Food Allergy

[alwalaska]

:eek:We sailed with HA in Oct. Reported severe allergy to shellfish before boarding. i always tell the wait staff I have a severe allergy to shellfish. The night I was given cross contaminated food, I told the waiter twice because our seat mates ordered crab cakes. Used my epi pen, spent 4 hrs in sick bay being pumped full of cortisone, steroids, and antihistamines. Taken by wheelchair back to my room. Still had an IV port in my arm in case of rebound. Missed Bar Harbor the next day. Slept all day. The swollen tongue and throat were better but still had swollen lips the next evening. Total failure in their kitchen. Afterwards I was contacted by the asst Dining manager. Mr. I Wayan Suadnyana who watched over me at every meal for the rest of the cruise. I deeply thank him for his help for I was now afraid to eat anything.

We got a bill for almost $900! Lost our excursion fees.

HA has not contacted me in the month we have been home from what was suppose to be a celebration cruise for us. If I ever hear from them, I'll repost to let folks with Severe food allergies know how :eek:they handled it after the fact.

 

I presume "HA" is Holland America? This is the NCL board.

 

In any event... my son also has severe food allergies. He is allergic to nuts and shellfish. In my opinion, it's not enough to just tell them before you get on board or to tell your wait staff. If your allergy is severe, you need to be meeting with the Assistant Maitre D every night to pre-order your food for the next day. You need to have them prepare your food separately in advance so it doesn't get cross contaminated. When you show up the next evening, they bring you out the food they have prepared especially for you. You can never be too safe, always take as many precautions as you can.

 

Sorry this happened to you, I know firsthand that living with food allergies stinks.

 

I think when it comes to allergies, it is good to share experiences even if it was on a different cruise line because most of the process is the same.

 

My allergies are not life threatening,so I don't have to worry about cross contamination. I have found though that across multiple chains, simply putting the information in pre-cruise and then talking to the Maitre D on the first day and then talking to the wait staff is not sufficient.

 

For cross contamination issues, like blackwing said, ordering your food the night before is the best option.

 

Even if your allergy is only when you directly eat the food, you should talk to at least an assistant Maitre'D each night. They are more experienced with handling allergies than the wait staff.

 

I'm allergic to citrus in any shape or form. One evening, I was lazy and didn't look for a maitre D when I came in. I ordered the salmon, but because it came with a sauce with lemon, I explained my allergy and asked for it without the lemon sauce. I was given the salmon without the lemon sauce. I finished about a third of the salmon before the assistant maitre'D came running over. I guess the waiter mentioned something to him and he went to the kitchen and found that the salmon had been marinated in lemon juice. He took my salmon away, apologized profusely and asked what I needed. I took a benedryl, but was feeling fine, so I wasn't worried. He kept checking back through the rest of the meal and they kept refilling my water glass every time I took two sips.

 

I learned that day that the maitre D's are much better equipped to handle allergy problems. Ask to speak to one when you check in for your meal.

[detroitlions]

I presume "HA" is Holland America? This is the NCL board.

 

In any event... my son also has severe food allergies. He is allergic to nuts and shellfish. In my opinion, it's not enough to just tell them before you get on board or to tell your wait staff. If your allergy is severe, you need to be meeting with the Assistant Maitre D every night to pre-order your food for the next day. You need to have them prepare your food separately in advance so it doesn't get cross contaminated. When you show up the next evening, they bring you out the food they have prepared especially for you. You can never be too safe, always take as many precautions as you can.

 

Sorry this happened to you, I know firsthand that living with food allergies stinks.

My son has a peanut and tree nut allergy he is also allergic to eggs but that one is not severe.

We always ordered for him a day in advance it was easier on carnavil but NCL also gives you a allergy expert and talks to you about what you can eat.

He was able to eat the hot dogs fries and hamburgers at the buffet and the pizza. he will eat carving station meat and veggies.

He is 13 now and we have been on many cruises he brings his epi pens everywhere.

We went to the Cirque show and he was given 2 huge fillets cause he did not want the shrimp.

