Cruising with Food Allergies

At the beginning of June, we took an 8 day cruise from New York to the Caribbean.  We sailed on the Carnival Miracle and traveled with our two kids, my parents and my sister.  Traveling with young children can be challenging, but compound that with food allergies and you have a recipe for some major mommy anxiety!  Luckily, the trip went off without a hitch and we did not have any major problems. 

This was Layla's second cruise, but her first time sailing with Carnival.  We traveled on Royal Caribbean when she was eleven months old and food allergies were totally new to us.  She was drinking Allimentum formula and still eating jarred baby food, which made meal time pretty easy.  The dining staff were very good about bringing her safe finger foods during dinner, such as sliced black olives, fruit salad and grilled chicken and we avoided the buffet completely, opting for jarred food during breakfast and lunch. 

This year, Layla is almost three so I knew that a lot of forethought and planning would be necessary.  In fact, I had an entire suitcase filled with "safe" foods, as well as Dylan's babyfood.  We packed individual servings of rice milk, a jar of soy butter, snickerdoodle cookies (Enjoy Life), Chewy On the Go bars (Enjoy Life) Not Nuts Seed and Fruit trail mix (Enjoy Life), raisins, fruit snacks, Oreos, applesauce, pretzels, and crackers. 

Before our sailing date, I called the Special Needs line and told them that we would be traveling with a food-allergic toddler and to please note her food restrictions.  They noted them on our account and reminded me to meet with the Maitre d' once onboard.  As soon as we boarded, Monte and I went directly to the dining room to inform the dining staff.  They were friendly and reassuring and not only noted her allergies, but also asked what some of her favorite foods were. 

Dinnertime in the Bacchus Dining Room

We ate breakfast and lunch at the buffet on the lido deck.  Layla always ate boxed cereal with her own rice milk, fruit and some bacon from the grill.  Communication with the buffet staff was difficult due to language barriers and, I'll be honest, a lack of trust on my part.  Not knowing how trained the employees upstairs were on food allergies prevented me from allowing Layla to eat much of anything at the buffet.  During lunch, we often made her a sunbutter sandwich (I checked the labels on the bread served at the grill), as well as sliced turkey or a hamburger. 

Trying to find the marshmallows in her box of Lucky Charms

Every evening, there was a bowl of sliced black olives and a fruit salad waiting at Layla's seat.  Each night, she had a grilled chicken breasts served either with french fries (from a dedicated fryer) or plain pasta and Jell-O for dessert.  Layla doesn't often eat Jell-O at home, so this was a real treat for her, but we also brought along her cookies so she wouldn't feel that she was missing out on "dessert".  The rest of us felt confident enough to indulge in seafood dishes and the decadent desserts, but we were mindful to eat far enough away from her plate to avoid any cross-contamination at the table, and we made frequent trips to the bathroom to wash our hands and rinse our mouths.  Our servers were amazing and took great care of Layla and checked in on her often. 

Layla with our awesome server

During port days, we ate a meal before disembarking and brought along tons of snacks.  In Puerto Rico, Layla had a water ice made with crushed ice and Sprite, and then we returned to the ship for dinner.  In Saint Thomas, we went to the beach after breakfast and returned for lunch.  On our third port day in Grand Turk, the kids stayed onboard with my parents while Monte and I had some time to ourselves. 

Sprite Ices make Layla happy

The ship had a child care center called Camp Carnival, where parents could drop their children off for activites and meal times while they explored the ship or ports of call.   I honestly did not even consider bringing Layla to Camp Carnival, but when she got wind of a playroom, she practically dragged us there!  When I registered her, I was given an extremely detailed Food Allergy check list and medical form where I noted all of her allergies and circled menu items that she was allowed to eat.  Although Layla only went to the camp for an hour or two each day and we never sent her during meal times, it was so reassuring to know that the camp staff would have a handle on her needs.   We were also given a cell phone that only worked on the ship, in case there was an emergency and the staff needed to contact us immediately (or we needed to contact them).  Each time we dropped Layla off at camp, we would give them her Epi-pen and Benedryl and they would check the charge on the cell phone.  Honestly, we couldn't have asked for more!

There was only one negative incident during our vacation with regards to food allergies.  On our second to last night, we went upstairs to the buffet before bed to have a cup of tea.  Earlier in the evening, we noticed a few red hives on Layla's cheeks, but they didn't seem to be bothering her or getting worse and we assumed it was nothing.  Layla was overtired at this point, and when she gets too tired, she becomes VERY active and hyper.  As we were drinking our tea, she was laying on the booth that we were sitting on and rolling around.  By the time we went downstairs to our cabin, her forehead and the side of her face were covered in hives.  Her eyes began to water and she started scratching.  Trying not to panic, we washed her thoroughly and administered Benedryl while drilling Layla with questions.  I was trying to figure out if she had injested something or just touched an allergen.  She told me that her mouth wasn't itchy and her stomach didn't hurt and she didn't appear to have any trouble breathing.  Within thirty minutes or so, she was dozing off and the hives were disappearing.  I returned to the buffet to see what they had served for dinner and dessert (we had eaten in the dining room) while Monte stayed with her in the room, but all of the food had been cleared away by the time I got there. Monte and I swore off the buffet for the remainder of the cruise.  My guess is that while rolling around on the cloth booths, her skin came in contact with an allergen (maybe shellfish or nuts).

The booth in question

Overall, I think it was a successful vacation, and I was very happy with Carnival's ability to meet our needs.  Again, to anyone cruising with a food allergy, the dining room seems to be the safest eating environment.  Buffets are too risky  But my family is proof that it is possible to cruise with food allergies!

Afternoon Tea with Mommy