Food Allergies - Vegans and Celiacs

[K.Ohana]

Hi everyone! Was hoping someone would be able to point me in the right direction. My family will be cruising February 2012 on the Magic. Two family members have celiac disease and need to eat gluten free foods and two family members have a wide variety of food allergies which has caused them to eat Vegan (No animal products/by-products, no sugar, eggs, etc). Can anyone that has experience with this on the cruise line tell me about your experience? We have already notified DCL and they have the allergies listed on the reservations. I just wanted to know if there are any extra steps we need to take to insure a smooth sailing?

I have seen posts before with someone detailing out who to speak to once on the ship, what to ask for, etc. but I am having a hard time locating that post again.

Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much in advance for your help!

 

[kerrykerr]

We will be sailing on the Magic in two weeks time and both myself and DD have celiac disease. I've never sailed with DCL before, but, like you, we have informed them and it's on our file.

I was told that there will be an Embarkation Dining Session on the first day but they can't tell me the time/location until I'm onboard. They said to ask at Guest Services. Apparently one of the chefs meets with people who have various food allergies/concerns and you can ask questions.

Someone on here advised me to go to Parrot Cay BEFORE dinner on the first day and ask to meet with your head server. You should be able to pre-order your dinner so that you don't have to wait longer than other people for food to come to the table. At dinner each night your server should be able to give you the next night's dinner menu so that you can make your selections in advance.

I was also told that if you have questions at any of the buffets or quick service locations, a chef will come out on the spot and speak with you or provide you with the nutrition book for that food station.

Some people have suggested eating in the dining room for every meal to avoid cross-contamination, but I don't think that will be necessary. I expect that I'll have to ask a lot of questions at the buffet the first couple of days, but then I'll get used to it. I'm not worried about cc from fruit salad or salad - you know? I'll ask about the salad dressings and protein once onboard and go from there.

I've also heard that they make their own g-free bread/rolls fresh on the ship! I wasn't expecting that. Oh, and apparently, Mickey Bars are g-free!

My only question now is whether or not they will have breakfast cereal for us or some kind of carb at breakfast. That's my one throwback to my pre-celiac days - I love cereal or waffles or pancakes or muffins in the morning!

After my trip I will post on here about how we managed. I'm sure all will go well.

 

[lori_vinciguerra]

Hi. Both of my daughters have celiac. We have been on 9 cruises with Disney and there has never been a problem. They are fantastic. The head waiter is your friend! You will want to plan to give him or her an extra tip The procedure is just as you have been told; order your dinner ahead the night before. All the menus are preset and they will be able to take down your order and have it ready for you when you arrive with the rest of your party. GF breads and rolls are available at every dinner!

For breakfast, you can also tell your head server where you want to eat the next morning and they will have your food ready for you. This even applies at the buffets. It's a little harder to find someone to talk to at the buffets but if you spot any head waiter and drop your head waiter's name, you should be all set. My girls avoid the quick serve places since it seems to be pretty hard to get something gluten free. Yes, ice cream and Mickey bars are a favorite!!

Good luck and have a blast on your cruise. You will find that you can eat just as well as everyone else

 

[lori_vinciguerra]

Oh, and I meant to add that they do serve GF pancakes and waffles!!

 

[cherylp3]

I am vegan and gluten free - I had one great cruise on the dream in Feb, and one not so good cruise in May also on the dream. Make sure you fill out the medical needs form, also make sure you check in. the gf free rolls are also vegan (ener-g bread). For the vegan, make sure that the head server you get understands that milk, cheese, butter etc, have dairy in them. I'd also suggest that if you have any recipes, bring them with you.

 

[postalchick71]

The people at our table ate gluten free and kosher. They ordered their dinner the night before and never had a problem. Their 9 year old son had a birthday during the cruise and they were able to make him a cake that was gluten free. And there was enough cake for the 8 of us to eat. I know they were very impressed with how well everything turned out.

