Pet Friendly Cruises

[hdavidson]

Well in doing last minute planning for our April cruise, we have come across something we didn't plan on... we have "rescued a dog", we had no plans for this as we had lost ours 2 years ago.

 

Now, I think a line should come out with pet friendly cruises. Not that the pet would stay with you in your room, but maybe a boarding facility on the boat where you could come visit, feed, walk, and play with the part of the family..... I would even be willing to pay a "fare" for this pleasure.

 

Call me nuts

[CruisnGram]

Here ya go.

 

http://www.cruiseshipssite.com/pet-friendly-cruise-ships-84.html

 

CG

[cusyl]

Well in doing last minute planning for our April cruise, we have come across something we didn't plan on... we have "rescued a dog", we had no plans for this as we had lost ours 2 years ago.

 

Now, I think a line should come out with pet friendly cruises. Not that the pet would stay with you in your room, but maybe a boarding facility on the boat where you could come visit, feed, walk, and play with the part of the family..... I would even be willing to pay a "fare" for this pleasure.

 

Call me nuts

Take a transatlantic on the QM2 and you can board your pet in their kennels. :)

[luddite]

Call me nuts

 

 

Deal.

[AdoptAtty]

I guess I don't get it, that is a bit odd to me. You'd have to travel with your pet to the port, which is probably NO fun for the pet... then you have to put them in a kennel on a ship. How about a nice land based kennel? I realize you love your pet and want it to have a good place to stay... but this just seems strange. I certainly don't want to have to hear dogs barking while I try to sleep. I have had a few distant neighbors that seem to like to let their dogs out late at night and just allow them to stay out there and bark and bark and bark. That seems so rude to me. How would you stop the dogs from barking?

[KULPN]

You are nuts. I love my pets too. I hire a pet sitter who comes to my house twice a day to let them out, feed them, exercise them. That way they are in their own environment. I think my pets would be scared to death on a ship, in some kind of kennel with lots of strange noises & motion. My pets are my kids but I don't think I want them on a cruise ship, crated up. I also don't want to be in a cabin that has previously had a dog pee & poop & leave their dander all over. IMHO only.

[punkmuse]

i think Cunard is the only cruiseline that allows pets on. (Queen Mary??)

 

if at all possible look into boarding your dog on land or hiring a pet sitter.

 

we have a 3 year old rescue mutt with all sorts of behavior problems. he is SUPER reactive to other dogs and sometimes people and he just regressed really bad over the winter since the weather here was so bad and we werent able to walk him as much.

 

so we couldnt board him at a "normal" kennel or hire a pet sitter or even have my mom walk him (she was taking care of our guinea pigs) he pulls reallly hard on the leash and freaks out when he sees another dog or person.

 

in the end the trainer we go to recommended a boarding facility and the people there had no problem dealing with reactivity issues and i trusted them.

 

was it fun for him to be in a kennel for 10 days??? probably not. but he had been in the pound for 6 months and prior to that a stray so he dealt.

when we picked him up you have never seen a happier pup to see mommy and daddy! :D

 

good luck! i dont think its crazy to care about what happens to your pets when you are gone at all. they are a part of the family.

for me they are my fur kids :)

[punkmuse]

interesting link CruisinGram. because i am such an animal person this quote piqued my interest:

 

The second is in regards to the legalities that arise in allowing animals to enter the ports at which a cruise ship docks.

 

now i know that there are a million rules about transporting animals from country to country and quarantines, etc but the animals stay on the ship so does that count?

 

the other thing is in theory if your pet had some sort of disease or bug or whatever on it in theory it could be transported into the country on the human.

you go to pet your dog before you leave and you get kennel cough germs or fleas on you and then you leave the ship.

hmmm...

 

im totally rambling but i just thought that link was interesting. theres absolutely no way i could ever travel with the dog we have now he would either eat everyone or have a heart attack

[mickeysgal]

Isn't there quarantine issues here?

[punkmuse]

i dont think the pets are allowed off the ship. its basically like a kennel but on the boat.

 

but yeah, i dunno, sounds like all sorts of legal issues but Cunard does it. wonder what kind of deal they have/

[uppitycats]

I have four cats who would HATE the thought of travelling anywhere, much less on a cruise ship! I can't imagine any animal that would like it, unless somehow they were allowed in cabins with their owners, maybe.

 

I hire someone to tend to my furbabies twice a day while I'm gone. Sometimes it's cost me more to have them cared for than I spent on my vacation, but it is always worth it to leave them here at home, in their own safe environment, while we're gone.

