Farewell Princess - No Trust in Accommodating Dietary Needs

[Coral]

9 minutes ago, dog said:

IMO- Princess does not follow through very well anymore. You need to speak to the staff in the dining rooms each day.

 

you are probably making the right decision, however on my last HAL-  cruise, I and a few others could not eat much of the meals in the dining room- poor quality food and few vegetables.

I think Princess corporate is understaffed right now. Though - on the other hand, this is something that could easily be handled onboard and probably best dealt with onboard. If the OP had asked about this on CC, they would have received a response to speak to a head waiter once on the ship. Unless it is something like Kosher or baby food that must be loaded a head of time, dealing with this on the cruise would have been sufficient.

[MinnesotaDreamer]

As someone who is considering Princess for Alaska with a food allergy kid, this is the sort of thing that causes concern. I see all the “talk to the waiter” comments, but there should at minimum be a reply on what is the right process and protocol.

 

For people with life threatening food allergies, it is not enough to assume it will be fine when you show up.

[BamaVol]

10 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

Right on the website it says that you can note your dietary needs in your profile on the app. 
 

Dietary Requirements – Inform us of any food allergies or dietary requirements such as gluten-free, lactose-free and vegetarian.

 

And you have to know that a cruise line that is as big and mass market as Princess can accommodate vegetarian and vegan restrictions. And you knew that you could start a chat with a representative from Princess on their website instead of holding out for a response to an email. And you knew that you could search for menus on line. And you knew that you could ask questions and seek advice on this board. (You knew enough to complain here.). So your only complaint is that you didn’t get a customized, personalized email response. If that “insult” is enough to cause you to abandon ship, that is your prerogative. Seems like throwing the baby out with the bath water. But that’s up to you. 

I 1000% agree.  Email is an impersonal, unreliable means of communication.  For a matter this important, you need to speak with someone.  Texting or calling the right department should get you an answer.

 

I will say that Princess’s response to dietary requests has changed since I first sailed them a year ago, or so it seems.  In March 2023, I had a postcard on my stateroom bed on day 1 to bring to the MDR to initiate the food sensitivity/allergy conversation with the headwaiter.  On my next cruise in September 2023, I had nothing but my previous experiences to guide me.

 

My issues are not life threatening.  If they were, I might share the OP’s anxiety.  But I wouldn’t give up after no response to an email.  I’d try a different approach. You know what they say about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

[karatemom2]

3 hours ago, BamaVol said:

Maybe your emails went to their spam folder. 

 
I was just thinking the same thing. Looking at the email address provided in another response: dietaryrequest@princesscruises.com

 

This is a different email from the standard customer email address you were likely using. It’s likely your message was forwarded to that department to respond and their emails went to your spam folder, especially if they contained attachments. 
 

You might want to do a search of your junk folder to see if you find anything. 

[dog]

2 hours ago, MinnesotaDreamer said:

As someone who is considering Princess for Alaska with a food allergy kid, this is the sort of thing that causes concern. I see all the “talk to the waiter” comments, but there should at minimum be a reply on what is the right process and protocol.

 

For people with life threatening food allergies, it is not enough to assume it will be fine when you show up.

Absolutely!

 

Except I would not count on it if life threatening.

 

They cannot get too many things right anymore in my opinion.

 

They do have it noted on the app, but I have found no follow through, lately.

The head waiter and the food manager will need to be alerted on the ship.  Too much information does not get passed on.  Also, communication issues exist- not all serving passengers understand English or accents.

 

This is my opinion.

Edited April 8 by dog

[nasa1974]

2 hours ago, MinnesotaDreamer said:

As someone who is considering Princess for Alaska with a food allergy kid, this is the sort of thing that causes concern. I see all the “talk to the waiter” comments, but there should at minimum be a reply on what is the right process and protocol.

 

For people with life threatening food allergies, it is not enough to assume it will be fine when you show up.

Welcome to cruise critic.

Check out my post #16. Princess responded the same day with information about what to do once onboard. 

[MinnesotaDreamer]

18 minutes ago, dog said:

Absolutely!

 

Except I would not count on it if life threatening.

 

They cannot get too many things right anymore in my opinion.

 

They do have it noted on the app, but I have found no follow through, lately.

The head waiter and the food manager will need to be alerted on the ship.  Too much information does not get passed on.  Also, communication issues exist- not all serving passengers understand English or accents.

 

This is my opinion.

This is not necessarily unique to Princess, but I think businesses underestimate the stress that food allergies/restrictions cause, especially when you'll be at sea away from normal medical facilities.  When the only direction is to add it to the app or email your info, with not much more on how it will actually look when you're on board, it doesn't instill confidence.  It's why we've only cruised on Disney so far.  And while I'd love to save a few thousand and go to Glacier Bay... well, the food anxiety is a high cost too.

