working to ease travelers' minds with the first completely gluten-free ocean cruise.
Partnering with luxury liner Oceania Cruises, Celiac Cruise will launch its gluten-free ocean cruise in 2028, sailing from May 31 to June 12. The trip, aboard the Oceania Vista, will sail across the British Isles to England, Ireland, and Scotland.
“On a lot of cruises, you have to pre-order your food the night before [if you’re gluten-free],” Maureen Basye, the founder of Celiac Cruise, said. “You have to make a big fuss and talk to the server and maître d.”
Basye added: "We want people to be able to go on vacation and not have to constantly be thinking or worrying [about their food]."
Basye’s husband and son suffer from the autoimmune disease that triggers symptoms like severe digestive issues, joint pain, and headaches after gluten exposure. She founded Celiac Cruise with Total Travel & Events CEO Connie Saunders in 2018 after seeing first-hand how difficult traveling was, even with cruises that did have gluten-free options available.
In 2020, Celiac Cruise partnered with Royal Caribbean for their first cruise, buying out a dining room on board for just over 500 guests. Since then, they’ve offered over 30 cruises through Royal Caribbean, AmaWaterways, and Oceania Cruises.
While their river cruises are already fully gluten-free, the other Celiac Cruises traditionally have one dedicated gluten-free dining room and various grab-and-go options around the ship for guests. But for the 2028 sailing, the Oceania Vista will boast 11 restaurants that are 100 percent gluten-free with no gluten-containing products on board.
“While 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,” Nathan Hickman, the SVP and chief sales officer for Oceania Cruises, said. “Their deep passion and expertise helped us design and to ultimately deliver what will be a first-of-its-kind, fully dedicated gluten-free voyage.”
Before each cruise, the Celiac Cruise team works with the Celiac Disease Foundation to run training sessions about celiac disease and gluten-free safety with the ship’s crew. There is a dedicated galley for gluten-free cooking on a separate floor from the main kitchen for any of the cruises that aren’t fully gluten-free.
It has become such a special experience, Saunders added “people have cried on these cruises because they’ve never seen a buffet where they can eat everything.”
Tags: Maureen Basye, Celiac Cruise Nathan Hickman, Oceania Cruises
