[NAGDU] Guide dogs cruises and no sighted helpers

[Alysha]

Hi Nancy,
I've been on several cruises without a dog and one short Carnival cruise
with my first guide dog. Overall, things were fine with my dog with a few
unique challenges. First of all, if you're stopping in other countries, you
have to make sure you have all the needed paperwork, health certificates,
etc. for each country. My cruise only went to Mexico, so on the morning when
we arrived, I had to get up early and meet the customs officer in a
designated room to show my paperwork. If I remember right, the process of
waiting to be cleared took about an hour. If you're planning to get off in
multiple countries, it may be a bit of a pain. If you don't plan to leave
the ship, there's a chance you can bypass all of this, but I would double
check with the cruise line to be sure. I think this is one case where you
really do need to notify them in advance that you're traveling with guide
dogs so arrangements can be made.

On the ship, they gave me a large wooden box filled with sand if I remember
right for my dog to relieve. A staff member showed me where it was almost
immediately after I boarded the ship, but several hours later it was gone,
and I found out that they had decided to move it elsewhere. The only problem
was that they placed it on a very out-of-the way deck, and the deck was
often closed for cleaning or something every morning when I tried to take
him out to park. We often had to wait for an hour plus each morning before
we were allowed access to the box.

Another thing to think about is the types of activities you want to do while
cruising. If your primary goal is to relax, eat delicious food, enjoy some
shows, shop, etc., you are probably all set. But if you're interested in
more adventurous excursions like snorkeling, zip lining, diving, etc.,
you'll need to be creative in deciding what to do with your dogs. You likely
won't be allowed to leave them alone in your cabin while doing an excursion.

I tend to enjoy doing more adventurous things when I traveled, and I noticed
on Carnival especially that they were very reluctant to allow a blind person
to sign up for many excursions. I got lots of excuses like "it's a big step
to get into the van" and "we can't have you do this because of liability."
They actually didn't bring these concerns up with me and called our room to
discuss them with my traveling companions instead. Needless to say, I was
not pleased. We were able to convince them to allow me on most excursions,
but some, like an intro scuba diving trip, we booked separately at the port
of call. This was several years ago though, so I hope things have changed
for the better.

I hope you're able to plan a fantastic trip, and best of luck with whatever
you decide!

Alysha

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Nancy VanderBrink
via NAGDU
Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2017 2:10 PM
To: Nancy VanderBrink via Nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Nancy VanderBrink <vandyvanderbrink at outlook.com>
Subject: [NAGDU] Guide dogs cruises and no sighted helpers

Hey folks,
I think i've heard some of you have gone cruising.  We're pondering the
idea, two blind people and two black labs, any thoughts, info, opinions,
suggestions you could offer would be great!
We are not sure if we'd have anyone sighted go with us though.
Nancy, Billy & the fellas 

Please forgive the typos as this message was most likely generated using
voice dictation Nancy Irwin


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