And at the Tepenyaki he also was given 2 huge fillets with a baked potato and broccoli prepared separately since they cook eggs on the main grills.

[Vasrb]

After experiencing a severe allergic reaction on HAL, I did some research.

The ships have special kitchens for preparing food for allergies BUT if you have a shellfish allergy and want to have a fish dinner, they do not know how fish has been handled prior to coming onboard. Do not order a fish dinner! They will say the fish is safe, it probably is not ! Beware!

 

My experience was frightening, how it was handled by HAL after the fact was extremely disappointing. The medical staff in Seattle decided I had breathed in shellfish from table mates dinners, and reacted. I didn't have that problem two nights later when seatmates had shellfish. Or while walking through the dining room, or just being in a large restaurant setting where many people were enjoying their shellfish dinners. I was given a $900 bill for treatment, missed an excursion. I was not told prior to boarding ship that there was a protocol for food allergies. A complete,failure on HAL's part, but they do not think they are responsible.

[blackwing]

After experiencing a severe allergic reaction on HAL, I did some research.

The ships have special kitchens for preparing food for allergies BUT if you have a shellfish allergy and want to have a fish dinner, they do not know how fish has been handled prior to coming onboard. Do not order a fish dinner! They will say the fish is safe, it probably is not ! Beware!

 

My experience was frightening, how it was handled by HAL after the fact was extremely disappointing. The medical staff in Seattle decided I had breathed in shellfish from table mates dinners, and reacted. I didn't have that problem two nights later when seatmates had shellfish. Or while walking through the dining room, or just being in a large restaurant setting where many people were enjoying their shellfish dinners. I was given a $900 bill for treatment, missed an excursion. I was not told prior to boarding ship that there was a protocol for food allergies. A complete,failure on HAL's part, but they do not think they are responsible.

Again, I'm sorry this happened to you, but what happened to you on HAL isn't necessarily indicative of what may happen to you on NCL.

 

I'm going to disagree with you on not ordering fish if you have a shellfish allergy. I'm not really sure what you mean by "how the fish was handled prior to coming onboard". Are you suggesting that whoever sold the fish to HAL just commingled all of the seafood together? So there's one big box of various fish and shrimp all touching each other and getting to know each other?

 

As I mentioned, my son has shellfish allergies, and he ordered fish with no issues on NCL. You just have to be proactive in making sure the Assistant Maitre D understands your allergies. Or if you are eating at the buffet, you have to be especially careful. In the buffet we always asked for a chef.

 

For shellfish my son is only allergic to shrimp and crab and lobster. He can eat clams. One time we got some clam chowder from the buffet and the chef actually approached us and stopped us because he said he wanted to make sure the stock was ok. He came back out and told us that it was actually made with a lobster stock.

 

So I do think that NCL exercises care and caution when it comes to shellfish allergies. Again, sorry this happened to you, but I would hope that your experience on HAL was out of the norm. As far as getting restitution or reimbursement from HAL... that's not really a topic for the NCL board. I do wonder though what you mean when you say that "I was not told prior to boarding ship that there was a protocol for food allergies". I'm not sure why you wouldn't have researched this in advance, as you know, you have to take ultimate responsibility for what you eat. It's always good to be overly cautious.

[GeezerCouple]

After experiencing a severe allergic reaction on HAL, I did some research.

The ships have special kitchens for preparing food for allergies BUT if you have a shellfish allergy and want to have a fish dinner, they do not know how fish has been handled prior to coming onboard. Do not order a fish dinner! They will say the fish is safe, it probably is not ! Beware!

 

My experience was frightening, how it was handled by HAL after the fact was extremely disappointing. The medical staff in Seattle decided I had breathed in shellfish from table mates dinners, and reacted. I didn't have that problem two nights later when seatmates had shellfish. Or while walking through the dining room, or just being in a large restaurant setting where many people were enjoying their shellfish dinners. I was given a $900 bill for treatment, missed an excursion. I was not told prior to boarding ship that there was a protocol for food allergies. A complete,failure on HAL's part, but they do not think they are responsible.

