[nagdu] re taking guide dog to UK

[Nicole B. Torcolini at Home]

You may need to cut back his food the day of the trip. I suggest doing this 
some day before the trip as practice to make sure that this does not upset 
his stomach. When I cut back Lexia's food--which I don't usually do since my 
flight is only about 2 hours--she gets sick to her stomach. If this is the 
case, you can give your dog pepsid for humans.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "GARY STEEVES" <rainshadowmusic at shaw.ca>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 5:09 PM
Subject: [nagdu] re taking guide dog to UK


>
>
> 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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