Most of the cruise was very good with excellent excursions and good service from the cruise director with regards to these excursions. On board service was not so good though, I have been a coeliac for many years and Emerald were informed of my need for a gluten free diet when the cruise was booked, I was told on arrival that this would be catered for and was well understood. Each day I was given a menu marked with the items I could and couldn't eat, but one night I was given spaghetti with my meal and when asked was told no I couldn't eat it as it contained gluten, the same night wafers were put in my dessert, again not gluten free. The restaurant manager said he would give extra training to the waiter but the next day he gave me a menu with items containing gluten not marked, this time he blamed the chef. On the 4th day at breakfast the already opened packet of cereal I had been using was finished, I mistakenly assumed there would be another packet I could start the next day but apparently not, less than half a packet was all I was supposed to eat in 7 days and when I complained I was told by the cruise director that I should have said when booking if I wanted to eat cereal every morning. The restaurant manager did say he would send somebody ashore to buy more but when I asked the next morning the waiter said he had not asked anybody and it would have been easy to get as we were docked overnight in Budapest with shops nearby.On the last night in the restaurant baked alaska was served I was told I would have a gluten free serving but when it arrived it had had the meringue removed but still had the sponge on it, I asked the waiter if this was right and he took it back to the kitchen where they just added more and said it was fine to eat I didn't think this was right so he again went to the kitchen where they removed the sponge and returned with ice cream with some sponge still attached I decided not to eat it.

At teatimes I was given a gluten free roll with salad in it but never given anything else, great fun watching everybody else having a large variety of sandwiches and cakes to choose from.

I also informed Emerald when booking that I needed a sharps box and requested one for my cabin but they said they didn't supply them and I would have to bring my own, I did phone a second time to confirm this and was told although lots of people had complained they did not supply them so I purchased one and took it with me. The first morning on board I was talking to our cabin stewardess and during this conversation she asked why I hadn't asked her for a sharps box as they had them on board. Read more