[nagdu] re taking guide dog to UK
GARY STEEVES
rainshadowmusic at shaw.ca
Thu Jan 26 01:09:18 UTC 2012
Hello Cheryl:
Do you know what I need to do to be able to take Bogart to London England in August this year? I'm not sure if I'm going to take him but I want to be sure that I do everything necessary to have the option to if I decide it would be good for me and not too stressful for him.
Has anyone taken their dog on a 7 to 9 hour flight? If so, how did they do? Feel free to email off list at g.steeves at shaw.ca if you don't want to clutter up the list.
Thanks
Gary
----- Original Message -----
From: cheryl echevarria <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com>
Date: Sunday, November 20, 2011 2:51 pm
Subject: [nagdu] reposting full article again
To: travelandtourism <travelandtourism at nfbnet.org>, nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Some asked me if I could repost this since they didn't want to
> read the blog
> for the rest of the story. I hope it goes through this time.
>
>
> Good morning all:
>
> Now that I have some time, I will be posting my reviews and
> experience of my
> recent cruise and excursions.
>
> This particular post is in reference to cruising with a guide
> dog from the
> prep work, to the onboard experience, this is also in reference
> to leaving
> the main land of the US.
>
> Before I start, yesterday, as I had posted, someone asked me
> about traveling
> with their guide dog to Puerto Rico. Well, since I have yet to
> take Maxx to
> PR with us, it was an awakening to the fact, that whenever you
> leave the
> mainland of the US, which also includes Canada and Mexico (some
> people may
> not have had this issue in the past, but these are the rules per
> the USDA.)
> that you must have in your possession a Certified USDA
> Veterinarian Health
> Certificate, now when you call your vet and let them know you
> are going out
> of the country, you need to ask if he/she is one, if not they
> will know
> where your closest one is, if not there is a listing on the
> United Stated
> Department of Agriculture website.
>
> Which I am willing to send to NAGDU/travel and tourism the
> information so
> that everyone has the link to the as well.
>
> The link is:
> http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/animals/animal_import/animal_imports_states.shtml
>
> When traveling especially with a service animal, in this case, a
> cruise.
> Planning ahead, if you know you want to cruise in April starting
> planning as
> early as possible. For those that have cruised before the
> staterooms are
> sometimes smaller than a hotel room, and having the room for the
> dog might
> be limited. In this case, even though I will not be doing this
> again, I
> asked for an accessible stateroom, some of this might repeat
> when speaking
> of traveling period for someone who is disabled. Because this
> was a travel
> agent graduation cruise with Norwegian Cruise Lines, all us
> travel agents
> had balcony accommodations, and every level of the ships have an
> accessible
> stateroom and no they are not more or less money then those for
> everyone
> else.
>
> When planning your cruise with a guide dog, you need to call
> like I said way
> in advanced if you would like an accessible stateroom, there are
> many people
> I am glad to say that are traveling, and these rooms go very fast.
>
> You need to let your travel agent, know you are bring your
> guide, they will
> accommodate you but if you don't tell them, they will not know
> to make a box
> for your dog to do his business. Also, they do not put the box
> in your room,
> it is a health issue, and no they will not put the boxes on the
> balconies if
> you have one.
>
> On Norwegian Cruise Lines, what they do is they will ask you
> what kind of
> stuffing you want in the box, it is a similar box to what we do
> at
> convention only smaller. The placing of it is in a crew area
> only area.
>
> Explanation here: On a cruise, there is an area every few
> staterooms in
> between that the crew move between to take their carts or need
> to take an
> elevator to get to the next floor, basically behind the scenes,
> so near our
> stateroom there was one of these doors and we were shown the box
> for the
> dog.
>
> Again, depending on the floor you are staying will determine
> where this is.
>
> Maxx was confused at first because it was inside and not outside
> the box,
> and when Maxx is away anywhere, it takes him at least a day to
> go do his
> business, but he finally liked it and all was good.
>
> Also you need to bring your own food for the dog, and no you
> cannot forward
> anything to the ships. When a ship is entering port, they are
> letting off
> passengers from the previous cruise and getting ready for the
> next group of
> passengers to travel, so sending anything ahead is impossible.
>
> You also need to do your homework on where you are going in my
> case it was
> Orlando, Great Stirrup Cay (which is Norwegian's own private
> island in the
> Bahamas), all the cruise lines have them, and Nassau (Paradise
> Island) in
> the Bahamas.
>
> Orlando is a US State so there is no worry in that of where you
> want to go
> on an excursion, we decided not to go anywhere in Orlando, and
> stay on the
> ship, and check out the rest of what was available to do.
