Why I Lost Weight on a 9-Day Cruise

When my husband suggested taking a cruise, my main worry was getting enough to eat. I have several food allergies and a list of other dietary concerns. Eating in restaurants is often frustrating and sometimes risky. Still, cruise lines are said to have plenty of good food, so I decided to do some research.

I searched online for food allergy and cruises using various terms and read a number of first-person accounts of dealing with the problem. Many people had positive experiences although there were some who did not. The worst story, of course, was the news account of a man who died from food allergy aboard a cruise ship.

The positive accounts stressed notifying the cruise line ahead of time and working with the wait staff on board. We called Royal Caribbean and they indicated that they could easily accommodate a wheat-free dairy-free diet.

I took several copies of a typed list of my dietary restrictions. At dinner the first night, I gave it to our waiter. The head waiter came over and said they would show me the menu for the next night so I could select something and they would modify it for me. We did this nightly so my dinners worked out okay, although I got the same starch every night: a plain baked potato. It got monotonous but apparently it was the only thing guaranteed safe. (Baked potatoes don't work for the low-glycemic part of my diet plan but avoiding allergens was more important than worrying about the glycemic index. I did try to get basmati rice but failed, and sweet potatoes did not seem to be available.)

Breakfast and lunch required a different approach because we did not have the same wait staff. There were only a few safe breakfast options so I had the same thing every morning: bacon, grits, and poached eggs. Again, it was monotonous but safe. (Actually, once or twice I skipped the bacon and eggs and just had grits. Good thing I like grits!) We had lunch a couple of times in the dining room with mixed results; but usually went to the cafeteria where again I had monotonous but decent fare: salad greens, steamed rice, the plainest meat I could find, and water. (I also drank water at dinner and breakfast because the decaf coffee tasted horrible and I'm allergic to tea. Since I avoid sweets, I gave up soft drinks years ago.)

The good news is that I lost two pounds on the cruise. The bad part is that I was hungry much of the time. I did bring along my own snack food but could only eat small amounts of it because it was not low glycemic except for the cashews. (Most packaged snacks are high in carbs.)

An uncomfortable incident occurred at the salad bar at lunch time in the main dining room. You don't serve yourself there, you tell staff what you want and they make your salad. At the end of the process, they chop it with a cutting wheel which they use on everyone's salad. When I saw this, I said "Don't chop mine" so that my salad would not be contaminated with cheese or wheat, etc. This worked out the first time but the next day the guy rested the instrument on my salad before I could tell him not to, thus contaminating it. I voiced my frustration and went back to the beginning of the salad line and started over. This time he did not touch my salad. But now I know: your salad in a restaurant may contain allergens if you are not VERY specific in your instructions.

I told my husband that the crew probably had my picture posted in the kitchen with horns drawn on my head. I was only half-joking.

Here are some things I learned about the food on our cruise:

1. Do bring an allergy list and order your dinner a day ahead. The food is all prepped ahead of time so you cannot just say "no cheese" (for instance) at meal time and expect your meal to be modified. It's not like your neighborhood restaurant where meals are put together at the last minute. After all, they are serving hundreds of people at one time.
2. Even though there are supposedly several restaurants, they serve pretty much the same food and the same drinks. After being perplexed by what the dining room called "prime rib," we tried the steak house type restaurant, but even though we paid extra for it, the food was disappointing. The only good thing I can report about that restaurant is that the overly-weighted knives and forks were entertaining because they kept flipping onto the floor!
3. Even though room service is "free" and "24 hour," their menu is limited. You cannot modify dishes through room service. If eggs are scrambled, you can't get them poached or boiled. So there was nothing on the room service menu that I could eat. I did use room service to get hot water so that I could make herb tea from my own supply and decaf coffee using a French press. (Be advised that wait times can be as short as 15 minutes or as long as 50 minutes. And sometimes they don't answer the phone.)
4. There is no microwave or coffee maker in your cabin and you cannot bring one on board, so forget about cooking anything. There are restrictions on what food you can bring in anyway. (No liquids, no meat.. you can bring in packaged snacks and that's about it.)
5. The little stores on board don't have much in the way of snack food. There was candy but nothing I could eat. Bring your own snacks... and ground coffee and a French press.
6. Consider the location of the cafeteria when you choose your state room. We were at the opposite end of the ship from the cafeteria and two floors down, so running there for a snack or beverage was not worth the time and effort.
7. Remember that you aren't the only person with food problems. I met two women with allergies more serious than my own; that is, they were prone to anaphylaxis. One of them was sensitive to sulfites which are used in epi-pens as preservatives, so although she carried one for emergencies, she's not supposed to use it!

List of my food allergies

FoodAllergy.org