 

[cheesekate2005]

I ate GF and vegetarian on our February Dream cruise. It went fine - I know that vegetarianism is not vegan, but all of my meals were cooked to order and it seems as if a great deal of care went into them! They said that they could work with me and make me just about anything I wanted, and they did.

 

[atinkerbellmom]

I am vegan and gluten free - I had one great cruise on the dream in Feb, and one not so good cruise in May also on the dream. Make sure you fill out the medical needs form, also make sure you check in. the gf free rolls are also vegan (ener-g bread). For the vegan, make sure that the head server you get understands that milk, cheese, butter etc, have dairy in them. I'd also suggest that if you have any recipes, bring them with you.

Never thought of the "bring the recipes with you" idea. My DD is allergic to eggs. We have had issues with this on the ship as her choices are very slim. We have had a few ok cruises, 2 BAD cruises and 1 WONDERFUL cruise. I do think it depends on who the chefs and servers are.

The big thing is to make sure the know ahead of time.... The other thing is to know you may have to do a lot of meals sit-down in the restaurants. I do feel DCL has the gluten free thing down to a "good science though". Between the Celiac Guest and the children with Autism who are on "the diet", they see the gluten-free issue a lot.

I do feel the world needs to get better in touch with the Vegan concept. Once they do, it will make our lives easier. Last cruise we found out the hashbrowns at breakfast have eggs..... WHY???? I guess "they brown better" if they are dipped in eggs. Who would have thought.... Now if they would just go back to "Cheap" pasta so my kid could have some spaghetti...... Next time we are bringing our own salad dressing too.... Who would have ever thought I could not get French dressing on the ship....

For the Vegan folks, pool side is out... There is nothing there for you but some fries and a veggie burger without a bun. Know the fries are cooked in the same oil as the meat though... (Makes it a no no for us)... The veggie burgers are cooked on the same grill next to the hamburgers, so if this is an issue for your vegans, know that. Oh, there is some fruit there. The veggie wraps are a no no as there is Mayo on them. See they are premade down stairs, so you can not request "no mayo". For dessert you will be limited to "soy icecream."

So I think they will be ok, especially adults. I will go back and look for a few vegan threads for you; OP....

 

[cherylp3]

after my last experience with dessert, I'm definitely planning this. They did make me cakes. Unfortunately my biggest issue was that you do not deal with the chef like the parks, you deal with a go between and you have to hope that they understand.

 

[cloudnut220]

I have a soy allergy and I'm worried it will not go well on the cruise since I've had problems at WDW with hidden soy. Luckily, my soy allergy won't kill me, but it does make me very, very sick.

 

[Caropooh]

My DD12 is Celiac, so we have experienced DCL gluten-free. We had it notated on our reservation and spoke with the head waiter in the dining room the first night. She was already aware of it, which made us feel more comfortable about the whole thing. (she had been diagnosed just 2 weeks before the cruise) Every night at dinner she would bring out the next evenings menu and have our daughter select what she wanted. That way it gave the chef time to make any changes that needed to be made. The head waiter was the one that always brought her out her entree. They had a basket of gluten-free rolls on the table for her every night.
For the buffets, we would notify them when we came in and they would send the chef out to talk to her. He would walk her through the buffet and point out things she could have. If there was something special she wanted, they would do the best to accommodate her.
Room service and quick service places can't really accommodate food allergies. They unfortunately just aren't set up for it. We asked a few times.

 

[K.Ohana]

Wow. Thank you all for the help! Exactly what I wanted to know. Sounds like they have the GF situation down fairly well. So good to hear. Yay for Mickey Bars being GF!!! My niece (4) will be so happy! Hoping to hear some good stories regarding vegan experiences.

Thank you all, again!

 

[cheesekate2005]

As for room service, we ordered the cheese and cracker and fruit platter quite a few times and asked for no crackers, it was fine - no problems!