Pregnant youtuber denied boarding on Disney Cruise

[cruiser21]

Sarcasm or serious? Link?

Obviously sarcasm.

 

[Spork24]

Obviously sarcasm.

Oh it was an April fools joke on April 2nd. That’s AGAINST THE RULES PEOPLE!!!!

I was seriously confused because I didn’t think such a test existed.

 

[MelSpees]

How is a person supposed to contact their physician on a Saturday or Sunday when most cruise ships leave? Of course there's going to be Dr. in the group on call for deliveries and emergency's, but asking them to fax paperwork seems a little unrealistic.

It does seem a little far-fetched. That's part of why I asked the question.

 

[MelSpees]

There is a question on online check-in that specifically states women cannot enter their 24th week before or during the cruise. If they checked that applied to no one then they lied. Disney offers no “bring a doctor’s note” option.

Of course they lied on the paper work. I meant at the terminal.

 

[Weedy]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/dcl-on-local-news.3673522/
That thread has gotten kind of buried due to this one getting started with a more recognizable title, but that's where it starts and the link to what is probably the first place to report it.

Oh wow. We were on this cruise. We boarded early and missed all the drama.

 

[Snowwhyt]

I wonder if her doctors note covered the rides she was most-likely on after she got booted from the ship? I’m sure they must have some footage for where she vacated after leaving the ship. Maybe she had a beach vacation since she was in Miami?

 

[phinz]

Never mind. Whoops.

 

[Snowwhyt]

Never mind. Whoops.

But she could do that the first night at the hotel I’m guessing. Since she does this for a “living” she may be quite quick at it. I still want to know what she did with that week. I really doubt the whole family said “that’s a bummer, OK let’s go home.”

 

[Jess_S]

I'm very conflicted on this. On one hand, I applaud DCL's customer service for compensating this woman. On the other hand, I don't think she deserved a penny. DCL's policy regarding when pregnant women can travel is readily available and there's really no excuse for not looking into it. My family did a big multi-generational cruise when I was pregnant with my son and I looked into the rules, found out I would be denied boarding, and so DH and I didn't book ourselves on that trip. But I wasn't a you tuber trying to drive traffic to my channel, so I guess my situation was different.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm very conflicted on this. On one hand, I applaud DCL's customer service for compensating this woman. On the other hand, I don't think she deserved a penny. DCL's policy regarding when pregnant women can travel is readily available and there's really no excuse for not looking into it. My family did a big multi-generational cruise when I was pregnant with my son and I looked into the rules, found out I would be denied boarding, and so DH and I didn't book ourselves on that trip. But I wasn't a you tuber trying to drive traffic to my channel, so I guess my situation was different.

That's part of my thing when it comes to situations like these. Every company out there from time to time does things like this from a PR standpoint at the same time such blantant disregard for the rules, and why there are rules regarding stage of pregnancy, and how she handled it just makes me wish they hadn't given any refund.

 

[MUN]

In case you are wondering how to follow Emily and gang on YouTube, her YouTube channel is "The Jackson Hive". Very clever name, imho. Her channel currently has around 9,800 subscribers, which is about one tenth of what Flippin Katie has. Flippin Katie and her family have several videos on her channel from a past DCL cruise. I haven't watched any of Emily's videos but my daughter is a big fan of Flippin Katie's, so I've seen some of those.

MUN

PS, I would be interested in knowing if "The Jackson Hive" channel has seen a growth in subscription numbers since her recent DCL incident.

 

[braysmommy]

We have a friend who is a cop at the port. We were told 2 of the men were threatening the staff and becoming verbally abusive, which is why they were asked to leave the premises. Of course they didn't film THIS. They filmed what they wanted to.

And seriously should they have propped their assault rifles up against the wall to deal with these people? No sympathy here.

