Cruising With A Service Dog....everything You Ever Wanted To Know!

[KrystinasMom]

5 hours ago, mmarq1992 said:

Just wanted to say thank you to @Caribbean Chris for your recommendation with bahamaspetpermit.com! I've done the permit in the past by myself, but was having issues getting in touch with the Bahamas and Wellington took all the stress away.

 

We leave next Thursday on the Disney Fantasy & can't wait to wait to be cruising again. This will be Bentley's 4th cruise and he loves cruising as much as I do!

Aww, please post a pic, if you can of Bentley with any of the characters!  Disney was our very first cruise when daughter was 3 yrs old.  She would love to do Disney again (she's 20 now) with her SD but unfortunately my husband does not love all things Disney and won't pay for one!  😫

[mmarq1992]

18 hours ago, KrystinasMom said:

Aww, please post a pic, if you can of Bentley with any of the characters!  Disney was our very first cruise when daughter was 3 yrs old.  She would love to do Disney again (she's 20 now) with her SD but unfortunately my husband does not love all things Disney and won't pay for one!  😫

This is from a past cruise!

[Caribbean Chris]

On 11/3/2021 at 2:20 PM, mmarq1992 said:

Just wanted to say thank you to @Caribbean Chris for your recommendation with bahamaspetpermit.com! I've done the permit in the past by myself, but was having issues getting in touch with the Bahamas and Wellington took all the stress away.

You’re welcome! I’ve used him twice now and it was so simple and well worth the cost. I’m really glad you were happy, too.

[Disneynerdcruising]

Those of you who didn’t use the third party service for the Bahamas pet permit, how long did it take to get a response after faxing the stuff? We leave 12/10 and I faxed everything over on Friday but I’m super nervous 😬😅.
 

i suppose if it becomes crunch time I could reach out to that guy for help? I think his website says he only needs two weeks notice?

 

also random but are we supposed to bring a life jacket for my SD?

[DUTRAVEL]

3 hours ago, Disneynerdcruising said:

Those of you who didn’t use the third party service for the Bahamas pet permit, how long did it take to get a response after faxing the stuff? We leave 12/10 and I faxed everything over on Friday but I’m super nervous 😬😅.
 

i suppose if it becomes crunch time I could reach out to that guy for help? I think his website says he only needs two weeks notice?

 

also random but are we supposed to bring a life jacket for my SD?

I haven't done this since 2018, but it took about a week for them to fax the permit back to me (and you have to be able to receive a legal size (8 1/2" by 14") fax or the bottom of the permit will be cut off). The next time we go to the Bahamas I will definitely be using the third party service; I would not do it on my own again.

 

I bring a life jacket for my Service Dog - the ship will not have any life jackets that will fit a dog.

[Disneynerdcruising]

2 hours ago, DUTRAVEL said:

I haven't done this since 2018, but it took about a week for them to fax the permit back to me (and you have to be able to receive a legal size (8 1/2" by 14") fax or the bottom of the permit will be cut off). The next time we go to the Bahamas I will definitely be using the third party service; I would not do it on my own again.

 

I bring a life jacket for my Service Dog - the ship will not have any life jackets that will fit a dog.

Thank you! I have a life jacket for her so I’ll make sure to bring it. I gave my work fax to them which is an efax so it should be ok for it to not be a normal size paper and then I’ll just make sure I print it on bigger paper. Hopefully it’s true to that timeline or quicker and if I don’t have it by the week after that I’ll probably panic and reach out to the other person as a plan B 😅

[Caribbean Chris]

I agree, the ships sometimes (rarely) produce a dog life jacket but the one they had a couple of years ago remind me of a Halloween costume with lady-bug wings. Cute but not functional. I bring my dog’s Ruffwear life jacket which fits her and has a sturdy handle on the back. It is bulky but doesn’t weigh much in luggage.

[Caribbean Chris]

We disembark tomorrow from the 5-day Bahamas cruise on the beautiful Rotterdam VII and everything has gone very well. Raylene has the honor of being the first dog to sail on her.
 

