DUTRAVEL

I love your story about Luke - how lucky he was to have found you! Retrievers are very food motivated and that's what make them good service dogs (Henrietta lives to work for food). Studies have been done on this, and about 80% of successful service dogs are missing all or part of a gene that causes them to feel full. My husband claims he is missing the same gene.

Thank you so much for taking time out of your cruise to post another fantastic review. I do enjoy traveling with you Safe travels home.

Too bad you don't drink Jim - you are going to need a cocktail once you finally get onboard tomorrow! Maybe Iain can help out and drink two for you!

Oh no! I hope it all works out. Being an experienced traveler, I’m sure you will get it all sorted out. Thank goodness the TA isn’t the first cruise.

So happy to be following along for another adventure with you Jim! Henrietta is already excited to hear all about it. Apex will be our ride home on the fall TA. Safe travels on Thursday. Dianne

Love the matching dresses!

Have a great time on your Mommy-Daughter cruise. Looking forward to following your adventures!

In 2018, we took a fully accessible tour with Access Bermuda Disabled Transit- Keith Simmons. He has a wheelchair accessible van (equipped with a ramp that makes it easy to get in and out). (441) 295-9106 or keithsimmons@logic.bm. That was before Covid, so hopefully he is still in business.

Perfect cruise to take Henrietta!

Wi-Fi calling on my iPhone worked fine last month on Royal Princess.

Pre-cruise - I had to call because I wanted to get the Elite discount.

I recently upgraded just myself to the Premium Package (and my husband did not have to upgrade his Classic Package).

I see that you are following Chris' great advice about contacting MSC's special needs department with your specific requirements. If you don't hear back from them, try these Executive contacts: Primary Contact Massimo Bergamaschi Vice President, Contact Center Operations 6750 N. Andrews Avenue Suite 100 Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309 massimo.bergamaschi@msccruisesusa.com Secondary Contact Sarah Doyle CMO Luxury Division Avenue Eugène-Pittard 401206 Geneva, Switzerland sarah.doyle@msccruises.com Albino Di Lorenz Vice President of Operations 6750 N. Andrews Avenue Suite 100 Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309 adilorenzo@msccruises.com Chief Executive Richard Sasso Chairman, MSC Cruises USA 6750 N. Andrews Avenue Suite 100 Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309 richard.sasso@msccruisesusa.com As to your last question, there are US federal regulations that require cruise ships leaving from the United States to allow Service Dogs onboard. The Access Board was working on further regulations that would have covered relief box location etc., but our prior presidential administration halted those regulations via Executive Order 13771 (requiring that for each new federal regulation two current regulations be eliminated). For now, we all have to individually negotiate relief box issues.

The motion in that cabin isn't bad. To book a midship accessible cabin, you would have to book an inside cabin. All Verandas (regardless of class) are forward except the Sky Suites which are aft.

I haven't sailed Carnival so I don't know what their policy is on documentation. As Chris mentioned, there are some places like the Bahamas that require a permit whether or not you are getting off the ship. For peace of mind, I also always get the paperwork needed for each country whether or not we are planning to get off the ship and try to comply with the requirements to the extent possible. Sometimes meeting a requirement is not feasibly possible. For example, for our Panama Canal cruise, Panama required that the health certificate be stamped and signed by a Panamanian diplomatic office (consulate or embassy) in the United States prior to travel. I still had my Vet prepare the Panamanian health certificate, but skipped the Panamanian signature because it was too difficult to obtain. Another country we were going to visit required a particular vaccination that is not required in the United States. In that case, I drafted a letter for my Vet to sign that stated the vaccination was not commonly given in the US and was difficult to obtain. I don’t want to take the chance of being denied boarding, or as Chris said, having an issue with my Service Dog if we had to get off the ship in an emergency situation.

Thank you so much for your review! Excellent as always. I can't even imagine how much time you must take out of your vacation to post your pictures and review (I can barely even take the time anymore to post a picture on Insta).

We have just returned from our first cruise with my Service Dog on Princess (all of our other cruises with her have been on Celebrity). The relief box was located in an accessible inside crew area down the hall from our balcony cabin. Initially the box was too small (about 2 x 4), but they made a bigger box for her and all was well. I would have to say that this was the easiest cruise we have been on with regard to the box location and it was refreshing not to have to spend the entire first day of our cruise at Guest Services. The cruise was round trip from San Francisco to Mexico which was wonderful because we didn't have to fly and the paperwork was so easy. We did have to be up and dressed before 7:00am to have her inspected by the local authorities in Manzanillo and Mazatlan. No inspection was required in Puerto Vallarta or Cabo San Lucas. Overall, we felt very welcome on Princess with my Service Dog.

Glad to hear that Raylene is settling in to her new digs. Hope the other residents get used to having her there - the constant greeting must be exhausting!

I don't use a Celebrity Vacation Planner and so I don't have any recommendations. I have cruised on Celebrity with my Service Dog a number of times. I have found that it is useless to talk to the Access Department ahead of time about box location or filler. They will tell you that it is up to the particular ship's officers. On the "S" class ships, the box is located outside on deck 5 in a crew area down what Chris and I refer to as the wind tunnel. On the Edge Class ships, the box is located in a similar outside location. On all of our cruises, I have been able to have the box moved (because the location is not wheelchair accessible) to either an inside crew area on our floor or on a few occassions to our balcony. You will have to go to Guest Services to get the box moved (and you have to be persistent) and as Chris says some ships are more accomodating than others.

I don’t book my cruise deposit on my AMEX card. When I have had an AMEX bonus applied and then had to cancel, the entire amount has been refunded to the original card (and we don’t lose the AMEX bonus).

I just upgraded one of us this week. Classic members get a 10% discount.

People are not "wheelchair bound" - they are a wheelchair user or person that uses a wheelchair. Please try to avioid using ableist language.

Great pictures as usual Jim! Enjoying your trip along with you!

Mario is the best. We have sailed with him and he is a big fan of Henrietta. Dianne

Walnut Creek would be a better choice than Concord for BART Parking (or Lafayette or Orinda). Vallejo ferry would not be a safe place to park.