Any experience with extreme dietary requests?

[pcur]

Yep, goat yogurt!!! [emoji238]

 

Poor guy got sick like 5-10 years ago and his stomach couldn't handle much of anything anymore. He lost about 40 pounds! Anyway, apparently goats milk is easier on digestion, and he found it is one of the few things he can digest. Crazy!

 

I feel/felt his pain. I was born unable to digest anything but goat's milk. It seems to me they can make a purchase of what he needs (depending on the home port and suppliers); maybe at an extra charge. They should be able to keep it for him, and deliver it to his stateroom via room service and the dining room.

[wanderlust79]

Thought I would update: Princess dietary dept replied and pretty much said tough luck. {insert a big Debbie Downer: "wah wuhh" here.}

 

They said they would neither be able to order any goat yogurt nor store what he brings. On the bright side, he is allowed to bring his yogurt and store it in his own ice chests in his stateroom. Kind of a hassle and we would have loved if something more could have been done on Princess's part, but at the same time very manageable for us since we are driving to the port. And I understand this kind of thing must be a slippery slope for a cruise line. If they let one passenger bring his own food and have it stored, then everyone wants to do it.

 

So anyway, the great yogurt crusade looks like it may not be a total bust! Now the tricky part will be waiting another 56 days for our cruise!!

 

Thanks again to all who chimed in with advice and/or support! [emoji5]️

[cr8tiv1]

I am glad this is going to work out for you. Please tip the steward generously for keeping the ice chest cold. Please resurrect this thread upon your return to let us know how the cruise went. I am sure many would be interested and if one other person learns from you experience, then it will be great.

[Mommypig]

You know, just from an emergency preparedness point of view, trying some of the shelf stable powders and pouches might be a good idea just in general. If you lost power, or needed to bug out fast due to some disaster it would be good to have some food on hand that can travel.

 

I was a little put off by some of the comments that made him sound like a hypochondriac. Just because one isn't aware of this kind of disease doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Exposure to various toxins or bacterial diseases. Can wreak havoc with the digestive system, and sometimes the damage is permanent. A sick gut doesn't absorb nutrients the way a healthy gut does. I have kids with food allergies and finding out what formulas they could tolerate was a nightmare. I had to eliminate foods from my own diet when I was trying to nurse them.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

post deleted.

Edited September 26, 2015 by SoCal Cruiser78

[FritzG]

no cruise line will bring organic fruits for him or organic goat yogurt. And to be honest I really don't believe in such a sickness :rolleyes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

i

 

Why make such a nasty, unkind post to an honest concern?

Edited September 26, 2015 by FritzG

[HUNKY]

Mom thinking to herself, "hmm, my pesky son-in-law has an extreme diet, a cruise will keep him at home!"

 

I personally wouldn't take the chance. Princess will be unable to accommodate him.

[pcur]

I have no idea why people are posting such rude and insensitive things on this thread, but I sincerely hope the OP has moved on and is not following any more.

[Shelly97060]

A very quick search of amazon reveals that they have a selection of flavors in small kid sized pouches of goat's milk yogurt. I don't think you would be able to bring them on the plane as carryon but I imagine that you could box up a bunch of the cases of them and check them as luggage and give them to the porters at the cruise terminal. Since they do not require refrigeration until opened no need to have princess store them. Since they are sealed, I think princess would approve them, but you need to ask.

 

They also have "instant" goat's milk yogurt - just add water, as well as goat milk protein powder. As these are both dry and sealed, they should be OK to travel by air and on to the cruise ship in your luggage.

 

Who knew? I guess amazon really does have everything.

 

If it were me, I'd start ordering a few samples now to make sure what ever you choose will work for 5 days.

 

Very nice of you to research this for the OP:) .

[Mommypig]

Mom thinking to herself, "hmm, my pesky son-in-law has an extreme diet, a cruise will keep him at home!"

 

 

 

I personally wouldn't take the chance. Princess will be unable to accommodate him.

 

 

Having had kids with severe food allergies (which of course some people thought were faked) I learned early on that I needed to be prepared to provide for them in situations where I could not guarantee the food would be safe for them to eat. I have diabetes and always bring protein bars and protein powder on board in case I couldn't find anything to eat at the buffet that I felt like eatling. While my kids had true allergies where they would go into anaphylactic shock, the discomforts of food intolerances and malabsorption are not to be trifled with. In both food allergies and intolerances it often only takes one bite for there to be adverse reactions.

