HenryKisor

Just make sure the California certificate has a serial number on it.

No questions at Vancouver disembarkation. The questions came at the U.S. border on the way to Seattle. No questions anywhere about the health certificate, except to show the rabies vaxx cert. Vet did not file an email or mail a copy to the Alaska state vet office, but just gave the documents to me. I did give a copy of the Illinois health certificate (which just says the dog has been vaxxed against rabies and is in good health) as well as the 7001 to the ship after we boarded. Possibly the ship's port officer informed Alaskan ports of the documentation, but we hopped off the ship at Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau and Whittier without any official turning up to question us.

Here is what happened. I could not get an answer from HAL headquarters or the third-party rep who was handling HAL passengers at the hotel. So Debby, Trooper and I just arrived at the cruise terminal at 10 a.m. and were immediately directed to the special needs desk, which had us wait in an alcove with a few other gimps and when boarding started at 10:30 we were whisked aboard first. Easy peasy.

Back from a two-week Alaska cruise out of Vancouver with a bus trip afterward to Seattle, where we caught a train back to Chicago. A slight glitch returning through US Customs and Immigration. We had packed individual meals in plastic sandwich baggies for Trooper, and we declared them on the customs form. The agent said we were supposed to bring the original kibble bag with us as well as a sales slip proving we bought the food in the United States. We didn't have those, and the agent said she technically had to confiscate the food, but when my wife pointed out that Trooper was a service dog and had to eat specific food, the agent said she'd let it go this time. Next time we'll again pack the individual meals in baggies, but we'll stuff them all back into the bag and take a sales slip, too.

"Service dog handler" is what people with disabilities who use service dogs call themselves. I'm one of them. Calling HAL is problematic because I'm deaf . . . and asking a hearing person to spend an hour or more on hold to accommodate me is a no-go. I'll just look for the HAL rep at the hotel the night before. I'll also try emailing the guest accessibility people, but having had considerable experience with them, may not get a response in time.

I'm a service dog handler. We're scheduled to board HAL's Nieuw Amsterdam next Sunday in Vancouver. Boarding time for my assigned group is 2 p.m. Ship departs at 4 p.m. That doesn't give us a lot of time to find the location of the pee station or talk to the dining room maitre 'd for a suitable table against a wall for the dog. On previous voyages out of Fort Lauderdale and Montreal, there were special desks in the departure halls for passengers with special needs. We didn't have to wait long and were whisked aboard quickly. I am thinking about the possibility of just showing up at an earlier time and heading for the special needs desk. Or maybe I should try to find a HAL rep at our hotel the night before and ask. What do youse guys think?

We're scheduled to board HAL's Nieuw Amsterdam next Sunday in Vancouver. Boarding time for my assigned group is 2 p.m. Ship departs at 4 p.m. That doesn't give us a lot of time to find the location of the pee station or talk to the dining room maitre 'd for a suitable table against a wall. On previous voyages out of Fort Lauderdale and Montreal, there were special desks in the departure halls for passengers with special needs. We didn't have to wait long and were whisked aboard quickly. I am thinking about the possibility of just showing up at an earlier time and heading for the special needs desk. Or maybe I should try to find a HAL rep at our hotel the night before and ask. What do youse guys think?

I'm heading for Alaska out of Vancouver for a 14-day HAL cruise next week. Checking APHIS brought up the info that for dogs and cats Alaska now requires a 7001 with a certificate number OR a state veterinary health certificate with a stamped number. Most U.S. vets use the downloadable form because they don't have a pad of numbered paper certificates, and the downloadable form has no number, so that isn't valid. My vet filled out the 7001 for the ship and the Illinois health certificate for Alaska. Now we'll see if this is actually being enforced or it's just a bunch of bureaucratic bumf. Massachusetts now requires a 7001, too, but doesn't specify that it carry a certificate number.