This is our concern, as well. Our son has multiple food allergies, and we have actually been "burned" before by Disney restaurants serving him contaminated food (even after we filled out forms, called the restaurants the day before- everything they recommend). I am convinced this happened because we were traveling at a busy time and Cast Members were too overwhelmed.
Our upcoming cruise on the Dream is sold out, so I know it's going to be swarming with people and, thus, overworked Cast members. In this case, bad service can equal mistakes that we can't afford.
Apart from the fact that there is NO WAY our son could sit still for 3 hours every meal, much less adding on the extra time it might take to make his special meal, we don't want our whole vacation to be ruled by his diet. So we're bringing enough food to keep him fed for the whole cruise. We plan to feed him breakfast before dropping him off at Oceaneer's Club, then checking him out again to feed him for lunch. We'll try bringing him to the restaurants for dinner, just for the experience, but we're still packing a dinner for him in an insulated lunch tote, so he can eat something in case the wait is too long, and can go back to the Oceaneer's Club whenever he's ready to go.
I was told by the Special Diets Department that you can bring any pre-packaged food that you wish on the cruise, as long as it's unopened (can't be homemade stuff, alas). So we're making a stop at the Orlando Whole Foods and stocking up on "safe" ready-to-eat foods.
We'll be delighted if the chefs are able to crank out his allergy-free dishes for him in a timely manner, but we're coming prepared, just in case. Feeding our son ourselves will greatly reduce the chances of allergy contamination. Our last Disney vacation was completely ruined after his meal was contaminated (on the first meal of our first day!), making our son sick for the entire vacation.
Our take is: hope for the best, but have a back-up plan just in case!
