Has anyone sailed DCL with a cinnamon allergy?

[angel's momma]

I have some questions, but I won't list them unless someone responds.

 

[Karin1984]

Why not speed this thing up and immediately ask the questions for both the allergies you posted? Maybe there are people who do not have these specific allergies but can help
Or if they cannot help, maybe they do know where to go for the answers.

 

[daedelus]

No, but I know many people who are allergic to almost every other substance on earth who have sailed successfully.

The key to enjoying a cruise with a food allergy is communications. You need to let Guest Services know in advance of the allergy and its severity and make sure you have adequate remedies (epi-pen, benedril, etc) ready to go. When you get on board, talk to your dining team. They will always ask about allergies, but it would also be wise to talk to your head server and ask them to talk to the chef. You'd be amazed at what lengths they'll go to. They'll make you special dishes and desserts that you / your loved one can enjoy.

Also remember that if you (or if it's another adult who is allergic) go to Palo / Remy to tell them as well. Or if it's one of your children, talk to the councilors in their area. Again, you've got to communicate and be prepared.

The place you really have to be careful is the grab joints and Cabanas. They're not as equipped for that kind of prevention, so you'll need to be careful and ask about ingredients.

We sailed with a family who had a daughter that hung out with my daughter. Deathly allergic to dairy (if I recall correctly). Regardless, the crew was really wonderful to her and she had a great time.

Best of luck!

 

[angel's momma]

Thank you. I've done research on how DCL handles allergies, just wanted to know if anyone has dealt specifically with cinnamon so I can ask them specific questions.

 

[momto2redheadgirls]

I have a cinnamon allergy and have sailed 6 times without issue. My daughter also had a milk allergy when she was a toddler. They were very accommodating and helpful.

 

[tee11]

Do you have a true allergy (anaphylaxis=life-threatening)? True allergies (with antibody formation) against spices are exceedingly rare. This would be where you must carry an Epi-Pen. DCL takes all allergies very, very seriously, and they also take intolerances seriously. Intolerances are not life threatening, and cannot turn into a life threatening event, but they can make you miserable. Intolerances of spices are often due to a cross-reactivity with their pollen. If you have an intolerance, I would stress this to them... you can judge then what you eat, but be informed of the ingredients. If, on the other hand, you have true anaphylaxis they will make *sure* you do not eat anything that could even be of remote risk. I'm making this distinction because we have both in different members of the family, and it obviously makes a huge difference in how we approach travel, and I also deal with allergies and anaphylaxis professionally. I have yet to find anyone as top notch as Disney when it comes to allergies, and it's a huge reason we choose them.

 

[angel's momma]

I have a cinnamon allergy and have sailed 6 times without issue. My daughter also had a milk allergy when she was a toddler. They were very accommodating and helpful.

Thank you. I will follow whatever DCL tells me to do, but your experiences can help me be prepared. Do they use cinnamon in the chocolate bakery items like cake, muffins? Were you able to select items from pastry cases, or are they considered potentially cross contaminated? Besides obvious savory items like butternut squash soup & curry items, were there savory items that needed to be avoided? Any other input?

 

[Starwind]

I am not allergic to cinnamon, but am allergic (anaphylaxis) to milk, seafood, nuts, and peanuts, as well as allergic or sensitive to a number of other foods. One of the reasons we sail with DCL is because of how well they handle food allergies - we've sailed with them 8 times now.

I would say that anything in the pastry cases is best to consider potentially cross-contaminated. Even if the item was perfectly safe going in, people handling things means there is a high likelihood it has gotten cross-contact from the other items in the case. Also, you won't know the ingredients if you just go and choose something.

I have never had the "normal" cakes on board, mostly because of my milk allergy [it tends to take out most baked goods, and what it doesn't the nuts/peanuts pretty much do]. However, I have had some GREAT desserts on board, including baked goods !! This was especially the case on our most recent cruise, which was a B2B2B on the Disney Dream, because DCL has "allergy menus" on the Dream, somewhat similar to the allergy menus they have at WDW. Having the allergy menus means they have more dessert options that are already friendly to many allergies, and they are really good !!

But even before the dessert menus I had some good dessert choices. Including a chocolate lava cake [that I got often] that used Namaste Foods chocolate cake mix as its base [I know this because they have shown me the box and ingredients to make sure it is safe for me]. See https://namastefoods.com/products/gluten-free-chocolate-cake-mix

If chocolate cake is something you want, let your MDR server know early in your cruise and they will do your best to make it happen [should be pretty easy].

Are you familiar with how DCL handles food allergies ? I and others have posted in these forums about the DCL process for food allergies, and I encourage you to search for and read those posts. The most you know about the process the smoother things will go. But some key points:

- make sure your food allergy is noted on your reservation; you can contact DCL's Special Services Team - their information is here: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/guest-services/special-dietary-requests/ I have found them to be well-informed regarding food allergies.

