DCL and egg allergy

[ekatiel]

I've searched this forum and not been able to find any threads for our exact allergy set, so I thought I'd ask: Anyone been on DCL with egg and nut allergies? DS generally cannot have egg, even in baked goods (he can tolerate a VERY small amount, but it's hit or miss, and we don't want to have a "miss" while on a cruise!). He is severely allergic to both eggs and peanuts, he can tolerate some tree nuts, but others he has never been given the "go ahead" on, so we generally avoid all tree nuts while on vacation. Will DCL be able to make him pancakes or waffles in the morning for breakfast? Will he have any dessert options? What brand ice cream do they carry on the ship? Is the soft serve ice cream egg and nut free? Our TA noted his allergies on our reservation. Is there a phone number I can call to get the answers to these questions? I know it's a ton of questions, but if anyone has answers to any of them, I'd love to hear. DS has cruised twice (once on Carnival and once of RCI), so we know the drill of ordering the evening before, etc. We have also been able to bring food on board so he would have safe options. I am hoping that since it's DCL, they will have options for him without us bringing much on board. --Katie

 

[kdeans1010]

I don't have any scary allergies like your son. But when Dad and I went, we noticed the wait staff was so on top of things. The first night for example, Dad and I both ordered vegetarian options and Denis (our waiter) was like "Oh you two are vegetarians! Oh great! We have good stuff!" And we both laughed and it was like "No we live on an island in upstate WA. We love seafood!" Anyhoo: I would put it in your reservation. Then just mention it a few times.

 

[Luv2Diz]

My DD has wheat and dairy allergies. We cruised on the Magic a couple weeks ago and she was extremely impressed with how they handled her food allergies. She had zero food issues the entire week. Each evening they brought her menus for the next day and she would pre-order both her lunch (in Lumiere's) and dinner. They would modify what she wanted to make it both dairy and gluten-free.

Dessert was usually "chef's surprise." She got some very nice sorbets with fruit. She was incredibly impressed with gluten-free apple stuffed beignets one day!

You shouldn't have any problems - the head servers will take care of you! You've already had your TA notify Disney of the allergies. Once you get onboard, go to wherever the Navigator indicates dining issues are being taken care of and make sure they have the food allergies listed.

I hope you are as impressed with how DCL handles food allergies as we were. My DD can't wait to cruise again, due in large part to the dining!

 

[havaneselover]

My BF cruise in '08 with a DD with a severe egg allergy and a DS with a nut/dairy allergy. I don't know the details but she is for obvious reasons a nervous wreck when dining out and was so impressed with how DCL handled everything. Wish I had more details.

 

[hamm1207]

As a PP said-make it known in your reservation and fill out the medical/allergies form. I think this canbe done before you board or at the dining issuse location once aboard. You will select the next day's lunch and dinner the night before, and they will prepare it for you accordingly. In the galley, the allergies meals are prepared in a separate location and even have their own slips to go with them. They really do a remarkable job! Feel free to call DCL with any questions!

 

[ItAllStrtdWAMouse]

We just got of the Dream last week. My son has a wheat egg allergy. They had allergy free, rolls, waffles, and pancakes for him. The waffles will NOT be mickey shaped.

According to the ship the Mickey bars have egg in them, however at the parks the mickey bars do not have egg. Not sure if they are a different supplier. I did notice they put little Mickey shaped sugar sprinkles on the bars (ship). This may have a meringue powder in them.

They did not have any cakes in the Dining rooms that were egg free. You can order an allergy free celebration cake from the pre-cruise gift section. I know it is wheat and egg free, you will need to call to verify if it is nut free.

They will treat the allergy very seriously. They will not mix items from the normal kitchen on the same plate as the allergy items. We brought prepackaged allergy free cookies and other snacks just in case. We only used the cookies we brought.

Hope this helps.

 

[ItAllStrtdWAMouse]

We just got of the Dream last week. My son has a wheat egg allergy. They had allergy free, rolls, waffles, and pancakes for him. The waffles will NOT be mickey shaped.

According to the ship the Mickey bars have egg in them, however at the parks the mickey bars do not have egg. Not sure if they are a different supplier. I did notice they put little Mickey shaped sugar sprinkles on the bars (ship). This may have a meringue powder in them.

They did not have any cakes in the Dining rooms that were egg free. You can order an allergy free celebration cake from the pre-cruise gift section. I know it is wheat and egg free, you will need to call to verify if it is nut free.

They will treat the allergy very seriously. They will not mix items from the normal kitchen on the same plate as the allergy items. We brought prepackaged allergy free cookies and other snacks just in case. We only used the cookies we brought.

Hope this helps.

One more thing in the kids club they do a sloppy food science experiment. If your son is going to use the Lab or club, be aware that this activity includes eggs. We made sure that the club knew our son could not have contact with wheat flour and as a precaution we excluded him from the egg activity as well.

