BY BETH WERKMEISTER

Always wanted to go on a cruise, but have special dietary needs and worry about eating? Several months ago, I was diagnosed with Dietary Fructose Intolerance, which is a relatively new disease that is not often diagnosed. If you've ever looked at nutrition labels, you'll realize that fructose (or high-fructose corn syrup) is in most everything. I cannot have anything with that ingredient in it. I also cannot have fruit.

I'd really wanted to do a Disney Cruise, but worried what I would find to eat. I'm pleased to report that the Disney Cruise Line was so incredibly accommodating that I'll definitely be going again!

When I first arrived on the ship, I got in line immediately at Wavebands to make that ever-so-popular Palo's reservation, which only took a few minutes. After we had some lunch and dropped by our stateroom, I went back to the Wavebands lounge to speak with someone about my special dietary needs. (Before the cruise, a DCL reservations castmember had tipped me off about someone being in the lounge between 2:30 and 3:30 pm to answer questions.) I spoke with castmember Ali - head of Dining. He asked questions about what I could or could not have, and took my dinner order for that night.

Upon arriving at Animator's Palate that evening, Ali immediately remembered me as I entered the restaurant, and introduced me to our head server, Eric. Once seated, Eric came over to our table to ask me more questions about my special diet. For dinner, they brought me a delicious salad, sirloin steak (cooked perfectly), baked potato, and steamed vegetables. There aren't many desserts that I can have, but they did have orange sherbet on hand, so Eric brought that to me. (It wasn't the best sherbet I've had, but at least it was something sweet!)

After dinner, Eric asked me where we'd be dining for breakfast the next morning. We decided on Triton's and he took that order, too, as well as, giving me options for our Castaway Cay day. I had steak and eggs for breakfast the next morning at Triton's.

Eric also suggested that I go to Palo's that first evening to talk with the manager, Kapor, about my dinner there the following night. Kapor took the time to talk with me and even made suggestions. He wrote everything down in a notebook and also called me the following afternoon to ask me a couple of questions. A few minutes after Kapor called, I got a call from Eric to be sure that I had my dinner arrangements taken care of for that evening.

At Palo's, I had a delicious shrimp appetizer, fried calamari, and for the main course, filet mignon (again cooked perfectly), baked potato, and steamed vegetables. My husband and I shared the chocolate soufflé for dessert - I only took a couple of bites.

On our Castaway Cay day, my family went to Parrot Cay for breakfast, but I actually decided to skip that meal and just eat a bagel that I had brought with me from home. For lunch, Eric had made arrangements for me to have a gluten-free roll and veggie burger. Unfortunately, I'm sorry to say that it was definitely the worst item that I had during the cruise, but at least I was able to get something to eat and not get sick from it. After that meal, I was REALLY looking forward to dinner at Triton's! (The rest of my family did enjoy their lunch at Castaway Cay. They especially loved the soft-serve ice cream and frozen yogurt.)

That evening (our last night on the ship), we dined at Triton's. Eric arranged for me to have salmon, rice, and vegetables for dinner. I had told him about how much I liked the shrimp earlier during the cruise. He obviously remembered that and brought me out an appetizer of at least a dozen jumbo sized shrimp! I sprinkled a little lemon on them and was in absolute heaven. I had seen escargot on the menu as an appetizer and asked if I could try it. They brought that to me, also, as well as the cauliflower soup. It was all delicious. Needless to say, by the time dessert came, I had to pass on that orange sherbet!

Eric and I had discussed steak and eggs for breakfast for our last morning onboard. That morning, he came to our table again, to check in with me. I asked him if I could skip the steak and eggs and just ordered their express breakfast. He said that would be absolutely fine.

Considering that fructose intolerance isn't something very common or well-known, I was really very nervous before going on the cruise. I really can't express how impressed I was with the sincere concern shown and attention given to my dietary needs.

I cannot wait to plan our next Disney cruise!

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