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I have just returned from a 13-day cruise of Scandanavia on the Norwegian
Cruise Lines ship The Norwegian Dream.   The cruise was great and the
entire staff, regardless of department, was wonderful.

Those in the food services area were especially great.   I went to see the
maitre de, Joao Goncalves,  just after we boarded the ship and told him
about my special diet.  I gave him some information that I had printed from
both this list server and from a couple of internet sites regarding celiac.
He took the info and said to check back with him later.  I did and he said
that he had made my waiter, Mark Menezes, aware of my diet and that Mark
would handle it for me.  While we were in Copenhagen, my husband met the
working chef, Denton Laing,  one evening when both were walking at the
port.  Mike mentioned my special diet and the chef said, "Oh, yes, we know
her.  She's the gluten free person at table 12 in the Sun Terraces dining
room".   With that comment, I knew that everyone was aware of my diet and
that I would have no problems.

Every night after dinner, Mark brought me the menus for lunch and dinner
for the next day.  He discussed the menu items with me and between us, we
decided what would best suit my needs for the next day.  When a meal
required special preparation for me, Mark made sure the chef knew ahead of
time and also when Mark served my food, he double checked that it was OK.
When changes were needed, he handled them.  The chef prepared a gluten free
gravy for me on a couple of occasions and modified one or a combination of
the menu items to fit what I needed.   The busboy for my table also made
sure I had what I needed.  He made special trips to get the balsamic
vinegar and oil for my salads at each meal.  The people could not have been
nicer to me and the meals were great.

I, also, took several of the shore excursions that the ship had available.
A couple of them included lunch.  Mary Wall in the Shore Excursions
department called ahead to the restaurants in Oslo and Helsinki where lunch
was being served and let them know that I needed a gluten free meal.  Both
restaurants did an outstanding job providing great food that I could eat.
Each restaurant had rice bread for me and the rice bread at one restaurant
was some of the best bread I've ever eaten.   Both restaurants modified the
regular meal to fit my needs.  The food was great and Mary and the people
in shore excursions department were wonderful.

If anyone were to ask me whether I'd recommend a cruise on Norwegian Cruise
Lines, the answer would be, "YES, go as soon as you can and stay as long as
you can".    Of course, I have no relationship with Norwegian Cruise Lines.
I'm just one happy customer.