How's the gluten free dining?

[Peckishpixie]

My daughter in love has celiac and she is very worried about the cruise. Princess has reassured her and I have reassured her that the dining venues know about her illness abs will take good care of her. She is still anxious. Has anyone who is gluten free traveled on Princess and can you tell us how it went? I'm sure she would love some recommendations for favorite gluten free foods onboard too!! 

[neverbeenhere]

We have traveled with friends that have celiac disease and they have always been fine with Princess. They bring their testing monitor to help themselves feel more comfortable. 

[Mom_of_Al]

Not me personally, but I once had a table mate who had celiac disease, and they were very accommodating. 

 

[CATGUY7]

I just noticed in the Celebration Package that they offer three gluten free cake options.   They seem to be offering more options for those dealing with Celiac.

[phonejock]

About 18 months ago, we shared a table in club class with some great ladies from Australia. One of them needed a gluten free diet.  The head waiter and staff treated her like gold.  They gave her the next days menu and she put her order in .  You should be fine . All the best Happy New Year. 
 

[Peckishpixie]

1 minute ago, phonejock said:

About 18 months ago, we shared a table in club class with some great ladies from Australia. One of them needed a gluten free diet.  The head waiter and staff treated her like gold.  They gave her the next days menu and she put her order in .  You should be fine . All the best Happy New Year. 
 

We have been assuring daughter in love that this will happen. I think she is worried that there just wont be much to eat. Did your table mate have a lot of variety available to her every day?

[Peckishpixie]

2 hours ago, CATGUY7 said:

I just noticed in the Celebration Package that they offer three gluten free cake options.   They seem to be offering more options for those dealing with Celiac.

Thank you for pointing that out! She will be happy to hear it

[phonejock]

I believe so 

 

[SJSchell]

They are certainly getting better and have options. Clear communication and planing ahead helps a lot. 

 

I have noticed the variety of options can sometimes depend on your headwaiter. Some have gone out of their way to say "leave it to me" and I'm surprised with an amazing meal each night. On one occasion I had to come up with suggestions and even suggestions of what has worked on previous cruises were shot down and I had gluten free spaghetti and grilled veggies 3 or was it 4 out of 7 nights. 

 

For specialty dinning be sure to go to the restaurant the night before and talk directly with the head waiter of the specialty restaurant (not the hostess at the door) for arrangements to be made.

 

One tip that saved me from 7 nights of spaghetti, that I learned here on CC, is that there is always an Indian dish prepared for the crew. With so many of the head chefs being from India that dish is very good. Asking for and ordering that dish is always an option.

 

Only once out of several cruises did I have a less than spectacular experience. Every other time has been wonderful with plenty of variety. Even in the buffet they have a separate toaster and will freshly make any of the waffles/pancake on request to be GF and bring it to you.

[Colo Cruiser]

Make sure you note the dietary requirements in the booking/personalizer.

You will get a response from the dietary department at Princess.

They do a vey good job onboard handling this. The Head Waiters in the restaurants are trained for these situations.

[satxdiver]

Alert the MDR staff the first night that you or your travel companion has celiac.   They will bring out menus for the following day and discuss what you can have resulting in your order for the next day.  We had a table mate once years ago (early 2000's) who had to have the gluten free diet so every time I see the head waiter bring out a special menu to pax in the MDR, I know they are discussing what the pax can eat tomorrow night.   They will work with anyone with special nutrition needs. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

 I’m not gluten-free but I am dairy free due to severe allergies. They take wonderful care of me. Tell your daughter in love not to be worried. Just make sure she tells everyone she is gluten-free. Also make sure she  fills out the Personalizer and lists that she is gluten-free and then once on board talk to the maître d’.   She will receive an email from princess dietary confirming that she is gluten-free. Here are some of the dairy free items that they make for me. What ship will you be on? 

[geoherb]

I noticed the International Café on the Caribbean Princess last month had a lot more gluten free options than I've noticed in the past. We had a tablemate with celiac on one cruise. Her husband ordered the fettuccini Alfredo every night. 

