1st Gluten-Free Cruise on Crown Princess

[suefrankw]

Hi thought this may help others who have special diet concerns. Just off Crown Princess. A beautiful ship that we totally enjoyed. As a celiac (gluten free) gal, I was concerned about my 1st GF cruise but very happy with the cruise

I faxed princess 6 week ahead of time as to my need for a special diet. They promptly faxed me back stating that they purchased gluten-free pasta, bread, cookie, crackers. They stated I could bring on any foods I wanted as well. They also advised they had no gluten free beer on board and that if I wanted to bring any on, let them know & the beverage dept would approve it. I quickly emailed back to bring one case of gluten free beer, which they approved.

I carried my food & beer in a separate suitcase; I took this as a carry on so as to have no issues- flew thru the boarding with noone questioning. They took all items out of the cabin fridge so I could but beer, etc in.

There was also an acknowledgment letter in my cabin to verify they knew I had a special diet & to check in with head waiter in the dining room.

We did check with head waiter on 1st night. He sent out toasted GF bread and gave me the menu for the next night but never came back to see what I wanted and the table wit staff really do not know about such diets. The next night we hooked up with a different head waiter nad we were set for the rest of the cruise. They give you then next nights menu to place an order. So you can have anything you want & they have time to cook it GF. One must Be proactive and each service ask for the head waiter. The servers are not prepared to handle special diet orders.We had anytime dining and although they all said it would not matter what table we sat at, I think things would have been much smoother for the staff if we made reservations for the same table all week.

GF seems to always mean, bland. The food came out plain, no sauces, etc. But no worries, I had brought my own sauces & salad dressings to use. Just brought they with me to each meal.

Meals other than the dining room. They said they could guarantee GF other than dining room but I did well being very careful.

At AM & lunch buffets, they had a great salad bar & fruit station, separate from the other food ...that was great. I had my own dressing or could get oil & vinegar. The chicken at the hamburg/hot dog station was cooked on one side and only had canola oil on it. And the french fries were cooked in oil that nothing else was cooked in.

The popcorn at the Movies under the stars only had salt on it (no nasty yellow/orange stuff).

The evening buffet did not work out too well. It was smaller than the lunch selection and the food was not as separated. the lunch buffet is open till 5:30 though.

I did eat at the wonderful International Cafe- the famous chicken salad (which had a bit too much mao for my taste) and the greek salad was great on the grilled chicken from the pool grill. On request, they did show me the containers for the mao and greek salad dressing. They were happy to make me NO MAO chicken salad and I put my own mao in it.

I did not use room service at all. And brought my our bar snacks- nuts, etc.

I had no problems all week any really enjoyed the princess experience. And would go again without hesitation. We choose princess because my research revealed that Princess was most GF friendly- I could bring my own food & BEER, which no others would allow

FIVE smiles for Princess Gluten Free Cruising !!!!!!!:):):):):)

[Coolmama_1]

Thanks for sharing.

[jean s]

Thanks for this info. My Dad wanted to join us on a cruise on Crown and was hesitant because he must eat a gluten free diet. I'm going to share your post with him.

[SissyG]

I was diagnosed with Celiac disease several years ago and at first I was really concerned that they would not understand my problem.

 

I have had good experiences with only a few bad experiences mixed in. We always have anytime dining and I ask our waiter each night to ask the head waiter to bring a menu for the following night...if he gets busy and doesn't make it back before we want to leave, I ask the server to ask the head waiter to come back to take my order for the following night. The next night I tell the waiter that I have placed an order and give him our cabin number and he can then find the preordered menu. I have had not so good experiences in the buffet...I ordered gluten free toast with breakfast and saw that they were about to put the GF bread into the regular toaster...I stopped him and requested he put it in the salamander, then asked to speak to whomever was in charge of the buffet. When I told him this he was visibily upset that the staff would do this..apparently they are taught about GF diets and just wanted to get by the easy way. From then on I had no problem...I have had wonderful tiramisu created especially for me by the pastry chef and had no problem getting a gluten free meal in Sabatinis. We will be on a cruise later this week and look forward to wonderful GF meals again. I have found that they are very accommodating about making something special for me that is gluten free. One time when I told the our head waiter that the following night I would be at the steak house restaurant instead of the dining room he asked what time our reservation was and was at the steakhouse waiting for us and helped me place my order and then talked to the chef, I really appreciate the care that Princess takes for their passengers that need a gf diet. Sissy

[afiremedic323]

My FI mother is going to be on our next cruise with us and i will share your post with her thanks.