Like I mentioned on my Facebook page (The Ticked Off Gluten Free Travel Agent), I knew that this trip to Europe was going to be a fun, but glutenous journey. Thank God we brought Gluten-Ease (you can buy it at CVS), which "mostly" helped.
Our
Journey began by visiting our family in Germany, aka the land of
Gluten..lol. My brother (Mark) decided to treat our family to a Low
Country Boil. Yes, he actually brought a cooler full of gulf-shrimp,
Georgia Boy Sausage and blue crabs with us to Germany. The best part: it's all gluten
free! The next morning our journey to the dark side began...no
Gluten-Ease could handle all the gluten we ate & drank. Each
morning we were treated to a traditional German breakfast full of
brotchen, pretzels, meat, cheese and coffee. So yummy! So far the
Gluten-Ease is hanging in there. We found out that one of our cousins was GF
also, and gave her some Gluten-Ease and it really worked for
her. She had her first pretzel in years without a reaction. We went
out to a restaurant that serves deep fried ham hocks and spaetzle. Who
does that? The crust was like very crunchy pork rinds: hard to cut
into and eat, but gluten free. The spaetzle was okay, but I make GF
spaetzle that is just as good, if not better. On out last night we had
schnitzel. Dave and I got smart and shared a plate. Still doing OK with
the Gluten-Ease. Did I mention that I miss Weizen Beer? I didn't know
how much I missed it until I began drinking it. We said our family goodbye's
and then set off to see the real Cinderella's castle.
Neuschwanstein
Castle in Bavaria, Germany. Wow so beautiful. I should mention that
you should buy your tickets to visit the castle and then have lunch. We
weren't thinking and had lunch first and then had to wait hours for our
tour to begin. For lunch we had more Weizen beer (Can't get enough of
this evil but delicious liquid). For lunch we had Goulash soup,
Gluten-Ease to the rescue again! Dave had schnitzel again and I tried
to behave and had a large salad. The story of Neuschwanstein Castle is quite interesting and if you get a chance to see it, you should. Now off to Munich and...
Oktoberfest...Prost!
One
beer, two beer, three beers too many. Yep, I had forgotten how strong a
German beer really is. Before I went down for the count, I did get to
have a gluten fest including bratwurst, pretzel, beer and more.
Gluten-Ease couldn't handle it all. And then...I'm out! Dave stayed
with me, but the rest of the group had a great time on the rides, etc.
You can't imagine how big this festival is until you are there. Thousands
of people in each tent and there were a lot of tents. I think they said
that there are 350,000 people each day...now that's A Lot of Beer! And
after sleeping for over 14 hour, I was ready and raring to go to...Venice
After a 6 hour train ride through the Alps (spectacular views), we arrived in Venice, the City of Bridges. I don't think I have ever seen a more romantically beautiful city. We did a night time
gondola ride, followed
by a fantastic gluten-filled dinner...did I mention that we are almost
out of Gluten Ease? I had a seafood pasta, Dave had spaghetti
bolognese, and we had a fantastic bottle of Villa Novare Valpolicella
wine. Best meal of the entire trip! So after 7 days of gluten gorging,
it was time to leave on our Cruise, and begin being a Gluten Free
Travel Agent again. The cruise began with the most unique transfer from
the hotel to the Cruise Ship: a taxi boat brought us right to the
port.
Royal Caribbean Splendour of the Seas: Greek Isles Cruise
For those of you who have been following our blog, I want you to know that the gluten free cruise experience is getting better. Although there is definitely still room for improvement, this was our best experience yet. Instead of breaking down our meals as we have done in the past, we will address the highs and lows of our overall gluten free experience.
Highs:
* Our Waiter - For the first time on a cruise ship, our dining room waiter understood gluten free eating restrictions, and worked hard to accommodate our needs.
* We met this very nice couple (Norice & Krisi) from Scotland; Norris so happens to be GF as well. We met during a wine tasting event on the ship, which by the way, didn't have any GF crackers for us,,,Really?
*
In the many conversations we had with Norice, we learned that Corona
Beer is naturally GF...Who knew? Thanks Norice! Here he is in his
formal Scottish kilt.
* Our head waiter - We first met him during our wine tasting and we
discussed our GF restrictions. He greeted us for our "lunch with the
officers", and personally showed us which foods were prepared gluten
free, and which we should avoid (There were many GF options, even though
they were not pre-notified that we were GF.) He was also our host at
the Chef's Table, and again insured that our GF needs were managed well,
with many dinner options offered.High and Low:
* Windjammer - The Windjammer restaurant had a designated area for gluten free options. But it was inconsistent and incomplete. There were limited options in the area, and there were gluten free options throughout the restaurant, that were not located in this area.
Lows:
* The Chef - While our waiter tried hard to accommodate our gluten free restrictions, his hands were tied due to limited options from the kitchen. The chef's solution to gluten free food is to remove the gluten, instead of using a gluten free substitute (corn starch in gravy, gluten free pasta, etc.).
* Gluten free pizza...it doesn't take 30 minutes to make a GF pizza, does it? After a late night of playing Quest (A really fun game) we decided to go up to the Solarium to get pizza. Of course they didn't have any GF pizza ready but did allow us to order it. They said it would be ready in 10 minutes. Ten minutes turned into 20, then 30 minutes...really how hard is it? Needless to say by the time we received the pizza, everyone with us was finished and ready for bed. Again, inconvenienced by their lack of knowledge and GF.
With a few exceptions, I find that GF knowledge is still lacking across the fleet and the industry. Slowly we are seeing some signs of improvement and a slightly better understanding on what exactly Gluten is. Here's hoping that by the time we take our next trip we will see continued progress with the knowledge and quality of gluten free dining.
If you are interested in joining us on future travels here is what we have plan for the next two years:
Fall 2016 - Sandals Grenada - I am told they are making great strides and want to give them another chance.
January 2, 2017 - 13 Day Carnival cruise to Caribbean & Central American sailing out of Baltimore returning to Tampa.
Fall of 2017 - Back to Europe. This time we are planning a 2 night visit to Venice then a 10 Day cruise to Malta, Slovenia, Montenegro, Croatia, Barcelona, Palma del Mallorca and ending in Rome. Two nights in Rome before we head home.
Contact me for details on these upcoming vacations for rates and details. I believe that if more of us travel together, the industry will be forced to make the necessary improvements regarding GF dietary restrictions.
Stay tuned for my next post; I'll be doing a short two night Inaugural on the beautiful Norwegian Escape!
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