 

[Ravenne]

I just saw this on another discussion board:
"If a woman appears pregnant when checking in for a cruise, shore side supervisors ask her if she is pregnant, and how far along she is. If the answer needs further proof, the woman is asked to contact her physician and request a letter be faxed to the shore side office on the pier verifying that she is well with in the time limit required. The letter is given to ship's medical staff, who may call the physician to verify. At the end of the day it's the ship who decides who boards and who doesn't. They can and will deny boarding if they believe it's a medical risk, even if the woman is well within the time limit."

Does anyone know if this is indeed the case? If so, it does explain her telling the truth and having a doctor's note. It absolutely does not excuse her trying to get around the rule.

There is a question on online check-in that specifically states women cannot enter their 24th week before or during the cruise. If they checked that applied to no one then they lied. Disney offers no “bring a doctor’s note” option.

In fact, DCL specifies that a doctor's note is not acceptable.

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/faq/health-safety/pregnant/

2nd paragraph:

Neither a doctor’s medical statement nor a waiver of liability will be accepted. In addition, Disney Cruise Line cannot be held responsible or liable for any complications relating to pregnancy at any stage.

And seriously should they have propped their assault rifles up against the wall to deal with these people? No sympathy here.

Hold my 'big guns"...

 

[YawningDodo]

And if that had happened, they would've complained that DCL didn't have medical care, especially for a company who caters to children and families, then sue. This was a no win situation for DCL. DCL paid hush money, and she didn't hush. Disney continues to feed the beast that's people like that, because people know Disney will pay, and there are no consequences. Happens in the parks all the time. Oh, you didn't know about our rules? Sorry, here are some extra FPs, goodies, gift cards.

As a former WDW cast member who has been through Traditions, where they cover...well, a little bit of everything related to working in WDW -- I can tell you that Disney does not always roll over. There are plenty of instances where people have sued Disney and been very quickly shot down in court; one of the trainers briefly described a couple of cases to us as a sort of "look, we have good legal teams, so you're going to be okay as long as you correctly follow procedures" sort of thing in training. And, too, I'm sure that a lot of settlements that Disney does pay out come with nondisclosure agreements. Disney is set up to minimize bad publicity one way or another; there are certainly tons of attempts to unfairly capitalize on their customer service that we never hear about because Disney handles it quietly, whether or not they ultimately capitulate. The ones we actually hear about are the outliers; for all that this family's complaints are clearly disconnected from reality, the fact that they've successfully managed to turn this into a big PR stunt in their favor is unusual.

EDIT: And before anyone says it, make no mistake -- this is in their favor, at least in the short term. Whether or not it's getting them more subscribers, it's getting them a lot of extra views. There are no good clicks and bad clicks on YouTube, only advertising money so long as you can get people to load the page.

 

[Dug720]

As a former WDW cast member who has been through Traditions, where they cover...well, a little bit of everything related to working in WDW -- I can tell you that Disney does not always roll over. There are plenty of instances where people have sued Disney and been very quickly shot down in court; one of the trainers briefly described a couple of cases to us as a sort of "look, we have good legal teams, so you're going to be okay as long as you correctly follow procedures" sort of thing in training. And, too, I'm sure that a lot of settlements that Disney does pay out come with nondisclosure agreements. Disney is set up to minimize bad publicity one way or another; there are certainly tons of attempts to unfairly capitalize on their customer service that we never hear about because Disney handles it quietly, whether or not they ultimately capitulate. The ones we actually hear about are the outliers; for all that this family's complaints are clearly disconnected from reality, the fact that they've successfully managed to turn this into a big PR stunt in their favor is unusual.

EDIT: And before anyone says it, make no mistake -- this is in their favor, at least in the short term. Whether or not it's getting them more subscribers, it's getting them a lot of extra views. There are no good clicks and bad clicks on YouTube, only advertising money so long as you can get people to load the page.