>
> We didn't go to Great Stirrup Cay because at the island they
> bring ship
> tenders to the ship and that day there was 9 and 10 foot swells
> and the
> manager of the island said it was too dangerous to bring the
> boats out, so
> we had another day at sea. Also in the same area was Disney and
> Royal
> Caribbean and they couldn't get into their islands as well.
> These private
> islands are to shallow for the ships to have a pier to port to.
>
> In the Bahamas, we did have an issue with one of the excursions
> we wanted to
> do. I did call the excursion department with the cruise lines
> prior to what
> we wanted to do, and they told me we never had a problem with
> services
> animals and our excursions. Well, I did and the cruise line has
> been
> informed, I did give a report back to the Access Department and
> management
> upon my return, the good, the bad and the ugly. They are on it,
> so that
> these issues never happen again.
>
> Anyway the issue we had was, I wanted to go swimming with the
> dolphins, my
> sister and brother-in-law, niece and nephew, were cruising with
> us, and they
> were going to this.
>
> So when I registered for this on the ship they had no problem
> with it, but
> the following day I was told that I couldn't bring my dog. This
> was not from
> the cruise lines but the people who run the program. They were
> going to
> allow it this once just for me, since I was a travel agent. I
> said no, and
> that we were going to do something else. I have the e-mail from
> the company
> themselves of the excuse of why they didn't want to dog there. I
> mean Maxx
> was not going to go in the water with the dolphins, the supplier
> was
> concerned, since afterwards that in the same area that they have
> sea lions
> and that they have a less tolerance for illness and that they
> were concerned
> that they would get sick from the dog.
>
> In either case, I don't do anything that all of you cannot go
> and do.
>
> We went to the Atlantis Resort and it was well worth it, had an
> awesome
> time.
>
> When you leave the ship, please remember to bring your permit
> for the
> country you are visiting and the health certificate, eventhough
> the cruise
> lines have it, you need to carry it with you, because as soon as
> we got to
> the pier and walked towards our shuttle, there was a customs
> officer asking
> for the dogs paperwork, you must have them when you are asked
> for them, or
> you will not be allowed to enter.
>
> This comes back to planning, again depending on where you are
> traveling to
> you must do your homework. Some countries will not allow a
> dog from another
> country to enter their country. Case in point, the Bahamas
> is independent
> from the United Kingdom, but suppose you were to go to Jamaica
> or Barbados,
> you would not be allowed to enter with your guide dog unless you
> went
> through quarantine in the United Kingdom.
>
> If you are unsure, use a professional, someone like Echevarria
> Travel, who
> will do the homework for you.
>
> We had the Atlantis and Lagoon Day. Which included a
> lounge chair at the
> Lagoon with a towel for the day if you wanted, also you had full
> access to
> all of the resort accept for the water park is.
>
> I know this is alot of information so when traveling each person
> and
> situation is different.
>
> Do's and Don'ts:
>
> Do's:
>
> Do, plan ahead, do not wait until the last minute to arrange a
> cruise with a
> guide dog, you need to get all permits and paperwork in order to
> travel.
> Do, ask questions do your homework.
>
> Do, see you USDA Certified Vet for health certificate
>
> Do, contact the country of destination or contact your travel
> agent to do
> this part and find out if you can and cannot bring you dog to
> that country.
>
> Do, bring food, bowls, toys for the dog.
>
> Do, have fun
>
> Do, remember you are a visitor of a country outside the US when
> cruising.
> Not all countries recognize service animals everywhere.
>
> Don'ts:
>
> Don't wait until the last minute to book your cruise. You
> may not have
> available staterooms you want especially if you are traveling
> with more then
> one dog in your room and want a bigger room or accessible
> stateroom they go
> fast.
>
> Don't forget your paperwork when leaving the ship to go on
> excursions, you
> might be asked by customs to show it and if you don't have it,
> you will be
> sent back to the ship.
>
> DO NOT leave your dog in your stateroom! The cruise lines
> do not like it,
> they have to clean your rooms, they also have emergency fire
> drills on the
> ship when you are off the ship for the crew, they clean your
> rooms, and they
> are not responsible for your dogs.
>
> I also have on youtube.com videos of my trip, still posting them.
>
>
>
> Leading the Way in Independent Travel!
>
> Cheryl Echevarria
> http://www.echevarriatravel.com
> 631-456-5394
> reservations at echevarriatravel.com
>
> For daily updates read our blog at
> http://www.echevarriatravel.wordpress.com
>
>
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