The ship provided a sturdy square aluminum box full of fresh sod with a “service animal relief station” label, a foot-operated trash can, a Purel  dispenser stand, and stack of seasickness paper bags. It was located on Promenade Deck 3 on the port side forward in a covered public deck area. Ray look to it immediately, always a relief. 
 

I pre-requested a table by a wall in Club Orange (a small private dining room you can arrange for the cruise by booking a Neptune suite or by paying for a reasonable package fee prior to sailing, which we did). The staff there was outstanding and reserved the ideal table for the whole cruise.

 

We asked our steward for a stack of five pool towels after embarking and covered the (white!) sofa completely so Ray could sleep and lounge there without shedding her black fur on it. 
 

The ship has good accessibility features including automatic paired doors out to the promenade deck, midship, with a functional ramp. The doors are the traditional, heavy, antique-style varnished wood Holland America always has - so it’s a nice touch to see them slide open, just like glass & chrome.

 

 

Edited November 9, 2021 by Caribbean Chris

[DUTRAVEL]

7 hours ago, Caribbean Chris said:

We disembark tomorrow from the 5-day Bahamas cruise on the beautiful Rotterdam VII and everything has gone very well. Raylene has the honor of being the first dog to sail on her.
 

The ship provided a sturdy square aluminum box full of fresh sod with a “service animal relief station” label, a foot-operated trash can, a Purel  dispenser stand, and stack of seasickness paper bags. It was located on Promenade Deck 3 on the port side forward in a covered public deck area. Ray look to it immediately, always a relief. 
 

I pre-requested a table by a wall in Club Orange (a small private dining room you can arrange for the cruise by booking a Neptune suite or by paying for a reasonable package fee prior to sailing, which we did). The staff there was outstanding and reserved the ideal table for the whole cruise.

 

We asked our steward for a stack of five pool towels after embarking and covered the (white!) sofa completely so Ray could sleep and lounge there without shedding her black fur on it. 
 

The ship has good accessibility features including automatic paired doors out to the promenade deck, midship, with a functional ramp. The doors are the traditional, heavy, antique-style varnished wood Holland America always has - so it’s a nice touch to see them slide open, just like glass & chrome.

 

That looks like a great set up Chris. Much better than our recent Millennium cruise - tiny 2x2 box and no automatic doors. Impossible for a wheelchair user to get to. We did get those issues addressed, but its tiring to have to deal with relief box issues on the first day of every cruise.

 

Was this the cruise with a port stop at one of the CDC's newly listed high-risk rabies countries?

[Caribbean Chris]

Diane, I agree - on the first day I always brave myself for the worst. Not a fun start. We’ve all seen such crazy relief station stuff including no station at all, or the cruise line people saying they had no advance notice about the dog. This little trip was probably the smoothest overall ever, ironically given the pandemic issues. 
 

No, this trip was not to a high risk Rabies country, only to two places in Bahamas. (I got a second permit for Bahamas just in case but never needed it. So - it’s “in the bank” and good for a year. we’ll probably do another HAL Caribbean cruise later next year since they always stop at their own Half Moon Cay the first or last day.)

 

We go to the Dominican Republic next April which is high risk I think. I’ll just have the vet write on the form “Will not disembark”there.

 

[springredheadsdd]

Thinking about booking a Caribbean cruise with Carnival hopefully by June of 2022 for a sail date of June or September 2023. I will be talking with my parents about it in March. The biggest hold up for my family is the potty box situation. We have been on 4 Carnival cruises previously. This would be the first with my service dog Bella. I did not have a service dog on any of the previous cruises. What are the potty boxes like? Bella does not go to the bathroom on command no matter how much I try. She also  prefers to do her business off leash. I want to get her potty box trained by March of 2022 so we know if cruising is even an option. How do you train it and what do you put in the box (pine pellets, astroturf, etc). I am going to spend a while looking through this thread over the coming year but it is a lot to go through. Thank you 🙂

[KrystinasMom]

On 11/8/2021 at 10:28 AM, Disneynerdcruising said:

Those of you who didn’t use the third party service for the Bahamas pet permit, how long did it take to get a response after faxing the stuff? We leave 12/10 and I faxed everything over on Friday but I’m super nervous 😬😅.
 

i suppose if it becomes crunch time I could reach out to that guy for help? I think his website says he only needs two weeks notice?

