cruising with a milk allergy

[hamm1207]

How does cruising with an allergy work? My daughter will be 1 year old at the time of the cruise. We're not sure how bad the allergy is yet as we haven't seen the doctor yet...we gave her whole milk yogurt and her face swelled and she had red patches on her face.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Cruising will be fine. Just tell them that she has a milk allergy on your first night at MDR. When you are at the buffet, also mention the dairy allergy and they will walk you through all the choices. Not sure about eating on excursions, though. When you go to the doctor, I'm sure they'll have something that you can bring along in case she eats something.

 

[wcw57]

and, as far as allergies go, when I was an infant I reacted to penicillin...the Dr said infant allergies often change as you grow and that is why I am no longer reactive.....good luck

 

[Dug720]

Go ahead and have it marked on your reservation. AND let your servers and head waiter know.

 

[party-of-five]

My DS has a peanut/tree nut allergy and he and his little brother have dairy/soy sesutivities. Our experience was very positive on board. As others stated, have it noted on your reservation and mention it again to your server. They took it very seriously. My boys drink chocolate rice milk - I brought what we needed on board with us and kept it cool in the stateroom fridge. Good luck! Hope she outgrows it!

 

[hamm1207]

Thanks everyone!! I'll be sure to make it known to our head server, server, the nursery, etc. Her dad was the same way and he outgrew it, so hopefully she will too!

 

[kdogfister]

One of our party has allergies to just about everything (milk, soy, legumes, eggs and many more). Note the allergy and be prepared to coordinate meals with the head server. We just had to say where we'd be eating the next day and what we wanted him to have for meals the next day and they'd get it prepared and ready at that particular spot.

 

[schmass]

Both of my kids have allergies (including dairy), and since I was nursing the baby on our cruise, I had to avoid dairy as well. DCL does an amazing job of taking care of food allergies. We all felt very well-taken care of the whole time. You will most likely order all meals for the next day while at dinner, and everything will be all taken care of you when you show up to eat. They take allergies very seriously and you won't need to worry about a thing.

 

[hamm1207]

Any idea what brand almond milk and rice milk they have on board? I forgot to ask DCL when I added the allergy to our reservation.

 

[Starwind]

Any idea what brand almond milk and rice milk they have on board? I forgot to ask DCL when I added the allergy to our reservation.

I am anaphylactic to milk, peanuts, tree nuts, and seafood.

I was offered soy milk on board but don't remember the brand. I'm not sure what other alternative milks they may have. Your best bet would be to write or call DCL and ask, though someone else may be able to share their experience.

We have sailed with DCL four times so far (cruises 5 and 6 are booked for 2017). One of the reasons we sail with them is because of how well they manage food allergies.

Some notes:

- you've already added the allergy to your reservation

- on embarkation day, go to the "dining changes" meeting with dining services (it will be in the Navigator, in one of the MDRs -- note: it may be the side entrance not the main entrance); verify they have the allergy listed; they may or may not have you order dinner for that night

- while some allergy-safe foods can be made in the quick service places on the pool deck, your best option for safe food is in the MDRs as they have more options, raw ingredients to work with, etc >> we eat there for all 3 meals, though will sometimes grab a snack from elsewhere

- IME, each night at dinner we were asked to order our meals for the next day; on our first cruise I only ordered dinner, but on subsequent cruises I ordered all 3. Much easier We just had to tell them which restaurant (MDR, or, for lunch a couple time we have done at Cabanas but my lunch is prepared and brought out by a head server, not the buffet) for breakfast and lunch and about what time. The serving staff also told us where THEY would be for those meals, and we usually tried to eat at the same place they would be at. Pre-ordering meant a wider selection of food choices, and things like Mickey waffles at breakfast if I wanted them

- I ordered things I knew could reasonably be modified; but for example, they made me safe french onion soup, butternut squash soup, tomato soup, pizza... all of which require some additional creativity

- if ordering on the spot (ie not a pre-ordered meal), make sure you let the server know about the allergy; it lets proper precautions be taken, AND milk is an insidious critter that hides in all kinds of foods and drinks you would not expect it -- do not assume something is safe, ASK.