[memoak]

The key to cruising is being flexible. Just my opinion 

[STLCARDS82]

40 minutes ago, memoak said:

The key to cruising is being flexible. Just my opinion 

Being flexible about food allergies that could be life-threatening? Obviously, you've never been an EMT.

[memoak]

2 minutes ago, STLCARDS82 said:

Being flexible about food allergies that could be life-threatening? Obviously, you've never been an EMT.

My wife is deathly allergic to sea going white fish and peanuts   That doesn’t keep us from sailing. We just ask a lot of questions when ordering because you just don’t know what a chef has used. We don’t feel any need to pester the cruise line in advance or to order dinner a day in advance. We have been cruising since 1990 and there have always been options that can be arranged on ship. I get really tired of people who want to create their own menus, create drinks that are not on any menu, insist that they are being shortchanged because there no bar snacks they like etc. Oh and my favorite “I want chocolates on my pillow every night “. I guess they should just start their own cruise line   Yes I know I am going to get flamed 

[Pickels]

19 hours ago, iankh said:

I had a Hawaii cruise booked on Princess that I canceled today. I wrote to them on four separate occasions about the crucial need for my husband to have vegan or vegetarian food, and to my dismay, did not receive a single reply to any of my emails (I believe waiting three months for a reply is more than reasonable). We had a previous experience, about 5 years ago, when we took our first cruise with Princess. The 'vegetarian' options on the menu contained parmesan cheese, which is made with rennet, an enzyme taken from the stomachs of cows or sheep. The kitchen did try to accommodate us, but since they could not disclose the ingredients, it led to a very distressing week. When I returned home I wrote to Princess and received a reply from customer service that was both unsettling and alarming. I was informed that they offer what they consider to be vegetarian food and that passengers consume the food they offer at their own risk. I should emphasize that my husband has a condition that could potentially lead to hospitalization, as it had done in the past, so the concern about meeting dietary needs was not trivial.

 

I looked at Princess again and thought that perhaps after five years, things had changed. To be proactive, I wrote to Princess explaining his physical condition and our past cruise experience with them. Silence. There was no response to my initial email or the three follow-up emails.

 

I recently booked a Holland America cruise to Hawaii and specified the dietary restrictions. I received an email back with the email address of their special needs department. To my pleasant surprise, within 24 hours, I received a personalized, detailed response outlining exactly what they would do to accommodate the diet and who I should speak to when we boarded the ship. They assured me that they take dietary needs very seriously, a stark contrast to my experience with Princess Cruises.

 

I know that many people here have had wonderful experiences with Princess. Our friends are very loyal to Princess. I'm also sure that others with dietary needs have had excellent experiences with Princess. But as they say, "Once burned, twice cautious."  It could have been a redeemable situation had they responded to my emails.

 

This posting is not about the merits of Princess vs. Holland America. I did not cancel our Princess booking because" cruise line—they're not. They're a very good cruise line in all respects except for this. This posting is about listening and responsiveness to needs. I canceled based on personal experience and their lack of response to me. I canceled because, for our needs, I simply don't trust them.

On a recent cruise with Princess on the Enchanted, I filled out my diet allergies on the app, and on the ship, when we went to the MDR the first night, our server had all my information.  She and the Maître 'D double checked my information and ensured me  that I wasn't given anything that I was allergic to.  Great job Princess!

[BamaVol]

2 hours ago, dog said:

Absolutely!

 

Except I would not count on it if life threatening.

 

They cannot get too many things right anymore in my opinion.

 

They do have it noted on the app, but I have found no follow through, lately.

The head waiter and the food manager will need to be alerted on the ship.  Too much information does not get passed on.  Also, communication issues exist- not all serving passengers understand English or accents.

 

This is my opinion.

I don’t know any business that gets everything right all the time, never makes a mistake.  I take some of the responsibility on myself whether I’m dining on the Sapphire Princess or Beef O’Brady’s down the street. I ask questions and make arrangements in advance.  Even then, I lift the bun on the burger to make sure the guy in the kitchen got the message and didn’t turn my hamburger into a cheeseburger. 
 

My condition isn’t life threatening.  But if I couldn’t manage the anxiety, I’d never eat outside my own home.  And that would be a shame. 
 

[dog]

26 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

I don’t know any business that gets everything right all the time, never makes a mistake.  I take some of the responsibility on myself whether I’m dining on the Sapphire Princess or Beef O’Brady’s down the street. I ask questions and make arrangements in advance.  Even then, I lift the bun on the burger to make sure the guy in the kitchen got the message and didn’t turn my hamburger into a cheeseburger. 
 

