Food allergies on river cruises?

DH and I are active travelers in our late 20s/early 30s considering a river cruise for 2016. However, DH has severe allergies to nuts and shellfish, so we must take this into account when choosing a line, and I recall seeing someone at Ama specifically say that they cannot rule out cross contamination in their kitchen (although now I can't find it!)

We have previously sailed Royal Caribbean and Celebrity and will be trying Azamara this summer for Greece and Turkey. Does anyone with a similar dietary situation have a recommendation for a line that handles these things well? Thanks in advance!

Well, at least age wise, you are well outside of the Grand Circle demographic ;)

That said, they did a great job for me on a cruise when I had some significant dietary restrictions. The chef, who was always highly visible in the dinning room, spoke with me daily about the menu and suggested alterations or menu substitutions.

The river boat galleys are small and entrees are pretty much cooked to order while you are having appetizer, soup and salad. You need to be the judge of how that might affect the likelihood of cross contamination.

DH and I are active travelers in our late 20s/early 30s considering a river cruise for 2016. However, DH has severe allergies to nuts and shellfish, so we must take this into account when choosing a line, and I recall seeing someone at Ama specifically say that they cannot rule out cross contamination in their kitchen (although now I can't find it!)

Just to help 'grade' the problem are the allergies severe enough that you avoid eating out in normal restaurants, or is it sufficient to avoid dishes intended to contain nuts and shellfish?

None of the cruise lines, especially the river cruises where kitchens are quite small, will be able to completely ensure the absence of nuts and shellfish given that both will be present in the kitchen, but all of them when advised of the issue will be able to identify which dishes intentionally contain them and will work with you on suitable alternatives where necessary.

We eat out fairly often (and usually successfully!) but for example, will avoid ordering ice cream if there is a nut based flavor on the menu to avoid contamination on the scoop. We will also avoid fried items if we see that there are fried shrimp on the menu due to the possibility of shared oil.

I Understand a small kitchen and those limitations, but the post I recall reading from Ama implied that they might not even ensure that they would make the effort to prevent contamination from shared utensils and the like. And actually, we are looking into river cruising because having an English speaking kitchen staff aware of the problem makes us feel better than trying to navigate a series of land restaurants in German and Hungarian!

Since AMA is generally reported as very accommodating on food requests, I wonder if the response you got reflects American lawyers rather than European cooks.

Over the last 20 years or so there has been a vast change in attitude in Europe towards food allergy, and quite frankly, the appearances of diagnoses of food allergies as well as the incidences of anaphylactic shocks due to these. There are many more (diagnosed) sufferers then there used to be. So food laws in Europe, the European Union to be precise, have taken this into account. You will find labels on every sold processed product if nuts are contained, handelled or if comtamination has occured, etc. Speak: consumer rights, consumer protection and liability laws.

The issue for you is definitely with the small kitchen on a ship, as mentioned by previous posters.

Personally, I do not recall any meal that contained peanuts or other nuts on my cruise. Peanut oil for frying is not standard in Germany, either, but used nevertheless. However, I had a German and European menu rather than an American one throughout the eight days I travelled.

I would personally contact the river cruise company you are interested in and judge from their response.

I am afraid, the cross-contamination problem you will encounter in the Italian ice-cream parlours in Germany as well. :( That is a pity, real Italian ice-cream is lovely.

notamermaid

Since AMA is generally reported as very accommodating on food requests, I wonder if the response you got reflects American lawyers rather than European cooks.

I suspect the 'lawyer' element will be there for pretty much all of the cruise lines, you also see this on prepackaged food labels where they cannot 100% state that things are nut free as nuts are processed at the same facility.

I have no doubt that AMA, like the others, will be very accommodating when informed of allergies and will make sure that guests know which options to avoid and may offer alternatives when necessary, what they cannot do is 100% guarantee that traces of nuts or seafood may not be present in other dishes due to them being prepared and cooked in close proximity, so it comes down to a risk analysis based on the level of sensitivity and the consequences of exposure to traces of these things.

Don't forget to advise your airlines, perhaps thru your travel agent or travel company. My wife has a problem with some food allergies and they provide special meals.

