Crossed Grain Article

About Us

Hello – we are the Garsides… Phil and Dawn and our daughters Paige (17) and Rebecca (14). Paige is the coeliac of the family – she was diagnosed at the age of 8. We have her to thank for our relatively healthy diet as we more or less stopped eating convenience food overnight while we worked out what ‘gluten-free’ actually meant!

  Olympia

  Venice

But what about the experience for a coeliac?

After exploring the ship facilities and unpacking, the moment of truth was approaching – dinner! We had opted for second sitting dinner which was at 9.30pm and we were escorted to our table assigned to us for the week. As we sat waiting for the waiter, I was preparing myself for the first real test of the week – having to find the maitre d’ to clarify our dietary requirements – but I need not have worried. Our waiter came to the table introduced himself and asked confirmation of which member of our party required a gluten-free diet. That was the first and last time that the subject came up during our evening dinners – from then on Paige was presented with the main menus with the gluten free options marked, plus a separate menu of gluten free ‘standard items’ that could be asked for any evening – these included, pastas, pizzas and cakes. Being an Italian ship there was always a pasta dish included in the main menu and if Paige chose this, it would be presented in the same way as ours with GF pasta.

Breakfasts offered a wide range of meats, cheeses, fruits and yoghurts from the buffet – or hot dishes could be ordered. The maitre d’ also arranged for a selection of GF bread rolls and biscuits to be available for us – though after the first day, Paige tended to stick to the lighter options without the need for additional bread.

At lunchtime and during the rest of the day, there was a good range of hot and cold dishes available from other informal restaurants around the ship and these were more than adequate for our needs, although you would need to check the ingredients of meals presented outside of the main restaurant. If we had wanted to take lunch in the ‘formal’ restaurant, then that was also a possibility and would have made selection of a GF option very straightforward. Unfortunately our stomachs were not quite up to that particular challenge…..!

There were obviously some ‘no-go’ areas for Paige – the afternoon pizza buffet, for example. But unless your aim is to eat non-stop during the whole holiday, you will definitely not go wanting.

Overall I would describe the food on a Costa ship as equivalent to a 4* hotel – nothing too fussy but very nicely presented and certainly no issues with regard to quantities. The service from the staff was excellent and we felt that we had been well looked after during our holiday. The single biggest plus point though was that our GF requirements were handled with the minimum of fuss and with no complications or problems. In addition, we had no language difficulties at all. Overall, I would have no hesitation in recommending Costa Cruises for anyone with a gluten-free diet and one of the great things about a cruise holiday is that you can visit many destinations where language may be an issue and be safe in the knowledge that you will be returning to a ‘safe haven’ at the end of the day.