DCL and food allergies

[Laine Anderson]

I know from reading about it on the DCL website and from talking to a staff member via email that discussing with the wait staff and chef at the first opportunity about my food allergies will ensure a good experience. I would just like to hear from someone who has cruised with food allergies what your experience was like.

I'm allergic to gluten, dairy, eggs and soy. What's left, right?

I substitute cow milk with vanilla almond milk (for cereal and coffee). Is any almond milk available on the cruise?

And speaking of cereal, are there any gluten free options? I usually eat GF rice chex but any GF cereal will be fine.

Are there any gluten free breads available? I'm thinking for sandwiches and burgers mainly.

With the above mentioned food allergies, is there anything to be especially concerned with? My allergies are so severe that I have to carry an epipen with me everywhere I go.

If I'm limited in terms of what's available on-board, I know we have a mini fridge in the state room, but how big is it? How much will it hold? Or is it already stocked like a mini bar?

We were planning on shopping for a few things prior to boarding and almond milk is one of those things I don't think I can do without. I just want to know if I can even fit it into the mini fridge.

Thank you!
Laine
Dream Nov 30 2015
our first Disney cruise

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I know from reading about it on the DCL website and from talking to a staff member via email that discussing with the wait staff and chef at the first opportunity about my food allergies will ensure a good experience. I would just like to hear from someone who has cruised with food allergies what your experience was like.

I'm allergic to gluten, dairy, eggs and soy. What's left, right?

I substitute cow milk with vanilla almond milk (for cereal and coffee). Is any almond milk available on the cruise?

And speaking of cereal, are there any gluten free options? I usually eat GF rice chex but any GF cereal will be fine.

Are there any gluten free breads available? I'm thinking for sandwiches and burgers mainly.

With the above mentioned food allergies, is there anything to be especially concerned with? My allergies are so severe that I have to carry an epipen with me everywhere I go.

If I'm limited in terms of what's available on-board, I know we have a mini fridge in the state room, but how big is it? How much will it hold? Or is it already stocked like a mini bar?

We were planning on shopping for a few things prior to boarding and almond milk is one of those things I don't think I can do without. I just want to know if I can even fit it into the mini fridge.

Thank you!
Laine
Dream Nov 30 2015
our first Disney cruise

Well, all I can help you with is a picture of the cereals available in the buffet for breakfast:


And to tell you the "mini-bar" in the room is a basic little fridge (it's in the cabinet under the TV in this picture). There's nothing in it, you put what you want in there. Some of them don't have shelves but they do come with a shelf in it. We've kept a couple of 2 liter bottles and several cans of soda in there with no problem.

 

[jtba]

there was a recent thread about that, slightly different allergens though (eggs, dairy, peanut, and tree nuts; other posters made references to gluten as well):

http://www.disboards.com/threads/food-questions-pn-tn-egg-dairy-allergies.3420223/

I know from reading about it on the DCL website and from talking to a staff member via email that discussing with the wait staff and chef at the first opportunity about my food allergies will ensure a good experience. I would just like to hear from someone who has cruised with food allergies what your experience was like.

I'm allergic to gluten, dairy, eggs and soy. What's left, right?

I substitute cow milk with vanilla almond milk (for cereal and coffee). Is any almond milk available on the cruise?

And speaking of cereal, are there any gluten free options? I usually eat GF rice chex but any GF cereal will be fine.

Are there any gluten free breads available? I'm thinking for sandwiches and burgers mainly.

With the above mentioned food allergies, is there anything to be especially concerned with? My allergies are so severe that I have to carry an epipen with me everywhere I go.

If I'm limited in terms of what's available on-board, I know we have a mini fridge in the state room, but how big is it? How much will it hold? Or is it already stocked like a mini bar?

We were planning on shopping for a few things prior to boarding and almond milk is one of those things I don't think I can do without. I just want to know if I can even fit it into the mini fridge.

Thank you!
Laine
Dream Nov 30 2015
our first Disney cruise

 

[AngelDisney]

DD is not allergic but to control her asthma symptoms, she is gluten free, dairy free (lactose intolerant), egg free and she is is sensitive to soy milk which makes her throat itchy. I have put on my reservation about her lactose intolerance and requested almond or coconut milk. I have read somewhere in another thread saying that they usually carry soy milk as an alternative for milk. To make sure they have almond milk or coconut milk available onboard, it is better to put in a request. I would suggest you note your diet restrictions on your reservation and request for the almond milk.

Hope this helps! Have fun planning!!