- when we board the ship, we look for the "dining changes" drop-in session listed in the personal navigator and go to it. While there we are able to speak with a Head Server and ensure that our allergy information is listed in their system. We talk about that night's dinner. Sometimes they have us pre-order our dinner there, sometimes they tell us to pre-order it while at lunch.

- in our experience, each night at the end of dinner in the MDR, we pre-order our dinner for the next night -- this gives the cooks time to adapt things to make safe options [eg dairy-free butternut squash soup! dairy and fish-free french onion soup! or a modified marinade or sauce] -- and are encouraged to also pre-order our next day's breakfast and lunch. We do this pre-ordering through either our server or head server, and the head server has to sign off on it as part of their process. They have a special multi-part form they write the order on.

- if we pre-order breakfast and/or lunch, we tell them which location we will be eating the meal at -- this lets us eat at Cabanas [the buffet restaurant] if we want to enjoy the view !! Our server would let us know which restaurant they would be at and we would often [but not always] choose the same one.

- if we pre-order breakfast and/or lunch, when we arrive at that restaurant, we let them know [either the server for an MDR or one of the head servers if Cabanas] that we have an allergy pre-order; they will make sure the pre-order is located and then sent for it to be cooked -- it is cooked fresh once you arrive, so prepare to wait some.

- DCL encourages people with food allergies to only eat in the MDRs [or with pre-ordered meals as above]. However, we have safely eaten at the QS locations on the pool deck; to eat there we bring an Allergy Chef Card that has our allergies written out and we tell the CM at the station that has the food we want that we have food allergies and would like to speak with someone to place an order. The CM will get a Head Server or a chef to come and talk with us. The Head Server and I will have a discussion about what I would like/what can safely be made, and then they will go get it ready [it is prepared fresh] and then bring it out to you. NOTE: (1) it is VERY LOUD in the pool area so having the written allergy chef card helps a LOT in ensure clear communication; and (2) there can be a lot of waiting so there is nothing "quick" about the "quick service" when food allergies are involved. Also, sometimes making the allergy safe food actually means making the food elsewhere -- eg our last time on the Dream, to make me safe chicken fingers and fries they actually had them made in the Cabanas kitchen and brought them out to me at the burger place.

We have found our servers and head servers knowledgable and dedicated to ensuring we have safe and enjoyable meals.

Ask away if you have questions.

SW

 

[momto2redheadgirls]

Thank you. I will follow whatever DCL tells me to do, but your experiences can help me be prepared. Do they use cinnamon in the chocolate bakery items like cake, muffins? Were you able to select items from pastry cases, or are they considered potentially cross contaminated? Besides obvious savory items like butternut squash soup & curry items, were there savory items that needed to be avoided? Any other input?

In the dining rooms, they always brought me a menu for the next night and let me choose what I wanted and they prepared it specially for me. As a rule, I don't usually eat anything like the pastries that could have been stacked with other items that might have cinnamon, so I just avoid those therefore, I can't really answer to that. We did not do the buffets much, chosing to do room service, dining room lunch or quick service with things that would obviously be non-cinnamon contenders (hamburgers, salads, etc). I am pretty sure that the only time I found cinnamon in a bakery item that was offered to me was on pirate night with the bread basket. I smelled it right away and alerted them. They were very attentive to bringing me a plain bread choice then. I have eaten many of the chocolate offerings and did not have an issue with cinnamon being in them (but that might have been due to them making it special). Outside of the dining room, I did not really find cinnamon in anything other than the obvious (french toast, pastries, mostly breakfast stuff). I will caution you, in general - not just Disney related - that cinnamon is a sneaky ingredient in many commercially made cereals. So, I would avoid them. I hope this helps. You can always alert a cast member when you go into the buffet area and they will ascertain whether what you want has cinnamon in it or not. They are VERY accommodating for special requests and questions!

 

[angel's momma]

In the dining rooms, they always brought me a menu for the next night and let me choose what I wanted and they prepared it specially for me. As a rule, I don't usually eat anything like the pastries that could have been stacked with other items that might have cinnamon, so I just avoid those therefore, I can't really answer to that. We did not do the buffets much, chosing to do room service, dining room lunch or quick service with things that would obviously be non-cinnamon contenders (hamburgers, salads, etc). I am pretty sure that the only time I found cinnamon in a bakery item that was offered to me was on pirate night with the bread basket. I smelled it right away and alerted them. They were very attentive to bringing me a plain bread choice then. I have eaten many of the chocolate offerings and did not have an issue with cinnamon being in them (but that might have been due to them making it special). Outside of the dining room, I did not really find cinnamon in anything other than the obvious (french toast, pastries, mostly breakfast stuff). I will caution you, in general - not just Disney related - that cinnamon is a sneaky ingredient in many commercially made cereals. So, I would avoid them. I hope this helps. You can always alert a cast member when you go into the buffet area and they will ascertain whether what you want has cinnamon in it or not. They are VERY accommodating for special requests and questions!

Thank you very much!