Don't forget to advise your airlines, perhaps thru your travel agent or travel company. My wife has a problem with some food allergies and they provide special meals.

Good point. Southwest will not bring peanuts on board if they know ahead of time. I think a telephone call to someone at the cruise company is a good idea too. Nothing beats getting the name of someone who knows you have a severe nut allergy.

Don't forget to advise your airlines, perhaps thru your travel agent or travel company. My wife has a problem with some food allergies and they provide special meals.

It is good advice, but do keep the requests proportionate.

There was a recent case where a parent of a child with a peanut allergy caused American Airlines to decline to transport the family because she considerably overstated their needs and the dangers involved so they insisted on her getting medical approval for her child before traveling...

Special meals are never going to be a problem, insisting that there be no nuts on-board may be a step too far for some airlines.

Yes, we have done this with our airlines, and they are very accommodating. We definitely wouldn't need there to be no nuts on the ship, just use of best practices, no shared utensils, thoroughly cleaning items that might have contained nuts, that sort of thing.

I just thought that if I heard a few experiences, it might help me narrow down the cruise lines! So far, all I've got is that we might not want to go on Viking, because I think we will be going in August, and the deeper draft of the longships makes them more susceptible to low water difficulties.

It is good advice, but do keep the requests proportionate.

Thanks everyone for the insight. Mark, as a fyi, I (and about 1 of 50 people) get a life threatening reaction to nuts called anaphylaxis that causes my throat to swell and my breathing to be compromised. Yes, a nut can literally kill me. Some folks overstate a food dislike into an 'allergy'; but there's a fair amount of folks like me with legit, life threatening 'allergies' who some people think have something like a common pollen sensitivity everyone gets each spring. I'm not on a crusade to police anybody else's food choices (I developed this as an adult and loved peanut butter stuffed Easter bunnies growing up!), though I hope others can understand where we're coming from when we address these types of life-threatening situations with the crew.

Thanks everyone for the insight. Mark, as a fyi, I (and about 1 of 50 people) get a life threatening reaction to nuts called anaphylaxis that causes my throat to swell and my breathing to be compromised...

I do understand the condition and the risks, especially if untreated at the point of onset. My wife is an educator and over the years the number of children presenting with this and other similar conditions has continued to increase.

Most major airlines no longer have peanuts on-board at all (legume allergy) but if your sensitivity is to tree nuts as well then that is obviously a bigger issue.

My caution to keep things proportionate was based on a recent actual incident where a parent of a child with a nut allergy attempted to force the airline to try to prevent anyone from bringing any nuts on-board. While they were happy to ensure the child's meal was nut-free they cannot of course ensure that nobody else had nuts with them in flight.

Although in this particular case the risk to the child from someone else eating nuts on the plane was very small, the parents exaggerated the risk to try and force the airline to announce that no nuts would be allowed on-board.

As a consequence the airline took the logical step of requiring medical certification that the child was save to fly as if the risk was as high as the parent claimed then transporting the child presented an abnormal risk.

The medical certification process confirmed the risk was not as high as claimed and the family flew on a different day without incident.

On our Scenic cruise in 2013 a fellow lady passenger had a couple of severe allergies that she had previously informed Scenic about, the hotel manager and chef made a point of discussing with her about her exact requirements and accommodated her with no problem. All the waiting staff knew about her and all made a point of ensuring that she was served correctly. There may have been others on that or other of our cruises I don't know but we were impressed with this incidence. So phone your chosen cruise line and discus with them you will soon find out if they will accommodate you or not.

Enjoy whichever cruise you choose. CA

I do understand the condition and the risks, especially if untreated at the point of onset. My wife is an educator and over the years the number of children presenting with this and other similar conditions has continued to increase.

 

Most major airlines no longer have peanuts on-board at all (legume allergy) but if your sensitivity is to tree nuts as well then that is obviously a bigger issue.

 

My caution to keep things proportionate was based on a recent actual incident where a parent of a child with a nut allergy attempted to force the airline to try to prevent anyone from bringing any nuts on-board. While they were happy to ensure the child's meal was nut-free they cannot of course ensure that nobody else had nuts with them in flight.

