ekatiel

Scrambled eggs: in the Lido you can ask one of the cooks behind the counter to make some on the griddle from real eggs. This is in plain view so you can watch it being done.

Yes, this is what we've done in the past on Royal and Carnival. Y'all are right that the scrambled eggs in the buffet are likely not whole eggs. He eats them scrambled because they are the least cooked (he doesn't like over easy eggs), and the proteins are the least denatured, making them the most allergenic. He's also really close to not having to daily dose with eggs, so we're not too uptight about getting the semi-eggs from the buffet a day or two in a row if we need to. Thank you for all of your replies. We'll probably bring a letter with the M&Ms and hazelnut milk just to be safe. Luckily because he's completed desensitization, we don't need any special dietary requirements from the ship-- he can eat anything he wants now :).

Hopefully this thread won't be quite as controversial as my jeans in the dining room thread. My son has food allergies, but has completed a desensitization treatment for them called oral immunotherapy. He is required to eat his allergens daily now. That means he eats a scrambled egg, 14 peanut M&Ms, and 100 mL of hazelnut milk every day. We'll have no problem finding the scrambled egg on board, but we usually bring the other items with us when we cruise. Most lines don't mind bringing food on board as long as it's in a factory sealed package. Is this HAL's policy, also? I can get a doctor's note if need be, but we've never needed one before on other lines.

As a seasoned cruiser I knew this thread would evoke some ire. Let me be clear. We are not interested in breaking any rules. That is why I asked. We are, however, limited in luggage, and I'd rather not buy my ever-growing teenage son a ton of button down shirts and dress pants that he will quite literally wear once, if I don't have to. Thank you to those of you who simply stated HAL's policy without interjecting your opinion. The rest of you are more than welcome to give us the stink eye when they let my 13 year old into the dining room wearing jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. I will smile and tell you to have a nice cruise :).

Hi all-- We are seasoned cruisers, but we've never cruised with HAL before. We sail round trip out of Seattle on June 2nd to Alaska. Our party will be me and my husband (in our late 30's), our two boys, ages 12 and 13, my sister and her hubby (in their 40's), and my parents (in their 70's). I seem to be finding conflicting information about dining room dress code, so I thought I'd come here and get the real answers! Are jeans allowed in the dining room on "smart casual" nights? Also, do my boys need collars every night or is a long sleeve t-shirt going to work? Do the men need jackets and ties on "gala" nights or is a button down collared shirt enough? Thanks so much for your input. --Katie

Well first problem sailing on cruise. right after dry dock. Sports deck and waterslides will not be open untill day three. People not so happy.

:( We'll be on her next week. I hope they get them up and running for you soon. My kiddos will be super bummed if they see the water slides and then can't use them!!

I have been able to eat their pancakes and waffles, but I usually don't (not my preferred breakfast foods). However, I don't suffer from anaphylaxis.

 

I also suggest reading about my experiences with allergies on board RCI ships:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=48787734&postcount=22

 

Have you notified the Special Needs department about your son's allergies? (Per my post linked above, though, it might have zero practical impact.)

 

You can always ask to speak to the chefs in the galleys (WJ and MDR) on board. They will take allergies very seriously.

Thanks for the reply. We've cruised many times with our boys, so I'm pretty well versed in the whole food allergy deal, and it's definitely noted on our reservation. This is just the first time that we won't be dealing with an egg allergy in addition to the peanut/tree nut allergy, so I was looking for specific information on the pancakes/waffles. I will probably bring a box of mix on board like usual, just in case they aren't safe.

Bob how does it compare to Mr Sanchos? Only assuming you have been there too. lol

We really enjoyed Mr S last year and the price seems to be the same.

We've done both (Nachi was booked for a private event once, so we did Mr. Sanchos). We like Nachi the best, hands down. It is so much less crowded, and just has a "chill" atmosphere. If you have kids who need to play on the big water toys, choose Mr. Sanchos. If your kids like building sandcastles and just chilling out (we are lucky that ours do!), or if you don't have kids with you, then Nachi is the way to go.

Can anyone with a peanut/tree nut allergy tell me if you were able to have the regular pancakes and waffles on board the ship? My son has always had an egg allergy, too, so we usually brought our own Bisquick aboard. I'm hoping to leave the Bisquick behind this time, as he has completed OIT for his egg allergy and now is only allergic to peanuts and hazelnuts. We sail in 8 days!!

