All the gluten was on the other side of the dining room. They also had someone on the gluten-free side checking for your “Celiac Cruise” wristband to ensure that those eating gluten would not cross-contaminate any of the gluten-free food!  

At night, the Windjammer served Late Night Snacks with a different theme each night! This option was only available for Celiac Cruise guests and wristbands were checked at the door. 

Honest Review of Celiac Cruise Buffet Dining

I only ate at the buffet twice but for buffet food the food was GOOD! I also felt very safe eating in Windjammer Cafe even though it was a shared dining room. I felt very confident that all food was prepared safely. However, I GREATLY appreciated Royal Caribbean having an employee stationed by the Celiac Cruise station checking wristbands in order to ensure no one could potentially cross-contaminate the food. 

My non-celiac husband also loved the Windjammer Cafe because he could finally get some gluten while I could eat gluten-free, haha!

I did not eat any of the late-night snacks because I can’t eat late at night without waking up feeling like crap! But my husband said they were quite good. We missed Churro night and that was a BIG mistake. Everyone was talking about those churros for the rest of the cruise. 

Other Food Options on Independence of the Seas

The Main Dining Room on Deck 5 as well as the Windjammer Cafe are the two main dining options for those on Celiac Cruise. But there are other options as well. 

Sorrento’s Pizza was the pizza place on Independence of the Seas serving pizza until 3:00 AM. This is a shared dining facility. However, Celiac Cruise went above and beyond to ensure that Sorrento’s was also celiac-safe!

Not only was there a separate prep section and a separate oven for the gluten-free pizza, but also (and very impressively) NO gluten pizza crust was being made or tossed in the restaurant. It was all pre-made!

This was a very impressive experience and shows that the people at Celiac Cruise did not overlook anything!  

I ate here one night and I had no issues! This was a huge lifesaver after dinner when I realized one entree was not enough for me haha. 

Specialty Dining

None of the specialty dining restaurants are included as part of Celiac Cruise. These restaurants cost extra money and are dedicated gluten-free. There are plenty of food options part of Celiac Cruise that I don’t think it is necessary to eat at any of the specialty restaurants. 

Alcohol on Board and at CocoCay

ALL mixers on board, as well as straws, were checked by and confirmed to be gluten-free by Celiac Cruise. 

I was SO thankful to see this on the Celiac Cruise Dining Guide. I got the Deluxe Beverage Package which included alcoholic drinks.

 I can’t tell you how many times I have avoided straws while at bars because I didn’t know if they were gluten-free. I also can’t tell you how many times I’ve Googled every single ingredient in a mixed cocktail to make sure they were gluten-free. So I was VERY grateful for the time, care, and attention Celiac Cruise put into making sure this cruise was as safe as possible!

Dining on CocoCay

CocoCay is Royal Caribbean’s own private island and it was our first stop on the cruise. The island itself is incredible with many different options of things to do from paid excursions to free places to relax on the water. 

Because CocoCay is owned by Royal Caribbean all dining and drink packages work on the island! Meaning you do NOT have to pay additional money for most of their options. 

The main place to eat on CocoCay is their buffet-style, “Skipper’s Grill.” Just like the Windjammer Cafe, Skipper’s Grill had a side of the buffet clearly marked for “Celiac Cruise.” All food on that side was labeled Gluten Free and there were workers checking wristbands. This section was much bigger than Windjammer and had more options. 

Because it was bigger there was a risk of someone sneaking over to the Celiac Cruise section with gluten. The staff did work diligently to prevent that but I believe it would be possible for that to happen. However, I will still say that this place was VERY safe for celiacs. 

The food was really good! There was a gluten-free taco bar, salad bar, sandwiches (including a Cuban Sandwich!), as well as hot dogs and hamburgers/cheeseburgers. 

On CocoCay I mostly ate from the taco bar. I had a corn tortilla, cajun chicken, rice, beans, salsa, sour cream, lettuce, and guac. The food was great! The corn tortilla fell apart as soon as you picked it up, so I abandoned it and just ate my food as if it was a bowl. (Our dinner tablemates shared that the same thing happened to them as well). 

The other food option on Cococay was to pay additional money to eat at Captain Jack’s Grill. There they were serving Gluten Free Wings and Fries made in a dedicated gluten-free fryer. We did NOT do this because I wanted to spend as much time by the water as possible but I regret not eating there! Everyone who ate their RAVED about the wings. 

Dining on Nassau

Our second and last stop on this cruise was at Nassau. This was the only time you had to fend for yourself with gluten-free food. 

We chose not to do an excursion for that reason (as well as the excursions were very expensive). 

Instead, we decided to have breakfast on the ship. Then we walked around the port area of Nassau for a bit and made sure we were back on the ship in time for lunch. 

There were a few things to do in the port area including visiting the infamous party bar and restaurant – Senor Frogs. You cannot eat at Senor Frogs!! 

Next time we visit Nassau we will probably take the $7 ferry boat ride over to Paradise Island where Atlantis is located. It is free to walk around Atlantis, but you have to pay to access their waterpark. Fortunately, there are many gluten-free options located in and around Atlantis. We did not check any of these places out, but here are some recommendations found on “Find Me Gluten Free.” 

Is Celiac Cruise Worth the Cost?

The prices for Celiac Cruise may seem high especially if you are traveling with a family of four and you have never cruised before. 

All Celiac Cruise costs include ALL of your food for every meal on this ship (and CocoCay), basic drinks including water, juice, coffee, and tea, and entertainment. 

You do not have to spend any more money on the ship if you choose not to other than the $16 a day in gratuities that is added at the end of your cruise or you can prepay beforehand. 

There are also 3 different price points available for each cruise. 

• Interior
• Window
• Balcony 

(The prices below are for the July 2024 Caribbean Celiac Cruise at the time of writing this article, July 2023. They are almost exactly what we paid for the 2023 cruise. My calculations include the $351 Taxes and Fees that were added to our bill.)

My husband and I paid $2549 total for the 2023 Cruise for a Balconly Room for 2 people. 

This may seem steep however it includes your room for 4 nights, all of your food, all basic drinks, and all the entertainment on the ship. If we break it down:

The cost of everything comes out to $318 per day and that is  WITH a balcony. 

(The below calculations are estimates)

If you wanted a window room for 2 people it comes out to approximately $218 per person per day! 

If you need more of a budget for 4 people and you get an interior room then it comes out to approximately $181 per person per day! 

Without a doubt, this cruise is 100% worth the cost. The value is absolutely incredible. You do not have to do any research on where you have to go to eat, you don’t have to cook, and you don’t have to worry if the food will be safe to eat!

There were a number of families on this cruise. One mom told me it was the first vacation her family was taking since her son was diagnosed with celiac disease and she did not have to cook.  

In my opinion, Celiac Cruise is worth every penny. 

Overall Review and Rating of Celiac Cruise to the Bahamas

I am truly blown away by the efforts of the folks behind Celiac Cruise. I saw firsthand the time, effort, and care Maureen and Connie put into ensuring that Celiac Cruise is indeed “Celiac Safe.”  Royal Caribbean also took their work very seriously and trained all of their employees thoroughly to make sure they were knowledgeable, empathetic, and caring. 

I give Celiac Cruise a 5/5 Safety Rating and a 5/5 Value Rating. 

The food options on Celiac Cruise were plentiful. No matter the time of the day or what you were craving you had options to safely eat!

I give the food on Celiac Cruise: 4/5

Let me know in the comments below if you have taken one of the Celiac Cruises or if you are going to book one!