question about Princess' gluten free menus

[kwcrnp]

My DS is in the middle of a work-up for Celiac. I looked on line and saw that Princess offers a gluten free meal option.

 

Has anyone used this and is the menu varied with several choices daily? We are not switching to the GF diet until the doctor says to, so it maybe after our cruise.

[paul929207]

We had breakfast one morning on the Tahitian last summer with a woman on a gluten free diet. She said each evening at dinner they brought her menus for all three meals the next day and she placed her orders. She said she ate all her meals in the dinin room since it was simpler.

[travelcoupletoo]

This will be my first time sailing since becoming a Celiac. So I did find this board that has some info. You do need to fax a letter stating he needs a gluten free diet. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=18506852&highlight=gluten+free+menus#post18506852

[BigGuy25]

We had the same experience as paul092097 last summer on the Caribbean Princess. They were absolutely GREAT with the person in our party who was on the gluten free diet. And, she had plenty of choices. They even brought her toasted gluten free bread for each evening meal.

[Mrs. Mac]

My MIL has requested a gluten free diet for our upcoming Sapphire cruise, below is the e-mail we received regarding her request. There is quite a variety of items available. I thought you might be interested.

 

 

 

 

RE: Special Dietary Request – Gluten Free Meals

Booking No:

Date: – Voyage No: - Sapphire Princess

 

 

Dear Ms. :

 

Thank you for choosing Princess Cruises. We have received correspondence advising us of your dietary restrictions. I have noted your record and ordered gluten-free products for you. The gluten free products we are able to, and have ordered for you consist of; gluten- free bread, cereal, sweet cookies, crackers, flour, macaroni, and spaghetti. You may bring onboard any store bought items. However, all items brought onboard must be sealed and originally packaged. We do not allow any homemade food products brought onboard. We can make also gluten-free desserts onboard, as well as gluten-free pizza crust.

 

Please be advised that we can accommodate your dietary restrictions in the main dining room and the alternative restaurants (Sabatini’s, Steakhouse, etc). We are unable to prevent cross contamination with products containing gluten at the buffet so we strongly suggest that you dine only in the main dining, personal choice dining rooms, or alternative restaurants. This way we can better monitor your meals.

 

It will be at your discretion to order the meals allowable to your diet. It is important that you contact the Maitre d’ Hotel, upon boarding. You will need to advise him of your dietary needs and of any special meal preparations, you may have.

 

Again, thank you for choosing Princess Cruises and we look forward to welcoming you onboard.

[kwcrnp]

Thanks for the replies - it eases my mind!

 

Mrs Mac - thank you for posting the letter -> very helpful. I had visions of no pasta or pizza for my little guy!

 

Travelcoupletoo - thanks for the link and please post your experience when you get back. If we need to go this route (should know next week), I'll post as well.

[csmommy]

We just came back from the Emerald and my youngest daughter has celiac disease. I'd have to say food was basically the only major issue we did not have while onboard. The dining made up for what was just a horrific experience though.

 

You do need to fax a letter to the corporate office. As well our travel planner sent an email to the head medical officer. When you check in speak with the maitre D and the head waiter that will be serving you. The first dinner, do not expect to be able to get a gluten free meal, so just go with salad no dress and grilled chicken and be prepared for a very very long wait. After that though, it does get a lot better.

 

At dinner each night the menu was shown to us for lunch and dinner the next day. You could basically order anything from the menu (they would alter it to be gluten free) or they were open from time to time to special requests.

 

The buffet though, I would warn you to avoid. People cross the tongs and the meat cutting boards offer are not cleaned between having gluten on them. The chef up there do not understand what gluten free means and would often try to give my daughter salads with dressing or mayo - not understanding that they contained gluten.

 

Additionally, be advised that unless you order boiled or poached eggs for breakfast every day, all you can eat is fruit. If you have early shore excursions, the dining room may not be open and often my daughter would start the day with just a fruit salad.

 

Additionally, be wary of eating with other passengers. A lot of people got rude with my daughter due to her special diet and special meals, as well as one person trying to steal her breakfast. Then you just have issues like the table butter dish - it is contaminated?

 

One other thing to the posts above - be very wary about the bread, pizza and pasta. You have to make sure the bread is not put in the toaster and is toasted on the grill. They often mess this up, so we elected to get the bread not toasted. The pasta is made with quinoa, which my daughter was allergic to so she never tried. Also you have to make sure they are using separate water from the other pastas. Pizza I would avoid at all costs. I ordered it once for my daughter and they used the exact same oven as the regular pizza - so covered in wheat crumbs. Totally unsafe.