Thank you for your post, and congrats on your son's milestone. I guess I'm lucky that Miss Swede has no problems with eating either gluten-rich or gluten-free food. How do your Bisquick pancakes turn out without egg in it? I make Bisquick pancakes at home with egg replacer and soy milk.

 

And thanks to PNW Traveler and printingchick for your responses, too. Much appreciated.

Bisquick works great with just the mix and some milk (eyeball it until it looks right!). :)

My Favorite itinerary was our Transatlantic in September: Harwich (London), England; LeHavre (Normandy/Paris), France; Portsmouth, England; Ireland; Faroe Islands; over night in Iceland; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Boston. It was AMAZING!!!

My personal favorite is watching the commercials broadcast in Polish on European cruises. We try to guess what they're selling before they actually show the product.

Yes! Our favorite of these on our TA in September was a commercial for rice pudding, set to the tune of Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby," of course, in the commercial, they changed the lyrics to "Rice, Rice, Baby." ;)

We sailed with RCCL in 2009. Our daughter (Miss Swede) has allergies to dairy, egg, peanuts, and tree nuts. It took them three days for them to confirm that their dry pasta did not contain egg. That certainly did not instill confidence that they accommodate food allergies very well. When we looked for our next cruise in 2011, it still seemed like RCCL still didn't have their act together. Instead, we took a Carnival cruise, and we were pleasantly surprised at how well they were able to accommodate her food allergies.

 

This thread (and Facebook posts in some FA groups) shows that RCCL may be improving now, which makes me think we'll have to choose between RCCL and NCL for our next cruise. I also read on an (older) official RCCL blog that they do have a separate cooking area for special dietary needs; is that still the case?

 

I'm looking for anyone who can compare and contrast between RCCL and Disney regarding food allergies. (My DCL review here)

 

My questions are:

 

• Do they stock vegan cooking products? (Such as the items listed in my DCL review.)
  
• How about vegan desserts? (Cookies, ice cream, etc.)
  
• Can you request rice milk be stocked on the ship?
  
• Were you able to give them recipes for them to use? (There are some very easy vegan pancake/waffle recipes that don't require anything out-of-ordinary.)
  
• Can you not arrange for food items at the buffet to be plated from untouched trays in the kitchen?
  

 

With all that said, we don't mind bringing aboard a lot of allergy-friendly food items (like snacks, cookies, rice milk, etc.); although we would love it if Miss Swede could have ice cream for dessert.

My son is only egg/PN/TN, so I can't help with the dairy, but I can tell you our experience. Egg is always a pain, and sometimes (on every line-- we've sailed Disney, too-- and it took them over 24 hours to tell us if the soft serve had egg in it!!) they err on the side of caution and don't actually check the labels on foods the "think" might have egg in them. This frequently happens to us with pizza, pasta and ice cream. I have had to be pretty forceful with most cruise lines (and land restaurants for that matter) and make sure they actually looked at the label before telling me something was unsafe. As far as desserts go, usually my son was limited to ice cream on Carnival and Royal (which would be a no-go for you), although on our Allure cruise last year, the chef insisted on making him something special for dessert each night-- sometimes it was tasty, and sometimes not, but we appreciated the effort. We always bring pre-packaged desserts on cruises. As far as making things with recipes you give them, we usually bring on a box of bisquick with instructions written on a label we place on the box to add milk only (you could use water) to make pancakes. He was never a huge fan of their allergy friendly pancakes, that were also gluten free. On our Allure cruise last year, the maitre d tried to give me push back and tell me they weren't allowed to use my bisquick, but I was firm and told him we had done it several times on Royal (as well as other cruise lines) and that we'd never had a problem. He ended up taking it to the kitchen, and they did use it to make my son's pancakes in the morning. We are cruising again in 19 days, and my son has recently completed egg OIT, so we will just have to deal with PN/TN this time. I am still bringing on desserts, though-- I have a feeling many of those will still not be safe.

Got our room assignment today. No fabulous upgrade, but we did get a nice, solid, mid-ship ocean view, so I can't complain. 20 days until we sail!!

