Grand Princess or Celebrity Century to Alaska with allergic and autistic child?

[ProfTW]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post and I will also be posting on the Celebrity forum to see what they say.

Just a little background about my wife and me. We have been on over 20 cruises prior to our son being born 10 years ago and are pretty familiar with both Celebrity and Princess. We have been to Alaska about 6 times and have taken only one cruise with our son which was on Disney to Alaska a couple of years ago.

We are currently looking at cruising again to Alaska this summer and have narrowed it down to a Window Suite on the Grand Princess or Sky suite on the Century (both the same price). Based on our criteria, only these two cruises work for us.

 

In our minds the deciding factor is based on answering these two questions:

- Which cruise would be better able to handle my son's severe peanut and tree nut allergy?

- Which ship's children's program works better for a high-functioning (Aspergers) boy? My son loves video games, art, building and science.

 

If you can provide any insight into these two questions (or even a general comparison of these two ships based on recent experience), it would be greatly appreciated. Advice and suggestions are very welcome.

 

Thank you very much!

ProfTW

[tequilasunrise]

I don't know about Celebrity, but honestly I don't know if Princess is your best choice. There are nuts on lots of the foods and they are probably prepared on the same surfaces. Peanut butter is a common ingredient in desserts and there are more peanut/cashew sauces recently in the savory dishes now that they are going with Asian influenced menus. The food used to be more Italian/Mediterranean and it wouldn't have been as much of a problem but they recently changed and it's more Asian/Indian.

 

Children/families are not Princess's target market so while the children's programs are ok; they are a side note. He will not have the large variety of things to do that you found on Disney. They'll have a Wii or Playstation for the kids; that's about it for video games. They don't have the arcades you find on Disney or Carnival. When our kids were little, we found the kids programs to be a nice starting place but they spent most of their time with us.

 

I'd contact Princess's customer relations for more information before deciding, especially about the allergy. Boredom is temporary; a serious allergic reaction is more serious!

[jfgdbg]

While neither my husband or I have food allergies, we have been seated at tables in Traditional Dining with people who did have them. I was quite impressed how well they were treated concerning them, at least at dinner. Every night the head waiter came to the table to discuss the next nights dinner. They asked many questions about what they could eat and what they wanted to eat. They had special dishes made just for them and always were checking to see if everything was okay.

 

We have never traveled with children so I can't give you any help there.

[giselleacttwo]

- Which ship's children's program works better for a high-functioning (Aspergers) boy? My son loves video games, art, building and science.

 

 

We've never cruised Celebrity, and we don't have any food allergies, so I can't help you much there. But I will say for a 10 year old that is really into video games, art, building, and science, they Princess kids program will be right up his alley. Princess is heavy on the video games and arts and crafts for that age group. They also did Lego competitions and science related activities.

 

I have heard that Princess is really great to work with for allergies and dietary restrictions, but you must make sure to speak with the Head Waiter in your dining room and not your server. As mentioned, they will go over the next day's menus for you at dinner the night before.

[ProfTW]

Thank you everyone! Greatly appreciate your comments and suggestions. It seems that the consensus of both this and Celebrity forums is that the Grand Princess would be the better option as it is larger with more activities for my son.

When we sailed Disney a few years ago, my son spent at most 2-3 hours per day in the kids club and the rest of the time with us. As long as my son has a few daily activities to give him something to do other than hanging out with mom and dad all the time, he should be happy. I think being able to swim in a covered pool is also a benefit. One of the reasons we booked a suite is to have a place to go to chill and spend time relaxing as a family (board games, DVDs, reading).

The food allergy seriously concerns us but I am encouraged by the comments here (and many favorable comments after a search on this forum). I am concerned by the mentioned focus on Asian cuisine and will contact Princess as suggested. We will definitely meet with the head waiter on board.

Thank you everyone as your comments helped us to decide on the Grand Princess.

All the best,

[cr8tiv1]

I have sailed in a Golden Princess Window Suite. I love them. Location is everything. I have a Window Suite reserved on the Grand on an upcoming cruise next year. I don't know how much you are going to miss a balcony (I do not). But this would be the only consideration for your child.

 

As for dining, in a suite, you will have breakfast at Sabatini's every morning. It is a very small and intimate place. They will take care of all your needs here. I knew the Maitre d'Hotel on the Golden (fairly well). He and I chatted many times. He told me that he makes sure that all of his special request diners (gluten free, allergies, etc) are grouped together to limit possible problems. This may or may not be the norm for all ships (I doubt it, since he was pretty special). I can not speak for how the kitchen is operated. I travel with a salt restricted diet. The waiters, head waiters, and other staff members pay me a visit at every meal (in the MDR). I am told what I can have/and cannot :( have. Also, keep in mind, that as a suite passenger, you can have all meals in your stateroom (lunch). This should help with the restricted diet.

 

I know how hard it must be for you to have to deal this issues when traveling. I am very pleased with how Princess works with me. I don't know how severe his allergies to peanuts are, but they are everywhere (peanut butter cookies in the Piazza, desserts, etc). I once traveled with someone who had an extreme reaction to tomatoes. She did not want to "bother" the head waiter. At the end of the cruise, he came up to her and said that he had wished she had. He would have been able to tell her what dishes had tomatoes/tomato garnishes).

Edited March 2, 2014 by cr8tiv1

[wowsmom]

I have pretty bad food allergies and have sailed on Princess the last 5 years (Sapphire, Golden and Diamond). I notify them before sailing, and they send me an email saying it has been noted but to discuss it with the maitre'd upon boarding.

 

Each night at dinner, the head waiter will come over with menus for the next day (lunch and dinner, in my case) and will let me know if there is anything I should avoid. When I go to the MDR for lunch the next day, I just let them know my name/cabin number and they find my order.

 

We have done both anytime (first 2 cruises) and traditional (last 3 cruises) for dinner. The first time doing anytime worked well, as they let us have a standing reservation with the same wait staff. The next year, they refused to give us a standing reservation so every single night at dinner, I'd have to run down all my allergies - even though my order had been taken, I felt my current waiter needed to know what to avoid.

 

Traditional has been a better choice for us (it just wasn't available the first 2 cruises - we booked last minute). They're always very caring and careful - they even double checked if I was really okay with escargot since some people classify them as shellfish (which is one of my big allergies).

 

They have told us the food for allergies is prepped in a separate area of the kitchen to avoid cross-contamination.

 

Also, since the MDR is now closed for lunch on port days, they said if I was going to have lunch in the buffet, to find the head waiter and he would assist in finding me food to eat. I have not actually tried that, as I love their pizza, burgers and fries so will have those if we're on board at lunch time on port days.

 

Good luck making your decision!

[Thrak]

Make sure the staff knows not to offer your son milk and cookies when they pass them out in the afternoon unless you have approved them first.

[rbslos18]

I believe your son will do fine on both accounts. Let the staff know his needs and issues. The more info on how to make the cruise a success, the better. There will plenty of stimulating things to do in the Children's program.

[ProfTW]

The information, shared experiences and suggestions have been great. My wife and I are amazed at all of the great responses. We definitely feel better about our decision to cruise again and look forward to cruising on Princess again.

 

I will resurrect this thread at the end of the summer to report back on how it went in hopes of helping someone else in a situation similar to ours.

 

Thank you to all! This is a wonderful community.:)