Disney Wouldn't Let Her on Ship. 2 Weeks Earlier, It Would Have

She had a doctor's note, but Disney didn't budge. CBS News and the Miami Herald report 22-year-old Emily Jackson of St. Louis and her family of 10 showed up last week in Miami to board the Disney Magic cruise ship, but there was a problem: Jackson is 25 weeks pregnant, and Disney's policy bars women 24 weeks or more from sailing. Even though Jackson's group got onto the ship and on line to check in, her gestational status raised eyebrows with crew members as she filled out paperwork—and she was told she couldn't go on the cruise, a Disney rep says, per KMOV. Jackson says her doctor cleared her to sail, but Disney cites "health and safety reasons" for not allowing women over the 24-week limit and notes on its site that "neither a doctor's medical statement nor a waiver of liability will be accepted." It adds that other cruise lines have similar mandates in place.

Jackson says she's not mad about the policy, but about how she and her family were treated afterward, per the New York Post. She says a security guard with an AR-15 intimidated her family, and that they had to wait outdoors in the sweltering Miami heat while their luggage was retrieved. "They Used GUNS to escort my children and I off," she tweeted Friday, along with a video showing snippets of her family in the aftermath. A Disney rep explains port guards are Miami-Dade cops whose gear happens to include semi-automatic rifles. Jackson said Disney is giving refunds for the cruise, but not for the plane tickets she and her family bought to get there—leading to a "terrible Disney experience," per CBS. She's also experiencing a bit of guilt. "I felt so bad because I felt like it was my fault that everybody couldn't go," she tells KMOV. (A "bloodbath" on a Carnival ship led to ejections.)