 

Your statement that "I was not told prior to boarding ship that there was a protocol for food allergies" is very odd.

 

As Blackwing stated above, the burden is on each individual (adult; for children, their parents) to understand their own personal limitations, and to behave accordingly.

 

The kitchen cannot possibly know what *your* allergies are (or even that you have any allergy at all) UNLESS YOU TELL THEM.

 

I'm very surprised that you wouldn't already be very accustomed to this, whenever you dine outside your home.

 

Our experience has been that NCL is extremely helpful about any type of allergy (food or otherwise), and on three occasions, they went to amazing lengths to make sure that everything would be "as needed".

--> But we had to tell them in advance what was needed, and in the non-food allergy situation, we discussed precisely what was needed. They did all that, and far beyond. Impressive!

 

For food allergies, that's pretty much the same in restaurants, which can't know about allergies unless the person tells them.

 

We also have had food service jump over to double check on something ordered, either to ask if we were sure that would be okay, or to ask us to wait while they double check with the kitchen.

We found them to be very pro-active.

[Vasrb]

I'm sorry, obviously I,didn't include enough info...

Our travel agent contacted the cruise line. We filled out the preboard questionnaire...both stated I am allergic to shellfish. Up until Oct 12 th I had not ever experienced that severe of a reaction.

The,ship was notified but I did not receive any info prior to boarding on how to eat safely. None! Not an email, letter, phone call... nothing. I told every wait staff person. I asked about all food. I did due diligence.

I ate Salmon. Culinary staff said it was prepared in " allergy kitchen".

Salmon should be safe. It is usually " farmed". But I reacted very severely. Very. If the kitchen staff was not lying, then the culprit is in the way the salmon was handled prior to arriving onboard or when loaded into their freezers. The fish was cross contaminated. It was stored with shellfish somewhere along it's route to the ship.

If you have a shellfish allergy, don't eat the fish! Maybe it will be ok, or maybe you will spend days recovering from eating it.

Not having reacted this severely ever before, I thought I was safe in just informing the staff serving me.

[blackwing]

I'm sorry, obviously I,didn't include enough info...

Our travel agent contacted the cruise line. We filled out the preboard questionnaire...both stated I am allergic to shellfish. Up until Oct 12 th I had not ever experienced that severe of a reaction.

The,ship was notified but I did not receive any info prior to boarding on how to eat safely. None! Not an email, letter, phone call... nothing. I told every wait staff person. I asked about all food. I did due diligence.

I ate Salmon. Culinary staff said it was prepared in " allergy kitchen".

Salmon should be safe. It is usually " farmed". But I reacted very severely. Very. If the kitchen staff was not lying, then the culprit is in the way the salmon was handled prior to arriving onboard or when loaded into their freezers. The fish was cross contaminated. It was stored with shellfish somewhere along it's route to the ship.

If you have a shellfish allergy, don't eat the fish! Maybe it will be ok, or maybe you will spend days recovering from eating it.

Not having reacted this severely ever before, I thought I was safe in just informing the staff serving me.

 

It doesn't sound like you did any research pre-cruise though? Before we went on our first cruise with my nut and shellfish allergic son, I scoured the internet for information and posted on this message board asking about procedures. This message board is where I received the advice to meet with an assistant maitre D in the dining room as soon as we boarded the ship. This message board is where I received the advice to ask for the menus for the next day at dinner and then pre-order his entire meal in advance.

 

Despite what you say, it doesn't sound like you did ANY due diligence. The only thing you did was tell the waiters about your allergy. I have never been on HAL so I don't know what their "allergy kitchen" is, but I imagine it means they prepare the food separate from other food? I wouldn't have taken that chance. You can't rely on waiters to tell you the food was ok. They only put the order in and bring the food out. They're not in the kitchen as much and don't know the food as well. You need the assistant maitre D who could have told you that the salmon was soaked in a seafood broth prior to cooking (or whatever it is that you think happened) and get them to prepare a plate FROM SCRATCH. And not simply taking a mostly pre-prepared plate and trying to get the allergens off.

