Does the Buffet post allergens on the food labels?

[Railfan30]

Hello!  First time poster, first time cruiser go easy on me 🙂  Our son has a tree nut allergy.  In the MDR and elsewhere, I'm sure we can ask the server/manager but at the Buffet will the food be marked?  Specifically, I know that some Indian food has tree nuts (e.g. Korma has cashews), but I don't know all the recipes...

 

Thanks!

[FLAHAM]

Need to ask the behind-the-counter buffet staff.

[Ellis1138]

The buffet does NOT generally list allergens or ingredients in the food and they can't guarantee any food there for people with food allergies. 

 

I always fill out the form at https://ncl.secure.force.com/AccessDeskForm/ once I've done my final payment with the list of my food allergies. There's a bit of a wait, then the email back and forth and when I finally board the ship, NCL has someone I work with to ensure my meals will be fine in the MDR and specialty restaurants. I even got to check the MDR menus the previous nights and choose ahead of time. I prefer doing that, so my dinner time doesn't consist of me listing allergies for the first five minutes.

 

At the Buffet, you will be doing what I call Allergy Roulette. There's also the possibility of cross contamination in the buffet, even if a food doesn't usually have an ingredient in it. 

 

[Kirashka]

I was literally going to post the same question. Cashew and pistachio allergy for my daughter

[SightCRR]

Make sure you are ready for shore trips also if they include food or buy your own at restaurants. We found very few had options that we were comfortable with. Take you own prepackaged snacks. Don't go outside your cabin without EpiPen. 

[BirdTravels]

4 hours ago, Railfan30 said:

Hello!  First time poster, first time cruiser go easy on me 🙂  Our son has a tree nut allergy.  In the MDR and elsewhere, I'm sure we can ask the server/manager but at the Buffet will the food be marked?  Specifically, I know that some Indian food has tree nuts (e.g. Korma has cashews), but I don't know all the recipes...

 

Thanks!

No. The buffet dishes are not marked. Every item on the buffet has an allergen sheet. And the buffet chef can tell you how things are prepared. BUT,,, if your son’s allergies are severe, you really need foods prepared specifically for him and avoid the potential for cross contamination in the galley (e.g. traces of nut oil on a flat top used to prepare another dish) or cross contamination caused by guests using serving utensils between foods. 

Edited May 30, 2023 by BirdTravels

[ICutTheCheese]

3 hours ago, Railfan30 said:

Hello!  First time poster, first time cruiser go easy on me 🙂  Our son has a tree nut allergy.  In the MDR and elsewhere, I'm sure we can ask the server/manager but at the Buffet will the food be marked?  Specifically, I know that some Indian food has tree nuts (e.g. Korma has cashews), but I don't know all the recipes...

 

Thanks!

 

I've never seen it and it woudl be hard to do seeing as oen coudl be allergic to almost any foor item.  best to email

"What about special dietary needs? If you have any food allergy or a dietary requirement that requires Kosher meals or gluten-free food product, please advise a Norwegian Reservations Agent, or your Travel Agent at the time of booking. Obtaining the product for many of these requests requires 30-days notice prior to sailing, and we want to ensure that we are able to fulfill your request. We cannot guarantee Kosher Meal requests made within 30 days of sail date. For the protection of all of our guests, it is not permissible to bring aboard any food items that would require preparation by the ship’s staff, or food items that would require cold storage in our kitchen facilities. faq#dietary-needs"

[Goldenknight]

In the MDR, the waiters have always inquired about allergies prior to taking an order.

 

In the buffet, I suggest seeking out the head maitre d  . . .  on the Bliss, he was ALWAYS there every single time we visited the buffet. He is able to phone the Executive Chef and even the F & B manager, if necessary, although we saw both of them often at the buffet.

 

We've always notified NCL in advance on their form regarding spouse's shellfish allergy, but it's worthwhile for us to speak to someone onboard in F & B.

 

When we've been in the Haven dining room, the maitre d and waitstaff have always asked us to choose menu items a day ahead, so it can be specially prepared.

 

 

[dexddd]

For us, the MDR never asked about allergies until post pandemic cruises.  They were very good asking about it last trip.

 

Haven, never been asked days before about anything.

[Ladyshopper23]

No they don't.

However, some good tips on this thread. Filling in the form that someone linked above to the access desk is really important.