 

 

That's all that comes to mind. Let me know if you have other questions.

[travelcoupletoo]

Thank you csmommy for sharing your experience. Since I'm just getting use to this diet change, I have been avoiding bread and baked goods altogether. The gluten free versions I've tried haven't been very good, so it's been easier just to avoid them altogether. I do like the quinoa pasta, so that's a plus for me.

 

Thanks for the warning on the buffet because I figured I could just eat salad, but that sounds like it was a real challenge.

[KFL]

Since I'm just getting use to this diet change, I have been avoiding bread and baked goods altogether. The gluten free versions I've tried haven't been very good, so it's been easier just to avoid them altogether. I do like the quinoa pasta, so that's a plus for me.

 

OK I'm Celiac too and we make our own bread & cookies. We've found out that a sorghum based flour is very good for this.

 

Also try out the corn based pastas they are quite good too unless you are unlucky and also have a problem with corn.

 

Rice spaghetti is also very good.

[NeurosurgeryNP]

We have been on the CB twice after DH was diagnosed with CD. They were amazing. I recommend highly that you get traditional dining - not anytime. Different waiters each night make for a different experience. On our last CB cruise in October, we were waitlisted for traditional, and on the first day after embarkation, we met with the maitre d and explained our situation. He was able to get us into AD dining at the same time each night (6PM) with the same wait staff. This made the experience so pleasant. It worked out well because there was NEVER a line at that time anyway for AD. We did put he GF diet on the cruise personalizer and we did fax a letter as requested. We received a similar email as previously posted. The first night, he ordered the steak without any sauces, and from then on, they would bring the menu to him and he would order for the next night. They would modify the dish if needed- i.e. using corn starch for a sauce thickener, etc. For lunch, he ate every day at the grill - hamburgers and cheeseburgers - right off the grill - they were very accomodating, and with new spatulas and tongs when they served him. The fries were fried in a fryer for fries only they told us. The only things he would eat in the buffert were fruit and yougurts. We frequently ordered room service for breakfast - fruits, and they would bring him GF toasted bread (toasted on the grill - no in the toaster). We also brought along GF cereal for him and we would ask for an extra bowl and spoon and he would eat that too for breakfast.

[NeurosurgeryNP]

Since I'm just getting use to this diet change, I have been avoiding bread and baked goods altogether. The gluten free versions I've tried haven't been very good, so it's been easier just to avoid them altogether. I do like the quinoa pasta, so that's a plus for me.

 

OK I'm Celiac too and we make our own bread & cookies. We've found out that a sorghum based flour is very good for this.

 

Also try out the corn based pastas they are quite good too unless you are unlucky and also have a problem with corn.

 

Rice spaghetti is also very good.

He thought the breads were nasty too - until we found out that we had to toast them = then they taste like regular toast (he says anyway). We but Glutino corn bread and toast it - I can't even tell the difference. The other thing we bought was Pamela's mix and we make cookies and other baked good from it - it is very good.

[KFL]

He thought the breads were nasty too - until we found out that we had to toast them = then they taste like regular toast (he says anyway). We but Glutino corn bread and toast it - I can't even tell the difference. The other thing we bought was Pamela's mix and we make cookies and other baked good from it - it is very good.

 

Yes Pamelas cookies are good, but most of the packaged bread & bread mixes is so so at best. We've decided to do our own baking and now have several good cookie & cake recipes using Namaste brand flour. The bread we make from this flour isn't bad, but we are stil experimenting. The bulk flour isn't cheap, but it is much cheaper than the mixes.

[kwcrnp]

Not hijacking the thread, but since we are waiting for the tests results we thought we would try some GF items. We've tried Annie's Mac n Cheese (rice pasta is used), Amy's GF Pizza and GF Snicker-doodles (forget the brand name). I have to say, we all really liked all 3 products to our surprise! My DS enjoyed them and we haven't even told him they were special. We figure if we need to switch to GF (possibly this week), we can tell DS he has already had some GF food.:)

 

On another note about the bread - I hear it's not good unless toasted. But I found a recipe on Celiac.com that was posted in 2007 and is still getting huge raves for being "just like normal bread". If we need to switch to GF, I'll be baking it! It uses the Sorghum flour as NeurosurgNP stated.