 

Although in this particular case the risk to the child from someone else eating nuts on the plane was very small, the parents exaggerated the risk to try and force the airline to announce that no nuts would be allowed on-board.

 

As a consequence the airline took the logical step of requiring medical certification that the child was save to fly as if the risk was as high as the parent claimed then transporting the child presented an abnormal risk.

 

The medical certification process confirmed the risk was not as high as claimed and the family flew on a different day without incident.

I read that story in the newspaper, Mark and it's unfortunate that people do things like that because it makes it more difficult for those who have severe allergies. I'm lucky I can eat nuts and shellfish, but when I was a kid I was stung by a bee and wound up in the hospital for a week. Of course they didn't have Epi pens then, but the sight of a bee sends me into a panic. FYI Southwest still serves peanuts but if someone is allergic they will not put them on board. Someone with a severe peanut allergy can go into shock simply by inhaling peanut dust that's why it's so dangerous. It is interesting that the number of children with these serious allergies is increasing though. One of mine teaches 2nd grade and she has more than one child in her class with severe nut allergy.

We have traveled with a friend who is severely allergic to mushrooms--has to carry an epi-pen at all times. We have been on 3 different lines--Vantage Leuftner and AMAwaterways. They were all very good about working with her about her allergy, meal by meal. She carries the name of her allergy written on a card in the language of the country in which she is traveling. Good luck--those are 2 nasty allergies you have. Pat

We have traveled with a friend who is severely allergic to mushrooms--

Oddly enough so have we, but on an ocean cruise. I think there may have been some attempt to consolidate those who had special meal requirements as we also had a lady allergic to garlic on our table.

Our mushroom allergic friend also highlighted something we had not really considered, she was generally unable to safely use the self-service buffet options either if there were dishes containing mushrooms present, due to the potential cross-contamination of utensils caused by previous guests.

THanks everyone for the helpful feedback! Still not sure about which line we should try, but calling each one sounds like a good idea.

I am also severely allergic to shellfish. I have two suggestions. Take Pepcid before meals, this was suggested by my allergy doc, may help if it is a small cross contamination and won't hurt. Also there is website selectwisely.com. They print and laminate cards in many different languages that I use to show waiters as well as refer to myself when traveling. These are not cheap but have served me well. I keep them with my passport and save from trip to trip.

Oddly enough so have we, but on an ocean cruise. I think there may have been some attempt to consolidate those who had special meal requirements as we also had a lady allergic to garlic on our table.

 

Our mushroom allergic friend also highlighted something we had not really considered, she was generally unable to safely use the self-service buffet options either if there were dishes containing mushrooms present, due to the potential cross-contamination of utensils caused by previous guests.

Good point about the ocean cruise buffets. I don't see any possible way a cruise line could prevent cross-contamination when so many times people will use the same serving spoon for dishes that are side by side, or food will drop from one dish into another if they are close together. Hearing about some of these food allergies makes me grateful that I'm only allergic to bee stings! I can eat what I want and carry two epi pens everywhere I go!

I am also severely allergic to shellfish. I have two suggestions. Take Pepcid before meals, this was suggested by my allergy doc, may help if it is a small cross contamination and won't hurt. Also there is website selectwisely.com. They print and laminate cards in many different languages that I use to show waiters as well as refer to myself when traveling. These are not cheap but have served me well. I keep them with my passport and save from trip to trip.

Interesting, I never heard of that. DH is allergic to shell fish and contrast dyes so I always carry benedryl for him when we travel. Fortunately he's not deathly allergic because he LOVES shellfish and I have to watch him like a kid or he'll have shrimp every night. I know he can move from rash to anaphylactic shock in one mouthful....that's what the second epi is for!! :D

we did the Mekong River cruise and sounds like I have the same allergies as the OP. (nuts and seafood).. I don't need a nut or seafood-free kitchen, I just need the kitchen staff to be cognizant and careful with my food prep.. The staff could not have been more accomodating.

as I am sure you do, I carry an epipen with me at all times just in case :)