zephyr37

Overall the cruise was very good once we got onto the layout of the ship.  I need to be on a gluten free diet and I was not impressed with the preparation of the gluten free entrees.  They were bland and not seasoned well.  I'm not sure the chef and the waiters understand about gluten free dining.  The gluten free bread was the same for every dinner and had an odd taste.  I didn't enjoy it at all.  However, I was able to look at the menu for the next day and request what I would like for dinner.  I spoke with the matre'd and she was able to get me gluten free desserts starting on the second night.  The first night I ordered a strawberry souffle (I think), I asked if it had a crust and was assured that they would check.  When it came, it had a crust.  I told the wait person that I couldn't eat it since I didn't know what the crust was made of.  He took it back to the kitchen, then brought it out with the crust cut off!  Although I am not hypersensitive to gluten, I couldn't eat the dessert since the flour in the crust could have migrated into the mousse part.  A hypersensitive person could have had a terrible reaction to something like this.

On my last cruise, at the lunch buffet there was at least one dessert that was marked gluten free, not so on this cruise.

My main complaint for this ship was that you could smell cigarette/cigar smoke anytime that you were in the glass elevator area.  Having allergies, the smoke just made it un-enjoyable.

The cabin boys were excellent.  They kept our stateroom very neat and clean.  If we needed anything at all, they did their best to accomodate us.