Cruising With Allergies

[CamColt]

MY DS has a peanut allergy. On our first cruise with him we just informed our servers about it and everything was fine. However since then Ive read here on the boards that people cruising with an allergy should send in a medical form. I was thinking of doing that for an upcoming cruise(not DCL), but was questioned by family of WHY I was doing that, and what good I thought it would do. Honestly I didnt have a good answer, other than to alert the staff of the allergy.
So, for those who have sent in a medical form to a cruise line, what exactly did it do for you?
Thanks for any info!

 

[AnnMorin]

that includes chicken broth eggs etc.. I have never sent a medical form just inform the head waitor and our wait staff the first night, they have always been great telling me what to avoid.. of course I do have an epi pen with me just in case..

 

[CamColt]

Thanks for the reply. I was under the impression that that was sufficient too(it worked fine last time), but after reading again and again how much people stress getting that form, Im thinking it must do something.
One thing that Im thinking might be difficult is that our cruise has freestyle dining so theres no knowing who our waiters will be at any given time.

BTW, I agree with you tag...especially today.

 

[pediatric-rnp]

The 16 yr old daughter of a friend of mine is extremely allergic to several types of nuts - she always has an epipen with her. My friend just raved about how careful the waiters on the cruise were regarding her food, and that they remembered each night on their own, without being reminded. Special desserts were provided for her each night, as most of the desserts had some amount of nuts in them.
My DH has celiac sprue - an allergy to wheat and gluten and a major nightmare traveling, as so many foods contain these items. Our TA notified DCL when she booked the trip, but nothing was ever mentioned about a form being completed. We are doing the land/sea pkg, so when I booked our priority seating res. for the WDW restaurants, I mentioned his diagnosis, and was told it would be noted on our reservation. I was then given the number for each restauant and told to call each one a week before our trip, so I could speak with the head chef, and he would make certain they had appropriate food choices for him. It really seems that they go out of their way to accomodate people with food allergies.
Carol
Know what you mean about the snow - wasn't last night's storm just the pits?! Our April trip just can't come soon enough!

 

[MarkRG]

The WHY part is actually very simple, they will have it on file in writing. I don't know how old DS is, but say you leave him in the arcade, or in one of the kids clubs or something. And he has a reaction to something, they'll have it on file in the medical office that he has such an allergy and be prepared for him. Word of mouth is ok, but it is better to notify them in advance in writing.

 

[CamColt]

Thanks for the replies. Thats basically what I was trying to explain to my family, but I kept getting the "Why bother, the letter will just end up in the trash" answer.
Like I said, I never would have though to do that(and didnt) until I read so many people stressing the importance of it here.