Food Allergies and Disney Cruise

[Sarasein]

Hi y'all. We are in the early stages of planning for a cruise. My youngest has been diagnosed with Egg and dairy allergies. How does this work on a cruise? Do they have the chocolate soy milk, dairy/egg free baked goods? What about dairy free margarine? What breakfast options do they have? Right now, I am doing most of her baking. She tends to eat meat, fruits and veggies, plus the homemade baked stuff. Are there egg/ dairy free chicken nuggets?

 

[squirrel]

There is a thread over on the DCL board with some information.

I know that they carry Silk Chocolate and Vanilla.

They need the allergies listed on your reservation so either call them or have your travel agent call (if you have one).

 

[Mymatisse]

I had THE worst experience this past month on the Fantasy with food allergies. First the allergies were notated wrong in Disney's system and when you call to tell them what you are allergic to there is no way to verify that the person that you are speaking to got it correct. All of my and my daughter's allergies were listed under my husband who has NO allergies.

So the first night we were at dinner it took literally 4 of 5 times just explaining that he had NO allergies we did.

My allergies are kind of quirky. Like I can't eat soy if it's one of the main ingredients but if it has soy oil or soy lecithin i'm ok. My daughter cannot drink milk but can have by products-stuff cooked with milk. No one could understand this so for the first half hour to forty five minutes of our meat I sat with no food in front of me because all of their butter had some sort of soy product in it. They finally brought me the wrapper and I told them it would be fine. I ended up with a dry piece of meal and a plain baked potato because they wouldn't bring me anything else. There is so much more- basically the entire experience was horrible and nothing like anything I have ever experienced with Disney and allergies. They are usually great!

This just put a damper on the entire trip.

 

[lilouisianagal]

We were on the Dream in May and they were certainly very conscientious about our allergies (shellfish for me, peanut for DH). Our main server was very good, going to the point of having us pick our selections for dinner the night before so they could prep them separately. Similar to PP though they tended to go overboard. I can eat fish and mussels, an DH is only allergic to peanut meat (not allergic to things cooked in the oils or any other nuts). Our assistant who handled the breads went overboard always telling hubby he couldn't eat the bread and bringing out plain rolls. Maybe it was the language barrier though. I'd rather that they go overboard than not in the case of allergies!

 

[lanejudy]

I had THE worst experience this past month on the Fantasy with food allergies. First the allergies were notated wrong in Disney's system and when you call to tell them what you are allergic to there is no way to verify that the person that you are speaking to got it correct. All of my and my daughter's allergies were listed under my husband who has NO allergies.

So the first night we were at dinner it took literally 4 of 5 times just explaining that he had NO allergies we did.

My allergies are kind of quirky. Like I can't eat soy if it's one of the main ingredients but if it has soy oil or soy lecithin i'm ok. My daughter cannot drink milk but can have by products-stuff cooked with milk. No one could understand this so for the first half hour to forty five minutes of our meat I sat with no food in front of me because all of their butter had some sort of soy product in it. They finally brought me the wrapper and I told them it would be fine. I ended up with a dry piece of meal and a plain baked potato because they wouldn't bring me anything else. There is so much more- basically the entire experience was horrible and nothing like anything I have ever experienced with Disney and allergies. They are usually great!

This just put a damper on the entire trip.

First, I'm sorry you had a bad experience that impeded your enjoyment of the cruise.

Your husband's name was probably listed as the "primary" person on the reservation, and everything is connected to that person. I thought you could email or fax a form informing DCL of allergies, that might eliminate any confusion of phone calls.

Also, I think they do tend to be overly cautious as unfortunately they do need to proect themselves in today's legal-happy world. Once an allergy is noted they are trained to be very careful about allowing the allergic person access to foods that "might" cause reaction. I'm a little confused about your daughter's allergy - if she simply can't drink straight milk but anything made with milk is allowed, it might be easier to just order her a non-milk beverage than confuse the issue with servers.

I say this because my daughter has a rather unusual medically-prescribed diet for a rare kidney condition - a low oxalate diet. It is impossible to read labels but rather refer to a list of "approved" foods and then have to use judgement. I have found over the past few years dealing with this that it is definitely less confusing and less stressful for me to monitor what she eats rather than leaving that on school/restaurant/DCL/etc. Obviously that wouldn't be an acceptable practice for someone with a severe life-threatening allergy (including eating or simple contact with the allergen). If the allergen is easily avoidable, it may be better to self-manage than making a mountain out of a molehill and having a frustrating experience. Just my experience.