Gluten Free on Princess

[hubble]

My husband has Celiac Disease and is highly allergic to Gluten. We've noted this with Princess in the cruise personalizer, and I am aware of how they handle special menus in the Main Dining Room. Anyone with Celiac's have any first hand experience on dining in the buffet for breakfast or lunch? How about the ice cream soft serve and international café? Was Princess accommodating to your needs? Would they prepare you fresh eggs/omelet in clean pan with fresh ingredients to avoid cross contamination? What about salad dressings, should we bring our own? My husband is not a bread person, and doesn't like pizza. He loves the buffet in the mornings so that is not something he wants if they can accommodate his needs. He loves eggs, breakfast meats, hash browns and fresh fruit all which normally are gluten free, we are just concerned about cross contamination of foods. I'm sure we could eat in the dining room for breakfast if we had to (although it is early timing for us). Our routine is to usually have a late breakfast, a light afternoon snack and early seating for dinner.

[jkrislc]

The International Cafe usually had one or two gluten free items available. As for the buffet, there was a gluten free station on the Caribbean Princess and I was also able to ask the chef what was/want gluten free. As for the egg/omlet station, I can't think of a single item they had that contained gluten .We were even able to order breakfast sandwiches through room service that were prepared with gluten free bread by writing it in as such.

 

You might only be able to get gluten free hash browns in the MDR as most cruise ship buffets utilize shared fryers and thus result in cross contamination.

[caribill]

For accurate answers as to what is gluten free in the buffet, seek out the buffet headwaiter as he will either know or will be able to get the accurate answers.

[flamomo]

For passengers with significant dietary restrictions, when they have notified Princess of them, the headwaiter, or someone he has designated, comes to the person's table at dinnertime each night and brings the next night's dinner menu for them to peruse and pre-order their dinner. He also can make suggestions for which items are likely to be able to prepared in compliance with the person's restrictions.

 

My cruise friend is diabetic and prefers to eat low fat foods as well, and she was accommodated as described above.

[2BCruising]

I am gluten intolerant and I was on the Caribbean Princess in January and was able eat from the buffet. When I arrived on the ship, I went up to the buffet for lunch and met the head cook who was in charge. He was kind enough to tell what items are gluten-free and what items to stay away from. There's a separate station with gluten-free items. At Slices, they can make a 10" gluten-free pizza. You just have to let the know ahead of time as it takes them time to prepare it (45-50 mins).

 

 

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[hubble]

The International Cafe usually had one or two gluten free items available. As for the buffet, there was a gluten free station on the Caribbean Princess and I was also able to ask the chef what was/want gluten free. As for the egg/omlet station, I can't think of a single item they had that contained gluten .We were even able to order breakfast sandwiches through room service that were prepared with gluten free bread by writing it in as such.

 

You might only be able to get gluten free hash browns in the MDR as most cruise ship buffets utilize shared fryers and thus result in cross contamination.

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply. We are also sailing on the Caribbean Princess, so I appreciate your first hand experience.

[Colo Cruiser]

I agree I have never seen so many GF SF options as I am currently on the CB.

 

 

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[allusion]

Hi,

Firsthand experience on the Island Princess November 2017, w/ Celiac and other food allergies.

 

As noted by others, there are designated gluten free items in the buffet, specifically noted in dessert area. Also if notify staff in buffet, chef will go around with you to identify that which is GF/safe. If traditional dining, Head waiter will come to dinner table every night with lunch (if MD serving) and dinner menus for main dining room, to determine choices and what options can be made.

 

Our head waiter, Nelson, was absolutely fabulous with this and accommodating in every way he could be! Also went out of way to make accommodation for Love chocolate desserts, so could possibly have at least part of it. Love coconut, and though could not have the Love dessert as normal, was able to get a dish of just the coconut mousse that was used in the Love dessert, which was fabulous. Had nearly every night there after by special request! Highly recommend if you can get. Non GFers at table loved the mousse too!

 

Was very impressed with effort involved by wait staff to make sure needs were met without much difficulty/feeling deprived.

 

Do recommend traditional dining as much easier to meet need, and waiters already know of issue, so no need to explain at every meal.

 

 

Have DH as well and not one blister on 16 night full canal transit.

 

Enjoy!

[Wulfwyn]

Also for me, I get tired of the gluten free bread for dinner. Since I am dine in the traditional dining room, I opt for chips and salsa each night.

 

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[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Tagging on rather than starting a new topic...

 

Are you totally dependent on the server telling you what can be done GF when you pre-order or are there actually things marked as GF on the menus? I don't see any notation about GF on the pictures of menus I've seen - not sure if that is just those menus that have nothing (kind of scary not to have at least one dish that is automatically GF IMHO). I like knowing what can be done without modification (as you can on other cruise lines) before having to resort to "Sally-style ordering" (as in "When Harry Met Sally).

[Valiamo]

1 hour ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Tagging on rather than starting a new topic...

 

Are you totally dependent on the server telling you what can be done GF when you pre-order or are there actually things marked as GF on the menus? I don't see any notation about GF on the pictures of menus I've seen - not sure if that is just those menus that have nothing (kind of scary not to have at least one dish that is automatically GF IMHO). I like knowing what can be done without modification (as you can on other cruise lines) before having to resort to "Sally-style ordering" (as in "When Harry Met Sally).

