Food Allergies and Lido

[gordons4]

Hi HAL experts, :D

 

I just remembered my very important question. I have severe allergies to nuts, soy, and shell fish. There are many threads on how to deal with this in the Main Dining Room (and I have sent in the paperwork to HAL), but how do the rest of you allergy-people deal with this in the Lido?

 

It's easy enough to avoid shell fish, but soy is nearly impossible without a list of ingredients, and even nuts can be tricky with things like peanut oil.

 

Any help will be greatly appreciated. We're leaving in less than 2 weeks, and I certainly don't want to starve on the ship. :eek:

 

Sheri

[European_CruiseGirl]

It's easy enough to avoid shell fish

 

I'd be very cautious. I had once a lady standing in the Lido omelette queue right behind me. She clearly indicated to the chef that she was allergic to fish and would this be a problem with the omelets. The chef said that this was no problem as she could choose what ever ingredients she would like to have in the omelet. No need to have the salmon omelet that I think was that days special.

 

However I had just seen that the man that was standing before me had had the salmon omelet...and the chef was about to use the same frying pan and utensils that he had used for that man's omelet.

 

I was not sure if this would be a problem for the lady but pointed out this to her anyhow. She was quite shocked. In the end the chef just took a new set of frying pan and utensils for the lady's omelet but still it made me think. You really never can be sure in buffets. How can you know what the person before you has done? Or the person before him? If there is for example a couscous salad (contains wheat) and next to it a regular salad and you are on a gluten free diet where even the slightest amount to wheat will be really bad for you. How do you know that crosscontamination has not occurred when someone has by accident (or not) used the same utensils for both salads?

[sail7seas]

I would suggest speaking with Lido Manager.

Also, you may wish to have your breakfast, lunch and dinner in the dining room. The dining room is not open on some port days for lunch but I am sure they can accomodate your allergies.

 

You most assuredly are far from the first guest to have food allergies and they are well equipped and experienced at providing for your needs.

 

[hammybee]

I cannot imagine how challenging it must be for you to dine out anywhere, let alone on a cruise ship that prepares meals for 2000 +/- passengers. Having said this, cruise lines accommodate more food allergies than any restaurant, on land, given their captive audiance.

 

I probably would feel more in control watching the food being prepared than if it was done behind the scenes, in the kitchen. Then again, if it were me, I would probably stick with fruits and salad bars with my own dressing, plain pasta and hard boiled eggs.

[TCF]

You noted that you had filled out all the forms for the medical department regarding your allergies so the galley will be notified.

Were I you I would simply ask to meet briefly with the Executive Chef when you get on board and ask him/her for a breakdown of the menus for all dining venues. He/she will know all the ingredients for all the dishes served on board...or will be able to find them in short order....then you can simply avoid those dishes.

It would seem the real hard one for you is the soy allergy...soy can be found in a huge number of foods, but most of them are the pre-cooked packaged kind...not what you would find on a cruise ship galley....but how do you know and how do you find out....the only way is to ask the guy that's cooking it. It is used as filler in some recipes I have seen.

The cruise lines are sensitive to these issues and it is my expereince that the Chefs will bend over backwards to help you out.

Have great cruise.

[martinimadam]

These are all good suggestions. I'd definitely second S7S's idea of eating all your meals in the dining room. I have a friend with food allergies (not as tough as yours) and the head waiter sat with her every night after dinner to plan out her meals for the next day. That way, she could be sure of what she was getting. It worked out very well for her. I think the cross-contamination raised by others would definitely be more of a problem in the Lido than the dining room.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[CowPrincess]

Regardless of how you decide to handle this (and I also second the idea of eating ONLY in the dining room, and meeting with the chef), be as vigilant as if you'd never had any discussions with anyone :) My bad -- I didn't ask enough questions at one meal, had a reaction, tried to find out if it was psychosomatic or real, and it took the staff AT LEAST 15 minutes to find out the answer. By then I already KNEW it was a real reaction. My food allergies are not life-threatening, but it worried me that it took so long to get an answer. My concern -- even if I'd asked enough questions before ordering, would I have gotten the truth, or whatever the waiter THOUGHT was the truth, because neither he nor the head waiter knew?

[gordons4]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm thinking the dining room might be a better option all the way around.

 

I'll obviously have my epi-pen with me, but I'd hate to have to use it for the first time because of some undetected peanut or soy sauce. :eek:

 

Regardless, I'm not going to let this little issue dampen my cruise experience. :D

 

Sheri

[Starr Mtn]

As suggested above, my best recommendation is to advice the

cruise line in advance re your food allergies. We once dined

with a lovely lady who had some food allergies/medical reguests.

We noticed that each evening someone came to her side, as inconspicuous

as possible, and went over the menu for the next day so between them

they could select the menu to best suit her needs.

 

From my experience, unfortunately , although I'm not aware of any

food allergies, twice upon ordering an omelet in the Lido - I had a severe

distress. I didn't have the same problem with any other omelet

in the dining room, King's Lounge breakfast, nor room service. So it

became apparent to me it was something in the Lido omelet station , which

I definitely avoided from then on.