 

also random but are we supposed to bring a life jacket for my SD?

You can fax it in??  We were told we could only send via UPS, FedEx or DHL.  We sent it DHL next day and then it was almost 2 weeks when we got the approved permit back via email, along with the form for the Vet to sign.  We got the actual paper permit in the mail the day after we got back from our cruise.  lol  They did check our paperwork before we got onboard at the Port of Galveston to make sure we got the permits but once we got off in the Bahamas no one even batted an eye or we were never asked for any paperwork by the port authorities.  The other service dog onboard had not obtained any port permits so they didn't get off ship in any of the ports.  

We did take a life jacket for MinJee but were pleasantly surprised to find one in our cabin when we got onboard (although it was a bit big even for her).  That was on the Carnival Dream.  Not sure about other cruise lines.  

[KrystinasMom]

On 11/4/2021 at 1:42 PM, mmarq1992 said:

This is from a past cruise!

I LOVE THIS!!!  I love Stitch, which always remind me of our 2 boston terriers with the big eyes and big ears.  LOL

 

[KrystinasMom]

On 11/9/2021 at 2:45 PM, springredheadsdd said:

Thinking about booking a Caribbean cruise with Carnival hopefully by June of 2022 for a sail date of June or September 2023. I will be talking with my parents about it in March. The biggest hold up for my family is the potty box situation. We have been on 4 Carnival cruises previously. This would be the first with my service dog Bella. I did not have a service dog on any of the previous cruises. What are the potty boxes like? Bella does not go to the bathroom on command no matter how much I try. She also  prefers to do her business off leash. I want to get her potty box trained by March of 2022 so we know if cruising is even an option. How do you train it and what do you put in the box (pine pellets, astroturf, etc). I am going to spend a while looking through this thread over the coming year but it is a lot to go through. Thank you 🙂

We just sailed on the Dream the last week of October and MinJee (this was her first cruise) was not box trained either so I was a little worried.  I tried box training beforehand with the pellets Carnival uses but MinJee was not having it.  I asked the cruiseline about bringing pieces of sod onboard with me to alleviate the worry but was told no sod and was only allowed to bring cedar mulch to add on top of the pellets.  She didn't go at all for the first 24 hrs we were on board.  She took to peeing in the box easier than #2.  The one (#2) accident she had in a public space (corridor going to elevators to go down to the box) was witnessed by 2 passengers but they were very understanding and commented to my daughter "sometimes we just have to go when we have to go!".  Daughter cleaned up right away and proceeded down to deck 4 where the box was in the crew area.  We did allow her off leash while in the box area and would have her play running back and forth between my daughter and I to get some of her energy out.  Probably looked kinda funny to passengers that were on the inside along that crew deck because they would just see a random dog running up and down the deck outside.  

We found Carnival to be pretty accommodating as to the location of the box within limits.  At first it was placed all the way forward on deck 4 and we had it moved closer to mid-aft as that's where our cabin was so we would take the mid elevators down 3 floors and straight out the door which was right by her box.  On the first sea day back, I finally got them to put a smaller box on our balcony, which made it easier on my daughter not having to go up and down to get to the box all the time.  

I'm so glad we got our first cruise over with and now know better what to expect on Carnival for our next one.  Whatever you decide, be your own biggest advocate.  If you can do a balcony, advocate for having a box there if that's what you need.  🙂  Please let me know if you have any other Carnival specific questions.  

[KrystinasMom]

Here’s the main (bigger box) on deck 4 and smaller box on balcony for reference. 

[springredheadsdd]

Did your dog ever get sea sick? Bella has been known to get motion sickness from time to time. 

 

Also I  have recently developed some sensory issues that have not been diagnosed yet. I  loved my 4 previous carnival cruises but I didn't have sensory issues or a service dog then. I also don't like to be in large crowds. The more research I am doing and the more I am talking about this with my mom the more I feel like a cruise might just not be for me after all. I  get frequent dizzy spells and have difficulty maneuvering around at time. I remember past cruises the ship had a small rocking/ moving feel. I loved that at that time, but with my medical issues now I think it might not be the best option. 