 

That being said, these things are in a way disabilities. People with food issues like to be like other people and have fun experiences, like cruises. And they should be able to, within the limits of their diet. Princess has to follow some rules because they run a food service kitchen. That is why they can't bring a passenger's outside food into the kitchen and the passenger must take control of it.

 

OP I hope you realize there are more people who are sympathetic to your DHs situation than not, and hope he is able to have a marvelous cruise.

[curiouser123]

Good luck. I just wanted to add that there are lots of choices in the organic fruit pouch market these days. Costco carries a bunch, and they are shelf stable, as does Target. I'd bring several cases on board if it were me.

[Dayenu]

Can he eat goat cheese? I saw that on the menu of Grand Princess several times.

[wanderlust79]

Please resurrect this thread upon your return to let us know how the cruise went. I am sure many would be interested and if one other person learns from you experience, then it will be great.

 

Okay, we are back from our cruise and I thought I would update for any who were interested.

 

The things that went well: My brother-in-law was able to bring a large ice chest filled with his goat yogurts and they seemed to be kept nice and cold throughout the 5-day cruise. He also brought a small assortment of other foods he can process (like packs of plain nori) as well as a lot of digestive enzymes. He found that he could supplement what he brought with some unseasoned steamed veggies and plain baked potatoes.

 

The things that could have gone better: Some of the few foods that he did try were pretty rough on his system and he didn't feel too hot some of the time, especially his one attempt at the salmon--his first meat eating in a long time--which left him curled up with the lights out next to the trash can the next day. Also, they had brought a 5 gallon bottle of alkaline water for him, but it did not make it to the room. The guest relations folks were very kind in trying to locate the bottle, but without luck. It may very well have not even made it onto the ship. He was able to get by on distilled water though, which is great!

 

All in all: it was a great cruise for the whole family, and my brother-in-law was able to make do with his small supply of foods and the few menu items he ventured to try. He also learned that no matter how good the salmon looks, it is NOT his friend! :p But seriously, this was a special family time so it is such a blessing that it all worked out! And this was also my sister's family's first cruise and I think any difficulty or discomfort he went through was probably worth it to him for them to all have the experience!

 

 

Thanks again to all those who were so helpful with ideas and encouragement. I really appreciated the thoughtfulness and good ideas, as did my sister & brother-in-law when I passed on the info! :)

 

 

 

 

And thanks even to those who were a little less on the helpful end of the spectrum. You gave me some good reading material and a couple of laughs with my family.

 

Mom thinking to herself, "hmm, my pesky son-in-law has an extreme diet, a cruise will keep him at home!"

Unfortunately, my mom's grand plan to vacation without the son-in-law was an epic fail. Poor mom's 75th birthday was ruined. Sigh... :rolleyes: :D

 

no cruise line will bring organic fruits for him or organic goat yogurt. And to be honest I really don't believe in such a sickness

Me neither! I called total BS when I saw him deteriorate into a sickly, twiggy guy. Man, the lengths that guy went to get some attention! :eek:

[cr8tiv1]

Thank you so very much for resurrecting this thread so that we all could hear how your cruise went. I am glad that most of it was positive.

[jawhoffman]

Thanks for letting us know you were able to have a great family cruise!

[rpcv77]

OP,

Thank you for your update. I am glad you had a great cruise. I also admire your grace with respect to those who made mean spirited comments. I love cruise critic but am always baffled by the snarky or mean spirited comments some feel compelled to make.

My younger dd, who is my cruising buddy, has serious digestive problems and food sensitivities. They are very real and she has been quite ill, at times. She tries to be prepared when traveling and is always appreciative when accommodations can be made for her. May those of you who think these things are not "real", never have to experience such things with yourself or a loved one.

[mammajamma2013]

What a great sense of humor you have, Wanderlust79! So glad you all enjoyed your cruise and your mother's birthday celebration went so well.

[TracieABD]

Glad you had a great family vacation! I am also glad to know that your BIL found a way to make it work for him, well, most of time anyways.

[DebJ14]

You know, just from an emergency preparedness point of view, trying some of the shelf stable powders and pouches might be a good idea just in general. If you lost power, or needed to bug out fast due to some disaster it would be good to have some food on hand that can travel.

