Disney Cruise - Ana. Reaction

[allerav]

It is with huge dismay that I must report by son's anaphylactic reaction on a recent Disney Cruise.  We did everything right - talked to Disney before cruise, talked to the dining chef, talked to the wait staff, etc.  Ate only plain meat, plain potato, steamed veggies and plain berries (with exception noted later).  The staff appeared to be very accomodating and knowledgeable.  The last night my son had an anaphylactic reaction to something - maybe the "lemon sorbet" they made specially for him or cross-contamination with shellfish or eggs.  We are usually sooooo careful and never do dessert but I was told the lemon sorbet was specially prepared for my son with only lemon, sugar and water.  Anyway, I wanted to pass this along because we went on a Disney Cruise after hearing such good things about them. 

My son has multiple food allergies (eggs, nuts, shellfish, etc.), all of which are serious.  Lesson learned.  This was our first ever ana. reaction in six years!

An Epi-Pen and two trips to the ship's medical center restored him to health.  The ship's doctor was adequate and they had a protocol for anaphylaxis, but we definitely knew more than the doctor did. 

Oh Disney! We had loved you so much.

[ajasfolks2]

(thinking about your other school issues, as well as keeping medical records for later)

Please be sure you get full copy of the ship's clinic so far as records for this incident.

Was ship's medical care giver in contact with child's allergist during this episode?

[Jessica]

I'm so sorry-that must have been scary. I have read that disney parks and disney cruises are not the same in regard to food allergies.

[allerav]

OP here:  Yes, we have the records from the medical staff, but there isn't really anything on there other than "anaphylaxis."

The disturbing part is that Disney Cruise does have a protocol for food allergies and hold themselves out as being really knowledgeable.  And I believed it. This is probably good for someone who has a mild single-food allergy, but for our family with so many allergies, we realize this is another door closed to us.  In talking with our allergist at Hopkins after our cruise I learned that others have had reactions on the cruises and at the parks under similar circumstances.

We go to Disney once a year and actually found the cruise to have better options for us than the parks because the staff specially cooked food for us.  We were at Disneyland earlier in the summer and they really had nothing to offer us and the dining staff was not accomodating.

My take-away is that if, like us, you are dealing with multiple, serious food allergies, we need to treat Disney just like any other place - bring our own food.  Previously, we had treated Disney like it was an oasis in terms of food allergies and ate some of their food-offerings.  I know many have had great success with Disney and that's great.  But for us, we can't trust them anymore.

[CMdeux]

We also found Disneyland to be mostly off-limits for DD, food-wise.

  There were a few bright spots, but yeah... MLTFA (particularly if it includes milk, eggs, soy, or wheat) makes it a risky proposition in our experience.  DD mostly ate what we packed.

I will say that they tried when we asked (character dinner, for example).  But I appreciate that the chef in our instance definitely advised us to AVOID desserts.  Period.  DD ate fruit.  She also ate only whole fruit and bottled water from in-the-park vendors.

[GoingNuts]

We haven't done Disney in over 18 years (when my MFA son was all of 4 months old!), but have always heard good things about them.  I can imagine how betrayed you must feel.

I can also imagine how terrifying it must have been to have this going on at sea.  Just one more reason I'll never set foot on a cruise, LOL (I already have a long list of reasons.  )

I hope he's feeling better, and that you have all recovered from the trauma.  If you don't mind saying, how old is your DS and what were his symptoms?  Just curious how they handled things.

[YouKnowWho]

It's one thing to trust Disney on land, another to trust a Disney cruise IMO.  Stranded on water with often questionable medical staff having an ana rxn is like my own personal nightmare.  Having an ana rxn where hospitals are close by, still not favorable but better than being on the water.

I have friends that go both ways with MFA and Disney.  I would feel safer ordering meals our way rather than them going out of their way.  And frankly it would send DS1 into a tailspin if his burger came out of with a bun, whether it be safe or not. 

Course DH and I have no desire to ever go to Disney (again) and none of the kids have ever expressed a dying interest to go...

[allerav]

OP again:  Totally agree stranded on water was not good.  I suppose our reasons for going on the trip were two-fold: (1) we had heard good things about Disney cruises allergy wise, and we are trying to live as normally as possible and (2) my son had never had an anaphylactic reaction before out of a hospital setting (food challenge).   

I am not trying to defend our decision - obviously it was the wrong one, so please no bashing while we are down.  The whole purpose of my thread is to counter balance all the other threads I have read on various message boards that have said how great Disney Cruise Line is with allergies.

To GoingNuts, my son is 7 and his symptoms were severe stomach ache then vomiting, listlessness and a very flushed face.  Our action-plan says any two symptoms = deliver the EPI.  My son, god bless him, actually asked us to administer the EPI and told us where to do it.  The symptoms started about 45 minutes after eating and came on very quickly.  He went from dancing one minute to on the bed listless 5 minutes later.

Again, lots of lessons learned here.  One final note: I am generally a totally over-the-top allergy mom, with the obvious, major exception here due to my attempt to live as "normally" as possible.  So, this is not the case of someone who is new to the food allergy world or not vigilant.  Again, this is a warning and attempt to help others.

[YouKnowWho]

I hope you don't think we are bashing you.  How many times have you and us heard that Disney is fabulous with food allergies?  Well guess what, they aren't.  And that is okay, I think we need to understand even the great Mouse can't handle it as well as we can, kwim?

I think the worse thing any of us can do is go on a trip or cruise with a sense of complacency.  We all want normal for our kids too.  You did nothing wrong and I hope that you aren't feeling from this thread that you did.

[Macabre]

Oh wow--I'm so sorry.  It sounds like things worked out well with the exception of that dessert.  I understand letting one's guard down. Totally understandable

[joshsmom]

Are you going after them for cost of the cruise? I would. I am sorry this happened to your son and family. Glad he is OK!