Someone asked recently why I wrote “Cruising with Special Diets”. It really came down to having what I think is an interesting story to tell, that could potentially benefit a lot of people.

My wife and I are both a nightmare when it comes to food… I was vegetarian for years and then about 10 years ago developed very bad gluten and dairy intolerances (and so reluctantly added some seafood). She gets bad migraines from wheat, dairy, soy and nuts. Travel was needless to say a royal pain.

We never thought of doing a cruise but a few years ago there was a course she wanted to do on a ship (she’s a doctor). Turned out way better than we thought food-wise, and now pretty much all our larger holidays are cruises.

Talking to many people over the last few years we found out that we really lucked out — most people don’t know that cruise lines can deal with food allergies etc. at all (including tons of people we met on cruises who had relatives with food allergies!).

Many others who tried a cruise ended up having horrible experiences. The info the cruise lines provide (especially “just let us know in advance and it’ll all be taken care of”) isn’t nearly enough to make things work, unless you really luck out with all the staff onboard. We regularly have food problems onboard, but now know exactly how to deal with them.

Given how hard it is for people to travel with special diets, that cruises can actually handle it, and that the info to do it safely is almost impossible to find, bringing it all together in one place just seemed like the right thing to do.