Travelers with celiac disease and gluten intolerances often face challenges finding food they can enjoy \u2014 especially on cruises, where the on-ship buffets make up a bulk of the cruise price. But one company is changing that with the world\u2019s first-ever completely gluten-free ocean cruise: Celiac Cruise (1).<\/p>\n
In partnership with luxury liner Oceania Cruises (2), Celiac Cruise\u2019s Oceania Vista (3) will hit the open seas in 2028, sailing from May 31 to June 12. The ship will travel across the British Isles to England, Ireland and Scotland.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOn a lot of cruises, you have to pre-order your food the night before [if you\u2019re gluten-free],\u201d Maureen Basye, the founder of Celiac Cruise told Travel+Leisure (4). Her husband and son both struggle with the autoimmune disease that triggers symptoms like digestive issues, joint pain, and headaches from gluten exposure. \u201cYou have to make a big fuss and talk to the server and ma\u00eetre d.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want people to be able to go on vacation and not have to constantly be thinking or worrying [about their food],\u201d Basye added.<\/p>\n
An estimated one in 133 Americans (5), or about 1% of the population, has celiac disease. But research shows that the prevalence in the U.S. might actually be much higher. Up to 6% of Americans (6) also have non-celiac gluten sensitivity, meaning that gluten-containing products can cause unpleasant symptoms.<\/p>\n
Now, these Americans have cruise options that specifically cater to them.<\/p>\n
The beginnings of Celiac Cruise <\/p>\n
Basye founded Celiac Cruise with Total Travel & Events (7) CEO Connie Saunders in 2018 after seeing first-hand how difficult it was for her husband and son to travel, even aboard cruise ships that offered gluten-free options.<\/p>\n
In 2020, Celiac Cruise partnered with Royal Caribbean (8) for their first-ever cruise, buying out a dining room on board for just over 500 guests. Celiac Cruises has since offered over 30 cruises through Royal Caribbean, AmaWaterways (9) and Oceania Cruises.<\/p>\n
Saunders also told Travel+Leisure that \u201cpeople have cried on these cruises because they\u2019ve never seen a buffet where they can eat everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every sailing trip includes access to a private dining liaison or ma\u00eetre d\u2019, which means that many guests have the opportunity to meet the culinary team, as well. There are also onboard medical centers staffed by licensed professionals should ocean cruisers need any medical attention.<\/p>\n
Read More: Robert Kiyosaki has a grim warning for baby boomers. This is what he recommends to protect your wealth<\/a><\/p>\n More than food alternatives <\/p>\n Celiac Cruise\u2019s river cruises are already completely gluten-free. But the Oceania Vista launching in 2028 will be the first ocean cruise of its kind, offering 11 gluten-free-friendly restaurants and absolutely no gluten-containing products on board.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile Oceania Cruises has long offered gluten-free options across our fleet, working with the Celiac Cruise team deepened our understanding of the celiac community and the unmet need for a truly seamless travel experience,\u201d Nathan Hickman, the SVP and chief sales officer for Oceania Cruises, told Travel + Leisure. \u201cTheir deep passion and expertise helped us design and to ultimately deliver what will be a first-of-its-kind, fully dedicated gluten-free voyage.\u201d<\/p>\n The Celiac Cruise team also works alongside the Celiac Disease Foundation to run training sessions about celiac disease and gluten-free safety for the cruise ship\u2019s crew.<\/p>\n You May Also Like <\/p>\n Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise\u2019s best stories and exclusive interviews first \u2014 clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.<\/a><\/p>\n Article Sources <\/p>\n We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n Celiaccruise (1<\/a>); Travelandleisure (2<\/a>), (3<\/a>), (4<\/a>), (8<\/a>), (9<\/a>); Beyondceliac (5<\/a>); Pmc Ncbi Nlm Nih (6<\/a>); Totaltravelevents (7<\/a>)<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com<\/a> under the title: World’s first fully gluten-free ocean cruise sets sail in 2028 with 11 restaurants<\/a><\/p>\n This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Travelers with celiac disease and gluten intolerances often face challenges finding food they can enjoy \u2014 especially on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":719499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[236762,18444,138627,216064,19749,97,269,309779,210015,309778,309780],"class_list":["post-719498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-celiac-cruise","tag-celiac-disease","tag-cruise-ships","tag-gluten-sensitivity","tag-gluten-free","tag-health","tag-nutrition","tag-ocean-cruise","tag-oceania-cruises","tag-oceania-vista","tag-river-cruises"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=719498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}