Which is exactly why I refuse to click on any of the links to the video. No way am I giving this special snowflake any money in any way. Which is exactly what you're doing if you click - giving her money from the advertisers. ("You" in the general sense. Not you directly @YawningDodo )

 

[tvguy]

It is my understanding that this is cruise industry policy, not DCL policy, and for the safety of the mother and child. The policy is very clearly stated when you book and checkin online - you do not have to search for this information, so no excuse for not being aware. She tried to get away with something and got caught. IMO, good on DCL for abiding by an important policy.

The policy is disclosed, so she should have known.

However, I have mixed feelings about the policy based on what we were told by Royal Caribbean when we checked back in 1986 when my wife was 28 weeks pregnant and we cruised with them. My wife's OB-GYN had no hesitation about her cruising. But we called Royal Caribbean to double check if it was an issue. In those days, RCL had no restrictions at all on sailing while pregnant. The rep on the phone said there are just too many other health conditions that have greater potential of becoming a problem on a cruise that a normal pregnancy. And you sure can't expected every passenger to provide proof that they are in perfect health.

And on my first cruise on Paquet, a small French cruise line with 2 ships with a capacity of about 450 each, the Cruise Director said they had a passenger death on average of once a month on each of the ships. But this was in 1980, when cruising was less mainstream, and the average passenger was age 65 to deceased.

 

[Dug720]

The policy is disclosed, so she should have known.

However, I have mixed feelings about the policy based on what we were told by Royal Caribbean when we checked back in 1986 when my wife was 28 weeks pregnant and we cruised with them. My wife's OB-GYN had no hesitation about her cruising. But we called Royal Caribbean to double check if it was an issue. In those days, RCL had no restrictions at all on sailing while pregnant. The rep on the phone said there are just too many other health conditions that have greater potential of becoming a problem on a cruise that a normal pregnancy. And you sure can't expected every passenger to provide proof that they are in perfect health.

And on my first cruise on Paquet, a small French cruise line with 2 ships with a capacity of about 450 each, the Cruise Director said they had a passenger death on average of once a month on each of the ships. But this was in 1980, when cruising was less mainstream, and the average passenger was age 65 to deceased.

Society was much less lawsuit-happy in 1986...

 

[chuckille]

In fact, DCL specifies that a doctor's note is not acceptable.

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/faq/health-safety/pregnant/

2nd paragraph:

Neither a doctor’s medical statement nor a waiver of liability will be accepted. In addition, Disney Cruise Line cannot be held responsible or liable for any complications relating to pregnancy at any stage.



Hold my 'big guns"...

The reason 24 weeks is such an important number is because 24 weeks is when the fetus is considered “viable”. Delivering a healthy baby before 24 weeks is not possible (although recent advances are pushing this date a bit earlier), whereas a baby born prematurely at 25 weeks or later can be given medicine and treatments that will give the baby a good chance of surviving.

Cruise ships know that if you go into labor after 24 weeks and since the ship won’t have neonatal supplies or treatments available, they don’t want want to be liable for a baby that could’ve otherwise survived. If you go into labor before the 24 week mark, the baby wouldn’t have survived so the cruise lines aren’t as concerned about the liability.

This is another reason why many doctors don’t recommend flying far away during the 3rd trimester. If you end up going into labor prematurely and you are far from home, you could end up living out of a hotel for months while your baby is in NICU.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Which is exactly why I refuse to click on any of the links to the video. No way am I giving this special snowflake any money in any way. Which is exactly what you're doing if you click - giving her money from the advertisers. ("You" in the general sense. Not you directly @YawningDodo )

Yep, me too. I have not clicked on it and have no intentions to do it.

 

[mmmears]

I believe that viability is different now than in 1986... That was over 30 years ago and things change.

Which is exactly why I refuse to click on any of the links to the video. No way am I giving this special snowflake any money in any way. Which is exactly what you're doing if you click - giving her money from the advertisers. ("You" in the general sense. Not you directly @YawningDodo )

Same here. I'm not going to feed her need for attention.