Went through the food allergy situation with my son on the Legend in June of 2007. They were awesome, he ate very good for the week and was completely safe.  If he wanted something, not on the menu they would make it (flourless chocolate cookies that were nutfree), if he wanted something that was on the menu and not safe, they made it another way to it would be safe (crab and lobster cakes).

The lido deck was scary to us that first day, but after talking to the hostess we learned you need to talk to the matride' on the lido deck and they will take care of you (in our case we didn't even know there was one there..)  The one day, they shutdown one of the lines completely cleaned it and made him his meal. 

In July we will be on the Glory, if this did not give us the warm and comfy feeling we would not be going back on a ship.  In my opinion, I think if you treat them with respect that will bend over backwards to do whatever needs to be done.  Heck the one day the hostess joined us for a drink poolside in Costa Maya.

 If you have ever been to WDW, this is a very similar experience.

I am so glad you posted this. We are going on Legend on June 21st.  I have heard that Carnival does a good job with food allergies but when it is for my daughter I always get nervous. She must eat gluten free. We went on Princess 2 years ago and they were fantastic. Sounds like we will have the same experience on the Legend. Thanks again for posting your experience. It makes me feel a whole lot better.

Got off the Glory on 7/11 and had a very similiar experience to our last cruise.  My suggestions:

Before the cruise: Fill out the paperwork for special needs so they will be ready for you prior to boarding the ship.

Lido Deck - The first day, I talked the the head chief for the LIDO deck. He took my son to the pizza station and told them to completely sanitize the area and to make him a fresh "whole" pizza everytime he came.  Any other foods, I would see him or his assistant and they would verify it was safe (not often) OR make him a version of the dish that was safe. There was one day, that I could not find either of them, but I did see the matride' from the Dining Room (Paul).   He had the kitchen make my son pasta that was safe and personally delievered it to our table.

Dinning Room - Hostess would come each day to the table at the dinning room and plan all meals for the following day.   

We had no issues...

FYI - We did Tip the Hostess, Chief on the Lido deck and the matride' for there extra efforts that make our vacation safe and enjoyable.

I posted what happened to us on our June Legend cruise under gluten free. We did not have a good experience as you can read for yourselves. We did contact the company when we booked 10 months in advance and faxed the special needs form in 6 months in advance.  The special needs dept even called us about 2 months in advance.  Still when we got to the dining room the first night they said they had my daughter down as needing gluten free but could not accomdate her the first night.  Then the next day we had pre-ordered gf pancakes in dining room for breakfast and she was glutened from them.  We did pre-order each night with the hostess. We specifically asked her if we could get gf pizza and cookies. She checked with the chef and he said no.  Also we did as the hostess told us to do and asked them men on Lido deck (who was a supervisor) if we could get a clean pan to make an omelet and he said no. I was just shocked and disappointed.    We did ask nicely eat time , it is not like we were demanding or anything.  We did find a very nice man who did help us for lunch on lido deck each day so my daugher could get a gf hamburger and fries. We did tip him well at end.  Everyone was nice just not very accomodating like the special needs dept had said they would be.  Two years ago we had a fantastic experience with Princess Cruises being able to accomdate a gluten free diet and their offerings each meal were amazing.

Did the cruise ship carry Soy Milk? My son is Severly allergic to Milk and Tree-nuts. I am hoping that they will bring soy milk otherwise I will pack it. Thanks for your reply.

 Hi McFaddenclan,

I don't know about soy milk but here is some info found on Carnivals web page. Hope it helps some

Dietary Needs

Special dietary menus for vegetarian, low-cholesterol, low-fat, low-carbohydrates, low-sugar, gluten-free, Indian vegetarian and Kosher meals are available upon request. Simply inform us of your preference at the time of making your reservation. If you have food allergies, please meet with your dining staff once onboard to discuss your meal options.

If you need additional information please contact us at: specialneeds@carnival.com.

Definately fill out the special needs form.  In my opinion they are VERY good with handling this situation. Please make sure you hunt down the chef on the lido deck the FIRST day as soon as you get on the ship, they will take care of you.   The dining room is a lot easier to deal with since you can plan a day or more in advance.

You can also call carnival directly.  

We went on the Holiday in August and soy milk was availabe.  My daughter was diagnosed with several food allergies earlier this year.  She completed the special needs form and faxed it in.  Soon after we boarded the ship we went to see the maitre'd and he directed us to the person who would be my daughter's contact for all of her meals in the dining room.  On the Holiday soy milk (and the gluten free bread/pasta) was only available for those with a special need.  Make sure you double check the foods that you think may potentially have allergans in them.  The chef made my daughter a desert that was dairy and gluten free, however it had cantaloupe in it (another one of her allergans, and she did list all of them, but they are human and may make mistakes as well). 

I also have celiac disease and have to have a GF diet. My husband and I were on the Lengend in April and the ship can't have a premade dinner ready as the food is prepared throughout the day and they obviously do not know what one would want to eat. However, the hostess Oana was wonderful. She stood there while we had the menu and told us what we could and couldn't have as it had gluten or soy (since I'm allergic to soy).  While they put the order in for that dinner, Oana told us to review the next night's menu and it would be prepared GF for us. Then we also were told to be sure to eat breakfast in the dining room and to be sure to ask for the real eggs as the powder is what they typically use unless you ask. So beware of this also. She did say we'd be on our own on the lido deck, but we could find the chef for whichever area we were eating and he'd be able to help us by getting "fresh" uncontaminated food from a new tray in the back. I didn't bother as I just ate salads or fruit.  I do have to say they will make GF bread, but unless you plan to eat it warm, it is really dry. Even warm, it's dry, but at least edible. Ha

Now with all that said, we are now booked on the Glory next May and have found out they no longer have the "special needs - dietary" form, only the wheelchair form. We had them send it to us as there is also a diabetic issue and that is the form for the sharps container. 

Just an FYI, anyone that is diabetic, a GF diet is the best diet for a diabetic, but the dieticians don't tell you because it is such a life changing diet to follow. My husband has cut his diabetic medication in half - but you must be committed to follow it. This is what my dietician told me when I asked which menu to follow as we didn't want to fix two different meals each time.

Happy cruising.