Cunard's Handling of Food Allergies?

[ProfTW]

Can someone please provide us with some insight into how Cunard handles food allergies for those dining on its ships. My wife and I are looking at taking our son (12 yrs old) on the QE next summer and will most likely be dining in the Britannia restaurant. Here is severely allergic to peanuts and to tree nuts.

 

In the past, we have had positive experiences sailing with both Princess and HAL - both lines did a tremendous job of providing my son a safe dining experience. We like both cruise lines but are especially partial to Holland America so suspect that we will enjoy Cunard.

 

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[Thaxted]

Can someone please provide us with some insight into how Cunard handles food allergies for those dining on its ships. My wife and I are looking at taking our son (12 yrs old) on the QE next summer and will most likely be dining in the Britannia restaurant. Here is severely allergic to peanuts and to tree nuts.

 

In the past, we have had positive experiences sailing with both Princess and HAL - both lines did a tremendous job of providing my son a safe dining experience. We like both cruise lines but are especially partial to Holland America so suspect that we will enjoy Cunard.

 

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

We have found Cunard to be very accommodating to people with all sorts of special diets. Of course, be sure to let them know about your son's allergies ahead of time and speak to the maitre d' once you're on board.

[Bell Boy]

Can someone please provide us with some insight into how Cunard handles food allergies for those dining on its ships. My wife and I are looking at taking our son (12 yrs old) on the QE next summer and will most likely be dining in the Britannia restaurant. Here is severely allergic to peanuts and to tree nuts.

 

In the past, we have had positive experiences sailing with both Princess and HAL - both lines did a tremendous job of providing my son a safe dining experience. We like both cruise lines but are especially partial to Holland America so suspect that we will enjoy Cunard.

 

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

Cunard Line are part of the same Carnival enterprise as HAL & Princess so you should have no problem. Cunard are dealing with this sort of request almost every voyage. :)

[welshgirl001]

Hi

 

We were on QM2 in Aug with grandsons age 11. One is Lactose intolerant.

We informed the Maitre D' asap and our table waiters were informed.

Each evening an advance menu was issued the same as the main menu and a Lactose free option was made for his selection for the next eve.

Even at lunch in the buffet a member of staff would go on request to the kitchen to find an alternative option if you inform them on day 1.

This was especially useful for dessert.

My other GS is Vegetarian not vegan though so there were many choices.

[Castro and Millie]

I've a nut allergy too and I've dined in Brittania on a number of cruises and they haven't poisoned me yet. On the first evening let your wait staff know and they will get the Head waiter who will talk you through the first evenings options. Thereafter you will get the next day's menus in advance to enable you to make your choices. This will all be prepared for you in a separate area. The great advantage of this is that all your table mates will get a sneak preview of the next day's options!

The only bit that needs care is the chocs they offer with the coffee at the end of the meal and if I had any doubts I tended to dodge these completely.

Hope this helps but if you have any specific questions let me know.

[edwardh1]

2 women at our table in britannia on QV this summer had allergies and filled out a menu before the meal, maybe day before, and it was done to their satisfaction.

[lannp]

I advise telling Cunard before hand. The Head Waiter will bring menus at dinner for lunch and dinner the next day. The order is then held and when you go in for lunch simply inform your waiter of the pre-ordered meal. Since you will have the same waiter every evening he will already know the order. I've been doing this for years and they will also work at making substitutions when possible to suit your tastes.

Of course anytime you eat in a buffet you run a risk so I rarely dine there.

[navybankerteacher]

I advise telling Cunard before hand. The Head Waiter will bring menus at dinner for lunch and dinner the next day. The order is then held and when you go in for lunch simply inform your waiter of the pre-ordered meal. Since you will have the same waiter every evening he will already know the order. I've been doing this for years and they will also work at making substitutions when possible to suit your tastes.

Of course anytime you eat in a buffet you run a risk so I rarely dine there.

 

Good advice - particularly with regard to the buffet. While MDR, with same wait staff, can competently address your needs, the fact that the buffet is something of a free-for-all needs to be considered.

[lannp]

I have witnessed people using the same serving spoon for several items. There is too big a risk of cross-contamination so I use the buffet for snacks and cups of tea.

[ProfTW]

Thank you very much to everyone for your suggestions and experiences. It makes us much more comfortable sailing with Cunard for the first time to hear these positive reviews.

 

lannp, we too are concerned about the buffet and cross contamination. Both Princess and Holland America close the main dining room during port days. When eating in the Lido Holland America was much better in that we would order my son's lunch a day in advance and a chef would prepare it separately so as to avoid cross contamination. We would show up at the Lido, let a headwaiter know we had separate meal ordered and the chef would usually bring it out himself.

 

On our Princess cruises, the procedure was to have the sous chef walk us through the buffet and let us know which items could have my son's allergens or could be cross contaminated. We were never truly comfortable in the Lido buffet with Princess at lunch.

 

Please correct me if I am wrong but it appears as if the Britannia restaurant is open for lunch on port days which means all of my son's meals can be prepared by the special diets personnel. This is one of the main reasons we are hoping to try Cunard.

 

Thanks again and happy sailings everyone!

 

PS We are also looking forward to trying the Cunard's style of cruising as we think it is a good match for us as a family.:D

[Underwatr]

Britannia is open on port days. A motable exception is embarkation day when passengers must rely on King's Court (or arrive after a lunch on shore).

[lannp]

I have only sailed on the QM2 and the dining room is open on port days with the exception of embarkation. I ran into problems on my last Princess cruise with the dining room not being available on port days. It wasn't always easy to find someone to walk you through the line to find safe foods.

[I love dogs]

My husband has severe food allergies and i am dairy and wheat free.

We have sailed on cunards elizabeth and victoria. We have found that it is ESSENTIAL to inform the booking agent well ahead of the cruise, so that they can inform the ships special diet chef and the manager of the section where you will be sitting, so they are prepared when you board.

As stated by others, you will be given a menu for the next day's lunch and dinner when you are having your evening meal. When you arrive for lunch in the britannia restaurant, as you may be sitting in a different part of the restaurant to dinner time, with different waiters, the manager at the door will be holding your request for that days lunch which will be given to the waiters on your given table. It all runs very smoothly!

We didn't attempt to eat at any other restaurants or self service on board, as we were happy in the knowledge that Brittania restaurant always got it right for us!

[soc1965]

Can someone please provide us with some insight into how Cunard handles food allergies for those dining on its ships. My wife and I are looking at taking our son (12 yrs old) on the QE next summer and will most likely be dining in the Britannia restaurant. Here is severely allergic to peanuts and to tree nuts.

 

In the past, we have had positive experiences sailing with both Princess and HAL - both lines did a tremendous job of providing my son a safe dining experience. We like both cruise lines but are especially partial to Holland America so suspect that we will enjoy Cunard.

 

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

I hope you check back in at some point as I have an e-mail address which I usually use prior to boarding - simply e mail diets.reservations@carnivalgroup.co.uk & tell them that your son has allergies & the nature of them. Give them your booking reference number, suite number (if you have it) & what dining room you'll be assigned to & they will take care of the rest. My husband has a severe shell fish allergy & in the past the restaurant staff have been pre alerted & he's never had a single problem. I hope you have a wonderful trip.

[Jayneykul]

They are very good with this! Strangely I cannot tolerate lemongrass and our waiter checked with the chef every meal toke sure there was none in the dish and when there was had it cooked without similarly our dining neighbours had gluten intolerance and they bent over backwards to help