Best destinations for food allergies

[Anonymous]

One of our kids has multiple severe food allergies. Does anyone on his board have recommendations for allergy-friendly destinations or tips to stay safe? We did Disney last year, which was amazing and easy, but I’d like to branch out yet not have to make all of our meals.

[Anonymous]

What allergies?

Are we talking shellfish (easy to avoid) allergies or something more ubiquitous like milk, peanuts, eggs?

[Anonymous]

Phoenician resort in Scottsdale had superb allergy procedures.

Fairmont Maui had superb allergy procedures.

Please post your allergens and may have other suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Disney Cruise Line also handles food allergies really well.

[Anonymous]

Op here - allergies are tree nuts, many seeds/seed oils (sesame, flax, sunflower), and fish. Peanuts are okay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Disney Cruise Line also handles food allergies really well.

Op here - I’d love to do a Disney cruise, but I feel like we are still learning about new allergies and so want to have an er available if needed.

Other relevant info - kids range in age from 2-10.

[Anonymous]

Just FWIW— DH has those same allergies and we’ve traveled everywhere— Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, Middle East, etc. We are super upfront and super clear about them and also read up on typical dishes just to be aware of common ingredients. Even in nuts friendly places (like some countries in Africa) he has not had an issue. Also ask your doc about xolair— he hasn’t used it yet but is curious about it.

[Anonymous]

Depending on the age of kids, Disney Cruise could be a good next option. We have severe allergies in our family and I completely get it. I would book with Lizzie Reynolds, she is a travel agent that specializes in Disney for food allergy families.

Phoenician was also great and spoke with the head chef ahead of time.

[Anonymous]

Disney in general is really good about allergies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here - allergies are tree nuts, many seeds/seed oils (sesame, flax, sunflower), and fish. Peanuts are okay.

Shellfish or other kinds of fish? M

We have done Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruises and they were both very attentive to allergies.

If you go the cruise route, I suggest only eating in the main dining room. No buffet unless you watch them make the food or it’s something like fruit, eggs, etc. With fewer allergies you might be ok in the buffet, but the seed allergies are hard with the oils. The buffets are labeled but there is also always cross contamination risk. In the main dining room you are generally assigned the same waiter and they get to know you and will have you do things like preorder the meal for the next night so they can prepare it in a separate area. Also, look at the restaurants on the ship before you book. The bigger ships will have separate pizza and burger restaurants which sounds like would be good for your kids.

We have also found countries in Europe to be better about labeling menus than in the US. We ordered laminated allergy cards in the local language on Amazon to show the wait staff. Italy for example, cooks with a lot of olive oil which would be good for you. We were there last summer and all menus had allergens listed. We have tree nut, fish and dairy allergies in our family. The dairy allergy is not anaphylactic but we did not have any issues. The tree nut allergy kid even had gelato. We found gelato places to be accommodating about cross contamination but that depends on your level of comfort as well.

[Anonymous]

I have a family member with an allergy to onions (maybe not a technical allergy because no anaphylaxis but it results in violent vomiting, which has required hospitalization in the past). We’ve had good luck on basically every cruise line. The chef will give him the next days menu and we order his meal in advance so it can be prepared without allergens. They would also definitely have epi pen type medications on a cruise, although if I were you I would also buy travel insurance. Cruisecritic forums could probably answer this but I don’t know what the typical procedure is after administration of the rescue medication—whether they typically want the person off the ship to be treated in a hospital or whether this is very run of the mill for cruise lines.

I think that a good AI resort might have the same possibilities — basically they don’t want you getting sick there so they have much more incentive than your average restaurant where you will generally leave and not be their problem.

From that list of allergies I would worry most about the oils.