 

[antlawn]

We were on the Wonder for the 2 week Panama Canal cruise. Granddaughter has most of your allergies, plus beef and pork. We notified DCL very early on and again closer to sail date. Was very disappointed upon first nights dining experience. Waiters said, "here's what you can order". What?? We were under the impression that there would be plenty of "safe" foods, or an "allergy menu", so to speak. Nope, she was just told each night what she could eat off that menu. Maybe it was just our wait staff, but was really disappointed.

 

[MunFam]

We were on the Wonder for the 2 week Panama Canal cruise. Granddaughter has most of your allergies, plus beef and pork. We notified DCL very early on and again closer to sail date. Was very disappointed upon first nights dining experience. Waiters said, "here's what you can order". What?? We were under the impression that there would be plenty of "safe" foods, or an "allergy menu", so to speak. Nope, she was just told each night what she could eat off that menu. Maybe it was just our wait staff, but was really disappointed.

We were on that same cruise...the 2015 WBPC? We also had horrible experiences as far as food and allergies were concerned. My DD ate the same 10 or so things for 15 straight days. It was awful.

Also, the picture above shows Chex as an option. They were not available on our cruise. The only GF option was Rice Krispies. They had Frosted Flakes, but they were the Whole Grain kind...so that made them out for our GF needs. For hot cereals, there were no options. Only Oatmeal and Cream of Wheat, No Cream of Rice.

OP, if you read the thread linked above, you will see how we dealt with our allergies on board. The "refrigerator" is not a refrigerator. It is a beverage cooler. Additionally, you will not be allowed to legally bring anything perishable on board. It has to be shelf stable. We (completely by accident) got on string cheese and lunchable because I put them in my bag for DD and meant to toss them before boarding and forgot...when we got to our room, they were there. So I accidentally broke the law. They definitely questioned us at the ports and inspected our bags coming and going for prohibited items.

 

[teenal100]

I have a tree nut allergy and the crew on the Magic this past December were great. The service staff brought the menu for the next night each evening and I was able to choose what I wanted and the galley staff ensured that meal was okay for me to eat. The only thing that was a bit challenging was breakfast with the breads, as they could not ensure that there was no nut exposure or content. I chose not to eat the breakfast breads. Call Disney a head of time and when you board, go to the main dining room where the staff are and speak with the staff. They will ensure that your allergies are noted and can give you more information on what they will do to assist you with meals.
Have a Great Trip!

 

[nancy drew]

We sailed on the Dream in 2014. I am vegan and gluten-free, and my daughter has shellfish, tree nut, and coconut allergies. While I've never been tested for allergies, I do know when I've been exposed to the foods I avoid.

We ate like royalty.

Now, I'm not specific about what I need to eat. For breakfast I made do with what was on the buffet, unless I could find our head server from dinner who would have waffles made for me. But I think we only did that once, because usually we wanted to get off the ship as quickly as we could. So I had fruit, and I'm not sure what else, lol.

We went to Atlantis in Nassau, and our excursion came with lunch included. Literally the only thing I could eat was fries made in a special fryer, and it took like 30 minutes (at a counter service) to get them. They felt bad, so they gave me 2 bags of chips too.

On Castaway I had pre-ordered my meal and picked it up at the designated buffet (they will tell you where to get it).

For lunch on the ship, our head server was in the buffet so he had his preferred chef make something for me.

For dinner I ordered my meal the night before. I was always served rolls, there were some spreads I could have on them and maybe dairy-free margarine but I don't remember. I was always offered sorbet for dessert but I think I only had it once because I was so incredibly full.

My advice:

• Befriend your head server, server, and assistant server! Befriend them as soon as possible! I mean, do that anyway, but they will totally take care of you especially if they like you and you are kind to them. Our head server had these stuffed peppers made for me. They were made by his preferred chef, who came from the same country as him. We were going on and on about how good they were- and they were good!!! And this meant so much to him. He told us how this was food from his country, and he doesn't like American food, etc. It really helped form a bond, and he always took care of us.
• Be pro-active about your meals. When you see your head server at dinner, and he comes to talk to you, ask about breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next day. Obviously be nice, but don't wait for them to ask you. At the beginning I would ask "So what do I do about breakfast tomorrow?" or "Should I order tomorrow's dinner tonight?" Sometimes they said they would handle it at the end of the meal, and I'd politely ask again if needed. Don't wait for them to ask you to place an order, and don't be upset if they don't ask you first (they might!)- be proactive.
• Ask someone to walk you through the buffet each time. Ask questions while they do. If they skip over the salad bar and you have questions, ask to go back to the salad bar. If they don't seem to know what they are doing, they'll probably have enough sense to ask someone else. The servers in the buffet always deferred to the head servers, so you might get passed around a bit. That's OK, they are just trying to take care of you and make sure you get the right answer.
• I'm pretty sure there is sorbet available in the buffets. Not everyone knows this. And it isn't always on both sides. And sometimes the guy on one side has no idea that it is available on the other side.