 

[kcashner]

DCL makes it as easy for you as it can be anywhere on earth. Note the allergies on the reservation. When you board, you'll meet with the head server and/or chef assigned to your table. They will review your needs. The food will be prepared in a separate area to prevent cross contamination, and will be prepared just for the person needing it.

If you want to do a buffet, a head server or chef will walk the buffet line with you and advise you on what is safe. Most of the time, they will obtain a serving for you from the kitchen--again to prevent cross contamination. In all fairness, eating at the sit down locations takes a few minutes longer, but adds a safety factor.

At the fast food outlets, they will call someone to advise you, but generally can't do special orders or items. It's like you either can or cannot eat their pizza, but they usually can't do a special allergy safe pizza for someone in that location. You can, however, get an allergy safe version from room service....so it isn't that you can't get the food, just that you might not be able to get it from a particular place.

Kid activities....advise them ahead of time, but in general it may be easier to skip the cooking activities

 

[ekatiel]

We just got of the Dream last week. My son has a wheat egg allergy. They had allergy free, rolls, waffles, and pancakes for him. The waffles will NOT be mickey shaped.

According to the ship the Mickey bars have egg in them, however at the parks the mickey bars do not have egg. Not sure if they are a different supplier. I did notice they put little Mickey shaped sugar sprinkles on the bars (ship). This may have a meringue powder in them.

They did not have any cakes in the Dining rooms that were egg free. You can order an allergy free celebration cake from the pre-cruise gift section. I know it is wheat and egg free, you will need to call to verify if it is nut free.

They will treat the allergy very seriously. They will not mix items from the normal kitchen on the same plate as the allergy items. We brought prepackaged allergy free cookies and other snacks just in case. We only used the cookies we brought.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for all the info. It's good to know that he will be able to get pancakes, waffles, etc.

Egg in the Mickey Bars??!!! DS will be devastated about that . Don't they come pre-packaged? If so, did you ask to read the package? Was the soft-serve safe? Thanks, again for all the info! --Katie

 

[ekatiel]

I just got off the phone with Special Services. They say the Mickey Bars are the same ones they have in the parks, and DS ate those like crazy last month at WDW. I wonder if you got some bum information from one of the servers . I'm praying for a Mickey Bar filled vacation ! --Katie

 

[ItAllStrtdWAMouse]

I just got off the phone with Special Services. They say the Mickey Bars are the same ones they have in the parks, and DS ate those like crazy last month at WDW. I wonder if you got some bum information from one of the servers . I'm praying for a Mickey Bar filled vacation ! --Katie

When they served the bars to the other kids at our table they had candy sprinkles on them. I have come across other candies of this type that use meringue powder (egg whites) in them. I think this may be the source. I asked multiple times to recheck and both room service and the main dining rooms gave the same answer. I will be asking again in June, but be advised to recheck. Would like to know. I think they err in caution because they may be made in a facility that may handle egg products.

 

[aaklang]

I've searched this forum and not been able to find any threads for our exact allergy set, so I thought I'd ask: Anyone been on DCL with egg and nut allergies? DS generally cannot have egg, even in baked goods (he can tolerate a VERY small amount, but it's hit or miss, and we don't want to have a "miss" while on a cruise!). He is severely allergic to both eggs and peanuts, he can tolerate some tree nuts, but others he has never been given the "go ahead" on, so we generally avoid all tree nuts while on vacation. Will DCL be able to make him pancakes or waffles in the morning for breakfast? Will he have any dessert options? What brand ice cream do they carry on the ship? Is the soft serve ice cream egg and nut free? Our TA noted his allergies on our reservation. Is there a phone number I can call to get the answers to these questions? I know it's a ton of questions, but if anyone has answers to any of them, I'd love to hear. DS has cruised twice (once on Carnival and once of RCI), so we know the drill of ordering the evening before, etc. We have also been able to bring food on board so he would have safe options. I am hoping that since it's DCL, they will have options for him without us bringing much on board. --Katie

We cruised on the Fantasy in October. My son is 100% dairy, egg and nut free (all nuts, peanuts and tree nuts). We had a great cruise with no problems! I had heard that pancakes and waffles could be made for breakfast, but we didn't ever try. For breakfast, he would usually eat cereal with soy milk, sausage, and fruit. I am sure we could have gotten breads, bagels, or waffles/pancakes if we'd tried, but we wanted to have it easy and just go to the buffet, so we chose not to eat breakfast in the main dining rooms.

For lunch, we also usually ate either at the buffet or at the Cars-themed cafes by the pool. They would specially prepare food for him to make sure it wasn't cross-contaminated. It took a few extra minutes, but was worth it to know that it was safe. They would make his french fries in a separate vat of oil so it didn't mingle with things that had been battered with egg.

