4-month-old baby kicked off Disney cruise ship

A family cruise to the Bahamas was halted after a couple were told their four-month-old baby was too young to be on the ship.

Dave Berg, from Florida, boarded the cruise ship on 30 December with 31 family members. His mother-in-law is battling cancer and the trip was part of her bucket list.

Two days later, Berg's daughter, Jennifer Moak, took her four-month-old baby to the infirmary, where she was treated for seasickness.

A few hours later, the parents were contacted by the doctor's office for a follow-up, but instead of a check-up they were told they would need to get off the ship for safety reason's because of the girl's age.

Disney Cruise Line changed its policy on infant travel last summer. Babies younger than 12 weeks had previously not been allowed on board but, starting from 1 January, the age requirement was increased to six months old.

According the Naples Daily News, passengers who had existing reservations, like the Moaks, were not meant to be affected.

The Moaks say they were put up in a "fleabag motel" where the baby had to sleep in the bed with them.

The baby was checked out at a Bahamian hospital, where staff said she just had a case of wind. The bill for that came to $1,200.

The Moaks said they realised when they got home that they had also been charged gratuities for three nights when they weren't on the ship.

According to Cruise Law News, Moak said: "No one would care if they took us off the ship and we were in complete safety in comparable accommodations and brought home.

"They were deceitful about it. No one can believe that Disney would send a 4-month-old baby off into the dark in a foreign country that they say in their brochures is dangerous."

A Disney spokesman told the Naples Daily News that he could not comment on the case because of medical privacy.

Moak told the paper: "I'm happy that nothing happened that's going to permanently affect my family, but unhappy that Disney feels that they owe us nothing.

"I will never be able to have the experience that I should have had with my family. My grandma and grandpa are both very ill and this was our only trip together, and that makes me very sad."