Meraviglia at Ocean Cay
Food on MSC Meraviglia is definitely far better for people who are not on any sort of special diet. They have plenty of food available, and the food is good – it’s just a bit tough if you need any alterations. Most cruise ships will take pre-orders in the dining room for people with special diets and then make that food for them the next day altering it as needed such as using gluten-free flours or non-dairy products.
pork dinner
Options for special diets were far more limited on the Meraviglia. They didn’t take any pre-orders or make any gluten-free items in-house. Their solution was to bring out a menu with only the items that already don’t contain gluten, dairy, or whatever it is a person needs to avoid marked as possible options. From those limited choices they then removed any offending items like sauces or gravy that contained anything not on that person’s diet. Some of our meals came entirely with no sauces or toppings at all, but others at least had a sauce on the meat that appeared corn-starch based. I don’t know if that was the standard sauce for those meals or not. The food we had generally tasted good even with the lack of choices and sauces.
gluten free cake
They did have delicious-looking gluten-free cake as a dessert option, but it was covered in whipped cream and came thawed from a freezer so it was not something they could leave off and therefore not an option if dairy is also an issue. For me whipped cream and milk that isn’t lactose free are the biggest offenders, causing nearly instant gastric distress whereas I can handle small amounts of butter, cheese, or even sour cream if I don’t eat it every day. I’m also OK with small amounts of gluten, though too much will upset my stomach. Dairy doesn’t bother John, but he also has problems with too much gluten, though it is more inflammatory issues rather than stomach upset for him.
gluten and dairy free tapioca dessert with fruit sauce
The only gluten and dairy free option they had for dessert was a tapioca thing that was OK when they put a fruit sauce on it, but not something anyone would want for dessert every night and pretty tasteless when served plain. Sorbet should have been an option, but our waiter said the sorbet on the dining room menu had dairy listed as an ingredient, which means it wasn’t actually real sorbet. The dining room did not offer up any of the actual sorbet from the gelato shop as an alternative even for people whom they had no decent desserts available for. Going to the shop and paying for it was the only way to get that.
Meriviglia’s take on pecan pie – a normal on-menu dessert
Cruise ship waiters and other food service personnel have no understanding of limited tolerance to gluten or lactose. To them it is all or nothing. Either you’re like a celiac or else you don’t have a gluten problem, and issues with lactose comes across as totally dairy free. Which meant every night without fail the starch accompanying my dinner was a baked potato with nothing on it, and nothing available to put on it unless it was one of the days where the meat had some sauce and there was actually enough to scrape off a spoonful or two. The good thing about it was that my vegetables did not come drowning in butter the way they are often served on cruise ships.
turkey dinner
Besides not making any gluten free pancakes or anything, it was also impossible even to get a simple piece of gluten free toast at breakfast in the dining room. As usual the waiters did not understand that there is a difference between celiac, allergy, and tolerance. We’re just limited tolerance where toasting it in the same toaster as other bread isn’t an issue, unlike a celiac whose food can’t touch anything that touched something with gluten in it. Gluten free toast has not been a problem on other cruise ships, but then again most of them will also make some gluten free items like pancakes and desserts in house where this one did not. Neither did Wonder of the Seas which we went on just prior to Meraviglia so I hope it was just a quirk of these two ships and not a new cost-cutting trend with all of them.
buffet breakfast
There was no gluten-free section in the buffet either, but we really didn’t expect one having only previously seen an entire gluten-free section on a couple of Royal Caribbean’s ships. Most ships will have gluten-free items available somewhere in the buffet, and this one sort of did that. The pancake and waffle station had frozen gluten free rolls or croissants they’d warm up on request. They did not have a microwave anywhere at the buffet to warm them though so by the time they went to the dining room and back it took at least 10 minutes to get them. There were always plenty of items that were not the sort of thing that has gluten or dairy anyway so they were suitable for people with tolerance issues rather than severe allergies or celiac disease. The pizza station in the buffet said the only way to get gluten free pizza is through room service. They would not make any there.
buffet lunch
They did not make anything gluten free at all on this ship. Any gluten free breads they had were pre-made, frozen, and individually packaged so they could heat it and hand it to you without ever removing it from the bag. Which would insure it didn’t touch anything else – a good precaution for celiacs, which as previously mentioned they assumed everyone asking for gluten-free products was.
chicken and salad at the buffet
For most people the buffet had lots of choices. The station that made pancakes and waffles also had a selection of sweet rolls and pastries, There was another bread station with muffins, bagels, toast, and that sort of thing. And lots of stations offering eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and other breakfast fare. They had a make-it-while-you-wait omlet station, one with fruit, and oatmeal, grits, or cold cereal. They also had rice and congee and a few other breakfast items unfamiliar to most Americans that some of the guests from other countries prefer.
the buffet had a great salad bar
At lunch and dinner the buffet had quite a variety of things to choose from. I always like the many options available on cruise ship salad bars, and this one did not disappoint. There were also plenty of the sort of things that naturally don’t contain gluten or dairy so by avoiding those that do it was easy to find a decent meal there. Dessert not so much.
tostada
Other than the dining room, buffet, and hamburgers/hot dogs/pizza & ice cream by the pool all of the eateries on this ship cost extra and required reservations. We tried the taco place one night when the dinner menu had nothing to offer us but the same rotisserie chicken we’d already had twice. It was good chicken, but it is nice to have something different sometimes. Food at the taco place was either a la carte or $17 for all you can eat. The individual items were mostly low priced, but also quite tiny. The food was quite good, but the service very slow in spite of the fact that there were only two other tables with customers – and they never refilled our water.
sorry, there’s no reservations available
All specialty restaurants required reservations, including the taco place. There could be nobody in there at all, yet they wouldn’t let you in without a reservation – and if you tried to make one on the app while standing there looking into a completely empty restaurant it would say none were available. We probably would have gone there again if we had been able to get in a second time. They could have made a lot more money in that place if they got rid of the reservations and just let people come in and eat as long as there were tables open. The same table that would only get a couple seatings per night with the reservation system would probably turn over at least 5 or 6 times in an evening rather than sitting there empty most of the time. Even more if they sped up their service.
sorbet at the gelato shop
The gelato place next door to the taco place on the other hand was not only generous with their servings, but also one you could just walk up to and order. It was a bit pricey and their topping offerings did not include any ice cream sauces, but they did have several flavors of sorbet to choose from as well as the gelato. The sorbet there was real sorbet without any dairy in it. It was also delicious.
chocolate snail at the chocolate shop
Across the way from the tacos and gelato, the chocolate shop on the promenade had homemade chocolates and fancy coffees (also tea or hot chocolate). Of course none of it came cheap. They did offer some non-dairy milk options and their hot chocolate was quite good.
teppanyaki place
We did not try the steak house, teppanyaki, sushi, or seafood place. Prices for those ranged from $30-$90 per person. Better rates were available in specialty dining packages of 3-5 meals, but they only sold a limited quantity of those packages and reservations on the package had to be made in person for each place rather than on the app as could be done when booking individual restaurants. Booking anything in-person meant waiting in a long very slow line for the one person who handled reservations for everything that didn’t work on the app, which was a lot of things hence the long slow line. We probably would have booked the 3-meal package if we could have made the individual reservations for each place on the app, but it wasn’t worth waiting in that line so we skipped it. (Calling for reservations was not an option either since nobody ever answered those calls.)
pork skewer appetizer
For a person without any special dietary needs, the dining room had great food and lots of choices. We probably would have been better off not to have mentioned having any issues and just ordering carefully since our problems are just limited tolerance to things rather than anything that causes severe reactions.