I booked my first ever cruise, after much deliberation on where to go on holiday, we decided, why not see it all and go on a cruise? 

As a coeliac, the most important thing when planning a holiday destination is somewhere you know you can eat gluten free food safely, and secondly, somewhere you can have a good time!

After being recommended a few cruise liners from the travel agents based on our interests, and looking at a few different destinations, we then researched and researched what each one was like for gluten free dining on board. 

We knew the Mediterranean, Italy, Spain, Valencia were destinations we wanted to visit, but were not sure who to go with. 

After joining Facebook groups and reading different online reviews, and pausing and zooming in on numerous TikTok videos to look at the gluten free labels, we decided to book the Mediterranean medley cruise on board Marella Voyager.

I couldn’t see many in-depth blog posts about gluten free dining on board, so after coming back from our fabulous cruise holiday, I thought I would share my experience and the dining on board!

The journey and transfers

We flew out from Manchester Airport to Palma de Mallorca, at Terminal 2, where they have a Giraffe restaurant inside so you can grab some gluten free food before you fly out. We flew out early in the morning and already ate, so I didn’t eat anything at the airport. We had the flights and transfers provided by Tui, and they did have gluten free options on the flight, but  it’s pretty much a brownie, fries and a veggie lasagne for such a short flight. I also recommend being vigilant to any severe allergy sufferers on the plane before ordering food. Thee in-flight menu lists the allergens in the food so you can check beforehand for the safety of others. The luggage and check in, transfer was seamless, after we collected our luggage at Palma, we popped it on the coach and didn’t see it until it was at our cabin!

All inclusive eateries on board

The cruise itself is ‘standard’ all inclusive, which means that the majority of the eateries on board, drinks etc… are all included. There is a ‘premium’ all inclusive package you can have instead, which includes certain cocktails, drinks, desserts, and menu items in the restaurants on board. You can still order some of the premium all inclusive menu items or drinks if you fancy it, there is a small fee for those and the price is always clearly marked on any menu.  You register a credit or debit card to your cabin and if you did order, it gets added to your bill which you can then view on the ships on-board app, Navigate which you log into when you connect to the wifi on board. 

The Kitchens is a standard all inclusive eatery, set out like a food hall. It’s open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even after the entertainment has finished in the night you can go and get a portion of chips or a curry to soak up all the drink. 
The kitchens has a coffee machine, teas, wine on tap, soft drinks on draft and beers on draft which you can serve yourself. You can grab a roast dinner, curry, greek style street food, asian food, desserts and breakfast to say the least. They have gluten free bread, naan’s and pitta breads available on request and every menu item is clearly marked gluten free. 
I was concerned that I would need to bring my own bread, or go out to buy some when we were at port, but I was really impressed by the selection available for each mealtime. The bread wasn’t the most amazing bread, but it looked freshly baked and it was nice to have it available. 
The bread is always toasted separately in the back if you require it and staff serve you using separate tongs for everything.  

Most of the menu items change each day such as the desserts, but when I was on board you could have strawberry panna cotta, danish pastries, muffins, trifle and a coconut dessert pot with a shortbread. One thing I wish you did have available was gluten free sausages for breakfast, or a gluten free pie option but you are really spoilt for choice anyway. I didn’t really miss sausages as I rarely eat them at home anyway, and we didn’t get around to eating from everywhere on board.

Other all inclusive eateries were:

• Abuelas for Mexican food.
• Snack Shack for grab and go options. You could even take some stuff out of their fridge to put in your bag for excursions if you wanted to. I did take some Chilli Beef and a Greek salad on a couple of occasions. Please note, they do not have fridges in the cabins on Marella Voyager, so some stuff is not ideal to take back to your cabin from there.
• Nonnas for gluten free pizza and pasta, here you tick exactly what you would like on the pasta or pizza on a menu card and they make it all fresh for you.
• Latitude and Vista. There were our favourites on board and these are all inclusive restaurants, each with some premium menu items which you could order such as Lobster or special puddings. If you are standard all inclusive and wanted these items, you could just order them and they get charged to your cabin via your cruise card which you’d register your credit or debit card for. The prices of those premium items are generally cheaper than what you’d get in a restaurant here in the UK.
  The menu changes daily and they serve breakfast lunch and dinner. Latitude is like a posh take on British Classics, and Vista is authentic Italian food. 

We ate at Latitude and Vista for breakfast and dinner a couple of times and the beauty of it was that if you fancied a few different starters you could order more than one, there really was no limit!

They also asked if you had any allergies or requirements before ordering, so instead of me having to awkwardly say “Sorry I can’t have the bread basket, I’m coeliac”, they just brought out a gluten free one for me to begin with, making it such a relaxing dining experience.

Specialty Dining

Along with the included eateries there are some specialty places you pay to dine at. On Voyager, these are Silver Fork, Surf n Turf Steakhouse, Kora La and Platter for cheeseboards and wine. 

We ate at Kora La on the first night and it was gorgeous. They serve pan-asian themed food like summer rolls, curry, pho, and my favourite dessert, Mochi!  They made fresh gluten free flatbread for the chutneys and dips which was a welcome surprise!

Eating out on excursions

We did excursions nearly every day and so we didn’t get much time to explore local cuisines when we were in port. However when we docked in Villefranche and did an excursion out to Nice, we got to go to Pop o Thym, situated right by the flower market. They serve gluten free crepes, and almost everything is available gluten free as they use buckwheat flour for the crepes. 

Our destinations Italy, Palma, Barcelona and Valencia are all known to be great for gluten free, they even do gluten free buns in McDonald’s in Spain. So I am sure that you would be completely fine eating outside of the ship. If you do go off for your own food, I recommend taking some coeliac translation cards or learning the translations for the basics. 

Overall thoughts for gluten free on board Marella Voyager

Overall, I ate SO WELL on the cruise and nothing was ever too much trouble for staff. There was always something I could eat, and although I would have liked gluten free sausages at breakfast, I actually didn’t feel like I missed out on anything. 

I am really glad that we booked with Marella for our first cruise, as not only is the variety of gluten free food on board great, but the staff were all friendly and helpful, the entertainment and things you can get involved with on board were all so much fun! We enjoyed the casino, quizzes and game shows, broadway shows, Sail away party and the Silent Disco which was my personal favourite! 

This certainly won’t be my last cruise, so I’d love to hear about other cruise lines available that have been great for gluten free! Leave a comment and get in touch if you have any recommendations! 

Subscribe to my blog and socials below for more!

Instagram

Threads

Facebook