Dealing with food allergy on excursions

[BklynBorn47]

I have a serious seafood allergy.  No problem onboard but on our recent cruise (UK, Norway, Iceland) 2 of our excursions included lunch.  One was a buffet where in typical buffet fashion everyone descended like locusts and used whatever utensils were handy to grab whatever.  Uh oh, cross contamination!  I just ate salad and dessert.  Skipping some food won’t hurt me.  I asked the guide later who said I should have made this known when I booked the excursion.  I don’t remember any place to do that.

The 2nd lunch was at a restaurant with a set menu – fish soup and trout entrée.  This time I told the guide ahead of time about my allergy and I got potato soup and chicken.  I got an envious comment from a guy who pushed his food away with “I hate fish”

Just wondering how others handle this. 

[Turtles06]

23 minutes ago, BklynBorn47 said:

I asked the guide later who said I should have made this known when I booked the excursion. 

As the guide said, I think you have to be proactive in making your allergy known to the tour operator or vendor when you book a tour that includes a meal. Don’t be deterred just because the question isn’t asked at that time, or there’s no box to check.

 

Glad you were able to protect yourself on those excursions. 

[BklynBorn47]

1 hour ago, Turtles06 said:

making your allergy known to the tour operator or vendor when you book a tour that includes a meal.

Thank you for responding.  Since I book excursions online before cruising, I will remember to stop by the excursion deck onboard to inform them of my allergy.  They must be the ones in contact with the tour operator. 

[GeezerCouple]

11 minutes ago, BklynBorn47 said:

Thank you for responding.  Since I book excursions online before cruising, I will remember to stop by the excursion deck onboard to inform them of my allergy.  They must be the ones in contact with the tour operator. 

 

We always mention food allergies when first booking a cruise.  We then double check later, and again just before the cruise.

 

We usually make our own plans for private excursions (with or without other cruise passengers sailing with us) and I do the same thing:  Mention it when we make the reservation, and again a few days in advance.  I don't wait until the day before; I want them to have a couple of days in case they hadn't yet made any necessary plans.  We don't do the "3-stage" notification above because we don't book excursions as far in advance as we usually book the cruise.

 

And we *always* have something like energy bars with us just in case.  These are always in factory sealed wrapping, and we've never had difficulty with those when going through various immigrations checkpoints, although that could happen sometime.

 

If it were a cruise-sponsored excursion, we'd do our best to get the contact information (explaining the urgent health need), or try to figure it out ourselves...

The goal is to do our best to make sure the actual tour operator is in the loop, and not some "excursion consolidator" type of organization.

 

GC

[BklynBorn47]

17 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

The goal is to do our best to make sure the actual tour operator is in the loop, and not some "excursion consolidator" type of organization.

Very good advice.  We have been using ship excursions since Covid and while they are aware of my allergy in the restaurant, the lunch on excursions slipped my mind.

 

I also carry sealed protein bars with me.  No problems so far

[disneyochem]

Because of my dietary issues, we usually book excursions ahead of time to be sure that I will have something to eat!  The cruise lines know of my issues but I do a number if things before an excursion, both pre-and onboard.  My preference is to book independently—sometimes it’s a bit of a hassle to determine the tour provider on a cruise excursion.  Once on board, if it’s a ship’s excursion, I visit the Shore Excursion desk to talk to the staff.

 

I try to contact the tour provider well before the cruise to let them know and to ask questions.  It’s an opportunity for me to gauge whether or not they understand my condition and if they will handle my food appropriately.  If I end up bringing my own food, then they are aware of that so I don’t get any negative feedback during the tour.

 

I bring protein bars, Epic meat bars, dried cheese, nuts etc.  I’ve also brought backpacking meals (some brands are amazingly tasty!)—just add hot water and I have a healthy safe meal!

Edited June 16, 2022 by disneyochem
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[simpson168]

If you contact Norwegian they will put you in touch with their Shore Exc group, usually via email.  You can then advise them of your allergy and can discuss alternatives.