So we did it!!! We survived a Disney cruise with multiple severe food allergies, had a blast, wish we had done it sooner, and plan to do it again! I wanted to be sure and post our experience because if it wasn’t for others sharing their success stories, I wouldn’t have found the courage to attempt it. My two are milk/egg/peanut and milk/egg/tree nut. We took the Disney Dream. The first day was a little bumpy. Our servers thick accent and the fact that he threw in “gluten” when he was reading our allergy sheet had us a little nervous. But he got the head server who read the same sheet and they had it right. The head server explained they take our order and the allergy sheet to the chef to make sure it can be done and then the meals are prepared in a separate area of the galley. It took a little longer the first night to get their meals, but then after dinner we pre-ordered breakfast lunch and dinner for the following day every day thereafter. They had steak and french fries with steamed vegetables, chicken tenders, hotdogs, hamburgers, pasta with olive oil, and for breakfast, they had pancakes, bacon, sausage, prepackaged dry cereals and fruit. We did pack a bag of safe snacks for during the day because it was difficult to find safe snacks on the ship without ordering room service which took a bit longer to go through the allergy process. The days that we were on Castaway Cay, their pre ordered lunch was delivered from the ship to a specified location on the island. The day that we were on Nassau, we chose not to try to find safe food at Atlantis, but just brought safe prepackaged snacks for them to eat because fresh food or unsealed food is not allowed to be brought on or off the island. For those that are severely contact allergic to dairy, I would add a cautionary note that there is unlimited soft serve ice cream on the ship and Castaway Cay and occasionally you would run into a puddle of ice cream or someone breaking the rules with ice cream in the hot tub etc. It was nice to meet a few other allergy families while on the ship and I thought it would be cool if we had a pre-planned get together. Future cruise idea I guess. Also, I did notice they had enjoy life cookies in the kids play area. The epinephrine/medication form you have to fill out to leave it with the staff in the play area mentions it should have the original label which we did not bring, however the staff said we could just write their name on the bag. Castaway Cay has the Epi-pen sign on the health building near the gift shops, FYI, but of course bring your own. I think that’s everything! I hope you too can find the courage to go out and find adventure and not let food allergies hold you back!
feedthemsafely♥ 