Experiences with food allergies on Carnival?

Ive been on 3 Carnival cruises, but always with friends, not my son, who is anaphylactic to tree nuts. He has gone with us on 3 Disney cruises and they have handled his allergies amazingly. I am wanting to take him on a Carnival cruise this Nov, bc I have always thought Carnival cruises were awesome, and bc it is 1/4 the price of Disney so it may be this or no trip due to lack of funds to pay for a Disney cruise. Please advise how your experiences have been with Carnival handling your child's allergy (or your allergy). Thanks!

I asked this question a few weeks back, so if you use the search feature you can see the responses I received. Our cruise is in October.

My daughter is pn/tn, and since my last cruise (pre-kids) I've developed chick pea and sesame. But I've been assured that if we stick to the MDR, they will be able to accommodate us. We can pre-order our meal the night before, and it will be cooked separately.

My teenage daughter is gluten-free. Carnival handles it perfectly.

Ive been on 3 Carnival cruises, but always with friends, not my son, who is anaphylactic to tree nuts. He has gone with us on 3 Disney cruises and they have handled his allergies amazingly. I am wanting to take him on a Carnival cruise this Nov, bc I have always thought Carnival cruises were awesome, and bc it is 1/4 the price of Disney so it may be this or no trip due to lack of funds to pay for a Disney cruise. Please advise how your experiences have been with Carnival handling your child's allergy (or your allergy). Thanks!

From my experience, they take allergies seriously. I have many food allergies. I notated them when I booked as well as let my waiter know once onboard. I never had a single issue while in MDR. When I'd go to the buffet, I was careful what I chose to eat. I'd imagine they don't want to see anyone have an allergic reaction any more than someone wants to have one.

I am allergic to strawberries, but they tend to be fairly easy avoid since my allergy is generally from direct consumption so I just never order an item with "strawberry" in the description. However...

I had a tablemate 1 cruise with very severe celiac's. She ate most of her meals in the MDR. They met with her to pre-plan her meals a day in advance to accommodate her dietary needs. She spoke very, very highly of the accommodations & mentioned at buffets they were happy to provide.. or find someone who could... info on the buffet food.

Carnival will take care of you. Call the special needs department & speak with the maitre'd on day 1.

This is my basic post about allergies..... We travel with a group that combined has allergies to peanuts, treenuts, shellfish, egg whites, chocolate, MSG and liquid dairy. Only had issues with 'user' error, no issues with Carnival. If you have a nut allergy, know that Carnival classifies seeds as nuts.

Each ship seems to do things a little differently. This has been our experiences on the West Coast ships.

If you have an odd allergy contact Special Needs before your cruise. If you have a 'normal' allergy no need to do so.

https://www.carnival.com/about-carnival/special-needs/dietary-needs.aspx

See the Hostess at embarkation when the Maitre 'd has hours. Hours will be in the FunTmes, usually starting around 1pm. The hostess will take that night's order. Each night the hostess or your waiter will bring you the next day's MDR menu-breakfast, brunch/lunch and dinner. If deciding between two entrees, order both. For brunch don't hesitate to order a breakfast and lunch if you want to eat both meals in the MDR. At ATD, an order slip will be generated and given to your waitstaff when seated. They will confirm the order with you.

Only issue we've ever had was one cruise DD's food arrived before mine.

For room service, they cannot make special for you but they can tell you the ingredients. No special area so there is always the possibility of contamination

Buffet is a minefield. Ask the Hostess or the Head Lido Chef or the Food and Beverage crew in the officer whites. DO NOT ask the line cooks or those serving desserts. They mean well but do not know the full recipes. Cross contamination is always a possibility.

Onshore--- we bring allergy cards. I made our own but you can buy some at selectwisely dot com.

You can only bring off commercially prepared food. We bring cereal bars, boxes of cereal, bottled water, hard candy etc.

Many ports will check. Some will do a physical search, others use dogs. You do not want the cute Labrador to sit next to you. I've had them alert on my Lemonheads.

Kids clubs have a form to fill out. There are some snacks served at times. The younger kids meet up at the dinner buffet certain nights. Ask the counselors what's on the menu.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

DW has unusual food allergies to many vegetables and spices. No problem in buffet but for dinner will plan her meals for the following night.

We have had uneven results.

For example she cannot have spinach and she has received entries with huge glob of spinach on top of her chicken.

It seems to depend upon how good the head waiter is at understanding her allergies (depends upon their level of English skills) and how well he transfers this to assistants who pick up her meals in the galley.

Few years ago it was handled by one of the DR hostesses results were much better.

On the Ecstasy they are receptive and accommodating with food allergies.

