Best Cruise Line for Food Allergies

[Pattycake28]

My husband and I have cruised on our own before but have never taken our daughter. We want to take her but she has some pretty specific food allergies. Anyone had a great experience with a cruise line that has dealt with allergies? I plan to bring a lot of her snacks and her soy milk with me but was hoping that the dining room or buffet would accommodate her. Her specific allergies are peanuts, milk and egg. TIA!

[mmr923]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2111008

 

See response #7 from a couple whose DGD had severe allergies to MANY things - she did fine! :)

 

I am very encouraged as DH and I are taking our multi-generational family on a Christmas cruise and SIL has "Alpha-gal" a life threatening allergy to all mammalian products (contact with or ingestion) so eating out with him is super challenging. But after reading the remarks on this thread (above) I am confident that he will be well taken care of on HAL, and we will all have a wonderful Christmas cruise!

 

Good luck to you!

[Queen of Oakville]

We've dealt with peanut allergies.

 

Based on my experience, Carnival and Royal are the worst at handling allergies. Others, however, have cited a favorable experience on Royal. I personally, on Royal, had a reaction to almonds (in the apple parcels lined with almond paste) despite telling the server I had a nut allergy. A friend's daughter with a nut reaction, had a reaction to bread on Royal. On Royal, my son is very limited as all their chocolate used on board is labelled, "may contain". On carnival, I have clearly see nuts on the dessert items, (like nuts in brownies or carrot cake) but have been told "there are no nuts in anything".

 

Based on my experience, Celebrity is the VERY best at handling allergies. We even dined in the buffet without problems. As soon as you tell someone in the buffet area that you have an allergy, they will call the maitre'd who will make sure you are taken care off.

[Pattycake28]

Thanks for the responses! I will have to look at HAL and Celebrity.

[SadieN]

We've never any issue on Carnival. We sail Carnival several times a year.

 

We travel with a group that combined has allergies to nuts, 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.

 

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 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.

 

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. 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.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.

 

At dinner your waiter will have your order and confirm it with you. The only issue we've ever had was DD food came out quicker than mine did.

If you have ATD, an order slip will be generated and given to your waiter as you are seated. For breakfast/lunch/brunch you'll have to remind the hostess staff that you have a special order until they recognize you

Edited July 7, 2016 by SadieN

[mjkacmom]

NCL has slats been great with dd's celiac - I think all lines have special kitchens.

[RCKM43]

We've dealt with peanut allergies.

 

 

 

Based on my experience, Celebrity is the VERY best at handling allergies. We even dined in the buffet without problems. As soon as you tell someone in the buffet area that you have an allergy, they will call the maitre'd who will make sure you are taken care off.

 

 

I think with any line it can be hit or miss. We had an excellent and a not good experience with Celebrity. The first time they bent over backwards. Sending food to our room, making special things, giving us his cell to contact anywhere about her food, etc. The second time were begging for the assist maitre'd to come over to discuss dinner the next night. He kept telling us he couldn't do anything that has been done they year before (basic requests). We would be the last table to leave dinner with two young frustrated children. Food would finally come out cooked with allergens. Buffet was excellent, but MDR was so bad we stopped eating there. I personally think it was just the particular asset Maitre'd because everyone else was fabulous.