[S&Dcruising]

Yes you are NUTS alright! :eek: :D

 

 

hey you asked for it :D

[JamesIlsley]

I understand the feeling of the original poster...

 

The hardest part about cruising for us is finding someone to watch our two pugs.

 

They are bred to be like people and would freak out if they just had a two visit pet sitter come over.

 

Last cruise they stayed with a friend at her house and it did not go well. They "marked" her whole house.

 

They are great at home, so this time we hired a person to come live in the house. (The hard part is finding someone to live in your house and let two dogs sleep in bed with them)

 

The dog sitter was more expensive than the cruise.

[mooline]

I understand the feeling of the original poster...

 

The hardest part about cruising for us is finding someone to watch our two pugs.

The dog sitter was more expensive than the cruise.

 

Ha Ha!!! it must be the Pug breed! My daughter has a Pug (thus he is my Granddog) and we really are unhappy about leaving him when he all head to Alaska in June (she leaves nearby, so he spends a lot of time with us..can you tell we do not have grandkids yet? :D)

 

We talked (jokingly) about how great it would be if we could bring him...understanding that he now has middle-age spread and is nearly 30 lbs (so no more under-seat airline trips for him....) I never thought about how he would freak out from the motion of the ship (and he absolutely would)...bad, bad idea to even think about bringing him!

 

In any case, he goes to a GREAT facility when we all travel, so he really will be much better off. It is a doggie day care that takes a small number of pets for extended periods. The "overnighters" go home with the day care owner (in her specially equipped van with little seat belts...) He plays all day (to exhaustion) with the day care dogs, then I imagine that he just curls up at night. No cages, anywhere and quite the "systems" to keep the big dogs away from the little dogs, and to isolate each while he or she is eating. Usually he is quite happy to see us when we return, but not especially happy to leave his "friends", since he is an "only child."

 

Maybe you can look around for a doggie day care (there are so many of them lately...) that might have a similar "unpublished" arrangement. With the economy as it is, some regular users of doggie day care might be cutting back and the facility owners might welcome your inquiry! The place that we use is not all that expensive; it's comparable to regular cage-type kennels.

 

Caution, though...we had to have a 1/2 day "interview" before he was accepted to the "program" - they had to be sure he would "fit in". (I am not making any of this up.) WE were NOT allowed to stay - just him. He passed the test with flying colors! :)

 

Best of luck!

[DMH15]

I had my 14 day cruise booked before I rescued my dog, Lexie. Luckily, here in Dallas we have Dee's Doggie Den. Lexie plays all day and then she goes to her suite for the night. I just go to the internet cafe on the ship and look at Lexie through the webcams. I can see her playing or sleeping. She sometimes plays there on Saturdays so she knows them and the know her. I am so blessed to have this solution. I joked about wishing she could cruise with me but I think she is happier this way. A good friend went by and visited her four times too! That was great.

[bullydogsmama]

We too, have a "rescue dog" a darling english bulldog. BUT she too has her own "issues" and others who have rescue dogs know what I mean. We have been blessed to have found a wonderful dog sitter who Lucy goes and stays with when we travel.

 

Do some searching in your area, go to the dog park ask other dog owners what they do, I bet you can find someone that fits your dogs needs. I know I rest at night knowing that my fur baby is with someone who really does care about her.

[Azure Moon]

The following is a clickable link that will bring up many past threads about animals, cruising, and what many of the website members do with their beloved fur-kids when going away.

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/search.php?searchid=12731552

 

I dearly love my dog, but wouldn't want to take her on a cruise.

[JamesIlsley]

Ha Ha!!! it must be the Pug breed!

In any case, he goes to a GREAT facility when we all travel, so he really will be much better off. It is a doggie day care that takes a small number of pets for extended periods. The "overnighters" go home with the day care owner (in her specially equipped van with little seat belts...) He plays all day (to exhaustion) with the day care dogs, then I imagine that he just curls up at night. No cages, anywhere and quite the "systems" to keep the big dogs away from the little dogs, and to isolate each while he or she is eating. Usually he is quite happy to see us when we return, but not especially happy to leave his "friends", since he is an "only child."

 

Maybe you can look around for a doggie day care (there are so many of them lately...) that might have a similar "unpublished" arrangement. With the economy as it is, some regular users of doggie day care might be cutting back and the facility owners might welcome your inquiry! The place that we use is not all that expensive; it's comparable to regular cage-type kennels.

