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Disney Cruise Line Went Above & Beyond To Help Save [Their] Child’s Life

sayhello

Have Camera, Will Travel
Joined
Oct 28, 2006
http://consumerist.com/2013/08/27/disney-cruise-line-went-above-beyond-to-help-save-our-childs-life/

happy endings

Disney Cruise Line Went Above & Beyond To Help Save Our Child’s Life

By Mary Beth Quirk August 27, 2013

(Disney Wonder)

There’s nothing like the fear of having a sick child and not knowing what’s wrong — except maybe if your child is ailing on a ship off the coast of Alaska, hundreds of miles from the nearest onshore medical help. Consumerist reader Dan wrote in to share a very scary experience that could’ve turned out a lot worse, if not for the kind crew of the Disney Wonder.


Dan, his wife Gwen and their two kids — a 1-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter — had embarked on a weeklong trip up the Alaskan coastline on the Disney Wonder in early August, and were having a great time. But two days into the trip, they noticed that their son was getting worse and worse with what they thought was a cold. Finally he was so ill they took him to see the medical staff on board.


“It was an extremely scary scenario – we had never been further from home and our son was clearly suffering with his condition worsening without a diagnosis, leaving his outlook uncertain,” writes Dan.
While he points out that sometimes a cruise line will help sick passengers to shore and then leave them to their own devices, that wasn’t the case in this situation.


“Given our remote location and dire circumstances, the captain of the Disney Wonder himself visited us in the medical center with his kind condolences and informed us of his plan to sail to Juneau immediately at full speed, as that was our best option in getting our son care as quickly as possible,” explains Dan.


As the ship pushed on toward Juneau, Dan says the crew was extremely helpful in packing up their luggage and getting everything ready for their immediate departure as soon as they hit land. And because it was their daughter’s 6th birthday in a few days, which she was supposed to celebrate onboard, Disney “went above and beyond to lighten the blow by giving her (and our son) some great Mickey and Minnie toys they will always cherish.”


The ship arrived in Juneau a full seven hours ahead of the trip itinerary, Dan says, all so his son could receive treatment as fast as possible. After a few hours at the hospital there, he was airlifted to Seattle and was diagnosed with pneumonia. Dan writes that he also underwent a successful operation to remove an object lodged in his lung and drain out the infection that had caused the lung to collapse.


While the family spent time in Seattle during their son’s recovery, Dan says the Disney staff followed up several times to see if they could help with lodgings or making sure their luggage was forwarded to them. Disney also offered the family a credit toward a future trip, seeing as this trip didn’t end so great. But all of that pales in comparison to their son on his way to being healthy again, with the help of all the medical services involved and Disney Cruises, Dan says.


“Most importantly, our son is on the road to a full recovery. So, it is with most sincerity and appreciation that we wanted to publicly acknowledge Disney’s remarkable service and help during the most difficult of situations possible. We look forward to a ‘re-do’ Disney cruise in the future.”
I love reading this stuff! :thumbsup2

Sayhello
 
I love reading the positive side of DCL. Usually we here mostly the negatives on the boards. I think they generally try to do their best and once in a while swing and miss.

Glad the little guy is ok, and hopefully they get on another trip soon:).

Cgolf
 




yes thank you for sharing this, glad the little one is recovering and hopefully there will be a future cruise to look forward to ! disney is the best!
:thumbsup2
 
That is a wonderful story! Way to go, DCL.:thumbsup2

When we were on the Pacific Coast-Alaska cruise prior to the first Alaskan back in 2011, we left San Francisco and everyone went out to watch us go under the Golden Gate one last time. Then off to dinner. Then...the ship turned around and back under the GG we went! So, we actually got to go under it 4 times. I figured I had enough pictures at that point! Turned out, there had been a medical emergency, so they headed back to SF so the passenger could get treatment. It is nice to know that DCL will put the safety of even one passenger above getting to the next port on time (which we did, though dang the Captain put the foot on the pedal for that ride!). Maybe all cruise lines would do this, I don't know. Just saying I am glad to see DCL make this a priority.
 
Thank you for posting. I am sorry their trip wasn't as wonderful as it should have been but I am so glad the Captain and Disney came through :cool1::cool1::cool1:
 
Yep...people keep asking me why we keep cruising on Disney. This is one of the reasons why!!! WTG DCL :thumbsup2
 
I'm SO glad the little boy is going to be okay!

BUT....why does anyone assume that the other cruise lines would not do the same thing? :confused3 I seriously doubt they would want to be liable in the event that a passenger passed away because they didn't take steps to get the passenger to a hospital.
Things like this happen more often than people realize.
 
I'm SO glad the little boy is going to be okay!

BUT....why does anyone assume that the other cruise lines would not do the same thing? :confused3 I seriously doubt they would want to be liable in the event that a passenger passed away because they didn't take steps to get the passenger to a hospital.
Things like this happen more often than people realize.

I don't assume that and hope all cruise lines would do the same, only 3 of the pp's insinuated that. While DCL isn't perfect, you do hope that their reputation for service that goes above and beyond happens if something ever were to happen to you or someone you now while onboard.

On my last cruise I witnessed the cm's going out of their way to provide comfort and be of service to a family that was in need.

Do some situations with DCL not get handled satisfactorily, or worse horribly, of course, it is a big company and not all of the employees will provide the Disney magic. You just have to hope that the good outweighs the bad, but of course that is little consolation to someone that has had a bad experience, it would even cloud my decisions. For example I won't buy one brand of car due to an experience with a lemon and the dealers handling it, even though it is a good brand.


cgolf
 
I don't assume that and hope all cruise lines would do the same, only 3 of the pp's insinuated that. While DCL isn't perfect, you do hope that their reputation for service that goes above and beyond happens if something ever were to happen to you or someone you now while onboard.

On my last cruise I witnessed the cm's going out of their way to provide comfort and be of service to a family that was in need.

Do some situations with DCL not get handled satisfactorily, or worse horribly, of course, it is a big company and not all of the employees will provide the Disney magic. You just have to hope that the good outweighs the bad, but of course that is little consolation to someone that has had a bad experience, it would even cloud my decisions. For example I won't buy one brand of car due to an experience with a lemon and the dealers handling it, even though it is a good brand.


cgolf

Correct...I didn't say EVERYONE assumed it. I wondered why ANYONE would.

DCL did their job. There's a family out there who is very grateful that they did....which is why this was public in the first place, the father had it in his blog.
But it has been made to appear as though Disney is the only one who would do such a thing.

I do my job every day, but it doesn't make the news.....
 
That story just made my day! Thanks for posting. I wonder who the captain was.
 

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