[SeaLibrarian]

Just sailed on the Sky Princess in November. I'm not gluten free but I was traveling with my cousin who is. We ate in the main dining room and the staff was very accommodating to my cousin's dietary needs. Each evening at dinner the head waiter would bring my cousin a menu for the next evening. They would go over the menu together, exploring what would be OK for my cousin to order. If he requested a special order not on the menu, it was not a problem. The head waiter would then write up his order and it was always there and correct the following evening. One evening when we didn't go to the main dining room, the head waiter still met with my cousin before the regular seating time to secure his gluten free choices for the next night. I felt like staff was very good about addressing my cousin's needs. 

[Colo Cruiser]

18 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

 I’m not gluten-free but I am dairy free due to severe allergies. They take wonderful care of me. Tell your daughter in love not to be worried. Just make sure she tells everyone she is gluten-free. Also make sure she  fills out the Personalizer and lists that she is gluten-free and then once on board talk to the maître d’.   She will receive an email from princess dietary confirming that she is gluten-free. Here are some of the dairy free items that they make for me. What ship will you be on? 

Yes a dairy free steak!

Thats what I eat.  😁

[Lisakauai]

On 1/2/2020 at 5:27 PM, Peckishpixie said:

My daughter in love has celiac and she is very worried about the cruise. Princess has reassured her and I have reassured her that the dining venues know about her illness abs will take good care of her. She is still anxious. Has anyone who is gluten free traveled on Princess and can you tell us how it went? I'm sure she would love some recommendations for favorite gluten free foods onboard too!! 

I have Lupus and am on a Gluten-free, Nightshade free diet (I can only eat cardboard...). My cruises on Princess have been amazing. They have a delicious GF pasta and made special sauces without  tomato. The Maitre'd gave me the menu for the next day so we could decide together which items could be made GF. They are very careful and take it very  seriously. 

[moodyb1]

I am also GF (not because of celiac. My doctor recommended the diet to get rid of migraines and it worked!). Princess has delicious GF muffins for breakfast in the buffet. They also have GF cereal which is OK. I do not care for their bread. They also offer two varieties of GF desserts for lunch/dinner in the buffet. They are indeed very accommodating for dinner. I pack Schar brand GF breadsticks in my suitcase and take them to dinner to eat with my salad. By the way, if you can find Schar products, all their GF products are delicious. I can't find many of their products in LA, but when I was in Barcelona, one of the supermarkets their had an aisle full of their products. I found a lot of Schar products on Amazon and ordered a bunch of stuff for home and future cruises.

Happy Cruising!

Arlene

[MsSoCalCruiser]

On 1/3/2020 at 8:01 PM, Colo Cruiser said:

Yes a dairy free steak!

Thats what I eat.  😁

Colo Cruiser,  I always have to make sure that they don’t put butter on top of the steak. You wouldn’t believe how many places do that. I love steak!  😊

[ozscotart]

We are going on the Diamond Princess in a couple of months, I am both gluten and lactose intolerant and can get very ill if I get a dose of gluten or lactose by mistake, we are used to going on Norwegian where you get one or two special diets waiters assigned to you who understand the situation and will organise your meals in any restaurant on the ship, one day ahead. This system has worked very well over our last four cruises, I understand that Princess operates a different system where you deal with the maitre d’? How does this work? Is this the same person for all meals or is it a different person, do you have to ask your waiter each time to get the maitre d’? I find that the average waiter has little understanding of dietary issues, and that this can be quite dangerous, so I would like to understand the process in detail. I have notified Princess of my dietary needs, and will bring backup snacks for excursions, do I need to bring bread? 

[Steelers36]

5 hours ago, ozscotart said:

We are going on the Diamond Princess in a couple of months, I am both gluten and lactose intolerant and can get very ill if I get a dose of gluten or lactose by mistake, we are used to going on Norwegian where you get one or two special diets waiters assigned to you who understand the situation and will organise your meals in any restaurant on the ship, one day ahead. This system has worked very well over our last four cruises, I understand that Princess operates a different system where you deal with the maitre d’? How does this work? Is this the same person for all meals or is it a different person, do you have to ask your waiter each time to get the maitre d’? I find that the average waiter has little understanding of dietary issues, and that this can be quite dangerous, so I would like to understand the process in detail. I have notified Princess of my dietary needs, and will bring backup snacks for excursions, do I need to bring bread? 

