Pool Safety OnBoard - a different observation

[sweetpee_1993]

Rather than resurrect the last thread about pool safety onboard the ships I thought I'd start another thread to report something Tracey & I noticed on our recent Fantasy Western cruise.

I'm sure many of you recall the unfortunate event in the Fantasy Donald pool in the spring that left a small child fighting for his life. At that time there was a lot of opinions and speculation over the safety of the family pools in particular on the newer ships because they get so chaotic and crowded frequently during the day. No lifeguards are on-duty. Swim at your own risk is clearly posted.

Every day of our recent cruise particularly when the family pools were busiest we observed an officer standing at each pool's edge scanning the pools continually. We observed the switching-off of these uniformed officers at least once. The pools are being watched closely by a physical presence. We saw a white-uniformed officer vs. a typically-clad lifeguard. This, plus we took the time to look for all the security cameras that scan the entire family pool deck. There are a lot of them!

Soooooo, just wanted to share that it seems DCL is listening to the concerns of their guests and things are, at least for now, changing even a little.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

Positive to hear and I hope it's not the sort of thing that they do to make things look good after a horrible event and let it slowly fade away.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

That is really good to hear, Kelly.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Positive to hear and I hope it's not the sort of thing that they do to make things look good after a horrible event and let it slowly fade away.

With the little I've read about WDW closing pools at night at the resorts I think the events both on the ship and at the resort have opened eyes to an area that needed to be addressed. If positive change comes from terrible, tragic situations then at the very least they were not in vain. I'm hoping all these little steps will keep safety paramount as it should be.

That is really good to hear, Kelly.

We were kind of surprised by it, actually. It was a few days in before we caught onto the consistancy of the officers out there. The first time we saw them we didn't think anything of it. Figured they were looking for someone or maybe a child was reported lost or something. But we saw them all the time, each time we passed to access the drink stations on-deck. It didn't take long to note a new pattern we'd not noticed on previous cruises. It was refreshing to see that Disney isn't afraid to be proactive and continually seek to make improvements. That's not a bad thing!

 

[ExtinctJenn]

With the little I've read about WDW closing pools at night at the resorts I think the events both on the ship and at the resort have opened eyes to an area that needed to be addressed. If positive change comes from terrible, tragic situations then at the very least they were not in vain. I'm hoping all these little steps will keep safety paramount as it should be.

Agreed. I just hope it's not positive change that they undo due to budget cuts (or something along those lines) 10 years down the road y'know? That's always one of my biggest pet peeves. A tragic horrific thing happens and everyone jumps to help out and comes up with great ways to prevent it from happening again but time makes folks complacent and it becomes less of a priority. Here's hoping!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We were kind of surprised by it, actually. It was a few days in before we caught onto the consistancy of the officers out there. The first time we saw them we didn't think anything of it. Figured they were looking for someone or maybe a child was reported lost or something. But we saw them all the time, each time we passed to access the drink stations on-deck. It didn't take long to note a new pattern we'd not noticed on previous cruises. It was refreshing to see that Disney isn't afraid to be proactive and continually seek to make improvements. That's not a bad thing!

Definitely not!