Food Allergies - Freedom Dining

Is it possible to select Freedom Dining if you have a food allergy? I'm not sure how the pre-order would work if they don't know what time you will be dining or what table you will be on. Would like to hear from anyone who has done this and how well it worked. Thanks in advance.

Is it possible to select Freedom Dining if you have a food allergy? I'm not sure how the pre-order would work if they don't know what time you will be dining or what table you will be on. Would like to hear from anyone who has done this and how well it worked. Thanks in advance.

Yes it is and you order the night before. The waiter gives you a menu for the following evening. It is normally an excellent service.

Yes it is and you order the night before. The waiter gives you a menu for the following evening. It is normally an excellent service.

Totally agree with the above. My partner has an allergy to wine, which is a nightmare with chefs invariably adding it to sauces and similar. Contact the maitre d' at your allotted restaurant before your first sitting and they will ensure you do not have any food you are allergic to in your chosen meal for the remainder of the cruise. As dgs1956 mentions, you will have the following night's menu during your dining and your dish will be prepared by a chef especially set aside for this purpose.

We have had this situation on Celebrity, P&O and RCI and the attention has always been fantastic, even with freedom dining, where you may have a different head waiter each evening.

Paul

Do let P & O know in advance ....it will help if they know exactly what the allergy is. Their contact email is

Diets.Reservations@carnivalukgroup.com

..just quote your ship name, cruise number and booking ref. Very helpful and efficient service

The head waiter gives you the menu's for the next night, when you go into the freedom dining restaurant, they ask you for the cabin number, and then normally a till like receipt is given to the person taking you to your table, which is then given to the waiters. Sometimes they look at it, I'm guessing that it says something about the special diet, as the waiter doesn't give you a menu, but contacts the head waiter, who gives the waiter the order you made the night before. Sometimes they still give you the menu, but as soon as you say you have a special diet, they contact the head waiter. I'm coeliac, and haven't had any problems, and on a 14 night cruise, often end up at the same tables a couple of times (we normally have a table for 2) and the waiters always remember. When we have used the alternative restaurants or the buffet in the evening, the head waiter has often sent the menu's up to wherever we're dining to make my choice.

Both DH and I have a potentially serious food allergy and P&O have handled this much better than Celebrity did for us.

As suggested, tell P&O first. I've had an email from them in the past asking to confirm our allergies, although on our last cruise this didn't happen. I was a bit worried but I needn't have been (I know they should have this on their records but you never know if it just "disappears" after each cruise).

You may have to be a bit careful on the first evening (unless you see the head waiter in the afternoon when you get onboard), but when we went into freedom dining, it was obviously "flagged up" on their system when we gave our cabin number. The head waiter then visited our table during our meal (he was also very good at coming between courses so as not to disturb us when eating), with the following days' menus (lunch and dinner). He returned later and took our orders for the following evening (as we didn't order lunch).

Our experience of P&O dealing with our allergies has been brilliant It doesn't matter if you have a different table each evening - the head waiter will still find you as you give your cabin number when entering the dining room. As we also have a table for two, pre-ordering also made our service a bit quicker. We have often been with the same waiters, who also were aware of our allergies and our preferences, which was nice and made for a very good dining experience.

Don't worry, you'll be fine. Enjoy your cruise.

I won't quote all of the replies but thank you. I've been cruising with P&O for 10 years, I know the routine but haven't had the confidence to trust Freedom Dining just because I envisage things going wrong. I've got a 5 nighter approaching and I think it might be a good opportunity to try it out, as you all seem to have survived [emoji6] thanks again.

I think part of my fear is that P&O are great at this now in fixed and select, but it hasn't always been that way. Now I know there is some sort of ticket system it's more reassuring. BTW on Britannia the head chef in the buffet is amazing, he only has to see you and sends for special food - never had that in the buffet on any ship with any cruise line ever before. So my tip is on Britannia get to know him!

I won't quote all of the replies but thank you. I've been cruising with P&O for 10 years, I know the routine but haven't had the confidence to trust Freedom Dining just because I envisage things going wrong. I've got a 5 nighter approaching and I think it might be a good opportunity to try it out, as you all seem to have survived [emoji6] thanks again.

Hi Florry

I know this is an oldish thread but how did it go for you with Freedom dining and food allergy? We have just booked a cruise for May and are hoping to trial Freedom dining for the first time. Have always done second sitting before....and it is a bit of a leap for us into Freedom (assuming we get it...on Early saver fare). I have a strange food allergy which P & O have always coped with brilliantly before. Thanks in advance.

Hi, we didn't do freedom in the end we ate at the speciality restaurants every night. Having said that I went to quiz the restaurant manager about it, they seemed very confident and said we just order the night before as usual and the meal will be prepared. I felt confident enough to change our 24 night next year to freedom, so would be glad to hear how you get on. Sorry I can't be of more help [emoji53]

Hi, we didn't do freedom in the end we ate at the speciality restaurants every night.

 

I would be more worried about eating in the speciality restaurants with the allergies DH and I have (one each). They are potentially life threatening, although not complicated to work around.

Our experience in the main dining room on Freedom has been fantastic. We were very confident that they would manage our allergies and felt safe.

 

However our experience with the White Room / 17 was not so good. Despite informing them of our allergies at the time we booked with them on board, they put one meal in front of me that contained something I am allergic to, and on another occasion did the same to my DH! We'll stick to the main dining room in future where we feel "safe".

 

Happy cruising.

I was on Freedom dining on Britannia and although not actually alergic to any particular food cannot eat chocolate because of the caffeine content. One evening I ordered a hazelnut cake. When it arrived it was dark choclate coloured, I took a bite and it tasted of chocolate. I called the waiter as I thought there had been a mistake and he took it back to thd kitchen and returned saying yes this was the hazelnut cake. I pointed out thst the desctiption never mentioned chocolate and that I couln't eat chocolate, to which he replied that in future I should let hem know beforehand! A fellow guest pointed out that the only thing hazelnut about the cake was the filling of Nutella spread. I did complain about menu desriptions in general. During the cruise several sauces were added without being mentioned on the menu. My husbsnd was served a Milanese Chicken with the unmistakeable taste of that well known Italian Sauce, HP.