A Missing Kid Story

[lizabu]

I was curious to learn more about this story so I Googled it and found the Fathers original blog post

http://www.brentcsutoras.com/2013/03/06/disney-cruise-lost-child-destroyed-vacation-lost-confidence/

Based on what he writes his son never left the club and was never in any danger. He panicked and IMO that's why his trip was less than stellar. I don't think Disney owes this man anything. His son was in the club where he was supposed to be the whole time.

 

[justmestace]

Now Stacy.........why would the blog not challenge the statement and print it loud and clear, if it was not true?


You may also note I was questioning why the child was not found during the first search by the Father and CM's, whose job it was to keep track of the child.....that doesnt really put DCL in a good light.


I also question why the family name was not included ..... and that this in somthing like 2 months ago.





AKK

How could the blog have challenged Disney's statement? I'm just saying that OF COURSE this is what Disney would say.

If I were missing a child, he wouldn't have been found later in the Club I'd searched up and down. I can't imagine "missing" or not seeing my kid if he was there the whole time.

 

[KappaSigHero]

How could the blog have challenged Disney's statement? I'm just saying that OF COURSE this is what Disney would say.

If I were missing a child, he wouldn't have been found later in the Club I'd searched up and down. I can't imagine "missing" or not seeing my kid if he was there the whole time.

OF COURSE Disney would confirm what the father says in his blog.

 

[mom2aidanNpiper]

Regarding the wrist bands, my DD got lost on the Wonder when she was five. It was very clear it was not a GPS locater for the whole ship, but could tell you if your child was scanned into the club/lab.

When our DD got lost (she booked and ran up stairs instead of down when our backs were turned), it took maybe 10-15 min to find her. I went to the clubs first,.where she hasn't gone in, they put out a call on walkies and a CM helped me look for her. Luckily a maintenance CM found her and under DCL protocol took her to the clubs where they got ahold of me.

Back to the article though, there obviously was a glitch though if it said the child wasn't checked in and they were?

 

[KappaSigHero]

Regarding the wrist bands, my DD got lost on the Wonder when she was five. It was very clear it was not a GPS locater for the whole ship, but could tell you if your could was scanned into the club/lab.

When our DD got lost (she booked and ran up stairs instead of down when our backs were turned), it took maybe 10-15 min to find her. I went to the clubs first,.where she hasn't gone in, they put out a call on walkies and a CM helped me look for her. Luckily a maintenance CM found her and under DCL protocol took her to the clubs where they got ahold of me.

Back to the article though, there obviously was a glitch though if it said the child wasn't checked in and they were?

Agreed that the glitch in the system is an issue that needs to be addressed.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

How could the blog have challenged Disney's statement? I'm just saying that OF COURSE this is what Disney would say.

If I were missing a child, he wouldn't have been found later in the Club I'd searched up and down. I can't imagine "missing" or not seeing my kid if he was there the whole time.

All they had to do was ask the Father where the child was found and say so..........


and that is why I am questioning the Father and CM's did not find the child the first search...................it seems a little strange.


AKK

 

[Lisavince3]

My DD10 actually got separated from us on the first night on the Dream. We saw Golden Mickeys and said we were going to take the stairs to deck 5 and go to the kids club. Tons of people were walking up the stairs, my dd10 was going up quickly, and I was holding the hand of my DD4 who walks rather slowly. I figured it was no big deal because she knew where we were going. I get to deck 5, look all around, and can't find her. I walk down to the kids club, assuming she just walked ahead, she isn't there. I asked if they could track her via her wristband and they said no, it is only to provide info on if they are in the club-side or lab-side.

I panicked. Since it was the first night, she did not know her way around very well and it isn't like her to wander off. The ship was moving, so the CM jokingly said, "at least we know she is on the ship!" That really did not do much to ease my mind as I'm picturing some stranger pulling her into his stateroom (I watch too many crime-dramas on tv, I know).

Thankfully my 3DDs had the same outfits on so the CM quickly made a call via the intercom with her description and clothing details. The CMs were actually very nice and assured me they'd find her. My DH was up at a tasting, and we didn't have our wave phones with us, so I quickly checked my younger dds in the the club so I could search for her myself much faster. I thought to go up to our stateroom, even though i couldn't imagine why she would go there since she knew we were heading to the lab (and didnt have a room key). But she was there, standing outside our door crying. She said she thought we were going to the kids club but when I said we were taking the stairs to Deck 5, she thought I said we were going up 5 decks (we were on Deck 3, so she thought we must have been going to our room on Deck 8). Anyway, as we walked back to the lab, about 5 CMs stopped me and said, "you found her!" So they recognized that she was the missing girl based on the description. The one CM was in our hallway on his way to check our stateroom.

I know she is much older than the other little one who was missing, but it was very scary. With our situation, I felt as if DCL did a good job getting the word out. Even days afterwards, some CMs came up to her and joked, "you're not going to get lost again, right?" I am thinking her picture must have come up with the missing person announcement because I couldn't imagine how they would all recognize her days later based solely on the description 10 y.o. girl, long brown hair...

 

[Barkell]

All they had to do was ask the Father where the child was found and say so..........


and that is why I am questioning the Father and CM's did not find the child the first search...................it seems a little strange.


AKK

According to the father's blog (linked in a previous post):

I went inside and they told me that my son had crawled into a ‘tunnel’ of stacked chairs and fell asleep, not to be found until 45 minutes later.

I have a 3 year old. They can put themselves into places you'd never think that they could, or that you'd never think to look. I'm not at all surprised that the father and the CM could not find the kid underneath stacked chairs after a quick search. If the father had not gone off on a wild goose chase all over the ship and the mother had not become useless/inconsolable, the kid would have probably been found sooner. I'm glad he was OK.

