HAL's Handling of Food Allergies: A Positive Experience

Awhile back, I posted here on CC asking for people’s experience regarding HAL’s handling of severe food allergies. Here’s that thread:

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

At the time, I said I would report back regarding our experience. I’ve been feeling guilty for not posting as we sailed last summer. Better late than never I figure. Here is our experience:

We sailed on the Eurodam to the Baltic in 2015. My son, 11 years at the time, has a severe peanut and tree nut allergy. Even trace amounts of these allergens could be life threatening to him.

I started by contacting HAL’s Access desk asking them how they accommodate food allergies. I specifically asked what processes they have in place to ensure that food is free of allergens in both the main dining room as well as the Lido (when the MRD is closed).

Initially, I received a polite, but canned, response that once I board the ship, I should speak with a dining room manager who will ensure that our food challenges will be looked after. This did not really answer my question.

After pressing a little, I was put into contact with the head of the Access department. She contacted the ship and gave us an answer. In a nutshell (no pun intended), they have a separate food preparation area for people with dietary needs. This areas has specially trained staff and utensils that are thoroughly cleaned between preparing dishes to prevent cross contact with potential allergens. This was on the Eurodam. We were also considering the Veedam and apparently, as a smaller ship, they don’t have special preparation area (but do have specially trained staff and processes).

Based on this information, we booked our Eurodam cruise to the Baltic.

Once we boarded, I spoke with the concierge who contacted the Dining Room Manager and our Headwaiter. They met with us in the Neptune Lounge and went through the process of how we should order our food for each and every meal.

What blew us away was that they had made arrangements with managers for every eating venue on the ship including the Lido, Pinnacle, room service and MDR. This was in contrast with Princess where if you couldn’t eat in the MDR (e.g. lunch on port days), you were on your own to negotiate your food accommodations elsewhere.

Basically, every evening we would receive breakfast, lunch and dinner menus for the main dining room and pre-order our son’s meals. When the MDR was closed for lunch on port days, my son would order what he wanted for his Lido lunch a day in advance. We would arrive at the Lido, find a manager, mention our cabin number and my son would receive his pre-ordered allergen free meal.

The most amazing part of the whole process was that each member of the crew treated my son as if it was their pleasure to help him eat safely. For example, our first night on board we received a call from our headwaiter shortly after dinner. He noticed that my son just ordered a garden salad and a pizza the following day for lunch in the Lido. The headwaiter was concerned that my son would not have enough to eat! We told him our son would fine. The next day, as we waited for the pizza to come out, we chatted expecting he would receive only a few slices or perhaps a personal plate-sized pizza. You can imagine our surprise when the chef brought us a massive family sized pizza! We all had to help my son make a dent into his meal.

In the Pinnacle, the manager came to us saying that he had researched “lupin” to ensure that it was not in any of the food as he had not heard of it. (Lupin is an ingredient that does not appear in North American cuisine but does appear in certain European countries. North American Allergists do not test for it but many peanut allergic individuals also have a lupin allergy. Therefore, we put lupin down as one of the foods my son should not have). The manager told us he even phoned his mother about lupin who said that it often appeared in certain baked goods (the manager was from Belgium).

This level of care to ensure that my son was able to eat healthy and safely was taken by much of the crew throughout the cruise.

We have cruised on Disney, Princess and HAL with our son. When I asked him what was his favorite cruise line was, he told us HAL because he was able to eat a variety of food.

I should mention that there were times that he was not able to have a requested menu item as they could not guarantee it was nut free. However, the crew were always able to find a good alternative and we appreciated them for looking into the ingredients so thoroughly. We also tried to keep his meals as simple as possible as we could see that all the crew was working very hard, not only to provide for us but for others as well.

As a note for those with food allergies, I asked our headwaiter what we should do in the future to ensure my son would receive allergen free meals. He said that we did everything correctly by contacting the access desk prior to the cruise. He said what helped them was the level of detail we provided in our communication. For example, we were very specific as to which ingredients (including a list of tree nuts) that should be avoided and mentioned that his food needed to be prepared separately in order to avoid cross contamination with allergens. He said the detailed communication helps the staff and crew provide their guests exactly what is needed.

We are very grateful to Holland America for accommodating our son. The level of care they showed us allowed our family to travel to parts of the world that we never dreamed we could travel to just a few years ago. Based on how they dealt with my son’s food allergies, HAL will be our first choice in cruising (well actually for most travel in general). Presently, we are looking at the Koningsdam for our next journey.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Happy Sailings!

How wonderful the crew was so diligent in keeping your son safe and happily fed so he could enjoy his meals. I loved reading this thread and greatly appreciate you took the time to compliment the crew. That pizza sounds amazing. :)

Thank you for sharing with us. :)

That pizza sounds amazing. :)

Thanks. The pizza was, dare I say, just as good as ones we've had on Princess. We had it quite a few more times during that cruise.:)

How nice to read such a positive report of how HAL handled a challenge. Thanks for reporting back.

While their careful food handling, of course, was paramount, the fact they made your son and your family feel as though it was no imposition is outstanding. The crews of HAL are wonderful!!! :)

Thank you for sharing and happy to hear of the responsiveness of the ship's staff.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Kudos to Holland America [emoji847]

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Very similar to our experience on the NA with my wife and daughter who must avoid gluten, fructose, fructans and a number of other sugars. Handled very professionally and with good humor.

It's why we keep coming back to HAL.

