Food Allergies and Excursions

[Naomi Collison]

Has anyone ever dealt with food allergies on excursions? I know you can take packaged food off the ship, but DD has weird allergies (potato, oat, wheat, and dairy). There are very few packaged foods that are safe for her to eat. Can we bring our own bread / pbj and make her a picnic lunch to bring? We would like to do a sandwich and a squeezy with maybe a cookie or two. Thanks.

 

[lanejudy]

You'll only be allowed to bring pre-packaged (unopened) items off the ship in port. So that negates making your own PBJ. The ship does have uncrustables, but those might not suit for her allergies. Are there any pre-packaged snack items you buy for her at home? You can bring those along. Also there are some mini cereal boxes available at Cabanas in the morning that can be taken off the ship unopened.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[Naomi Collison]

Thanks! Off to figure out meals. There are a lot of cereals she can't have and uncrustables are out due to dairy and wheat in the bread, but forewarned is forearmed and we can bring meals for the shore excursions we have planned.

 

[hswillia07]

Hi Naomi! When are you cruising? I would certainly be interested in your experience. My almost 2 year old is anaphylactic to wheat, milk, and eggs. We would like to cruise when she is 3.5 and I'm pretty nervous about it. I would certainly love to hear any tips or tricks that you come up with!

 

[Naomi Collison]

Hi Naomi! When are you cruising? I would certainly be interested in your experience. My almost 2 year old is anaphylactic to wheat, milk, and eggs. We would like to cruise when she is 3.5 and I'm pretty nervous about it. I would certainly love to hear any tips or tricks that you come up with!

Not for a while yet. Next July, but we have had so many issues with her allergies that it is something I plan for way in advance. I absolutely will let you know how it goes and what did / didn't work for us. My DD will be 3yrs 1m on our cruise so same age range.

We are also doing a land and sea adventure, so the week before will be in WDW. Do you have any tips on that portion? If not, I will share everything I learn there too

 

[hswillia07]

Not for a while yet. Next July, but we have had so many issues with her allergies that it is something I plan for way in advance. I absolutely will let you know how it goes and what did / didn't work for us. My DD will be 3yrs 1m on our cruise so same age range.

We are also doing a land and sea adventure, so the week before will be in WDW. Do you have any tips on that portion? If not, I will share everything I learn there too

Oh wow - so are we! we're doing the week before in WDW too I've been poking around on here, trying to figure out as much as I can. I have found that Disney now sells a lot of pre-packaged snacks that I know we'll be safe with - they're the Enjoy Life brand, which typically have none of the major allergens present. The advice that I've been given on these boards is to plan ahead as much as possible and speak with the chefs at the various restaurants. My plan is to stay at Art of Animation, where we will have a mini fridge, so that we can at least do breakfasts and maybe lunches in a safe way. I know there is a local grocery store that you can order from and they had a lot of good options for us. We're in Canada, so our allergy-safe brands are a bit different - I need to sort all of that out and figure out what is safe and what isn't. I don't know about you, but we haven't taken any chances at restaurants yet - we're just too worried about cross contamination. It's a big leap of faith to even consider doing a trip like this, but I don't want her to miss out, so I figure we just have to plan and make it work. I hope that you and I can stay in touch - I will definitely pass along any tips I find

 

[DahliaRW]

Usually you are not allowed to bring any sort of meat products or seeds off of the ship (pre-packaged or not). So keep that in mind when picking out food.

WDW (and disney in geneneral) is really good with food allergies. I'm only allergic to wheat (so I usually just say gluten free because it's easier) and they were very helpful and I didn't react to anything. I'm sure they're just as good with other allergies. My favorite meal was Mama Melrose. Mostly because we had a waitress who went above and beyond and my food was just delicious. My kids wanted hot cocoa because it was rainy and cold and it wasn't on the menu. She said they didn't have it, but 15 minutes later showed up with it (a staff member went to another restaurant to get it).

 

[Patsydust]

Hey all! Disney is great with allergies! Just took a friend on the Fantasy in Feb! Not only is she vegan (no animal products at all, even honey!) and she has a severe salicylate allergy (includes a great deal of fruits, veggies and nuts!). It's pretty hard core! But Disney Cruise takes care of any and all allergies very well! Just call in ahead of time before you board and give them a heads up! All the waiters knew what to do and she had a separate meal from the menu every meal. It was really great! As for excursions, not 100% sure. We did basic excursions on Eastern Caribbean and there was plenty of packaged food options to buy at all locations and she packed some bars which they didn't check for when we left ship. Seemed very chill!

Also I took the galley tour of the kitchens and they showed us the ropes, including handling allergies. There's a separate section where they cook and keep all information on a separate board. The head chef was telling me the most difficult allergy was onions! Didn't even think of that.

Final note: If you plan to visit parks, dealing with allergies was slightly more difficult. Just know that all stands and restaurants have special books to check ingredients and potential allergens, but they really have to check!