One of the goals of our site is to be a trusted resource, especially for those with food allergies and disabilities (visible or hidden) so that all can have a safe and enjoyable cruise. To that end, on our cruise last week we struck up a conversation with Andy, the hotel/hospitality director.
We really appreciated that the many officers (of many departments) regularly made a point to be in the atrium before and after the first dinner seating. This seems to happen most on longer sailings. Daniel, being the gregarious and extrovert he is, engages each in brief conversation while I stand by smiling and occasionally chiming in. (Since I'm the introvert of the relationship.) Of all our sailings, we have had fascinating and wonderful discussions with many officers and gained a lot of information. (For example, you should go down to medical just to say hi - even if you never NEED to visit medical.)
As this is our second sailing since really trying to build this site, we came a bit more prepared. (But not as prepared as we thought.) We have many anecdotes that prompted our questions, but struggled with who to ask them to and in what forum. Andy ended up being the one to offer to meet us for coffee and chat. It took us a few days to get our thoughts into a coherent and concise questions - 19 of them! But we were able to get them to Andy, to have shoreside review and respond.
The first thing that was taken from our questions was that there is an aspect of ADA (American with Disabilities Act) which DCL provides information here. I strongly urge anyone with a disability covered by the ADA to review it, as it may prompt you to have additional questions, but hopefully it also answers some for you! We can also speak from experience how if one has a temporary disability - such as a badly sprained ankle, what options one has. (More information about ADA and public spaces can be found here.)
The second thing that was taken from our questions was a PDF that appears to only be accessible on the ship network: https://cdn1.parksmedia.wdprapps.disney.com/vision-dam/digital/parks-platform/parks-global-assets/disney-cruise-line/guest-services/accessibility/DCL_Information-Guide-for-Guests-with-Disabilities_medical_Conditions-Jan-2026.pdf
I did look at the PDF while chatting with Andy, but didn't think to download it at the time. Perhaps someone at DCL could email us a copy or post it publically for us to link to.
In the end, we and Andy all realized that Andy is not the best person to answer the questions. But we still had a lovely 45 minute chat with him and I am eternally grateful for his time and his assistance. To that end, a member of guest services with the shore side team will be reaching out to start a conversation. I am incredibly grateful that I am hopefully kicking off a review and new processes that may find a better experience for all cruisers.
One thing to keep in mind is that, despite regular dry docks for updates, some things on existing ships probably will not change - like the ensuite split bathrooms, public restrooms, and theater seats. But, there may be consideration for future ships that are not already in the building process. One thing that Andy reminded us is that Disney is very methodical and thinks through all things, which will result in changes being very slow in coming. It reminds me of the legal department at my day job - while a customer wants to know what we are doing about a new state tax, the legal team has to review what potential it has for impacting other jurisdictions in the near future so that instead of a change for one jurisdiction, there is scalability when other jurisdictions add the same or similar changes over time. Fun fact - there are over 7,000 payroll tax jurisdictions within the US!
I'll post the 19 questions with our anecdotes in a separate post. 😉
Edited on August 18, 2026 to provide an update. No one from shoreside (or any area code from FL) since this cruise.