- ALWAYS VISUALLY CHECK ALL FOOD AND DRINKS before you eat them. The dining staff are GREAT, but MISTAKES CAN HAPPEN. So ALWAYS do a visual check to make sure it "looks right". Pull apart the layers of the burger to make sure there is no cheese. Look at the salad to make sure they did not put cheese shavings on it (this happened to me one night; the server and I realized it was the wrong salad at the same time and let me tell you he was very fast at taking it away from the table and apologizing profusely and then getting the proper one brought; it was the only time I know of that a mistake was made with my food, at least where it managed to get served to me). Soymilk should have an offwhite colour not the very white of cow's milk. etc.


SW

 

[ajo]

We've traveled with kids with special dietary needs several times now. We always complete the special services form and send it in before our cruise. Here's a link to the form: https://wdpromedia.disney.go.com/me...sabilities/SpecialServicesInformationForm.pdf The folks there are very nice and will make sure they understand what the allergy or other food issues are before you cruise and put the note on your reservation.

When you board the ship, there will be dining services folks in one of the MDRs to deal with seating changes, time changes, and the like. They are also available to discuss your allergy requirements (or any special diet issues) and make arrangements for that night's dinner. The navigator will list the specific location (it's usually on the front page, lower left side). Our experience is that they will confirm that your food issue is noted in your reservation and will call the head server/chef to make sure they have an appropriate meal for that first night. Then you will deal with your head server/serving team each night for the next day's meals.

 

[amanda ek]

Any idea what brand almond milk and rice milk they have on board? I forgot to ask DCL when I added the allergy to our reservation.

On our Jan 2016 Magic cruise, I saw sitting in ice at the cereal station: silk brand plain unsweetened almond milk, pacific brand plain rice milk, not sure of the brand of the soy milk but it was plain flavor as well.

 

[hamm1207]

On our Jan 2016 Magic cruise, I saw sitting in ice at the cereal station: silk brand plain unsweetened almond milk, pacific brand plain rice milk, not sure of the brand of the soy milk but it was plain flavor as well.

Awesome! Thank you!

 

[hamm1207]

Should I plan on taking a package of single serve almond milks on board? Or will they have enough if she's drinking three-five glasses a day.

 

[PlanoNana]

I would expect that they will have enough on board, especially if you've notified them that she can't have dairy and needs Almond Milk. I know DD was told that she could get a quart of Lactaid to keep in the fridge in the room on a daily basis since she has to thicken her DD's milk because of a swallowing issue.

 

[hamm1207]

I would expect that they will have enough on board, especially if you've notified them that she can't have dairy and needs Almond Milk. I know DD was told that she could get a quart of Lactaid to keep in the fridge in the room on a daily basis since she has to thicken her DD's milk because of a swallowing issue.

That's good to know! The DCL rep did say to check in with the dining services folks on embarkation day.

 

[GinaMamaDisney]

Thanks for posting this. Answered my questions about dairy milk alternatives.

 

[hamm1207]

Thanks for posting this. Answered my questions about dairy milk alternatives.

I'll know more after our cruise at the end of November.

 

[MunFam]

I'm sorry to be a buzzkill, but you will be sailing on the Wonder and from what I have gathered (and experienced 1st hand) that ship just does not meet the same allergy hype as the other boats. We had TWO meals served to DD that contained her allergen (egg and or milk). We noted it on the file, met with the head ship on embarkation day, talked to our servers, reminded them at every meal and STILL had two issues.

We got home from our cruise in May 2015 very disappointed because I expected DCL to meet the "great with food allergies" reports here on DIS. I read about them making special desserts, meals, etc. I read about how great they were with cross contamination. Well, not only did they NOT make anything special (and I asked multiple times over the 15 days on board), they straight up served her food that was not safe. One time it was a meal in the kids club, where they assured me they could send her a safe dinner. Thankfully, I went to check on her meal before she ate it. 2 others on our cruise ended up in medical for anaphylaxis reactions to cross contamination. When I got home, I did more digging on DIS and determined that the bigger ships are the real allergy rockstars and the Wonder was the worst in the batch.

So my advice to you is to not let your allergy guard down. Check, check and check again and buy travel insurance in case something does happen.

FWIW, my DD's 1st taste of milk was a swollen face and red blotchy skin with welts. The second time was anaphylaxis and it almost killed her. It appears that she is now outgrowing it/the numbers are going down.