My condition isn’t life threatening.  But if I couldn’t manage the anxiety, I’d never eat outside my own home.  And that would be a shame. 
 

And you are WISE!

[jeromep]

1 hour ago, Pickels said:

On a recent cruise with Princess on the Enchanted, I filled out my diet allergies on the app, and on the ship, when we went to the MDR the first night, our server had all my information.  She and the Maître 'D double checked my information and ensured me  that I wasn't given anything that I was allergic to.  Great job Princess!

Exactly!  And speaking of the app, to set your preferences, including food allergies, you go to Profile (where you see your smiling face), scroll down... way down, and choose Dining Preferences.  There are three tabs there, the first is Allergens, where you click on the food groups you are allergic to, the Diet tab is where you would click to tell Princess if you were following a Vegan or other type of special diet, and the Seating tab ask for table preference and dining pace.

 

This is a much more reliable way to communicate this kind of information to Princess than trying to email them and having some call center handle it.

[MinnesotaDreamer]

1 hour ago, jeromep said:

Exactly!  And speaking of the app, to set your preferences, including food allergies, you go to Profile (where you see your smiling face), scroll down... way down, and choose Dining Preferences.  There are three tabs there, the first is Allergens, where you click on the food groups you are allergic to, the Diet tab is where you would click to tell Princess if you were following a Vegan or other type of special diet, and the Seating tab ask for table preference and dining pace.

 

This is a much more reliable way to communicate this kind of information to Princess than trying to email them and having some call center handle it.

Why isn't this listed anywhere on the website? I poked around, did a search, and eventually found one reference to the email address listed above (after getting a few different errors/broken links).  But when you're on the fence about whether or not you should book, having some of this kind of information would be really valuable.

[LoveBoatLvr]

16 hours ago, iankh said:

In fairness, probably not. Milk based vegetarian cheeses are made with plant/bacteria based enzymes. Ingredient lists will usually say vegetarian rennet or vegetarian enzymes.

 

 

Real Parmesan is made with animal-derived rennet. It's unlikely that a large company like Princess would bother to get plant-based parm, though I suppose it's possible. I've been falsely told that items are vegetarian at countless (land-based) restaurants just because there is no actual meat in the finished dish, but it has been made with a meat broth. I would be quite unhappy, but would probably not become ill if I ended up accidentally eating something that was not vegetarian. But for someone who would become ill, trusting the line of communication with so many international employees doesn't seem like it's worth it. Especially where the vegan menu has a "yoghurt" dessert although I don't see anything specifying that it is non-dairy. 

[dog]

1 hour ago, jeromep said:

Exactly!  And speaking of the app, to set your preferences, including food allergies, you go to Profile (where you see your smiling face), scroll down... way down, and choose Dining Preferences.  There are three tabs there, the first is Allergens, where you click on the food groups you are allergic to, the Diet tab is where you would click to tell Princess if you were following a Vegan or other type of special diet, and the Seating tab ask for table preference and dining pace.

 

This is a much more reliable way to communicate this kind of information to Princess than trying to email them and having some call center handle it.

I have had my requests ignored, so that is why I gave the advise I did.

 

[memoak]

32 minutes ago, MinnesotaDreamer said:

Why isn't this listed anywhere on the website? I poked around, did a search, and eventually found one reference to the email address listed above (after getting a few different errors/broken links).  But when you're on the fence about whether or not you should book, having some of this kind of information would be really valuable.

It took me literally 30 seconds to go to personalized ding where it tells me to put  food issues on the app 

[Paula_MacFan]

37 minutes ago, memoak said:

It took me literally 30 seconds to go to personalized ding where it tells me to put  food issues on the app 

Agreed -- it took me about 10 seconds to open the app and look under Profile. 

[memoak]

2 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

Agreed -- it took me about 10 seconds to open the app and look under Profile. 

Nice tag team work   I got hung up printing luggage tags for next weekend cruise

[Lady Arwen]

15 minutes ago, memoak said:

Nice tag team work   I got hung up printing luggage tags for next weekend cruise

Bon voyage!  Have the absolute best time.  Please have a cocktail for me!  

Edited April 8 by Lady Arwen

[memoak]

24 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Bon voyage!  Have the absolute best time.  Please have a cocktail for me!  

Will do. Pre dinner Manhattan or 3 coming up in 6 days

[Lady Arwen]

38 minutes ago, memoak said:

Will do. Pre dinner Manhattan or 3 coming up in 6 days

Yes!

[BamaVol]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

Will do. Pre dinner Manhattan or 3 coming up in 6 days

And have the three post dinner manhattans on me. (Woodford Reserve is my preference). 

[memoak]

1 minute ago, BamaVol said:

And have the three post dinner manhattans on me. (Woodford Reserve is my preference). 

That is what I drink on ship fits on the plus package