 

In short, I am sorry to say this, but I think the failing was on your part. You didn't do research in advance, you didn't talk to the Maitre D or the Chef, or take any extra precautions. It is your body and your life. You need to have them prepare the food especially for you. When we pre-order our son's food, they prepare it separately ahead of time and are diligent about allergens. When we enter the dining room that night and give his name and cabin number, they take the food that was prepared for him and deliver it to the table.

 

My question is, how do you go about your every day life? The fish that you buy in a supermarket or eat in a restaurant, have you found it common that they are commingled with shellfish? Have you ever had a reaction anywhere else? I'm not sure why you would assume that HAL rubbed shrimp all over the fish before serving it to you. If it's not a common practice on land, it's not a common practice at sea.

 

As a parent of an allergy child, I have quite a bit of experience in dealing with restaurants and allergies. My gut feeling is that there was probably some shellfish stock in the sauce that they poured over the fish you ate. And that your waiter didn't know about it. That's no excuse, but it's just like the clam chowder I mentioned upthread being made with a lobster stock. It's not something every waiter would know or think to ask. You need the AMD or chef.

[mcdermott]

I have an awful lot of food allergies and meet with the assistant maitre d on arrival in the dinning room I always have several copies of the food I have the allergies to-Because we tend to eat in the speciality restaurants on NCL I have known staff come to me AND SAY DONT EAT THAT ITS NOT FOR YOU

I also have p reordered the food the night before if you order and its not suitable they send something else.Last Chistmas they even made a special pudding for me as everything else was brought on board and they couldnt vouch for no peanuts.I also had a problem on HA we had a burger for lunch fortunately my husband had the same thing and as I was eating the first mouthful my husband said you do realise theres avocado in this salad I spAt it out but had a swollen mouth for 2 days I am only saying this as a message dont assume ask NCL do take this problem seriously as do celebrity and RCI

[blackwing]

I find this sentence in particular a bit odd: "The,ship was notified but I did not receive any info prior to boarding on how to eat safely. None! Not an email, letter, phone call... nothing. "

 

What exactly were you expecting? Each ship has thousands of guests on board. Were you expecting them to email you or call you informing you of your appointment with the Head Chef at 4:45 PM on the day of boarding so he can take time to explain to you how you are supposed to eat??? You need to take the responsibility for that yourself and ask. They're not going to do it for you.

 

It seems to me that you are blaming HAL for not reaching out to you in advance to tell you how they are going to make sure you ate safely. That's not how it works. You are the one that needed to reach out to them. You didn't.

 

At least with this message thread you are now informed, so when you go on your upcoming NCL cruise you have the procedure down on how to take better precautions.

[Vasrb]

When you pay thousands to enjoy a vacation, and the people are informed before you get there that you have a food allergy, the onus is now on them to keep you informed and safe.

We sail with Norwegian in April.

NOW that I know what is expected, I will go to the Culinary staff the day we board.

Give Your son Salmon if you feel it is safe, but that was not my experience.

Just a thought for you to keep in mind.

Talking to the culinary staff would NOT have helped in my case.

You missed the point that the staff DID NOT KNOW the Salmon was contaminated. There was no Sauce. But, thank you for that tip.

[blackwing]

When you pay thousands to enjoy a vacation, and the people are informed before you get there that you have a food allergy, the onus is now on them to keep you informed and safe.

 

I think I would agree in principle, but in practice, that's not always how it works. You might be paying thousands, but so is everyone else. And there are thousands of people on board that need to be fed, and many people are demanding, and that kitchen might be very hectic, so unless you have informed them well in advance of potential issues, things unfortunately might not run smoothly like they should.

 

An analogy: the onus is on everyone not to drive drunk. But when you get hit by a drunk driver and die, it might be the drunk driver's fault, but the bottom line is, you're dead.

 

You might not be able to control the actions of the drunk driver, but you do what you can on your own end, like practicing defensive driving. It's your own life and the onus is on you to do as much as you can to safeguard it. Especially if you have a food allergy. It is good that you are going to meet with the AMD as soon as you board. Enjoy your cruise!