Food allergies

Hi everyone! We’ve been taking a break from cruising for the past couple of years, since we wanted to wait until our son was old enough to use the kids programs. We thought we’d have to wait until he’s three, but just realized that NCL has a “Guppy Nursery” on the Escape for kids under three. (We usually cruise NCL, though we’re open to other options). I think he’d enjoy the kids programs on sea days and it would give us a chance to go to the spa or have a quiet lunch or whatever.

I didn’t even think of this until now, but do cruise lines accept kids with food allergies in their kids programs? I would call and ask for policies, etc before booking, but just wondering what others have experienced. I would have him eat meals with us to avoid the issue as much as possible, but do they provide snacks, drinks, milk, etc to the kids? If so, does anyone know how they handle allergies (special bracelet, photo of the kid and info on allergies, etc)? Can we leave meds and are staff trained to administer them in an emergency?

Unrelated to the allergy question, if anyone has used the Guppy Nursery on the NCL Escape, I’d love to hear your experience. Our son will be 2.5 if we book when we’re thinking about booking and since he’ll be on he higher end of the age spectrum, I’m wondering whether the programs are age appropriate or if he’d be better off if we waited until he was old enough to go into the 3+ program.

Carnival has their camp program start at age 2 if you wanted to look into it. I have never been on NCL but on carnival my son and friends daughter both had food allergies (hers was a nut allergy). Then we're going to have her leave the epi pen there and give her a pager in case something happened. Neither of us ended up using the night owls (both were under 2) so I can't say if they feed the kids or provide drinks other then water, not sure what they do with other allergies like my son (dairy) I never did ask since night owls didn't even start till 10pm.

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Thanks, that's helpful! We've never cruised on Carnival, so we might look into that. Our son also as a dairy allergy, so I'd be a bit worried about them giving milk to the kids and not watching closely while other kids were drinking milk. He knows not to drink someone else's milk, but if a teacher gave milk to him, he would probably drink it thinking it was milk that was Ok for him to drink.

We'll call and ask about their policies. I expect they'd require a doctor's note to leave an epi-pen.

They don't feed the kids in the clubs, so you shouldn't have a problem. Sometimes, they'll take them to dinner, but you have to sign up for that. And, contact "Special needs" before you sail, and let them know which allergies he has....they are very good with special needs!

Thanks, that's helpful! We've never cruised on Carnival, so we might look into that. Our son also as a dairy allergy, so I'd be a bit worried about them giving milk to the kids and not watching closely while other kids were drinking milk. He knows not to drink someone else's milk, but if a teacher gave milk to him, he would probably drink it thinking it was milk that was Ok for him to drink.

 

We'll call and ask about their policies. I expect they'd require a doctor's note to leave an epi-pen.

They said nothing about a note when we had asked about kids with severe allergies. Just to leave the pen and they give you the pager. On carnival they do have soy milk (it was sweet, I had never tried it before but I tasted every cup they brought for him just to make sure). Some ships have almond milk, my son liked it but it was bland to me but he is used to almond milk at home. You also order dinner the night before so it is prepared in a different area and they can substitute things to make it dairy free. Of course the buffet is always harder (didn't even think about butter on the buns...) Thankfully my son has a tummy and rash issue nothing overly serious. You can special order for breakfast and brunch in the dining room as well. We brought prepackaged safe snacks for ports and also grabbed extra boxes of cereal from the buffet.

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They don't feed the kids in the clubs, so you shouldn't have a problem. Sometimes, they'll take them to dinner, but you have to sign up for that. And, contact "Special needs" before you sail, and let them know which allergies he has....they are very good with special needs!

Great to know, thanks! I didn't even think of calling in advance, but I'll do that.

They said nothing about a note when we had asked about kids with severe allergies. Just to leave the pen and they give you the pager. On carnival they do have soy milk (it was sweet, I had never tried it before but I tasted every cup they brought for him just to make sure). Some ships have almond milk, my son liked it but it was bland to me but he is used to almond milk at home. You also order dinner the night before so it is prepared in a different area and they can substitute things to make it dairy free. Of course the buffet is always harder (didn't even think about butter on the buns...) Thankfully my son has a tummy and rash issue nothing overly serious. You can special order for breakfast and brunch in the dining room as well. We brought prepackaged safe snacks for ports and also grabbed extra boxes of cereal from the buffet.

 

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Thank you so much, this is very helpful! He tolerates baked milk, so we don't need to worry too much about ingredients, just avoid obvious dairy. He's never had an anaphylactic reaction, but we carry epi-pens just in case because he had a rather severe reaction (bad hives) the first and only time he tried milk, so we don't know what might happen next time. Luckily accidental butter exposure has only resulted in a more minor rash (though we still avoid it). Good to know that they have non-dairy milk options. I figured it would be available, even if the only option is soy.

I am just off the NCL Getaway cruising with my four year old twins. One of which has severe food allergies (peanut, tree nut, dairy). We have also cruised NCL Epic when they were three and Disney Dream when they were two.

For the kids club, we informed the staff of our son's food allergies at registration. They then print each child a wrist band. The band lists all of the food allergies and had a special sticker. When we dropped off the boys we left an epi pen. They did not require any paperwork. However, it was in its original box with prescription on it. When we cruised Disney we misplaced the original box and they accepted his allergy action plan as it was signed by the doctor in order to leave the epi. For NCL they will attach a sticker to further identify which child it belongs to. The staff assigned to my son's group carried the epi around where ever he was. The kids club was two levels on Getaway and they do parades on ship and a performance. The epi went with the staff where ever he went. The staff told me that they were trained to use it. At drop off we were given a pager to alert us if they needed us to return.

They only fed the children during port days and it was an extra fee. We did not participate in this.

We have only done Splash Turtles on NCL, but did the nursery on Disney. They did give snacks/milk to kids, but I believe that they had to approve anything brought in, and there were no nuts allowed.

Before cruising we contact special needs and send in a form. Once on board, we get a call/ letter about speaking with a supervisor in the main dining room when ordering. We pre ordered all of his meals as there can be a wait for the food to be prepared. We also bring lots of safe snacks and treats to have on hand as the buffet is not safe for our son beyond boxed cereal.

On NCL just let the staff at whatever dining venue you are eating at know you have a preorder for your child and they will bring it.

Always ask to order with the supervisor or special diets assigned wait staff. We have found the average waiter does not understand the seriousness of the issue and at times there can be language issues.