Food Allergies and the Buffet

Hi all

We are doing a family cruise next year and my niece has severe celiacs. As a result, her meals must be prepared in the separate kitchen. We know that if you're in the main dining room, that's not a problem – you just pre-order.

But what if the family wants to occasionally eat in the buffet for the sake of speed? Can my niece pre-order her meal (single course) as usual at the main dining room but have it delivered to the buffet while the rest of the family eat buffet food?

My wife is allergic to gluten and, on P&O, they would send gluten-free toast up to the buffet from the main kitchen.

Any help would be appreciated,

Mark.

I'll be honest, allergies and speed rarely go hand in hand. Especially with gluten.

If it were me, I would go to the buffet and ask to speak to the chef on the first day. Find out what the policies are, how things are handled on that particular ship. Emphasize the severity of the allergy. Find out who you should ask for if you need help day-to-day. Make a memorable relationship. IME, they'll do everything they can to accommodate you. Be reasonable in your expectation of how long it takes though. :)

Thankyou. By speed, I'm referring to the time it takes in the main dining room to eat two or three courses – in my experience, one to one-and-a-half hours. By contrast, in the buffet, you don't have the long wait-times between courses. This is ideal when there's entertainment you don't want to miss.

When my wife and I eat in the main dining room, she always places her special order for the next evening. That is, while I peruse the menu for tonight, she's perusing the menu for the next night. Because it's pre-ordered, her meal is delivered in the same timeframe as mine.

So I'm guessing that my niece may be able to place an order in the main dining room tonight so she can have it in the buffet along with the rest of us tomorrow. Hopefully, the pre-ordering would mean it shouldn't take too long.

Because she's young, if she had to eat in the main dining room every night, her whole family would have to do likewise. This could mean them all missing out on fun activities elsewhere on the ship.

But I agree, a chat to the chef may set us in the right direction. They have always been outstanding in trying to help out in the past.

I completely understand where you're coming from. As someone with both dietary restrictions and allergies and who has traveled with a whole host of people with multiple multiples... I get it.

Have never tried to pre-order at the buffet on Royal, but I have had a chef walk me around and tell me what is safe for me. I can avoid all of my issues by eating vegetarian so that's what I typically do at the buffet.

I contacted the special needs department as my son has celiac. They recommended he eat in the MDR. He's 3 so long dinners aren't going to be too much fun. They also suggested I speak with the Head Waiter on day one and he will be better able to give us an idea if there would be other options on board. I've read that Sorrento's has a GF pizza but I'm not sure if it's cooked in separate ovens.

So I'm guessing that my niece may be able to place an order in the main dining room tonight so she can have it in the buffet along with the rest of us tomorrow. Hopefully, the pre-ordering would mean it shouldn't take too long.

This may not be true. I don't know for sure how it would be handled on the ship you will be on, but for meals my husband preordered at night to have in the buffet the next day at noon, the process of getting the item was slow.

Upon entering the buffet, he had to find a supervisory waiter. Once found, he needed to tell him or her specifically what was ordered. That person had to call down to the main gallery for the MDR where the meal was being stored.

The meal had to be located, heated, and bought up to the buffet and then served to him.

The fastest the item ever appeared was a half hour after being requested.

pre order the day before for all your meals, and explain where you want them served.

For example, lunch in the windjammer.

This has never been a problem for my hubby. They are so accommodating on Royal. Thats why they have my repeat business.

Royal is very good about accommodating food allergies. Special Needs at RCCL suggested we stick to the MDR since we are dealing with severe food allergies. This was echoed by our doctors, who also suggested avoiding buffets.

We tried having meals pre-ordered the night before in the MDR and delivered to the Windjammer. Somedays, on some ships, it worked well. Other times, and on the bigger ships, not so much. They would have to go find the pre-order, it would arrive cold, or after everyone had eaten. It was clearly an inconvenience to the already busy staff, though they were pleasant enough and smiled while tracking down our food.

We found a solution that worked for us. We would pre-order the meal from the MDR with the head waiter the day before - letting them know when we would be by for it, and then, one of our party would pick it up and carry it up to Windjammer. It got there hot and fast that way.

One note - the MDR does NOT have trays, and they give your food on a glass plate with a cover to keep it warm. We have learned to take along some covered, and disposable, plastic containers and ziploc bags to make certain meals easier to transport. If you give them to the head waiter the night before, they will put the food in your containers for you. We used the ziplock bags for breads and some desserts like cookies.

It was easier to just eat in the MDR, and we do that most of the time, but once in a while, the family likes to eat in Windjammer, and this worked for us.

Enjoy the cruise.

I'm also coeliac and the biggest worry in Windjammer is Cross Contamination. I usually only ventured at breakfast, but mostly even then I went to MDR for waiter service and freshly cooked stuff.

Here are things I've felt confident with in windjammer

- eggs cooked in front of me at breakfast - you can queue for eggs done your way and watch as they do it and put it on the plate for you.

- bacon as above or when it FIRST comes from the kitchens

- prewrapped stuff like yoghurts, cream cheese, butters

- Fresh fruit.

- Salad bar (within reason) - I usually checked to see what was nearby - the fresh veg salady area was OK as I could see there wasn't much nearby to cause CC

- If you ask, you can get prewrapped bagels and buns - these can be toasted on request and they do this safely with gloves etc in my experience.

- Last time I went, there was a section set away from other foods that had GF deserts and GF Bread made on board.

Lunch times and dinner - the obvious stuff like plain rice and boiled veggies are OK (but watch for CC from spoons in other dishes) Also, USUALLY - indian curries (not chinese as have soy sauce) and some italian sauces might be doable.

FRIES!!! - the fries in windjammer MIGHT be OK (I've had them without issue) BUT if you ask, they may cook some seperately for you to be sure. This is more likely to be done in MDR at lunch and dinner - and even more likely to be done with notice (let them know you are coming the next day etc.)

They will not guarantee ANYTHING is completely safe in Windjammer. In my experience, I can usually risk quite a lot, but the risk is there. I've luckily not been "got" but I'm experienced now at what may or may not be a problem. I am pretty certain they will not cook stuff seperately for you in Windjammer, as the food up there is pre prepared elsewhere and the staff are not cooks, but more like servers.

As someone has mentioned, You do have the option of getting something from MDR and taking it up to Windjammer - needs a persuasive person to get on the right side of the MDR staff :) Usually fine to do this I must say, but its not a guaranteed thing.

Also, the coffee shop has prepacked cookies that are DELISH!!!! Is also possible that they will have GF snacks in packets.

You can take stuff with you within reason also - I took corn crackers and enjoyed them with cream cheese or butter from Windjammer.

Also, be careful with Icecream - sometimes does have gluten - if they have a Ben and Jerry - research the flavours first online - they are the same as sold flavours so you can check for gluten beforehand more easily.

Hugs and best of luck

Daisy xxx

Thankyou to everyone who has given ideas. I particularly like the idea of ordering in the main dining room and collecting it personally.

On the Freedom last week the Windjammer had 2 GF sections. On was near the salad bar and had hot food, the other was near desserts. Thought I saw chicken and GF pasta and bread one afternoon.

I didn't eat at the buffet often so don't know if cross contamination is an issue.

If in doubt, PLEASE ask to speak with a windjammer supervisor.

enjoy

M