My son has a very restricted diet

[SeriouslyNancy]

How accommodating are the kitchens? Due to a rare gastrointestinal condition, he is on a strict paleo diet. I am wary of meats or eggs prepared on grills that might have had buns or other gluten on them that the chef did not scrape off.  
 

I would like to plan an Alaska cruise on Holland America, Princess, etc.  

 

Anyone cruised with this type of challenge?

 

thanks. 

[GeezerCouple]

14 minutes ago, SeriouslyNancy said:

How accommodating are the kitchens? Due to a rare gastrointestinal condition, he is on a strict paleo diet. I am wary of meats or eggs prepared on grills that might have had buns or other gluten on them that the chef did not scrape off.  
 

I would like to plan an Alaska cruise on Holland America, Princess, etc.  

 

Anyone cruised with this type of challenge?

 

thanks. 

 

Welcome to CruiseCritic!

 

The good news is that many (most? all?) cruise lines, at least the larger ones, are usually able to handle special diets VERY well.

 

For considerable discussion about just this, please also see (and post) the Disabled Cruise section of CC:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/114-disabled-cruise-travel/

 

You'll need to contact the SPECIAL NEEDS group of the cruiseline.  They'll probably have a form for you to fill out.

In your case, you'll want to ask if they have a *separate* "special diets" kitchen, to avoid cross contamination.  IF that is a concern for your son,  be sure to *emphasize* that!

(DH was diagnosed late in life with serious celiac disease; a lot of damage had been done, but we never knew, as he was completely asymptomatic.  We've found that cruises, restaurants, hotels, etc., are really good about this these days.  But we ALWAYS double check when ordering AND when food is served!)

 

Enjoy!

 

GC

[CDNPolar]

What @GeezerCouple said, but for certain start to contact the cruise line WELL in advance of either booking or sailing to ensure that your needs can be looked after.

 

Ensure that you have the assurance of the cruise line that they can in fact deal with your situation and that you are talking to someone that is in the know - then get the name of the dietary manager or chef on the ship that you should speak to on DAY ONE embarkation day.

 

Don't leave anything to chance.  As much as the cruise lines are very good with this now, I have also heard stories where the reservations agent assured someone that a diet was possible but when they arrived on the ship no one knew about what was promised her.

[1025cruise]

The cruise line will do their best to accommodate medically necessary diets. Contact Special Needs to discuss your needs, and make sure to talk to the right people as soon as you get on board.

[GeezerCouple]

Note:  We ALWAYS bring a bunch of pre-packaged diet-appropriate snacks (e.g., protein bars...) "just in case".

These can also be very handy for any excursions where either there is no diet-appropriate food, or the organizers didn't understand the needs and "thought" they were able to do it.

 

These are always in our hand luggage when traveling, too.

For example, what if we have an unexpected overnight between flights, maybe due to weather. We always know DH will have something safe to eat.

 

GC

[screwsmcernst]

3 hours ago, SeriouslyNancy said:

How accommodating are the kitchens? Due to a rare gastrointestinal condition, he is on a strict paleo diet. I am wary of meats or eggs prepared on grills that might have had buns or other gluten on them that the chef did not scrape off.  
 

I would like to plan an Alaska cruise on Holland America, Princess, etc.  

 

Anyone cruised with this type of challenge?

 

thanks. 

Welcome to CC.  I have Celiac Disease, and if there is a very small amount of cross-contamination, I will end up sick.  After our last vacation,(land based vacation) I ended up in the hospital.  

We have cruised on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity.  We have come to the conclusion that Celebrity Cruise Line is the safest for me.  Their menus are marked with Allergen icons.  They also have a separate allergen kitchen.  We always have traditional dining so Ican have the same wait staff every night.  I place my orders for dinner the day before.  They take food allergies very seriously.   

 

Royal Caribbean and Carnival were fair.  Carnival tried to understand, but never quite got the severity of my needs.  That being said, you must always be prepared to take care for your Son if he isn't old enough to advocate for himself.  If you question anything, just say, "no that isn't correct", or "that won't work for me/him."  Good luck.  I hope it works out for you.  

 

I bring prepackaged GF snacks, for the ship and the airplane.  Airports are the hardest.  I have even brought my own hamburger buns and Ice cream cones on cruises before.  the attendant even changed their gloves before taking the cone... without my insistence.  That was a good day.  .  

Edited April 25 by screwsmcernst

[klfrodo]

Make sure whatever travel insurance you decide to purchase waives pre-existing conditions. Cruise line travel protection policies do not waive preexisting conditions. The policy usually needs to be purchased within a short time after initial deposit.

