Will You Still Love A Disney Cruise Without Gluten and Dairy?

I’m a Disney Cruise veteran and I love everything about it. This time, after 20+ sailing something was different – I was traveling with somebody with major food intolerances. I have to admit that as good as I know Disney is with food allergies, I was a little concerned if we would still love our cruise and being a Gluten free, Dairy free person. To my surprise and her absolute delight, overall the experience was amazing.

Cabanas (aka the Buffet)

We began Day One at Cabanas. Since it’s an intolerance not an allergy my daughter doesn’t have huge concerns about cross-contamination. She’s frequently OK ordering from a regular menu or selecting items from a buffet that she knows are safe. She prefers to fly under the radar as much as possible. She did ask to speak to a chef to confirm some of the food she thought might have traces of dairy. They were great at walking her down the line, offering her portions from the back to not worry about cross-contamination, and offering to make some extra things for her. She reluctantly agreed to a Gluten free, Dairy free pizza, saying she could just make the buffet work. It showed up in less than 10 minutes and because of the food allergies the whole pie was just for us. She was thrilled to have this option but a little reluctant as she dove in to give it a bite. The smile and the two thumbs up let me know that they used quality products in their Dairy free cheese and their Gluten free crust. Not all things that are ok for her to eat are actually tasty.  At her continued urging I even got brave and tried a bite. Not only did I live to tell about it, but I have to say it was pretty good and I believe there would have been less than a 50% chance that I would have guessed it was allergen friendly if placed on the regular buffet. I haven’t found that to be true of most of the products I’ve bought her at home. 

Their high level of attention to allergies may be great for some people but was a little tough for us to adjust to. They found our waiter for dinner and the head server to come over and talk to my daughter about dinner choices for that night and breakfast and lunch the next day.  I’ll be honest, it was a lot at once and in my opinion a little overkill for a “standard” allergy.  They did tell us that tomorrow Cookies was better prepared to handle gluten allergies than Cookies II.  Cookies II doesn’t have gluten free buns unless we request them in advance. We asked if we could just get the rolls at breakfast and take them with us which they were happy to accommodate. It’s possible they want to have orders in ahead of time in case you need a lot of extra prep and are concerned about cross-contamination.

Rotational Dining (Main Dining Rooms)

We left there happy as can be and set off for a day of fun. Our first evening dinner was at Animator’s Palate and my daughter was in heaven when they delivered the bread basket and a separate plate containing Gluten free rolls and dairy free butter. If you’re reading this as somebody with a gluten allergy, you know that generally the gluten bread is not always the best and it’s certainly pricey. My daughter said we definitely got our money’s worth in food for her this sailing.

She was content to pick items off the menu which were marked as Gluten free or ask for items with modifications, but they were also quick to come and offer her other alternatives or ways to prepare certain dishes with slight deviations to meet her needs. As our cruise went on, she got a little braver in requesting things and said that one of her best meals was a Gluten free, Dairy free “macaroni and cheese”. 

For breakfast and lunch we rotated between buffet and table service. The one thing we didn’t really do was a lot of “pool deck” food, though we grabbed french fries and bowls of fruit a few times. Since she isn’t worried about cross contamination, we were easily able to get a burger (with no bun) and fries from Flo’s Cafe. At the sit down restaurants, restaurants they normally bring a tray of pastries around at breakfast for each guest to select from. For allergies, they bring you your own “mini tray” and it is all yours. 2 muffins and a donut were a lot for one person but she was happy to sample it all.

Palo (Adults Only Dining)

We enjoyed a dinner at Palo which included a basket of gluten free pizza bread. There were many choices on the menu that with just small tweaks worked great (ie change the sauce something was cooked in).  We even had the opportunity to celebrate her birthday. For dessert they brought her a sorbet and a deconstructed apple crisp.  It appeared to be a Life’s Good cookie (which we had in Cabanas several times) with chopped apples on top.  Dinner was a hit. 

A few days later, however, we did brunch – which is always my favorite – and I found they were not prepared with many allergen-friendly options. My daughter really wanted chicken parm, but they said they didn’t have access to the dairy free cheese. They offered her eggs Benedict which came on what looked like a half of a Gluten free hamburger roll… I thought they could have done better. They told her everything but the fruit cup and mini-jello cup were off limits on the dessert table, as was the whole table of breads, muffins, cinnamon buns and cheese. ☹

The thing she missed!

If I had to share one thing that I think made her a little sad, it would be that as they passed out the dessert menu each night they didn’t give her one, they just told her that the chef would take care of it for her. That said, we learned quickly that their selections for dessert are amazing and she was thrilled to have options beyond a fruit parfait even – if she didn’t have the extensive selection that others did.

What would I do differently? My three main takeaways:

1. Start out asking for what you want. That’s the only way you’ll learn. My daughter loves blueberry muffins but was happy when they brought her any muffin. When she saw blueberry at another table the next day and asked for one herself, she was ecstatic to get it. We never had to hunt for blueberry muffins after that… they always appeared!  They didn’t offer her yogurt for breakfast but once she asked if they had yogurt, they brought her several flavors.
2. Bring plastic containers.  Be it for for snacking or to easily have access to a roll they brought you earlier, something besides the pastry in a napkin in my purse would’ve been a good move.  They were always willing to give us extras as obviously there are more limited places to get gluten free items.
3. The only true disappointing fact for me is we would give up our Palo brunch in the future. I’ll be sure to talk to the Chef on board next time and see if they’ve made changes, but for right now the gluten free, dairy free options are just not there.

Here’s a list of things we learned are available by asking, hopefully it helps you. You will need to ask your server or the dining room manager at Cabanas for any of these (or room service):

Gluten Free Foods

• Udi’s Muffins (Blueberry and Chocolate)
• Udi’s Donuts (Glazed and Sugar)
• Life’s Good Cookies {often on the Cabanas buffet in the box by desserts} (Snickerdoodle & Chocolate Chip)
• Mickey Waffles (special order)
• Gluten Free Hamburger Buns
• Gluten Free Rolls
• Gluten Free Pasta
• Gluten Free Pizza

Dairy Free Foods

• Dairy Free Butter
• Dairy Free Cheese
• Life’s Good Cookies
• Silk Almond Yogurt
• Sorbert
• Soy & Almond Milk
• Udi’s Muffins (Blueberry and Chocolate Chip)
• Udi’s Donuts (Glazed & Sugar)

Still looking for more information on dining? Check out this episode of Let’s Talk Dis!

Have you sailed with a food allergy and found other favorite foods or tips to share?  We’d love to hear about it!