I'll preface my review by saying that I did enjoy the cruise - the staff were very friendly, the ship was clean, our cabin was spacious and my family and I truly enjoyed the activities and ports along our cruise. But this review isn't going to be about the cruise to Alaska; it will be about how Princess handled dietary restrictions for myself and another member of my family. When looking back at the whole experience, though, one in which dining constitutes as substantial portion of that experience, I felt like Princess missed the mark.

I have Celiac Disease and it is a medical necessity, not a lifestyle choice, that I eat a strict gluten free diet. No cheating, no cross contamination if it can be avoided, no gluten. In everyday life, it is tricky enough, but take that diet on vacation and it's a definite challenge. Now let's take that diet and put it on a cruise ship with a couple thousand other people and a kitchen staff that is expected to prepare and serve anywhere between 15 and 20 tons of food in a week (yup - tons!). I understand a dietary restriction can throw a bit of a monkey wrench into the works, but it can be done, they tell you very clearly on the website they can, and though still a challenge, they say "come on board" with your dietary restrictions. On a previous cruise on Carnival I was able to eat safely, and fairly well considering, so I fully anticipated, and expected unfortunately, that cruising with Princess would be the same or better. It wasn't better and it was a much bigger challenge and pretty disappointing, for both myself as a gluten free diner and the other member of my family, who is vegan. I won't address the vegan so much because that is someone else's experience, but our experiences did overlap in some areas and so I think that improvements Princess should make would definitely benefit any dietary restriction (i.e. - sugar free, dairy free, wheat free, nut free, etc.).

So here are areas where Princess can improve and make the dining experience much more enjoyable to everyone: First - prepare a specific dining room menu for the dietary restriction and take that little extra step to try to make the meal look "normal". I had to order off of the regular dining menu, not a gluten free menu, and my meal would arrive looking pretty sad and nothing like the same meal non-gluten free meal. The kitchen just removed the "gluten" portion of the meal and didn't even try to make it like the other meal. (Pot roast with an amazing sounding reduction sauce and vegetables turned out to be chunks of meat and some carrots - boring and sad.) Carnival provided a separate gluten free menu and served a gluten free version of the same meal. It wasn't exactly the same but at least they tried. Read more