Dinners were great. We always ate in the main dining rooms. The waiter would bring us the menu for the following night so we could pre-select his food and make sure everything was safe. Only twice were we told they couldn't do something because the dish was pre-made off the ship and couldn't be altered. but there were always several things to choose from and he loved his food. After the first night, they were able to make him rich, delicious, chocolate-y desserts every single night. I thought they tasted great and I am a serious chocolate lover.

The allergy-friendly ice cream that I saw was Rice Dreams brand. It was available at the buffets; you just have to ask for it and they will scoop it for you. I think there were a couple of different flavors to choose from. I don't know if the regular soft-serve ice cream would be safe for him; since my son has to avoid dairy, I didn't even bother finding out.

We brought lots of packaged snacks on board to take with us whenever we were off the ship, since I didn't trust that we'd be able to get food for him in any of the ports (aside from Castaway Cay, which is prepped by the ship staff, so they can work with you). You can't bring any homemade food, but you really shouldn't need it.

We had a great experience with the staff and food on board with relation to the allergies.

 

[Fuhnuh]

DD12 has the same allergy set as Aaklang's DS (i.e., dairy, egg tree nut, and peanuts). We went on a five-day Dream cruise last August and had the same experience as Aaklang and Kcashner. We let the wait staff know where DD12 was going to eat the next morning and they would have fresh pancakes or frozen waffles (Van's I believe) available for us. At Cabanas, a chef walked us through the line to let us know what DD12 could have. We only had one problem at our first breakfast (at the Royal Palace), partly because we had not set up the meal in advance, partly because our server was somewhat putout by our allergy questions (he wasn't to happy about the dairy allergy of another cruiser at the next table either). Everyone else was great and understanding. You may want to make a note to talk to your server beforehand going to Castaway Cay to make sure they have something for your son to eat if there isn't anything at the BBQ that meets your sons needs/tastes. They delivered grilled chicken and french fries for DD12. DD12 has your son's allergy set plus dairy which complicates things a bit more, so you might not need this service.

Also, they went out of their way at dinner to give DD12 desert options, but she is not to into desert. Your server and head server at dinner the first night will help guide you.

 

[chimpwars]

this is a great thread. We leave on the 4th and dd is anaphylactic to any baked goods with egg. I am soooo nervous. I know when we were at disney world they were so wonderful, even the chef at cheg mickey's made dd a special cupake, she was one happy camper. Hoping for the same experience!!

 

[ecahoy]

Hi everyone--


We were on the Dream in Oct., and my DD is allergic to egg and chicken. She could eat Mickey bars--we had some brought to us by room service and confirmed from the wrappers that they were egg free. You could ask for them without the sprinkles in the dining room.

 

[ekatiel]

Hi everyone--


We were on the Dream in Oct., and my DD is allergic to egg and chicken. She could eat Mickey bars--we had some brought to us by room service and confirmed from the wrappers that they were egg free. You could ask for them without the sprinkles in the dining room.

Good to know ! My DS will be a happy mickey-bar-eating camper ! Do you happen to know if the soft serve out of the dispensers was safe? --Katie

 

[Bella29]

My son is allergic to eggs and peanuts. We have had great and not as great experiences. Our first cruise the DCL waiters were awesome and handled the allergies great, as described above. The second cruise was a little hairy the first night, but they finally figured it out. The third cruise the first THREE nights were totally frustrating. My son's food was brought out incredibly late at all three dinners, twice we were finishing our second course and he was just receiving his plate of blah food. Completely unacceptable. He didn't offer us the option of pre-ordering and we didn't know to ask.

The first two cruises (in 2005 and 2006), the allergy meals were handled by the head server. He came to the table to take the order, he went to the kitchen to deliver the order, he brought out the plate and served it himself. These guys knew what they were doing. No pre-ordering unless it was something from a different restaurant on the ship.

On our last cruise (2010), the head server was unconcerned and the waiter said he would handle it. Maybe this is the new policy, I am not sure. The waiter was NOT good with allergies. After complaining to our concierge and the front desk, somehow he magically figured it out. Maybe he was new and needed to be trained in? It was frustrating but once he figured it out things were much better. My advice is to not wait three days like us, if the first meal goes badly push hard to get better service. They ARE capable of it!

I'll also mention that in one of the early years, we had a bad experience with him eating with the kids' club. They took the kids to some restaurant and gave him a plate of mac and cheese with fries. He was 7 or 8 and knew he couldn't eat cafeteria mac and cheese, it is usually made with egg noodles. He told an attendant and they took the mac away, but brought nothing else, so all he got to eat was a few fries.