Thanks for the positive responses, guys! I am secretly hoping that the lack of room assignment at this point is a good thing. Of course, we'll be happy with any ocean view (since we originally booked an interior and were only able to upgrade because of a temporary price drop). Since we are the second sailing after dry dock on Liberty, I'm wondering if we might get really lucky and score one of the new panoramic ocean views. I'm not sure if they pre-sold those for our sailing or not, since they may not have been sure if they'd be finished in time. That would be a really cool upgrade!!!

Book thru them

Superior OceanView Stateroom with Balcony (D6) - Two twin beds (can convert into queen-size), private balcony, sitting area, and a private bathroom.

182 sq. ft., balcony 53 sq. ft. $674.

 

Sign up here could be interesting any single friends

 

https://continuingeducation.net/register.php?program_number=2410

This group is not chartering the cruise-- they were just planning on having a conference on the ship. I'm sure they will take this link down once RCI notifies them that the ship will be chartered.

Great price I wish I still needed CE's

There is also a course fee of $550-$795pp

The price doesn't include port charges or taxes, it actually ends up being the same or a bit more than booking with RCI directly. I've looked into these cruises before for DH's CME credits. Unfortunately, his workplace currently has a "no cruise" CME policy.

Nachi Cocum in Cozumel. All inclusive, and they limit it to 100 people a day. SO WONDERFUL! We've done Mr. Sanchos, too, and we prefer Nachi. http://www.cozumelnachicocom.com/

We've been assigned as late as a couple of days before the cruise.

 

You may not know until you arrive at the pier.

Thanks for the info. The suspense is killing me this time for some reason! I even had a crazy dream that we got on board and our room was HUGE-- there was only one catch-- there was no shower :eek:. We were told to use the public shower facilities next door. My mind comes up with the weirdest stuff!! I'm SURE we'll have a shower, but probably not a huge room!!

No kidding. This photo of some of the water slide build made its way into the Nether Regions of the Internet. Must have been pre-built. I don't think they could have put that together in just a few days.

 

 

Thanks for the pic! I, for one, am excited about the slides :D. We're on the second sailing after dry dock on 2/14. I don't care if the restaurants are finished yet, but the slides better be open!!!

Maybe by these guys?

 

https://universityatsea.com/coursedetails.php?program_number=2410

 

I'm scheduled for the week prior. Does anyone have experience with being onboard with a charter imminent? Does the crew behave any differently with the charter approaching?

This group simply offers conferences during a "normally" scheduled cruises. They don't rent out the whole ship. I am betting that they're hearing their conference/cruise is cancelled right now, too.

Chick-Fil-A has chartered either Oasis or Allure (can't remember which one) in the recent past. Maybe it's them again?

So, we switched from an inside guarantee (we had already been assigned a room) to an oceanview guarantee because of a price drop a week ago. We are now 22 days from sailing. I thought surely they would have assigned our room by now, as for several days there have been no rooms for 4 people available on the ship at all. Still no room #. I have the dream that maybe it means we'll be upgraded somehow, but probably not!! Maybe they'll just stick us in a cupboard under the stairs somewhere :rolleyes:. Just wondering what the latest anyone's waited for a GTY room assignment is :).

I'm on the phone now with RCI. They are only keeping the reduced deposit, so I am coming out $469 ahead (which is huge for a 3 night cruise).

 

I was able to keep the same cabin, too!

 

Thanks all! Now I am happy about the cruise again!

That's great news!!!

keep checking. Maybe upgrade to balcony

That would be awesome!! I will definitely keep checking.

No. Didn't you ask when you upgraded?

If I had thought to ask when I upgraded, then I wouldn't have posted on here, b/c I would already know the answer ;). I only thought of it after I hung up with the TA, so I thought I would ask here first before calling back.

Upgrades only after final payment. No cash back or OBC.

It sounds like I got the best deal I could then, considering the circumstances. Thanks!

So, can someone give me a primer on the rules of price drops after final payment. We were able to upgrade from an interior guarantee to an ocean view guarantee today b/c the ocean view guarantee was less than the price we paid for the interior. Is it possible to get OBC for the price difference at all (the OV guarantee is about $200 less than what we paid for the interior guarantee when we booked)? Just want to make sure I did everything right and got us the best deal I could.