We sailed on the Victory and they were very good. Someone at our table ordered a dessert with peanuts on it and the waiter told them the couldn't have it due to my allergy, but he would give them some to take back to their room for later if they wanted (an apparently they aren't supposed to do food to go).

DW has unusual food allergies to many vegetables and spices. No problem in buffet but for dinner will plan her meals for the following night.

 

 

 

We have had uneven results.

 

 

 

For example she cannot have spinach and she has received entries with huge glob of spinach on top of her chicken.

 

 

 

It seems to depend upon how good the head waiter is at understanding her allergies (depends upon their level of English skills) and how well he transfers this to assistants who pick up her meals in the galley.

 

 

 

Few years ago it was handled by one of the DR hostesses results were much better.

I know for a fact your lovely wife has had some of her meals prepared by the Maitre D because of this. But as you said her allergy is extremely unusual.

Say to her for us!

For regular allergies we’ve never had an issue until our last cruise. Our waiter had a problem with DD only ordering appetizers so he ordered many multiples for the next night. Of course, we were invited to dine with the Captain. Thankfully we checked beforehand and got the order down to a reasonable size.

I had a tablemate 1 cruise with very severe celiac's. She ate most of her meals in the MDR. They met with her to pre-plan her meals a day in advance to accommodate her dietary needs. She spoke very, very highly of the accommodations & mentioned at buffets they were happy to provide.. or find someone who could... info on the buffet food.

 

Carnival will take care of you. Call the special needs department & speak with the maitre'd on day 1.

The MDR staff was so diligent that on one occasion the waiter wouldn't let her order something my daughter knew was gluten-free but he wasn't sure about.

we had not issues until one day they put a piece of salmon on my son's dish. he can have shellfish but not fish. that was not good.

They've always handled my poultry allergy very well, as others have said, just meet with the Maitre D or an officer if on the lido and they will be more than helpful.

The MDR staff was so diligent that on one occasion the waiter wouldn't let her order something my daughter knew was gluten-free but he wasn't sure about.

They were the same with me, I ordered ranch dressing for my salad, they brought me the balsamic dressing instead because all the creamy dressings are made with egg, which I can eat, just can't eat the poultry meat or broth/stock. But they weren't taking any chances and instead of trying to explain and possibly confuse the situation, I just went with it and didn't eat anything with eggs in the MDR. No big whoop, I don't eat many eggs anyways.:D

I am allergic to strawberries...

DH has an anaphylactic reaction to strawberries, and Carnival has been great; as Drose716 notes, in general that's an easy "avoidance" allergy. The biggest issue for him generally is usually when they are used as a garnish and the juice runs, or if they are used in a "mixed berry" sauce. The MDR waitstaff is usually amazing about making sure he gets dishes plated without the garnish (and not just remove the garnish from the plate). On our last couple of cruises on Carnival, without us even asking they have let him pre-order his dessert for the next night in order to make sure he can get what he wants, or notify him if an appetizer is usually garnished with a strawberry. We never expected that level of service, and it meant a lot to him that they would take such trouble.

I know for a fact your lovely wife has had some of her meals prepared by the Maitre D because of this. But as you said her allergy is extremely unusual.

 

Say to her for us!

 

For regular allergies we’ve never had an issue until our last cruise. Our waiter had a problem with DD only ordering appetizers so he ordered many multiples for the next night. Of course, we were invited to dine with the Captain. Thankfully we checked beforehand and got the order down to a reasonable size.

wow dining with the captain. Very nice

Buffet is a minefield. Ask the Hostess or the Head Lido Chef or the Food and Beverage crew in the officer whites. DO NOT ask the line cooks or those serving desserts. They mean well but do not know the full recipes. Cross contamination is always a possibility.

 

Onshore--- we bring allergy cards. I made our own but you can buy some at selectwisely dot com.

That is no joke about the buffet. My daughter got the *** scared out of her by a server who told her something had flour in it that didn't. I tried to tell her otherwise, but she was one hot mess waiting for the gluten reaction to start. It didn't.

The allergen cards are awesome. I printed and laminated a card that was English on one side and Tagalog on the other for our trip to the Philippines. Free.

wow dining with the captain. Very nice

I dined with Capt. Hook on shore. He took me to Wendy's.

After lunch we went to a second hand store. That Capt. Hook, he is all right.:):)

I dined with Capt. Hook on shore. He took me to Wendy's.

 

After lunch we went to a second hand store. That Capt. Hook, he is all right.:):)

Did you get his autograph? Which hand did he use?:)

Did you get his autograph? Which hand did he use?:)

Mr. Smee signs all the autographs. He is Capt. Hook's right-hand man after all.

wow dining with the captain. Very nice

It was very nice.