Dairy Free Dietary Requirement Review - Discovery Princess

[FunTimeIsSunTime]

I thought I'd take some time to give a review of my experience with a dietary requirement as when I was looking for information there wasn't a whole lot that applied to my situation. We were on the 2nd sailing of the Discovery Princess out of Los Angles along the California Coast. I wanted to included this as your experience may be slightly different than mine. I have recently taken dairy out of my diet due to health reasons so I'm not an expert and can have a little bit dairy so if there was a slip up it wasn't a big deal. I do not like seafood but do eat meat. This seemed to be the biggest barrier for me. 

 

I did use the princess form in the Medallion App to indicate my requirement ahead of time and they emailed me to confirm about a week before the actual cruise. When we arrived at the dining room I informed the hostess and the server. They both seemed very (overly?) concerned and left it to the manager. The manager came to talk with me and he was my link to ordering all of my meals in the dining room. He was very good. The first night I ordered things I absolutely knew were safe (house salad, chicken breast with roasted veggies and potatoes). My meal came from a different kitchen that is specifically for dietary requirements. I then would look at the next night's menu and order with the manager. He was quite knowledgeable about many of the things on the menu. Like the cold pina colada soup has heavy cream in it (insert sad face here). I was a little discourage because he kept steering me towards roasted vegetables and roasted potatoes for every main course. I could definitely mix and match from the main courses. One night I chose beef but the fish option had asparagus, he was happy to give me asparagus as my veggie. Don't be afraid to ask for something. If they can do it they will. 

 

One night we went to Sabatini's as my husband wanted to eat there. The night before I stopped in and actually ended up speaking to the head chef. He made some tweaks and was able to accommodate my needs but it felt like this was out of the ordinary for them (maybe it was the dairy free component?).

 

At the Marketplace (buffet) I just tried my best to steer away from things I knew would have dairy and asked quite a few times if something was cooked in butter or oil. The servers were always happy to assist and if they didn't know they found someone who did. They did fetch me plain rice on more than one occasion from a back kitchen as apparently the rice on the line typically has butter in it. Lots of options but this would have gotten boring every night. We ate here once for dinner and twice for lunch. Every morning we ate here for breakfast but that was super easy as I had fruit, eggs and bacon every day. 

 

Gigi's pizza (inside, sit down) was more than happy to make me my own pizza without cheese. They were unwilling to make one with half cheese to share with my husband so it felt a little wasteful but it worked. The pizza place on deck (Slice?) was unwilling to make me any without cheese and after I asked they also refused to give me a piece to take the cheese off myself. The Salty Dog Grill (free next to the pool) had a few options that I was comfortable getting without asking (like a hamburger without cheese). They also didn't seem to understand my questions about if things had dairy. I could have asked to speak to a manager about this but it wasn't worth the hassle in my mind. 

 

Overall a good experience with two exceptions. Some nights they would offer me plain bread but other nights they told me that I couldn't have any. As I stated I'm fairly new to this so maybe there is dairy in all their breads or maybe they thought I wouldn't like it without the butter. The other and my most disappointment was dessert. The first night they offered a fruit plate and ended up bringing some jello as well. The next two nights (including Sabatini's) they brought me a dark chocolate pudding type dessert in a martini glass with fruit at the bottom. It was fine. The next night was the same type dessert made from mango (it looked like baby food) and the last reiteration of this was peanut butter (which was a giant blob). It wasn't until near the end of the cruise that a waiter suggested that I get the sorbet from the main dessert menu that rotates. I never looked at a dessert menu so I didn't realize this was an option. I had lemon and orange but I'm sure there were others earlier in the week. So please know that this is an option. I'm not quite sure why this wasn't the default dessert anyways. I make my own desserts at home and can't understand why they couldn't make a cookie or a pastry with shortening or lard although I'm sure this isn't something they have regular access to. 

 

All in all I was well feed and besides the sweets wasn't lacking in any way. 

[prmssk]

Thanks for sharing your experience.  I have a dairy allergy as well (although eat seafood and chicken but not red meat or pork) and experienced a lot of the same that you describe when I was on the Emerald in February.  The desserts were definitely the biggest disappointment for me and really got old as they were just a variation of the same thing.  The dining room manager was not as helpful to me when selecting dishes (even when I tried to ask for guidance) so I often ended up with ones that were quite bland because they had left off the sauce (and didn't replace it with something else) - these dishes probably were more dairy based than I thought.

 

I found plenty to eat so it didn't really affect the enjoyment of my cruise but it was not as good of a food experience as I have experienced on other cruise lines.  And I really wished Princess would label common allergens in both the buffet and the MDR (something another line I sail does) as it makes the process of finding something that I can eat so much easier.

[szubieta]

Sadly, this is what happened on our last Princess cruise in February also.  I don't know if this is what they are trying to do as their "new standard".  I'm hoping not!  In past cruises, Princess, Disney & Royal, they had made a lot of the menu items special without dairy for my son and myself.  I also agree that the desserts were sorbets or fruit on my last cruise.  In the past there were a few dessert cakes and/or puddings that were dairy free on a daily basis.  I'm really hoping my July cruise is back to what used to be the norm...we'll see. 🙃

[MsSoCalCruiser]

I have a rare, severe allergy called FPIES.  My trigger is Dairy.  I can eat some dairy items but one bite of one that I am allergic to is all it takes. I used to be able to eat Parmesan cheese until I couldn’t and had a severe reaction.  I stay away from all dairy when I travel or go out to restaurants.  Cream is the worst and it’s not pretty.  You never know when cream is stirred into some thing. I want to say that they weren’t being overly cautious because some people have really severe allergies.

 

Just in case you don’t know they have a dairy free, oil based margarine that they can bring you upon request.  I wish they had plant butter but they do not.  At least they have something.  Ask them to put it in the warmer for you because it’s always hard and not really spreadable.

 

When you are in the buffet ask for the Chef.  Tell the Chef what your allergy or special diet is and the Chef will walk around with you and let you know exactly what you can and cannot have.  Mr. Savio John Dias, Sous Chef on the Discovery Princess took excellent care of me for 14 days.  I really appreciate his help.

 

I loved the chocolate pudding with the diced peaches.  Someone mentioned that there were no dairy free cakes and I don’t remember having a dairy free cake or cupcake this time.  I don’t understand why it’s so hard to have that available when we can easily make it or purchase it at the grocery store ourselves.  It would be great to be able to have something like that in the international café.

 

One area that I have a huge problem with as far as my allergies is the international café. They never have anything without dairy even though I was told that they were going to. I was told to give them my name and my cabin number and ask what was dairy free for me. When I did that I was looked at like I had two heads, lol.  There are times when I would like to have something small with my friends/family instead of going to the buffet or MDR. How hard is it to have one or two sandwiches without cheese that isn’t tuna or bacon? Obviously it’s really hard because I only received a small sandwich once in 14 days.  Sore spot, lol.

 

Gigi’s was wonderful about making pizza and a calzone for me that was dairy free.  They also brought me sides of avocado and red pepper. I totally understand why they would not make a pizza with half cheese and half without. If someone was to have an allergic reaction it would be them that was in trouble for allowing that to happen.

 

Ivan at the Coffee counter on the Discovery Princess made me the best iced mocha coffees every single day that were dairy free. I love chocolate and this did not disappoint.  Make sure that you ask for Ivan because he will make sure that you are safe.