Food Allergies and Room Service questions

[Stinkerbe11]

We just got off the Magic and received excellent service regarding my son's tree nut allergy. Definitely communicate all allergies to DCL before cruising (we also request a table just for the 4 of us). If there are special cookies/snacks that your daughter likes, bring them with you because I was told they would have Divvies cookies available for DS and they didn't have them.

Our head server was amazing, he personally prepared sandwiches for us to take back to the room and special meals for excursions. Pastry chef Brenton made colossal banana splits for DS's dessert (Mickey bars were declared unsafe) and delivered chocolate covered strawberries to our room everyday. We pre-ordered the next day's meals at dinner and by the 3rd day the server was just ordering everything for my son, since he knew his preferences.

In your situation, instead of room service, just speak with your head server the night before and I'm sure he can arrange for a safe meal to be delivered to your room. Disney really does go out of their way to accommodate allergies and that's one of the many reasons we keep coming back

 

[bledsoedoc]

Cltan, I guess you did not read my entire post, ie its a starting point..how to start to feel safer. I have lived with life threatening food allergies for over 20 years. I am not naive, in fact I am quite savvy in dealing with this in both my personal and professional life. I also still enjoy trying new foods and know very well how to communicate to keep myself safe. It is all about communication which is possible. It is also about vigilance in checking, double checking and speaking up when something is wrong. Having an ingrediant list is extremely helpful as a starting place to make safe choices. It helps to know right away that some things are clearly off limits. There are some things that will need to be tweaked. Having the conversation at the meeting on day 1 makes it more likely that I can try the things I want to. Especially soups because most soups start with stock I can't have but Disney is willing to work with me if I have communicated with them. Mant times they can have pre-arranged instructions for both myself and the room service staff as well as working with the head server. I am also prepared and travel with 8 epipens and packets of emergency meds, enough packets for 2 reactions a day...we are out at sea... I have cruised before and am still sitting here breathing and living.

 

[Candy Apple]

We just got off the Magic and received excellent service regarding my son's tree nut allergy. Definitely communicate all allergies to DCL before cruising (we also request a table just for the 4 of us). If there are special cookies/snacks that your daughter likes, bring them with you because I was told they would have Divvies cookies available for DS and they didn't have them.

Our head server was amazing, he personally prepared sandwiches for us to take back to the room and special meals for excursions. Pastry chef Brenton made colossal banana splits for DS's dessert (Mickey bars were declared unsafe) and delivered chocolate covered strawberries to our room everyday. We pre-ordered the next day's meals at dinner and by the 3rd day the server was just ordering everything for my son, since he knew his preferences.

In your situation, instead of room service, just speak with your head server the night before and I'm sure he can arrange for a safe meal to be delivered to your room. Disney really does go out of their way to accommodate allergies and that's one of the many reasons we keep coming back

Same here!

 

[kventventx]

I have several food allergies, dairy, tree nuts, peanuts, coconut, alcohol (no wine sauces) broccoli, lettuce the list goes on. DCL met all of my food allergies. I was assigned to a Head Server that was new to Disney. It took a few days to learn that Every meal needed to be ordered ahead of time not just dinner. But once we figured that out, we did just fine. I was able to order my lunch for the "assigned" restaurant and either get it to go to take elsewhere or have it delivered to another restaurant on the ship (my DH loves the seafood buffet but I can't eat at a buffet). Disney does go above and beyond for food allergies - so much so that I travel on Disney without kids because I too can enjoy a trip. I was unable to eat any of the bread on board the ship due to the dairy allergy (there is milk in the base mix that they use for all their bread) so getting food to take off the ship (like a sandwich) didn't work for us. We are planning another cruise in 2013 Mediterranean and I can't figure out what I'm going to do during port days lunch. But Disney will meet all your needs if you work with them 24 hours in advance.

 

[clten]

Ex Techie and clten,

I posted my questions here so that I could have a better understanding of how food service works on the ship. Please believe that I would never put my daughter's health at risk for my convenience. We have not eaten at a restaurant as a family except twice in the past three years! I have had to do a lot of research if this is even a possible vacation for my family, and was always told that Disney would take care of us. I have saved for two years for this trip and I would like it to be as perfect as possible, so please forgive my ingnorance in wanted to enjoy a few dinners alone with my husband.

I will not be using room service to feed my daughter and I will pray that our HS will find a solution what will be acceptable to everyone involved.

I'm sorry if you took my last post as directed at you or in any way commenting on how you would handle dining with your daughter's needs. I was responding only to the post of bledsoedoc, which is why I quoted it in my post. I had responded earlier in the thread and had seen that you had gotten the information you were looking for.

Cltan, I guess you did not read my entire post, ie its a starting point..how to start to feel safer. I have lived with life threatening food allergies for over 20 years. I am not naive, in fact I am quite savvy in dealing with this in both my personal and professional life. I also still enjoy trying new foods and know very well how to communicate to keep myself safe. It is all about communication which is possible. It is also about vigilance in checking, double checking and speaking up when something is wrong. Having an ingrediant list is extremely helpful as a starting place to make safe choices. It helps to know right away that some things are clearly off limits. There are some things that will need to be tweaked. Having the conversation at the meeting on day 1 makes it more likely that I can try the things I want to. Especially soups because most soups start with stock I can't have but Disney is willing to work with me if I have communicated with them. Mant times they can have pre-arranged instructions for both myself and the room service staff as well as working with the head server. I am also prepared and travel with 8 epipens and packets of emergency meds, enough packets for 2 reactions a day...we are out at sea... I have cruised before and am still sitting here breathing and living.

