Need advice: Taking Service Dog to St Maarten

Hello,

I am looking for anyone with experience on taking a ServiceDog to St Maarten.

I just came back from the Bahamas. I loved being able totake my Service Dog. I have a mobility disability and PTSD so being able tohave my Service Dog on the cruise gave me such freedom. I had not been able toconsider a cruise before.

I am looking at a cruise on MSC SEASIDE for 2018. Thedestinations include St Maarten. I have looked at the import requirements and Ibelieve they changed in 2012.

They now include:

“About 7 days or less beforeyou enter Sint Maarten, have an accredited veterinarian complete the SintMaarten Veterinary Certificate if you areentering from the United States or Canada for endorsement by the USDA or CFIAif traveling from the United States or Canada.”

Before I get to St Maarten Iwill be 1 day by air and 2 days at sea.

When we went to the Bahamasthe officials gave some “slack” in the date due to taking days of travel to getthere.

The USDA endorsement takessome time. I will have to do mine by mail as the “walk in” in several hoursdrive or an expensive flight away.

I worry that if I get tooclose to exactly 7 days I won’t have time to get the certificate back.

I welcome any replies.However, please don’t lecture about “fake” Service Dogs, or how I should leavemy Service Dog at home. -- There are other threads for that.

Thank you so much!

We are going on a cruise next week. We stop in St. Marteen on Thursday. Would you like me to check locally for you?

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I've visited St. Maarten by ship at least three times in the past three years and found it very Service dog-friendly. Just talk to your USDA-APHIS certified vet about getting Form 7001 plus the correct St. Maarten paperwork (which changed in the past year). Don't worry too much about the old 7-day rule, but do bring along any and all current documentation you have for your dog and provide copies of it all to the ship at check-in. Obviously you'll need the current rabies certificate.

The ship interacts with authorities there. I've never been asked to meet with anyone, nor seen anybody on the pier monitoring people coming down the gangway. It's very welcoming to tourists.

I also have to mail my international travel forms to be endorsed by the regional USDA APHIS service center in my state, usually allowing about a week ahead of my departure. I send via UPS overnight mail, and enclose a return overnight prepaid envelope. Then track it, and call if it doesn't show as on it's way back to me. Get your USDA vet to help you by calling them if there is any delay or question.

We are going on a cruise next week. We stop in St. Marteen on Thursday. Would you like me to check locally for you?

 

 

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That would be WONDERFUL if you have time to do so. Thank you so much! If you could get a local # for me to call that would help a great deal. When I google it's not clear which office I should call. I like to check there as well as the USDA just to be sure.