[Caribbean Chris]

No, my dog hasn’t been seasick but we’ve been on cal seas most of the time.
 

I hope your issues can be resolved. I’ve had dizziness and vertigo but was treated by Dr. Jack Wazen, an expert on the subject where I live - he even wrote a book about it.

[DUTRAVEL]

22 hours ago, springredheadsdd said:

Did your dog ever get sea sick? Bella has been known to get motion sickness from time to time. 

My service dog has not gotten sea sick and we have been in some pretty rough waters on several occasions (one cruise with 70mph winds). My vet has given me the dosage of Bonine appropriate for my service dog, but we have never needed it. You can check with your vet about what sea sickness medicine might be appropriate for your dog.

 

Is there a ferry near you or some other type of boat that you and your dog could go on to test how you might do on the water? We live near the San Francisco Bay and were able to do a test run on a ferry before I took my service dog on her first cruise.

[springredheadsdd]

5 hours ago, DUTRAVEL said:

My service dog has not gotten sea sick and we have been in some pretty rough waters on several occasions (one cruise with 70mph winds). My vet has given me the dosage of Bonine appropriate for my service dog, but we have never needed it. You can check with your vet about what sea sickness medicine might be appropriate for your dog.

 

Is there a ferry near you or some other type of boat that you and your dog could go on to test how you might do on the water? We live near the San Francisco Bay and were able to do a test run on a ferry before I took my service dog on her first cruise.

Galveston Island Texas is about 1 hour from me. My family is now considering going to New York City in May. I know I can do a boat tour there that would be a good way of telling if cruising would work. If we go to NYC in May we should hopefully have plenty of time to book a Caribbean cruise for the following May or September. It would most likely take a couple of months after we get back from NYC to book the cruise. 

[DUTRAVEL]

The CDC has updated the rules on dogs entering the United States from “High Risk” rabies countries. While a permit is no longer needed for dogs that have been vaccinated in the United States, the ports of entry are still limited.

 

From the CDC website:

 

Effective December 1, 2021, dogs vaccinated in the United States by a US-licensed veterinarian may re-enter the United States from a high-risk country without a CDC Dog Import Permit if the dog:

1.     has a valid US-issued rabies vaccination certificate;

2.     has proof of a microchip;

3.     is at least 6 months old;

4.     is healthy upon arrival; and

5.     arrives at an approved port of entry

 

All dogs that have been in a high-risk country in the past 6 months may only enter the United States through an approved port of entry, which includes all 18 airports with a CDC quarantine station: Anchorage (ANC), Atlanta (ATL), Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW), Detroit (DTW), Honolulu (HNL), Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), Minneapolis (MSP), New York (JFK), Newark (EWR), Philadelphia (PHL), San Francisco (SFO), San Juan (SJU), Seattle (SEA), and Washington DC (IAD).

 

Edited November 19, 2021 by DUTRAVEL

[Disneynerdcruising]

Ok so I know a lot of people have had a good experience with the Bahamas Pet Permits third party website and I wanted to share my experience because at the moment it’s the opposite. I will say I applied outside of their service and upon realizing I can’t call internationally on my phone reached out to the service to see if I could hire them to follow up on it for me or if I could apply again through them. They said they would follow up on it for me the next day. So the next day I did not hear anything from them. The day after that I sent an email checking in and received no response, I emailed again about 4 days later and also received no response. About a week  and a half after they said they would follow up I messaged through WhatsApp and they did read it but have yet to respond. At this point I’m fairly certain I’m not going to be able to bring my SD with me despite starting the paperwork about 6 weeks before my trip which I will take the fault for since I booked the cruise very last minute. I would have appreciated more communication from Bahamaspetpermits considering I was wanting to pay them for their assistance and use them in the future but at this time I’ve got nothing. I’m got slight hope that maybe I’ll get the permit in the next two weeks before my trip but I’m really doubting it 😭

[Caribbean Chris]

Six weeks is never enough time to begin the process with the Bahamas unfortunately and you didn’t say whether you sent in for the permit initially by overnight mail. And they are currently short staffed in their office as it says on the Pet Permit website. 

