Tips for travelling gluten free with Princess Cruises

Me in front of the Princess Emerald, ported in Grenada

We've been cruising before on Celebrity where Amanda was very impressed with how they accommodated her gluten free diet.  You can click here to read more about that experience and I'll leave Amanda to blog more about her experience on Princess, because just like cruising on Celebrity, there were lots of successes, but still some frustrations.

So here are a few tips for Princess, and probably for any cruise line like Celebrity, Carnival, Royal Caribbean etc., when cruising on a gluten free diet.

Alfredo sauce with a gluten free quinoa pasta

First, be sure to let the cruise line know about your dietary restrictions before cruising.  Princess Cruises has something online called the Cruise Personalizer where you can enter any special requests weather it being a food allergy like peanut, dietary restrictions like gluten free, or even kosher.  This is to ensure the head waiter has a list of all people special dietary needs.  The first evening in the dining room, the header waiter came to our table to seek out Amanda.

lobster tail with massive prawns served with rice

Next, the most important person in any eating area is the head waiter.  They are the best person to help you seek out the meal that works best for you.  This is not only for the dining room, but the buffet area as well.  In the buffet area, you can ask some of the servers or chefs, but the head waiter will no best.

If you are having any issues with the food in any situation, speak with the head waiter, don't speak with the waiter serving your table.  The head waiter knows how to make things happen, even if that means bringing in the assistant maitre'd or maitre'd who is the next level up.  We do have a story with that, that if Amanda doesn't share, I'll certainly share.

Gluten free Moroccan crock pot.  This was threw room service

To make things easier on the kitchen on preparing a gluten free dinner properly for you, the head waiter likes to bring you the menu the day before.  Typically during dinner the day before so you can place your order.  This is so they can make up a batch of a special gluten free sauce for you if needed on any of the meals.  We noticed a few times, Amanda and I order the same meal, but her sauce was not as thick.  Hense it was gluten free because they made a special batch for her without thickener.  Be sure the head waiter brings you the next day's menu before you start eating your dinner.  This is because the last thing you want to do on a full stomach is to think about what you want to eat the next day.

This was at their cover charge restaurant Sabatini's.
quinoa seafood pasta.  Or is that seafood with some pasta?
Mmmmmm

This is a general tip for cruise dining;  don't be afraid to speak up about any of the meals.  Typically cruise meals are fantastic, but you can come across some duds.  Let the waiter know, they'll be happy to prepare something else for you.  Also, if nothing on the menu is really speaking to you, ask for something else.  This will obviously delay your meal because they will have to prepare it special, but they can do it.

There is breakfast, lunch and dinner in the dining rooms.  Those are obviously the best ways to avoid any cross contamination at the buffets.  But there are still some great gluten free buffet meals on the ship.  You can also order room service for any meals, they are able to prepare gluten free meals as well.

We booked this cruise and our previous Celebrity cruise with Meredith Travel:

Meredith Burbidge
4 Robert Speck Pkwy - 15th Floor
Mississauga, Ontario
L4Z 1S1 Canada
Direct Line: (416) 907-3299
Email: mburbidge@tpi.ca
TICO Registration 1576226

Some other gluten free cruise links you may also enjoy:

• Gluten Free Travel on Celebrity Cruises: Part 1 - Caribbean 2010
• Gluten Free Travel on Celebrity Cruises: Part 2 - The Gluten Free Meals

Gluten Free Edmonton - A Celiac guide and resource for gluten free information in Edmonton, Alberta