Once onboard, ask for the special diets maitre d'/special diets co-ordinator. All ships should have one. They will go through everything with you, and give you the menus to be able to make a pre-order for the first evenings dinner in the main dining room. They can answer any questions you have. They'll come and see you every evening to bring you the menus for the next day - you can ask for breakfast and lunch menus too and pre-order these. 

Don't be afraid to ask them lots of questions, and also to ask specifically about things they might be able to do. On our recent NCL cruise in November we found that although extremely helpful, they're not always forthcoming about what they can and can't do.

We did find the staff and chefs extremely helpful in the buffet when we cruised in November. Probably the most friendly of all staff of recent cruises we've done. You need to ask chefs with black or white scarves round their necks to go through things with you, and they will happily get you fresh food from the kitchen to avoid cross contamination.

If you click on my profile, you'll see a link to a blog I write. It's about gluten-free travel (I understand that you have different allergy requirements not related to gluten), but it will be helpful in terms of explaining the special diets co-ordinator role a bit more, and has photos of the buffet (we were on the Star), menus, our experiences with speciality dining and O'Sheehan's etc.

The NCL post isn't on there yet but it will be in the next couple of days - I've done all the writing (it takes me forever!), not just need to go through all the photos on and stick them on.

[Railfan30]

Thanks everyone for the replies and the link to the Access Desk form; all forms should be that easy to complete!  Our son is 11, so while we've never experienced a severe reaction, we try to be cautious.  The insight shared here will empower him (and his growing palate!).

[Ellis1138]

15 hours ago, Railfan30 said:

Thanks everyone for the replies and the link to the Access Desk form; all forms should be that easy to complete!  Our son is 11, so while we've never experienced a severe reaction, we try to be cautious.  The insight shared here will empower him (and his growing palate!).

As someone who has gone through 3 anaphylaxis reactions, I can assure you it's no fun. In addition to that, it can sometimes cause new allergies to develop from whatever you did or ate on the day of the reaction. My first one was when I was 21. I would not want to risk a child going through that. 😞

[KurtMo]

On 5/30/2023 at 8:47 AM, Ladyshopper23 said:

They'll come and see you every evening to bring you the menus for the next day - you can ask for breakfast and lunch menus too and pre-order these. 

My wife is Gluten-free and this is the key to the best dining experience for your son.  It takes a few minutes, but he'll have much wider range of options if you pre-order (so they can prep the special meal in advance).

[mjkacmom]

On 5/30/2023 at 1:46 AM, Goldenknight said:

In the MDR, the waiters have always inquired about allergies prior to taking an order.

 

In the buffet, I suggest seeking out the head maitre d  . . .  on the Bliss, he was ALWAYS there every single time we visited the buffet. He is able to phone the Executive Chef and even the F & B manager, if necessary, although we saw both of them often at the buffet.

 

We've always notified NCL in advance on their form regarding spouse's shellfish allergy, but it's worthwhile for us to speak to someone onboard in F & B.

 

When we've been in the Haven dining room, the maitre d and waitstaff have always asked us to choose menu items a day ahead, so it can be specially prepared.

 

 

If you note an allergy, you can order ahead of time for your meals outside of the haven, we did for meals in the MDR and buffet, my daughters meals where brought wherever she asked.

[sarahwalker2007]

Depending on where you are traveling you may want to consider foreign language allergy cards. Our youngest has peanut, tree nut, egg and kiwi allergies and I was worried about being in foreign ports and for things to be lost in translation. I researched online and downloaded an app that you can use that offers translations in lots of languages. You can also print out the cards to carry with you:)

[bookbabe]

10 hours ago, sarahwalker2007 said:

Depending on where you are traveling you may want to consider foreign language allergy cards. Our youngest has peanut, tree nut, egg and kiwi allergies and I was worried about being in foreign ports and for things to be lost in translation. I researched online and downloaded an app that you can use that offers translations in lots of languages. You can also print out the cards to carry with you:)

What's the name of the app?

[sarahwalker2007]

On 6/2/2023 at 9:00 AM, bookbabe said:

What's the name of the app?

sorry for the delayed response - life has been crazy busy the last little bit.

 

The app I used "Equal Eats" as it was one of the few that existed in 2019. There are lots of free ones now. I haven't checked any of them out yet as we don't travel until the fall.