Should I take this further?

[SmallIslandLass]

At the weekend we went on a short Cruise we've done this trip many times with and without children
during the safety briefing my youngest dd 2 1/2 made a small amount of noise she was grumpy having to sit in one area but was not overly noisy there were many other drunk and disorderly passengers in our and other safety briefings who made much more noise only my daughter and I however were asked to leave

we missed the safety briefing and as a result would have had no idea how to put on our life vests or what to do in an emergency or where to go after the safety meeting

There were over 100 people in our room who all got to watch as we were told to leave by staff member 1 a few minutes later staff member 2 who is embarrassed and worried looking asked me to stand in the door so I can listen, cant see the deno at this point but everyone in the room can see us it was humiliating
As it ends and everyone is filling out staff member 3 came out and attempted to show me how to put on a life jacket this was in the hallway as everyone from the safety meeting with streaming past less than a foot away from us staring at my daughter and I, commenting and pointing I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me fighting back tears

Now I am very fortunate in that my husband is a Skipper, has his boat masters and that we have done this trip multiple times so I do actually know how to put on mine and my children's life jacket not that the crew will have known this and at no point did she give any other information other than slide the life jacket over your head and bring the clip from behind and between your legs to fasten it I was given no demonstration on how to fit my child's I was given no information on where to turn up and would have been at a complete and utter loss had anything happened

I will point out at this stage that my daughter was born with a cleft palate she is hearing impaired speech impaired and very likely has gdd
I said I felt that this was discrimination and that if I was still able to be heard by my neighbour when I whispered to them she can't have been that loud and that also I was trying to calm her down I wasn't just letting her scream and shout for the hell of it

I made a complaint on board the ship to the receptionist manager I was advised that the staff members have been spoken to and they gave my daughters a teddy each at no point was I spoken to buy an actual person again at no point were the words sorry mentioned they left a phone message stating that the staff member has been spoken to and that they hoped that we enjoyed the rest of the holiday when we got back home I had a bad feeling that they would deal with this on ship and not mention it to the higher ups so I then called the company direct, they have no record of my complaint and the lady I spoke to was absolutely horrified being a mother herself that we had been removed from a safety meeting and were unable to hear the vital information needed it also turns out that they have taken 165 pounds from my account which should not have been taken

I am torn I want to take this further I'm toying with contacting the MCA or even a paper at the moment this was not ok but dont know weather I'm just over emotional or if it's a rational step?
My husband would be fired on the spot if he had done the same on his boat

Do not contact a paper. Your child will be searchable for life with a sad daily mail face.

IMO exposing your children to this in the media is a form of child abuse and shouldn't be allowed

Staff saw/heard a nosy child and got them out if the way so they could concentrate on giving out instructions.

They are not to know if your child has any problems.

I think you’ve let your embarrassment at being ushered out cloud your judgement.

How was it discrimination? One of you could have remained at the briefing and a staff member took time to give you the information you had missed. The issue with the money is entirely separate.

Where is the discrimination? You were disrupting the briefing for others then the staff tried to give you a 1-1

What do you want to achieve from this situation? Do you want a staff member to be sacked? Will you feel better after naming and shaming the company?

I understand that the staff should have made sure that you received the correct and full jnformation but I also think that you have a responsibility to obtain this information for yourself. Yes, perhaps trying to show you in a busy hallway was inapproproate but couldn't you have requested that a staff member show you fully a little later on? It sounds as though you would have been happier if you had not been asked to leave but that many other people trying to listen to the presentation may have missed large chunks of information because of your child. You say that it wasn't that loud but do you consider people who may be a little hard of hearing?

Your daughter was making too much noise and potentially impacting on the other passengers ability to listen to the safety briefing. Accordingly you were asked to step outside. Staff then made an attempt to ensure you knew how to use the life jackets etc. When you kicked up a fuss you were given teddies etc to try and improve the situation.

I'm really not sure what you feel the staff have done wrong here (I am not sure how they could get you to leave the area without it being in front of other people). Your post reads as though you are trying to be quite nasty and vindictive towards people who were just trying to do their job.

Your child making noise could have caused other passengers to miss the safety warnings. You are in the wrong not them.

You start saying she was not making much noise at all, later you refer to her screaming and shouting... Which was it?

I understand you were embarrassed, but she was obviously loud enough for them to feel it was impacting the rest of the group's ability to hear and learn important safety information. They then attempted to show you after....
I don't think they have done anything wrong.
I know it's embarrassing when kids kick off, but most people are understanding and realise it doesn't reflect on you or your child overall.

How is it discrimination do you think they are discriminating against her because of her disabilities? If so added they aware of them?fwiw I have a severely autistic child, who can be disruptive by shouting and yelling etc I have to remove sometimes from situations for the sake of others

Captain I said I wasnt letting her scream and shout not that I did

They were made aware at every stage of her issues they will have known which muster station were were allocated

I class it as discrimination due to them not asking the drunk loud group to leave or be quiet just my SEN child

We cruise alot iv sat through many of those demo's the information given to me by staff member 3 was severely lacking she spoke to me for less than 3 minutes the demo was 20-25 with practical help putting on your life vest and childs explaining which muster point to go to so much more detailed

Iv removed myself from situations before due to dd2s behaviour usually because she cant hear and gets bored, films ect, or its above her level of understanding or just being a typical toddler she was not being so loud that others could not hear

I want the staff members retrained in how to deal with these situations better and an apology nothing else other than the money they shouldn't have taken back

If she had been more obviously disabled in a physical way shed never have been asked to leave

But your child was disrupting an important safety demonstration. The fact your child has additional needs does not mean they can ignore the noise.

Don't go to the papers, you'll end up on Angry People in Local Newspapers.

You've reported it to the company, leave it with them.

I don't understand why this is bothering you so much. I'd forget about it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

What is the point of an apology? They have listened to your complaint, you didn't trust them so you reported it again so it will defo be brought to the attention of the manager now. They gave your child a teddy bear.

Why not put it down to be a lesson learnt and use a different company in the future?

You said if your child was more obviously disabled you wouldn’t have been asked to leave, but also that you were asked to leave and it was discriminatory because your child is disabled? That doesn’t make sense.

They either asked you to leave because of a clear disability (discrimination) or they asked you to leave because your child (whom you know to be disabled but acknowledge that this disability isn’t immediately apparent) is making too much noise (not discrimination).

You've contacted head office so in a way you have already taken it further. I don't think it warrants anything more than that.

What would you hope to achieve by contacting the MCA (is this the Maritime and Coastguard Agency?) or a newspaper?

If there's a specific thing you want to happen to resolve this - e.g. written apology, compensation - ask the company for this, not a third party.

we missed the safety briefing and as a result would have had no idea how to put on our life vests or what to do in an emergency or where to go after the safety meeting

But you said you've done this trip many times?

We missed the safety briefing on the cruise we went on, we must have been given some kinda briefing but for the life of me I can’t remember. You just seem to want to
keep moaning about it?

We cruise alot

that phrase just makes me cringe.

I think you are totally over reacting , just leave it as it is , the complaint to HO was unnecessary without wanting to take it further .