They took my Phantom 2 boarding a Disney Cruise

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On Spring Break a week ago, I was taking my P2 with me on our Bahamas cruise. The guy scanning it at the port pulled it and told another official it was a drone. They said it would be kept there until I returned. I did not put up a fight as my wife and kids were with me and just wanted to board. To their credit, it was stored and returned to me exactly as I left it. I was bummed not getting the beautiful footage I was after though.

I did fly with it through the Atlanta and Orlando airports with no problems. They pulled it in Atlanta southbound and swabbed it, but nothing was said about it.
 
Bummer man, it's tough because it is legal, but you put a fight and ruin family cruise. Stinks. But I'm sure you had a great time anyway!
 
Exactly, last thing I wanted was to cause a scene on a family trip even though I probably could have.
It was someone with Port Authority, they were very polite about it and acted like they had done it many times before, I find that hard to believe though. We departed Port Canaveral.

I will vouch for the Go Professional case with wheels I have. It's pricy, but performed like a champ.
 
That sucks. I'm headed for family cruise out of Ft Lauderdale and was considering taking it. I asked in another thread what peoples experiences are with cruises. Hopefully they aren't all like this. With the explosive growth of phantoms, seems like they would come up with a standard set of rules.
 
Agreed with the rules being made more clear.
After flying down with it, I never really considered it being flagged and taken at port. I would have been 100% responsible with it, but we know not everyone would be.
 
JRock said:
On Spring Break a week ago, I was taking my P2 with me on our Bahamas cruise. The guy scanning it at the port pulled it and told another official it was a drone. They said it would be kept there until I returned. I did not put up a fight as my wife and kids were with me and just wanted to board. To their credit, it was stored and returned to me exactly as I left it. I was bummed not getting the beautiful footage I was after though.

I did fly with it through the Atlanta and Orlando airports with no problems. They pulled it in Atlanta southbound and swabbed it, but nothing was said about it.

Did you bring it on as a carry on? I haven't found anything on any of the cruise lines that state you can't bring it on. But then again the cruise lines make up their own rules. Port C is crazy, we had a one day stop on NCL there last year out of NYC. I tried to take a picture of the ship at the pier when we were boarding at the end of the day. Three guys went ape **** like I had a missile launcher. They started screaming at me....no pictures, no pictures. Then they came running over I thought they were going to take my camera. The one guy explained it was a high safety zone, no photos of anything allowed :roll:
 
Were these "Port Authority" officials TSA or Homeland Security? Sounds really weird. If it was actually Disney personnel I would contact them and throw a fit. I'd make them cite the law the says you can't take a drone to the Bahamas. If they can't cite the law I'd demand compensation.

I'm somewhat familiar with TSA procedures and they would NEVER "hold something prohibited until your return".
 
freyjoel said:
Were these "Port Authority" officials TSA or Homeland Security? Sounds really weird. If it was actually Disney personnel I would contact them and throw a fit. I'd make them cite the law the says you can't take a drone to the Bahamas. If they can't cite the law I'd demand compensation.

I'm guessing, but Disney probably has some small print buried somewhere in the cruise ticket contract that states something to the effect of "We can stop you from bringing anything on board that we feel may present a safety risk to passengers, at our discretion." Not that it's a factor here, but they might have had more of a legal basis to prevent carrying it onboard (if they wanted to).
 
It was clearly the cruise ship. Anything that can present even a remote danger to other passengers will be quickly shut down ASAP. They not going to give you or anyone else the benefit of the doubt. And it doesn't matter if it is legal to do somewhere else. Their boat, their rules.
 
If it was Disney personnel (which seems most likely) I'd still pitch a fit. I'd call Disney customer service and put the burden on them of citing where in their contract of carriage it is prohibited. Obviously they can prohibit whatever they want to but lack of citing "drones" as a prohibited item may more likely get you some type of compensation. It's not uncommon for Disney to hand out compensation in certain circumstances.

I've gotten credits ranging from $500 to $2000 from other travel operators when things went awry. Can't hurt to try.
 
If it was a helicopter 10 years ago, it still wouldn't be allowed at any Disney property. Try this for an experiment, go to any Disney location and try to fire up your Phantom. It'll be about 3 milliseconds before 3 smiling but assertive cast members materialize out of thin air and very politely ask you to stop. They don't mess around with anything that will put guests at risk. You can call them up and demand money but you really should be asking yourself which side of reality you are on.
 
Not sure copyright has anything to do with it. Couldn't you take pictures or video of anything you want on the ship with any camera? What would be the difference if it's on a copter? Seems like its definitely a safety issue which I understand. I'm hoping I can take it on the cruise we have planned, but I'll understand if they won't allow it.
 
ianwood said:
If it was a helicopter 10 years ago, it still wouldn't be allowed at any Disney property. Try this for an experiment, go to any Disney location and try to fire up your Phantom. It'll be about 3 milliseconds before 3 smiling but assertive cast members materialize out of thin air and very politely ask you to stop. They don't mess around with anything that will put guests at risk. You can call them up and demand money but you really should be asking yourself which side of reality you are on.
This is why the next time in am in SoCal, I will be launching my P2 from across the street from the Tragic Kingdom and flying over it :)
 
zoochase said:
This is why the next time in am in SoCal, I will be launching my P2 from across the street from the Tragic Kingdom and flying over it :)

Pretty sure there is a security TFR pretty much permanently in place around the park so yeah, I wouldn't do that.
 
If I was checking into a Disney hotel and they told me I can't enter (with no prior notice) Disney property because I have a UAV in my suitcase, I would not turn over my uav. I would not stay there and demand all deposit monies back. Having a uav in your suitcase while boarding a ship or checking into a hotel does not mean I intend to fly it on said ship or hotel property. Disney ships travel to non-Disney ports also where he has a legitimate "non-Disney" place to fly. Using the excuse "it may hurt someone" is silly. The cutlery in the dining rooms "could hurt someone also". I plan to travel extensively with my uav. Any hotel that makes up an "on-the-spot" rule about having a uav in my suitcase will lose my business and will not get to keep deposit money I assure you of that.

You would be surprised at the compensation that tour operators often hand out for "misunderstandings and inconveniences". If you are too timid to seek it, then don't. My friends and family have been shocked how at the end of a trip on more than one occasion I have walked away with a sizable chunk of cash for less significant things.
 

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