 

You are asking for help outside the scope of the company’s service routine which requires you to send them the documents, a photo of the dog, a copy of the rabies vaccination etc. You get a bill, you pay, then they work on your behalf.  If you want them to get the permit for you, do that tomorrow. 
 

Otherwise, you can fax or email the Bahamas officials and if your phone doesn’t work, maybe your veterinarian should be assisting you. Your vet will will need to provide you with a health certificate anyway for your dog to cruise, and inspect the dog just before you depart to fill out a second Bahamas form required. 

[rpclmc]

I have caught up with the posts since I was last on in January.  Wow, I didn't know I had been MIA for so long.

 

I am finally, mostly, recovered from shattering my knee and ankle back in August, 2019 and having to relearn to walk.  Of course, I had surgery, hardware and cadavar bones.  But then I opted to have the hardware taken out of my ankle in July.  It was causing a lot of problems.  We did make it to our home in Florida March 2020 for 2 weeks.  My husband had a bicep tendon rupture resulting in emergency surgery back in Idaho.

 

I did go on my annual, of course there was the break in 2019 from the "annual", girls cruise in September 2020.  I so wasn't ready for that kind of traveling on my own and it was not enjoyable.  The crew was wonderful, they were so happy to be back.

 

Then my husband, Rich, got me to my home in Florida the beginning of October and Halo and I were here alone until he was able to make it out the 3rd week in November.   Our business landed two jobs in Alaska and he had to be on site for those and hunting in Idaho in October.  We will be in Florida until April and then back to our home in Idaho for the summer.

 

Halo is slowing down and I have applied for a service dog through CCI.  I do have a phone interview with them next Tuesday.  We have move and are in the process of remodeling (complete gut) of a small home on our Idaho property.  Our daughter and her future husband will live in the small house and then when they have kids we will switch houses.  She always said she wanted to raise her kids in the home she was raised in.  I just thought that was something young kids say.  Now that she is an adult, I believed it to be true.  Halo will retire with her.  She, her finance and her dog love Halo, it is so perfect.

 

It is so nice to hear everyone is doing as well as can be expected through this crazy last 2 years.  

 

Linda and Halo

[Algebralovr]

Greetings!  

Scooter is going to be boarded for a couple of weeks while hubby and I spend 2 weeks on a ship.  Things are just so uncertain right now, plus my favorite Celebrity ships have the box in SUCH a difficult spot. That and the Lawn is such an issue for my dog.... grass is meant to be sniffed then marked!  Just ask my dog!

 

Anyone, hope you all are well.  

[Caribbean Chris]

Hope everyone had a good holiday. We have been booked on a January 16, 2022 Hawaii cruise for more than a year (replacing our cancelled 40th anniversary March 2020 cruise at the start of the shutdown). But it was not meant to be.

 

Sadly my brother, who had Alzheimer’s, died Monday after a fall & hip surgery. So we have cancelled the Hawaii cruise and await word on the memorial service (complicated by the blizzards in the DC area where they live, and the numerous flight cancellations.)
 

I booked the itinerary because the first stop was Oahu and I could have the dog inspected there (versus the hassle of another port).
 

The people at the Department of Agriculture Rabies-free Hawaii quarantine division ignored my December 2 fax and follow-up emails. I believe that was  because the state had not approved resumption of large ships until yesterday. Meanwhile the arrival date changed - and the itinerary is still changing, ports deleted.

 

On top of all of this, our friends of 40+ years who were going with us now are in quarantine separately for ten days at sea in Cunard’s Victoria which is currently a quarantine service ship, They were on the Queen Mary2 Christmas cruise which Cunard suddenly terminated early at Barbados due to Covid cases aboard. Jim tested positive when Cunard decided to fly New York-boarding passengers back. 

 

All of this upheaval made it a relief to cancel. The dog wasn’t yet approved, and I couldn’t imagine being quarantined with my ten year old girl, watching her dog food run out. Too much uncertainty.
 

We have a Caribbean cruise in April with the above friends and it’s out of Tampa (no flights to deal with), so will look forward to that. Raylene’s blood Titre expires in June but I don’t think we’ll try for Hawaii a third time.