Overall, just be proactive, ask, ask, and ask again. Be polite, be kind, and know that you won't go hungry. You're lucky you can have meat! Also if you are going off the ship, you can't bring food with you, at all. So if you have an excursion, you will be stuck with whatever they have there, no exceptions. On Castaway just make sure you've ordered ahead of time, unless you are OK with the burgers/hot dogs etc. But if you need special food, order it the night before with your head server.

Have fun!!!

 

[TravelinCyn]

So we deal with a couple of fun allergies- capiscum, eggplant, olives for me, artificial food dye for our kid. To say these things are prevalent in food service is an understatement. That lovely paprika garnish? Deadly to me. The spicing on the menu at Parrot Cay? Ugh. And the maraschino cherries in every kid's drink? We carry an epi-pen for that. Sigh. But allergies on DCL are eminently doable.

Fill out the special services form and fax it on in, then call to follow up and make sure they fully understand and have the issues noted. We've had 2 great and 1 not so great experiences- both of our fabulous allergy handling trips were on the Wonder. We were on the Wonder this May, after the Panama Canal cruise that was troublesome for 2 previous posters, which makes me think that a lot of the allergy handling comes down to the service team you have. They SHOULD hand you the menus for the next night and have you pre-order. They can steer you towards what will work and what can't. Based on our experience, the kitchen team can and will make reasonable adjustments to get the dish as close to the intention of the original dish as possible, while still being safe for the allergic diner, but it's got to be communicated by the service team.

If your service team doesn't do a good job the first night or doesn't take your orders for the next night, talk to your head server or politely escalate to the manager of your rotation. In each dining room there are server/assistant server teams who handle a couple of tables, head servers who oversee several of these server/assistant server duos and thus oversee a zone of tables, and then a manager for the whole squad-o-service. You can talk to that manager if you get nowhere with the head server or your service team. Do not be afraid to self-advocate, but be polite- often times, we've found, people are so scared of the allergies they default to saying 'nope can't have anything!' rather than try to communicate and work through it.

 

[MunFam]

You're lucky you can have meat! Also if you are going off the ship, you can't bring food with you, at all. So if you have an excursion, you will be stuck with whatever they have there, no exceptions.

This is not completely true. You can take non-perishable pre-packaged foods off the ship. It must be in the original manufacturers package (so putting something in a sandwich baggy does not count. LOL I saw that suggested on here once). If you open that package while in port, you cannot bring it back on board. You have to toss it, so make sure you have the individual serving sized (snack pack) varieties. This information came directly from the DCL food allergy person that contacted us. The policies are also available online for each port the ship pulls in to.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Certain ports do not allow food to be taken off, some do, they will tell you on the ship.

 

[Flossbolna]

Certain ports do not allow food to be taken off, some do, they will tell you on the ship.

Yes, I was just going to post that. I know that the OP is going on the Dream, but others who might read this could be interested: On the Norway cruise, taking food off the ship was not an issue at all!

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Yes, I was just going to post that. I know that the OP is going on the Dream, but others who might read this could be interested: On the Norway cruise, taking food off the ship was not an issue at all!

Yes Europe seems fine but re USA laws on fruit some Caribbean islands then gave their own rules to hit back. I have had announcements I think Grand Cayman and Cozumrl saying only sealed bottled water can be taken off. In the Med last year Brent was encouraging people to take it off for long days sightseeing.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Fruit restriction in certain countries is basically because of the fruit fly issues. Any countries that has a area warm enough all year to support that colonizing of the flies, will not be permit fruit being brought into the country. Any countries that has a cold enough climate in the winter, it doesn't matter as the winter will kill the colonies.

EI its a issue in the US with the southern part of the countries being warm, but not in Canada/ Norway as the entire counties have cold winters.

AKK

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Fruit restriction in certain countries is basically because of the fruit fly issues. Any countries that has a area warm enough all year to support that colonizing of the flies, will not be permit fruit being brought into the country. Any countries that has a cold enough climate in the winter, it doesn't matter as the winter will kill the colonies.

EI its a issue in the US with the southern part of the countries being warm, but not in Canada/ Norway as the entire counties have cold winters.

AKK

TS Agree we were also informed a bit of reciprocal laws against each other by a number of tour guides.