I was recently on the Volendam and had pre-informed HAL via our TA about my food intolerances. As everyone has already said our waiter and his assistant in the MDR were extremely conscientious about bringing me the menu for the next night's dinner so I could select what I wanted. I was told there is a special chef who prepares the food for those who have food issues/allergies, etc. This worked well for the MDR and Pinnacle. It did not work with Canaletto when I was ill and had to be confined to our cabin. We had reservations and I had pre-ordered my meal so I thought it would nice to have it delivered. That absolutely did not work. I got a regularly prepared meal that made me feel worse. On a second visit to Canaletto, my pre-order worked, probably because I had informed Guest Services about the bad experience I had had. I also found in-room dining to be dreadful for me and my issues. They could not even provide broth while I was ill and plain white rice or plain chicken when the medical center said I could try having a bland meal. While I was ill, I circumvented the lack of food on their menus that I could eat by ordering 3-4 hard boiled eggs, toast, and dry cereal for breakfast and eating that off and on all day until I could order a peanut butter and jelly sandwich off the children's menu for my supper. Fortunately we had a refrigerator so I could keep the eggs cool and safe to eat. I informed Guest Services about the difficulty I had in even getting food recommended by the medical center and was told that changes had been so people could order broth. Sure hope other items for a sick person were also added. As for the concern about salads, they were able to accommodate me in the MDR because they knew my intolerances. I found the salad bar in the Lido was fabulous. I could tell/point out the items I wanted and the person behind the counter would add them to the salad. This was the only thing I could eat in the Lido for lunch since I had no way of knowing if other foods had my problem ingredients. Since my problems were not gluten or dairy, I was able to get food from Dive-in as long as they did not give me the sauce or the frizzled onions. I was lucky that our assistant waiter in the MDR worked at Dive-in at lunch so he knew my issues. Obviously being restricted to these two options made lunch pretty boring so we went to the MDR for lunch when it was open and I pre-ordered my meal the night before for that just like I did for dinner. Since our dinner waiters weren't there, I had to remind the Maitre'd and the waiters that I had pre-ordered. That worked fine every time. So based on my experiences and those of the other folks on this thread, I would say that HAL does make it possible for people with food allergies, etc., to avoid those foods or ingredients. I had been worried about this beforehand and was very pleased that pre-ordering worked out so well for me.
Food Allergies with HAL
in Holland America Line
Posted
I was recently on the Volendam and had pre-informed HAL via our TA about my food intolerances. As everyone has already said our waiter and his assistant in the MDR were extremely conscientious about bringing me the menu for the next night's dinner so I could select what I wanted. I was told there is a special chef who prepares the food for those who have food issues/allergies, etc. This worked well for the MDR and Pinnacle. It did not work with Canaletto when I was ill and had to be confined to our cabin. We had reservations and I had pre-ordered my meal so I thought it would nice to have it delivered. That absolutely did not work. I got a regularly prepared meal that made me feel worse. On a second visit to Canaletto, my pre-order worked, probably because I had informed Guest Services about the bad experience I had had. I also found in-room dining to be dreadful for me and my issues. They could not even provide broth while I was ill and plain white rice or plain chicken when the medical center said I could try having a bland meal. While I was ill, I circumvented the lack of food on their menus that I could eat by ordering 3-4 hard boiled eggs, toast, and dry cereal for breakfast and eating that off and on all day until I could order a peanut butter and jelly sandwich off the children's menu for my supper. Fortunately we had a refrigerator so I could keep the eggs cool and safe to eat. I informed Guest Services about the difficulty I had in even getting food recommended by the medical center and was told that changes had been so people could order broth. Sure hope other items for a sick person were also added. As for the concern about salads, they were able to accommodate me in the MDR because they knew my intolerances. I found the salad bar in the Lido was fabulous. I could tell/point out the items I wanted and the person behind the counter would add them to the salad. This was the only thing I could eat in the Lido for lunch since I had no way of knowing if other foods had my problem ingredients. Since my problems were not gluten or dairy, I was able to get food from Dive-in as long as they did not give me the sauce or the frizzled onions. I was lucky that our assistant waiter in the MDR worked at Dive-in at lunch so he knew my issues. Obviously being restricted to these two options made lunch pretty boring so we went to the MDR for lunch when it was open and I pre-ordered my meal the night before for that just like I did for dinner. Since our dinner waiters weren't there, I had to remind the Maitre'd and the waiters that I had pre-ordered. That worked fine every time. So based on my experiences and those of the other folks on this thread, I would say that HAL does make it possible for people with food allergies, etc., to avoid those foods or ingredients. I had been worried about this beforehand and was very pleased that pre-ordering worked out so well for me.