 

Princess is quite accommodating when you have a GF requirement, and will always get you something good that you can eat.    No they do not post what is GF on the menu's but will make most anything on the menu in a GF version.   The deserts are a tad lacking, but the main courses were well done.  The waiters have always brought GF bread for dinner.

 

Your best bet is to talk to your waiter (who will get the section head waiter) in the Main Dining room.  They will get you the next evening's menu, and you get to choose your dinner (appetiser, main and dessert).   They have a clean section in the kitchen that they will create your dinner and my DW has had no problems with cross-contamination.

 

There is a small GF section in the Horizon court, and always 1 or 2 GF options in the International Cafe.   GF bread can be ordered from the buffet waiters, and they make it in a separate toaster.

Edited December 23, 2018 by Valiamo

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Just now, Valiamo said:

 

Princess is quite accommodating when you have a GF requirement, and will always get you something good that you can eat.    No they do not post what is GF on the menu's but will make most anything on the menu in a GF version.   The deserts are a tad lacking, but the main courses were well done.  The waiters have always brought GF bread for dinner.

 

Your best bet is to talk to your waiter (who will get the section head waiter) in the Main Dining room.  The will get you the next evening's menu, and you get to choose your dinner (appetiser, main and dessert).   They have a clean section in the kitchen that they will create your dinner and my DW has had no problems with cross-contamination.

 

There is a small GF section in the Horizon court, and always 1 or 2 GF options in the International Cafe.   GF bread can be ordered from the buffet waiters, and they make it in a separate toaster.

 

Thank you!

 

Do you know if you do Anytime but make a reservation for the same time each night if they will let you have the same table and servers? I prefer having the same servers, but am NOT a fan of the communal tables since I cruise solo and either elicits "Oh poor thing" type responses or ends up being a dump of all the solo travelers. Plus I like to make my reservations for sort of in between the seating times.

[Valiamo]

7 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

Thank you!

 

Do you know if you do Anytime but make a reservation for the same time each night if they will let you have the same table and servers? I prefer having the same servers, but am NOT a fan of the communal tables since I cruise solo and either elicits "Oh poor thing" type responses or ends up being a dump of all the solo travelers. Plus I like to make my reservations for sort of in between the seating times.

 

Alas, we have never done Anytime dining, so I cannot comment.   But if you have a reservation for each night they will most certainly take care of you, and your dining needs.   I know that the HW always writes down our information and they have never been wrong with the next nights' meal.    We have even done unplanned speciality dining, and they were very accommodating.    Enjoy your cruise!  

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

1 minute ago, Valiamo said:

 

Alas, we have never done Anytime dining, so I cannot comment.   But if you have a reservation for each night they will most certainly take care of you, and your dining needs.   I know that the HW always writes down our information and they have never been wrong with the next nights' meal.    We have even done unplanned speciality dining, and they were very accommodating.    Enjoy your cruise!  

 

Thank you for your help!

[Colo Cruiser]

I would go and talk with the Maitre d on embarkation day at the time/place listed in the Patter.

It's usually in one of the DR's between 2p and 3:30p.

He has the power to give you a set table/time/wait staff to address any dietary needs.

[Celeste_SM]

On 12/23/2018 at 1:48 PM, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

Thank you!

 

Do you know if you do Anytime but make a reservation for the same time each night if they will let you have the same table and servers? I prefer having the same servers, but am NOT a fan of the communal tables since I cruise solo and either elicits "Oh poor thing" type responses or ends up being a dump of all the solo travelers. Plus I like to make my reservations for sort of in between the seating times.

Yes, they will. My mom has celiac and has cruised on Princess several times including with (lucky) me!  On our cruise, although we were "anytime", my mom spoke to the headwaiter and we had a reserved time and table for our group. On our next cruise we plan to book that way upfront, but we are a group of 5, so we fill a table regardless.

 

Here's the bad news. This happened after my mom was accidentally served gluten-containing soup on our first or second night. Both my husband and mom ordered the french onion soup. My mom noted gluten free. There was a trainee waiter working with our waiter. She served my mom's soup first. My mom took a bite and immediately thought something was off. The regular waiter noticed the error when he brought my mom's soup (and saw she had soup in front of her) nearly immediately. They apologized a bunch, but the damage was done. But they moved our table, our waiter, everything the next night and we had top-notch service with extreme attentiveness to my mom's celiac thereafter. Each night they would bring the following night's menu to our table after dessert and the waiter would talk through the gluten free options with my mom. She would pre-order her gluten free choices and have plenty of time to talk through the options. She could always change her order the next night, if she wished (but she never did).

 

At the IC, the headwaiter will walk you through the options at each mealtime and point out what is and is not gluten free. My mom has a corn allergy as well, and so they were also attentive on that. I'll say they were much more on top of it as compared to Vegas waiters. They understood that high fructose corn syrup = corn, for example. 

 

My mom loves cruising with Princess because she feels they are very attentive to her needs as a person with celiac.