Thanks for reporting your positive experience during your Eurodam cruise.

What a great experience and I complement you on writing a very complete and thorough report on that experience.

Very well done.

Keith

Thank you for sharing your experience. I had always vaguely heard that HAL was fantastic with allergies, but never such a detailed first hand account. My nephew has a severe peanut allergy and his parents are not comfortable traveling outside the US with him. I'm excited to share your report with them and hopefully open up a new world of travel!

DH and I are pretty new to HAL, our first cruise was last May. We have another coming right up in April. One of the things we noticed about HAL was the excellent service we experienced. Glad to see they take food service for people with allergies so seriously. To me that shows they really do care about their guests safety and comfort.

Thank you for this report. The Eurodam was our last HAL ship, and I agree, the service for one with a severe allergy was exceptional. I was able to enjoy every meal, knowing that my needs were looked after. The Koningsdam is our next adventure.

Once Hal has your information on file you should be able to book without having to send them the additional dietary information. I spoke with my TA before the last trip, and she informed me that HAL had me covered! At my first dinner - when I had not had the opportunity to select food, the meal was selected for me , and was very tasty.

I'm looking forward to the new ship, and to continuing exceptional service from HAL - our cruise line of choice.

That is fantastic how well the crew handled your situation! My hat is off to them.

The crew is the main reason we cruise on HAL - they all try so hard to make our cruise enjoyable, plus they seem to be so happy and pleasant while doing their jobs.

Thank you for the upbeat and detailed report on your Eurodam cruise. It is so refreshing to see posts from folks who appreciate (and are grateful for) the outstanding service provided by HAL ships . My spouse has food allergies and severe contact dermatitis, and all of our HAL cruises have provided the necessary accommodations for both conditions. We are grateful to HAL for its attention to its passengers and their needs. Thank you, HAL.

Absolutely awesome to read!!

Joanie

It's reports like yours that keeps us looking at HAL for our 1st choice when cruising. Their crew is just outstanding.

So long story short, the "canned response" was correct! As they're on the hook should anything happen for something that which they were aware, you didn't expect anything other did you?

That's what is great about HAL, they are typically accommodating for most needs/desires/wants. The needs I completely get (like I listed above), but some of the outlandish/over the top wants that they go all circus contortionist for/over/about is truly impressive!

Great to hear you had a FANTAB time!

We had some what of the same thing happen to us on our cruise on he Oosterdam last week but not to the extent of your food allergies.

We had the chance to review the MD menus thru another cruise critic member who was on the cruise before us. We noticed that the menus are trending toward more spicy seasonings than we have experienced on past cruises. My wife is allergic to pepper(s) and sage along with all hot spices. At our first MD dinner we were given the next evenings menu and Joyce was able to adjust the menu to accommodate her allergies. The waiters handled this like it was no big deal which made it very easy for us. We were very pleased about how they handled it which makes us like HAL even more.

Excellent to hear this! We also had wonderful accommodation with our granddaughter who had a list of allergies/sensitivities a mile long - and lethal to peanuts and all peanut products, derivatives and oil. No red meats, no fish, no soy, no eggs, no dairy, no wheat. We did take a few special items with us and requested a room refrigerator which work quite well.

The pool grill cook would go to the galley and get a fresh, clean pan to cook her chicken breast or turkey burger. The Lido chef told us he was always available any time the Lido was open and that we should ask for him and he would guide us. She enjoyed a wide range of foods and because for meats she could only eat poultry the pheasant, duck and quail were extra special. Every day she ate a pile of French fries - no peanut oil used.

This is why we took the children on a HAL cruise, the special attention and caring; all done very graciously. So nice to hear that hasn't changed. Thanks for reporting back with us. m--

It is such a pleasure to read this thread. Thank you for starting it, ProfTW.

Thanks for sharing your story. We knew that HAL provides excellent service, however this level of thoroughness and customer satisfaction impressed me. Thanks again!

Thank you to all of you for your feedback.

I recognize many of your names as you also replied to my original thread from last year asking about HAL and food allergies. I can honestly say it was yours and other CC members' responses to my questions that convinced us to try cruising with HAL. For that we are extremely grateful!

Happy and Safe Sailings!

We sailed the Zuiderdam from Quebec to Ft Lauderdale in Oct. The line was informed that I have a shellfish allergy. we were not told prior to sailing that I should contact the Dining Staff directly.

They gave me cross contaminated food even though I told the waiter twice I was allergic to shellfish. I did that because our seat mates were ordering crab cakes.

I used my epi pen, spent hours in sickbay being pumped full of cortisone, steriods, and antihistamines. I was wheeled back to my room at 2:30 am with an IV port in my arm. We missed our excursion to Bar Harbor the next day. The Dr did not report the incident to front office. After I asked 2 days later, the dining staff contacted me and I finally felt I could eat safely.

We were given a bill for almost $900, and the excursion fees were not returned. The only response we have received from HA was a form letter saying someone would contact us. No one has contacted us.

So, if you have severe allergies contact the Dining staff as soon as you arrive on board. This cruise was a celebratory vacation for us. Between a 2 day gale, engine trouble, anaphylactic shock, and a $900 bill, it wasn't .

If we ever hear from HA, I will repost to report the outcome .

We're extremely disappointed in Holland America's response to this very serious failure in their kitchen.

Seattle must know - how much does this special individual service, personnel treatment, and prep area cost the bottom line. Or is it a net neutral expenditure. Attract more passengers, even with extra service demands?