Aside from those annoyances, we have been very happy and are cruising again at the end of this year. I really wouldn't trust the kids' club to feed young children, but once we got the right person to help us, the dining rooms were great. Presuming you get a waiter who knows what he's doing, you won't have to worry about a thing. In the buffets, like the first day, and at Cookie's on CC, you have to ask for a chef to show you around and point out what is safe and what is not. They can make something simple made to order if necessary as well even though it's buffet.

Room service can advise you about allergies. The sit-down restaurants can make an egg-free waffle (ours was Mickey shaped) if you pre-order it. Mickey bars have been no problem, you can get one from room service with a wrapper to double check the ingredients. In 2005, pizza from Goofy's Galley had egg but Palo pizza did not. In 2010, Goofy's Galley pizza was fine. Soft-serve ice cream on the ship is fine (we just avoid the toppings), but on Castaway Cay the soft serve can have things added to the mix, like cookie dough with eggs. For desserts in the restaurants, of course there are Mickey bars, and I believe the ice cream sundae was fine and they made an egg-free chocolate mousse that was so rich and thick, I could barely eat it. But my son LOVED it.

Also make sure you fax in the medical form so the allergy is on record. Have a great cruise!

 

[Bella29]

ack, just noticed this is an older thread, sorry!!

 

[lilpooh108]

We cruised on the Fantasy in October. My son is 100% dairy, egg and nut free (all nuts, peanuts and tree nuts). We had a great cruise with no problems! I had heard that pancakes and waffles could be made for breakfast, but we didn't ever try. For breakfast, he would usually eat cereal with soy milk, sausage, and fruit. I am sure we could have gotten breads, bagels, or waffles/pancakes if we'd tried, but we wanted to have it easy and just go to the buffet, so we chose not to eat breakfast in the main dining rooms.

For lunch, we also usually ate either at the buffet or at the Cars-themed cafes by the pool. They would specially prepare food for him to make sure it wasn't cross-contaminated. It took a few extra minutes, but was worth it to know that it was safe. They would make his french fries in a separate vat of oil so it didn't mingle with things that had been battered with egg.

Dinners were great. We always ate in the main dining rooms. The waiter would bring us the menu for the following night so we could pre-select his food and make sure everything was safe. Only twice were we told they couldn't do something because the dish was pre-made off the ship and couldn't be altered. but there were always several things to choose from and he loved his food. After the first night, they were able to make him rich, delicious, chocolate-y desserts every single night. I thought they tasted great and I am a serious chocolate lover.

The allergy-friendly ice cream that I saw was Rice Dreams brand. It was available at the buffets; you just have to ask for it and they will scoop it for you. I think there were a couple of different flavors to choose from. I don't know if the regular soft-serve ice cream would be safe for him; since my son has to avoid dairy, I didn't even bother finding out.

We brought lots of packaged snacks on board to take with us whenever we were off the ship, since I didn't trust that we'd be able to get food for him in any of the ports (aside from Castaway Cay, which is prepped by the ship staff, so they can work with you). You can't bring any homemade food, but you really shouldn't need it.

We had a great experience with the staff and food on board with relation to the allergies.

My DD has these exact allergies (egg, dairy, nuts). Would you mind saying what your son was able to eat (specific dishes if you can remember)? We've been on 4 cruises so far and although DCL takes allergies seriously, the food variety is not impressive. She is essentially given: 1) rice noodles & marinara. 2) pan fried chicken strips & fries every night. By the end of the 7 night she literally stopped eating. Dessert is always Rice Dream ice cream.

What other variety of dishes are there for a dairy/egg/nut allergic child?

We're doing a 7 night med and I'm thinking of ordering "adult" dishes that cater to her allergies just so once in a while she can have something different.

 

[ItAllStrtdWAMouse]

My DD has these exact allergies (egg, dairy, nuts). Would you mind saying what your son was able to eat (specific dishes if you can remember)? We've been on 4 cruises so far and although DCL takes allergies seriously, the food variety is not impressive. She is essentially given: 1) rice noodles & marinara. 2) pan fried chicken strips & fries every night. By the end of the 7 night she literally stopped eating. Dessert is always Rice Dream ice cream.

What other variety of dishes are there for a dairy/egg/nut allergic child?

We're doing a 7 night med and I'm thinking of ordering "adult" dishes that cater to her allergies just so once in a while she can have something different.

My son ordered off the adult menu. They brought him steak and ribs. The kids meals are not particularly exciting.

Deserts were lacking, mostly cake based. He ordered a Sundae with chocolate sauce. (wheat and egg allergy).

We had an alert on the reservation and the first night they had a gluten/egg free pizza and grilled chicken tenders ready. The second night we pre-ordered. We also pre-ordered a meal for him on the night he was in kids club. We had to let the club know which restaurant and server to contact for the meal. My son confirmed he got exactly what we ordered.