 

Caution, though...we had to have a 1/2 day "interview" before he was accepted to the "program" - they had to be sure he would "fit in". (I am not making any of this up.) WE were NOT allowed to stay - just him. He passed the test with flying colors! :)

 

Best of luck!

 

We found only one good day care place. They play all day and would leave them in rooms for the night. I would be fine with that since after all day play would make them sleepy pugs! Only problem - it would be $80 a day for the two of them. For our trip that would be $800! I would much rather pay someone to just come over and stay with them!

[NoPiratesPlease]

We've been dog people for many years--just got a Belgian Sheepdog two days ago. But dogs don't belong on cruise ships unless they are service dogs and even THEN it's rough on them.

 

The Cunard Queens have kennels, but I think that's an anachronism of the days when liners were how you got from one side of the ocean to the other.

 

My understanding is that UK standard for pets' health is SO tough that animals from the UK can be easily brought into the US--but the other direction requires a 6 month quarantine--very hard on any pet. So...it's conceivable that someone moving to the US from the UK would bring their dog in the kennel on board.

[ute_fan]

While we have pets too (a bichon/maltese mix and a yellow lab), I wouldn't want to bring them along with me. Maybe I'm selfish, but I look forward to the vacation from feeding and walking them like I do the vacation from feeding my family :o.

 

My other concern would be for people that have serious allergy issues. My DD is very allergic to cats, and most dogs (don't know why ours don't bother her). My friend's Mom is so allergic that, before she died, she was never able to spend any time in my friends house because of her two cats. She walked through with a mask on, and even then she was wheezing by the time she was done. There are enough people with allergy issues that it just isn't reasonable to allow pets on the ship.

[punkmuse]

Maybe I'm selfish, but I look forward to the vacation from feeding and walking them

 

that makes me selfish too!! i was like "yay a week where i dont have to get up @ 5:45AM to walk the dog and worry about him freaking out over the kid we pass walking to the school bus!" :p

[retired rascal]

our rescused "baby," now our love, goes to doggie camp whenever we travel by cruise or out of the country. in country he goes everywhere with us and LOVES it. you should be able to find something like doggie camp anywhere in the country.....ours is a woman who has 2 dogs and 'takes in' more. before making a reservation, we had to take our canine for an 'interview' to see if he was tempermentally and behaviorally able to get along there. we also had to produce original documentation of every possible vaccination and provide copies. finally we filled out a long questionnaire about him...from the words he understands to exactly what he eats. there is organized playtime and routine snack time and routine bedtime. the first time there buttons was reluctant and cried pitifully when we left. ever after, he sees the gate and pulllllls to get in. he loves it.....and also loves it when we arrive to pick him up.....he has come home happy, healthy, clean every time and we are glad we took time to find a perfect fit for him. other friends of ours have 'pet people' move into their homes for the vacation period. there are alot of options out there.

[jocap]

We've been dog people for many years--just got a Belgian Sheepdog two days ago. But dogs don't belong on cruise ships unless they are service dogs and even THEN it's rough on them.

 

The Cunard Queens have kennels, but I think that's an anachronism of the days when liners were how you got from one side of the ocean to the other.

 

My understanding is that UK standard for pets' health is SO tough that animals from the UK can be easily brought into the US--but the other direction requires a 6 month quarantine--very hard on any pet. So...it's conceivable that someone moving to the US from the UK would bring their dog in the kennel on board.

There are new rules in the UK about quarantine these days, depending on the country you're travelling from and the pet care in that country. You now have to provide a "pet passport" showing a whole range of injections, passed by qualified vets, etc. Many people take their pets on touring holidays in Europe, but the pet has to be checked again in the foreign country before it returns, or it is indeed 6mths quarantine. This keeps the UK rabies clear. About kennels-we have alwaysfound willing teenagers who we trust, to look after our pets for a few £s a day-obviously with parent's permission-and have never had a problem with this in 30 years-sometimes it's the parents queuing up to ask if thier kid can be next!-jocap.

[starrian]

I was on the SKY in early Feb. There was a man with a yellow lab guide dog on the cruise. I also ran into a lady with a small terrier type dog in a costume, in a stroller! I asked her about doggie bathrooms on the ship. She said there is a big sand area for them, and it has a chemical in it which causes them to want to "go". I wish I'd asked her where the dogs sleep. I would assume it would be with their owners.

[flashdog_1]

I clicked the link and it said, "sorry, no match found."