[May4]

I want to begin by saying, gordons4, that I admire your attitude. You know that there are ingredients/foods that must be avoided, and are ready to take all precautions, but you are not going to let worry stand in the way of enjoying your trip.:)

 

On a recent cruise, we were seated with a woman who also had a severe allergy to shellfish. She knew that she had to be careful, and she was. What she didn't expect was that she would have a reaction to the many flowers in the diningroom. This was a trip to Hawaii and each passenger was given an actual flower lei to wear that night. She had a tough 24 hours or so, but Benedryl and time were enough to get her well again, thank goodness.

[RlrCstr]

I have a Severe allergy to poultry. Eggs, I can eat. But the flesh of any crreature that has feathers, absolutely no, I cannot eat it and still breathe after ingestion.

I like the Lido and eat there for breakfast and lunch. But---I do not eat at busy times. I either am in line early or late, so that I can ask questions about ingredients, watch for utinsel cross-contamination, etc. I have on

HAL never had a problem. I had a potential one on Princess one time,

but saw that the cook picked up something that had just been used to

pick up some chicken and refused to have the food served to my plate.

Be as watchful as you are when eating anywhere not under your control,

use common sense, and tell any person who you can in every dining venue that you have an allergy. It is good to fill out the paperwork, but I also make sure that every cook in the Lido, every dining supervisor, etc. knows

and will steer me clear of items that might contain turkey substitute, or chicken broth, etc. They always seem happy to help and advise me on food items to stay away from.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[GeriatricNurse]

Hi HAL experts, :D

 

I just remembered my very important question. I have severe allergies to nuts, soy, and shell fish. There are many threads on how to deal with this in the Main Dining Room (and I have sent in the paperwork to HAL), but how do the rest of you allergy-people deal with this in the Lido?

 

It's easy enough to avoid shell fish, but soy is nearly impossible without a list of ingredients, and even nuts can be tricky with things like peanut oil.

 

Any help will be greatly appreciated. We're leaving in less than 2 weeks, and I certainly don't want to starve on the ship. :eek:

 

Sheri

Hi:

My DW has a severe allergy to (tree) nuts!

We have dined numerous times in the Lido on several HAL cruises & she has never had an (allergy) issue with nuts!

She is careful with what she chooses & when in doubt, asks.

[papadave]

The combination of soy and tree nut allergies makes it sound very difficult to meet your dietary needs. Speak with the chef and let him know how you handle this at home. I'm taking an educated guess that you use olive oil and butter for cooking in order to avoid soy or nut oils. Many vegetable oils are a blend of soy and something else, so even if the guy at the omlette station in the Lido believes he is using corn oil he may be using a corn oil blend if the packaging does not indicate 100% corn oil. Steamed foods may be the safest, if most boring, items. Your personal sensitivity is also a big factor -- do you have a reaction if a small amount of soy oil is present in a salad dressing? You may need to avoid potato salad, cole slaw, etc. in order to avoid soy oil.

 

You probably won't find many vegetarian items you can eat on HAL -- soy and peanuts seem to figure in heavily here -- but you can probably keep it simple by ordering some things that are on the every day alternative menu in the main dining room for dinner -- grilled steak, baked potato, steamed vegetables. As others have pointed out, though, you should make the chef aware of your needs in advance so he can modify how things are cooked if they normally use something that will cause you to have a bad reaction.

[gordons4]

Everyone has been so helpful--I really appreciate it. I MAY try the Lido--if it's at a less busy time, as was suggested by RlrCstr. The biggest concern is soy, because sometimes even the cooks don't realize it's in something they're cooking with.

 

But the weird thing is--and maybe some of you who have food allergies have this same experience--I can almost "sense" when I shouldn't eat something. Just looking at it, or starting to bring it to my mouth, something inside says "no." So, I will take all precautions, but I'm also hoping my internal sensor works real well, too. :)

 

And yes, I have a flower issue, too, and have actually thought about that a little. I have a particularly hard time with lilys, so I'll hope that I can stay away from those if they're on the ship. I'll have plenty of benadryl with me--but unfortunately, that will knock me out and I'll miss Alaska. :eek:

 

Sheri

[papadave]

You may want to have some meals in the Pinnicle Grill. While there is a surcharge here, the entire operation is on a smaller scale and you should not have any difficulty having the kitchen meet your dietary restrictions. They will only be handling a few dozen plates while the main dining room could be doing a thousand plates a night. And the Lido, well, if you go there frequently you are just asking for it. While it is steps above a school cafeteria, it is not the place to find the most experienced chefs on any cruise.

[madelinerose]

But the weird thing is--and maybe some of you who have food allergies have this same experience--I can almost "sense" when I shouldn't eat something. Just looking at it, or starting to bring it to my mouth, something inside says "no." So, I will take all precautions, but I'm also hoping my internal sensor works real well, too. :)

Sheri

 

Intuition is the key and it works every time. That voice in your head is always correct. If you even think something isn't 100%, avoid it. ;)