Disney Cruise: Armed Guard Turns Away Pregnant Saint Louis Mom

ST. LOUIS, MO — A St. Louis woman is sharing her story after being turned away from a Disney cruise ship because she was pregnant. The Jackson family — who have their own YouTube channel dubbed "The Jackson Hive" — traveled to Miami last week for a surprise cruise for themselves and two children, plus their parents and some friends. But, things didn't go as planned.

Disney Cruise Line enforces a policy that women more than 24 weeks pregnant will be refused passage, citing safety concerns. Emily Jackson had just crossed 25 weeks.

After being turned away, the family said they were forced to wait with in the heat with no water while the cruise line retrieved their luggage, which had already been taken aboard the ship. While they were waiting, an armed guard also showed up and — according to the Emily Jackson — tried to intimidate them.

The video of the incident on YouTube currently has more than 177,000 views.

“I’m mad because they made my two babies under 2 wait outside with no water in the heat and get red-faced — the fact that they felt they needed AR-15s to escort us out when they knew we had no weapons because we had been through security," Jackson said in her vlog.

Disney Cruise lines defended themselves, saying they are not responsible for port security, which is typically handled by the TSA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and local police. The heavily-armed officer in the video appears to be with the Miami-Date Police Department. Disney also said their policy banning pregnant women is in line with Carnival and other cruise lines.

Image via YouTube