It's not really the MD.  It will be the HW for your dining room section.  As others have posted, you will be well taken care of.  I have seen this in action for others.  Seeing the same HW each day will make it more personal as well.  I would think the experience will be better if select traditional dining rather than anytime as you could be seated in different areas each night.

Edited January 6, 2020 by steelers36

[ozscotart]

37 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

It's not really the MD.  It will be the HW for your dining room section.  As others have posted, you will be well taken care of.  I have seen this in action for others.  Seeing the same HW each day will make it more personal as well.  I would think the experience will be better if select traditional dining rather than anytime as you could be seated in different areas each night.

Thanks for getting back to me, what’s your experience with ordering gf and dairy free food ? Is there bread (and is it edible?)  or should I bring my own? Is it the same person for each meal? On the Diamond Princess there is no anytime dining, at least on our cruise, but I am not sure whether it would be the same person for each meal, including lunch? 

[Steelers36]

8 minutes ago, ozscotart said:

Thanks for getting back to me, what’s your experience with ordering gf and dairy free food ? Is there bread (and is it edible?)  or should I bring my own? Is it the same person for each meal? On the Diamond Princess there is no anytime dining, at least on our cruise, but I am not sure whether it would be the same person for each meal, including lunch? 

I am not personally doing special menu choices for any reason.  My wife has tired the gluten-free bread in buffet before and found it to be good.  We often cruise with our best friends and he is pescetarian and also has an almond allergy.  At first, he was dealing with the HW and had menu previews and sometimes offers of alternate dishes.  Nowadays he just orders his own menu items as there are plenty of choices that meet his needs.

 

Lunch in the DR is open seating, but if you tend to arrive around the same time and have spoken with a HW, you might find being seated in the same area or table.  Your dinner HW may or may not be working in the lunch DR on any particular day, but they are all experienced in this area AFAIK.

[ozscotart]

1 hour ago, steelers36 said:

I am not personally doing special menu choices for any reason.  My wife has tired the gluten-free bread in buffet before and found it to be good.  We often cruise with our best friends and he is pescetarian and also has an almond allergy.  At first, he was dealing with the HW and had menu previews and sometimes offers of alternate dishes.  Nowadays he just orders his own menu items as there are plenty of choices that meet his needs.

 

Lunch in the DR is open seating, but if you tend to arrive around the same time and have spoken with a HW, you might find being seated in the same area or table.  Your dinner HW may or may not be working in the lunch DR on any particular day, but they are all experienced in this area AFAIK.

My experience is it’s dangerous if the waiter is not knowledgeable about special diets, I would like to hear from people who have direct experience of special diets with serious dietary conditions. On a our last cruise I had a near miss,  nearly poisoned by an entire pasta dish, what saved me was the pasta that came, and which the waiter assured me was gluten free, was a type I had never seen in gluten free pasta, eventually I asked to see the packet, which of course never came. I would have been in real trouble if it had been penne. 

[Steelers36]

4 minutes ago, ozscotart said:

My experience is it’s dangerous if the waiter is not knowledgeable about special diets, I would like to hear from people who have direct experience of special diets with serious dietary conditions. On a our last cruise I had a near miss,  nearly poisoned by an entire pasta dish, what saved me was the pasta that came, and which the waiter assured me was gluten free, was a type I had never seen in gluten free pasta, eventually I asked to see the packet, which of course never came. I would have been in real trouble if it had been penne. 

That is why you should speak with your HW, but as has been advised on this thread, also record your dietary needs in your profile so the ship will be alerted prior to your arrival.

 

[vkmtlqc]

On Island Princess right now. MDR does a good job with GF dining - most dishes can be modified, some are already GF. Only one GF desert available if not counting icecream.

 

The buffet is a problem. GF dishes are labeled but labeling is inconsistent. Front line employees do not know which dishes are GF and have to go ask the cooks (which takes time). GF and non-GF dishes are side-by-side so the risk of cross-contamination is very high. 

 

Day-long shore excursions that include lunch are a major problem. Food prep is handled by the tour operators and nobody seems to know what gluten is or they just don't speak English and cannot tell you what the ingredients are. We are not supposed to take any food off the ship with us but there's just no other choice. 

 

Overall, Princess does a better job than most other cruise lines but there's still a lot of room for improvement. My recommendation would be to eat exclusively at the MDR and to avoid longer excursions.