I did read your post throughly and I did understand what you were saying. I was just trying to give you a heads up that communication is going to be a problem when dealing with room service. You don't meet with anyone from room service. You will however meet with your dining room service team including your head server who will handle any food allergies and special requests. Talking to your head server about the food served in the Main Dining Rooms is a completely different thing and where you will be able to communicate your needs and have things adjusted so you can try new things. Perhaps you referred to room service and that wasn't what you meant. Otherwise, sorry I offered any help and I'll try not to in the future.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

Ex Techie and clten,

I posted my questions here so that I could have a better understanding of how food service works on the ship.
I hope myself and other's have been able to give you experienced and valuable information

Please believe that I would never put my daughter's health at risk for my convenience.
You putting your daughters health at risk was NEVER something I thought you would do! As a mother you obviously have your child best interest's at heart ALL of the time!

We have not eaten at a restaurant as a family except twice in the past three years!
It can be incredibly hard to find restaurant's that are able to accommodate Guest's with allergies and feel secure that they fully understand the implications of a simple mistake and the consequence.
Unfortunately I know all too well about yes there will be no peas, and the plate arrives with no peas, as the peas have been scraped off when the server see's them or chef is reminded.

I have had to do a lot of research if this is even a possible vacation for my family, and was always told that Disney would take care of us. I have saved for two years for this trip and I would like it to be as perfect as possible, so please forgive my ingnorance in wanted to enjoy a few dinners alone with my husband.

Disney WILL take care of you!
They will provide your daughter with meal's appropriately cooked to avoid your daughter's allergies 3 time's a day.
Your daughter's age/regular eating times, bedtime and allergies do not equate to getting early dining first above other's that are already wait listed IMO though.
There wil be plenty of other parent's with 3 year old's not wanting a late seating for dinner as well, so the cookie's and snack's would be a benefit.

Have you been asked to be wait listed for early dining?
You are not ignorant in wanting a few dinners alone with your husband, but it is a desire, and hopefully DCL will be able to move you to early dining.
Topsider's or Cabana's is an option for you both afterwards, or Palo or Remy if they are available.
If not, food's allergies determine when and where you can eat unfortunately, kid's and all.

I will not be using room service to feed my daughter and I will pray that our HS will find a solution what will be acceptable to everyone involved.

I hope they can to.
If not, you could also ask for some foil wrapped plain cooked chicken breast's at lunch for your daughter to snack on afterwards, and bring some snack's from home that meet the allergy requirements.

Either way, you might wan't to consider that unless you have already reserved a space in the nursery, you daughter may not sleep well in the Club if it's noisy whilst you are at dinner.

Just a few thought's and I do hope it all work's out for you.

Ex Techie

Replies are in RED

 

[bledsoedoc]

Cltin, you prefaced yourself saying you knew you were going to come off rude so i am a little surprised of your reaction to my response. I do appreciate input or i wouldnt be on these boards and fyi I am talking about room service. I am aware that I will speak with chefs not just servers on the day we board. I also know that at that meeting I will set up a plan for room service. I understand that you have had difficulty communicating with room service in the past. I will protect myself and go up the ladder while on the phone with room service until I have spoken to someone that makes me feel safe. And again be vigalent when my food arrives. If needed the food goes back and we try again. But again, having that plan
in place from day 1 helps decrease the risks. That first day's meeting I will get ingrediants for everything available including what is in their condiments. Again, it is a starting point in a long list of things I do to keep safe. But by having that info it helps me when ordering and when checking my foods.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

Cltin, you prefaced yourself saying you knew you were going to come off rude so i am a little surprised of your reaction to my response. I do appreciate input or i wouldnt be on these boards and fyi I am talking about room service. I am aware that I will speak with chefs not just servers on the day we board. I also know that at that meeting I will set up a plan for room service. I understand that you have had difficulty communicating with room service in the past. I will protect myself and go up the ladder while on the phone with room service until I have spoken to someone that makes me feel safe. And again be vigalent when my food arrives. If needed the food goes back and we try again. But again, having that plan
in place from day 1 helps decrease the risks. That first day's meeting I will get ingrediants for everything available including what is in their condiments. Again, it is a starting point in a long list of things I do to keep safe. But by having that info it helps me when ordering and when checking my foods.

bledsoedoc,

Please be aware that when ordering room service the food is prepared and cooked in a different galley (The Bell Box, on Deck 1) to the MDR's (on Deck 3 & 4), so room service to meet your allergy needs may be available when the MDR galleys that are able to deal with food allergies are open and not closed for cleaning, might not be available 24 hr's. (but that depends on your allergies obviously! )

I wish you all the best on your cruise and hope you can find appropriate dining opportunities that meet your allergy requirements.

Ex Techie

 

[bledsoedoc]

Ex techie...thanks. I do know they make room service food in a different galley. I plan on getting room service, sit down dining, quick service and buffets all in line with specific plans on boarding day. I plan to stay safe. Promise.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

Ex techie...thanks. I do know they make room service food in a different galley. I plan on getting room service, sit down dining, quick service and buffets all in line with specific plans on boarding day. I plan to stay safe. Promise.

Cool!

Hope you have a fantastic trip and the epipen's go back home unused and sealed!

Smooth sailing and have a great time!

Ex Techie