The concerning part for me is the wristband. When we sail in May, I'll be sure to have the CM check my child's wristband before leaving the club. And remind my child to have a CM call me if she wants to take a nap.

 

[KappaSigHero]

After reading Dad's blog, it's pretty clear that the Consumerist copied and pasted from the blog itself (there's a typo that the two share). Why would the writer choose to leave out vital information such as where the child was found?

 

[JKMJ441724]

.

 

[Lisavince3]

Yes, the wristband tells where they are IN the club/lab. Every time we picked up our DDs they would tell us something like, "XX is in the lab, and the other two are in the club."

 

[KappaSigHero]

That seems to be something that's not clear even with most online accounts- many people assume that it's a GPS- can anyone confirm exactly what the bracelet does? I can see it knowing which club your kid is in if they scan upon entry exit, but a transmitter of exact location throughout a ship doesn't sound feasible to me.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I have a 3 year old. They can put themselves into places you'd never think that they could, or that you'd never think to look. I'm not at all surprised that the father and the CM could not find the kid underneath stacked chairs


OK.now that explains why they didnt find him and shows the blog for what it is, a cheap, rip off, poorly written and leaving out information to make it more dramatic!

Green Tea......now you may understand why I was questioning the blog.


The system did work the child never left the club. The parents did have a scare.......but the child was never in danger.



Yes this could happen on any line. The fact that this was DCL, is most likely the only reason the blogger even bothered writing about it! Other lines would not have been so dramatic to write about, but the Dinsey name, bring in readers.

It also seems to explain the Fathers intense interest in what he would get out of this in compensation.


AKK

 

[zippingalong]

Reminds me of my August cruse on the Dream.

I was sitting in the concierge lounge one morning waiting for my family to go to breakfast.

A woman came into the lounge looking for "Bobby"..Apparently he'd been sent to the lounge, by himself, to wait while his parents dressed. (I'd seen the family in the lounge several times and he looked about 5) Anyway, Bobby was not in the lounge as planned. Concierge was on the phone making calls to guest services and security etc. Mom, never left the lounge, just kept yelling to "Track him on the GPS!"

Concierge explained to Mom that it wasn't a GPS tracker..and kept on the phone. It was quite a bit of commotion.

Then, mom's wave phone rang. Mom said, "We found him. I'm out of here!" and walked out the door. No, "Thank you for helping", to the CM. Nothing. She was a horribly rude woman (we'd been treated to her and her family more than once on this trip).

The very next morning, Bobby was in the lounge unattended again.

 

[Lisavince3]

It doesn't work throughout the ship, solely in the club/lab. On the Dream/Fantasy, you can check them into the club or the lab and the kids can freely roam between the two areas. I couldn't see the computer that well, but it seemed as if there was an outline of the two areas on the screen and a little dot that showed where their transponder was.

 

[Zeppelin]

Well, first, the dad's wrong, the bands don't tell you where on the ship or even in the clubs a child is, they only tell you if the child has been checked into the club or not, there's no GPS chip in the band at all.

Second, what's missing from this story is where the child found? Probably right there in the kid's club since he couldn't be checked out by anyone else, either that, or he was checked out by someone who had the right password and marked as a person who could check in/out and there was a huge misscommunication on the part of his party.

Disney has never offered refunds on cruises unless it's a major act of God and the cruise can't sail at all, even then they usually only offer to reschedule, so I'm not surprised he didn't get a refund, they did try and offer a couple of passes to the parks, so it's not like they ignored him, honestly, he panicked, didn't understand their lost child process, and wanted the world.

I agree with this especially when you read the part

Luckily, there was no need for that, as a friend flagged Brent down to tell him the boy had been found and was unharmed. Crisis over, but there were still too many questions for Brent and his wife:

makes you think the friend had access or the child saw the friend and left with him....btw- could you imagine the panic if they made a ship wide announcement about a child missing???

 

[Weedy]

My son got lost on Castaway Cay when he was 7 years old. Yes it was scary, but Disney did a great job. I told one of the life guards he was missing, they quickly got a description and began calling his name over their megaphones. He heard his name being called and asked the lifeguard if they were looking for him. He was out on the dock with the slides and the ropes climb I guess that what happens when your kids are good swimmers. He also thought he had permission to go out there. We were much better after that about being sure to communicate with both kids and adults about where you are going.

 

[lbgraves]

Reading the father's account makes me question even more...and not because it happened on DCL. First of all, the father "specializes in social media marketing, content marketing, and viral content creation." Next, he tells of how HE ignored his wife twice during this time -- which as a mom would make me react more than CMs going about doing their job to try and help find my kid. He says "My wife had shown up by this time and was understandably distraught but there was no time for me to console her." The next time he sees her he says "One look at the terror on my wifes face and the pleading look in her eyes told me he was still missing. I shook my head and she began to sob, calling out for help. I will never forget that moment. I was forced to turn my back on her and head the other way to continue the search for our son." Honestly, if my kid was missing I would rather have people looking for them rather than consoling me. You have to hold it together and keep your head so that you can answer questions until they are found. The only question I would have is why the band malfunctioned. He said he had looked all over in places kids could hide with the CMs, so he also overlooked his own child during the search. Also, at no time during the entire day did ANY kid want to go between the club and lab? I find that difficult to believe also.

 

[lbgraves]

...the kids can freely roam between the two areas. ...

This is the case on the Dream & Fantasy, but not the Wonder & Magic. The club and lab are across the atrium opening from each other and CMs have to take kids who can't sign themselves in/out from one area to the other.

 

[Lisavince3]

Thank you, lbgraves. I should have specified that. I've changed my pp.