 

I was a little put off by some of the comments that made him sound like a hypochondriac. Just because one isn't aware of this kind of disease doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Exposure to various toxins or bacterial diseases. Can wreak havoc with the digestive system, and sometimes the damage is permanent. A sick gut doesn't absorb nutrients the way a healthy gut does. I have kids with food allergies and finding out what formulas they could tolerate was a nightmare. I had to eliminate foods from my own diet when I was trying to nurse them.

 

 

I agree. I feel his pain. I can't eat gluten, dairy or anything from the cow including beef, and am highly allergic to yeast and 17 other foods that are very prevalent in most dishes. They can handle the GF and dairy free, but for the rest I am on my own. They try, but I can't eat their GF bread because it has yeast in it and can't have any of their desserts since they contain vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate or dairy. I just order a fruit plate for dessert. When on a ship I pretty much live on plain scrambled fresh eggs, salad, steamed vegetables and chicken breasts and fruit. I bring my own packets of salad dressing. It is only for a week and the enjoyment of being on a cruise far outweighs my limited dietary choices. I eat just fine at home because I can control what goes in my food.

 

If I didn't stick with the diet I would be throwing up within 30 minutes of a meal and would have diarrhea for days, have a migraine for the entire trip and be broken out in a rash. Basically, they would think I needed to be quarantined.

 

When in doubt, I do without!

 

And, I agree with others who pointed out that he probably needs shelf stable foods for an emergency. We keep a supply of ready to eat GF/CF meals on hand. They came in real handy during Hurricane Ike when there was no power for days.

Edited November 30, 2015 by DebJ14

[siany_la]

Okay, we are back from our cruise and I thought I would update for any who were interested.

 

 

 

The things that went well: My brother-in-law was able to bring a large ice chest filled with his goat yogurts and they seemed to be kept nice and cold throughout the 5-day cruise. He also brought a small assortment of other foods he can process (like packs of plain nori) as well as a lot of digestive enzymes. He found that he could supplement what he brought with some unseasoned steamed veggies and plain baked potatoes.

 

 

 

The things that could have gone better: Some of the few foods that he did try were pretty rough on his system and he didn't feel too hot some of the time, especially his one attempt at the salmon--his first meat eating in a long time--which left him curled up with the lights out next to the trash can the next day. Also, they had brought a 5 gallon bottle of alkaline water for him, but it did not make it to the room. The guest relations folks were very kind in trying to locate the bottle, but without luck. It may very well have not even made it onto the ship. He was able to get by on distilled water though, which is great!

 

 

 

All in all: it was a great cruise for the whole family, and my brother-in-law was able to make do with his small supply of foods and the few menu items he ventured to try. He also learned that no matter how good the salmon looks, it is NOT his friend! :p But seriously, this was a special family time so it is such a blessing that it all worked out! And this was also my sister's family's first cruise and I think any difficulty or discomfort he went through was probably worth it to him for them to all have the experience!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks again to all those who were so helpful with ideas and encouragement. I really appreciated the thoughtfulness and good ideas, as did my sister & brother-in-law when I passed on the info! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And thanks even to those who were a little less on the helpful end of the spectrum. You gave me some good reading material and a couple of laughs with my family.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, my mom's grand plan to vacation without the son-in-law was an epic fail. Poor mom's 75th birthday was ruined. Sigh... :rolleyes: :D

 

 

 

Me neither! I called total BS when I saw him deteriorate into a sickly, twiggy guy. Man, the lengths that guy went to get some attention! :eek:

 

 

Wanderlust79, you're hilarious and have such a great spirit! So glad to hear that you and all your family had a beautiful cruise :)

[wanderlust79]

It is only for a week and the enjoyment of being on a cruise far outweighs my limited dietary choices.

 

That's a great perspective and I think he would agree with this. He and his family had such a great time experiencing the rest of the cruise, that I think the food issues were a small price to pay! :)

[Coral]

Thanks so much for coming back and posting how it went.

 

I feel so sorry for your BIL - sounds like he was a trooper.

 

Not sure if your BIL will ever want to cruise again, but I have heard the more luxury lines can cater to more dietary restrictions that the mass lines can't seem to.