[crystalspin]

The medical part of HAL's Platinum Cancellation Protection Policy does waive pre-existing conditions and only needs to be purchased before penalties begin to accrue. If the fare has a non-refundable deposit, that is immediately. With most refundable fares, it is Final Payment Date. For some longer cruises, the penalties start sooner than FPD. 

 

HAL is very good with special diets. I agree that you should select Fixed Seating, so that they can find you with tomorrow's menu to select what courses are wanted that CAN be prepared safely.

[SeriouslyNancy]

8 hours ago, screwsmcernst said:

Welcome to CC.  I have Celiac Disease, and if there is a very small amount of cross-contamination, I will end up sick.  After our last vacation,(land based vacation) I ended up in the hospital.  

We have cruised on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity.  We have come to the conclusion that Celebrity Cruise Line is the safest for me.  Their menus are marked with Allergen icons.  They also have a separate allergen kitchen.  We always have traditional dining so Ican have the same wait staff every night.  I place my orders for dinner the day before.  They take food allergies very seriously.   

 

Royal Caribbean and Carnival were fair.  Carnival tried to understand, but never quite got the severity of my needs.  That being said, you must always be prepared to take care for your Son if he isn't old enough to advocate for himself.  If you question anything, just say, "no that isn't correct", or "that won't work for me/him."  Good luck.  I hope it works out for you.  

 

I bring prepackaged GF snacks, for the ship and the airplane.  Airports are the hardest.  I have even brought my own hamburger buns and Ice cream cones on cruises before.  the attendant even changed their gloves before taking the cone... without my insistence.  That was a good day.  .  

Thank you, your experience most closely reflects our situation. This is a college graduation gift and I want things to go smoothly and safely. Traveling with a suitcase full of food to take on a ship is ridiculous considering the fare. I have already resigned myself to the fact that we will most likely be eating at the steakhouses a few evenings as steaks and veggies are a safe choice, provided they are prepared with care. He usually eats only grass fed meat and organic produce, etc. when dining out at the limited choices he has. By doing so he has thrived and has not needed any medication. 

[CDNPolar]

1 hour ago, SeriouslyNancy said:

Thank you, your experience most closely reflects our situation. This is a college graduation gift and I want things to go smoothly and safely. Traveling with a suitcase full of food to take on a ship is ridiculous considering the fare. I have already resigned myself to the fact that we will most likely be eating at the steakhouses a few evenings as steaks and veggies are a safe choice, provided they are prepared with care. He usually eats only grass fed meat and organic produce, etc. when dining out at the limited choices he has. By doing so he has thrived and has not needed any medication. 

 

Also be aware of any excursions that you may go on that are organized by the ship if they have a meal or a snack attached.  I have seen many times that the excursion meals could not accommodate dietary needs.  They ship may cater to your needs, but these are independent restaurants and tour providers that may not get it or have the ability to prepare the proper food.

 

I get that you don't want to travel with a suitcase full of food and you should not have to, but our preferred line did not cater well to dietary needs a few years back, but now does a pretty good job.

[GeezerCouple]

8 hours ago, klfrodo said:

Make sure whatever travel insurance you decide to purchase waives pre-existing conditions. Cruise line travel protection policies do not waive preexisting conditions. The policy usually needs to be purchased within a short time after initial deposit.

 

I should also have emphasized that travel insurance may be especially important for you.  We feel that way in general (and have had several claims ourselves), but especially if there is something like this that could easily make someone sick enough to need to leave the ship for a hospital!

 

Here is the section on CC about travel insurance:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/

You may want to browse there or also ask questions.

 

Note that as klfrodo wrote, you should be looking for a policy that *does* cover any pre-existing condtions.  This usually means that you MUST start the insurance within about 10-20 days of making your very FIRST payment (timing depends upon state of residence).  Then you up the coverage promptly as more non-refundable payments are made.

(There may be other ways to get coverage that doesn't exclude pre-existing conditions, but starting the insurance right away gives you the best choice of policies.)

 

You should definitely contact a travel insurance agent or broker so they can help you make sure that you get this right.

We are among those here on CC who use and recommend:

https://tripinsurancestore.com

But CALL them; don't just rely upon the short policy summaries on the website.  Those cannot capture all of the "fine print", which is especially important with insurance.

TIS is a broker, and they work with a few vetted insurers.  They can also help if there is a claim. They are wonderfully patient with those who have lots of questions; that included us just over 10 years ago, when we learned about travel insurance here on CC.  And we had a large claim the very first time we purchased travel insurance, and we were reimbursed for all of our non-refundable payments within about 2 weeks of submitting the documentation!  (And we've since had several more claims.  Now... we don't go far from home without that coverage!)

There is no extra charge to purchase insurance through them.

 

GC