gkerlin

Just check out the Binax Now AG test.   

It is an "observed" test that you self administer while online using the camera of your computer, ipad, iphone etc.

There are youtube videos of people taking the test.  Looks super simple, can be done in your hotel room or wherever, and results are back in 15 minutes.

I've confirmed that it is accepted by Cunard.   $150 for 6 tests.   They also sell them in smaller packs.  A 2 pack is about $70 and a 3 pack $100.   I would suggest a couple of spares incase of problems, mistakes etc.    Small price to pay vs not getting on board.

US citizens with health insurance would also have all or a portion of the cost reimbursed:  "Starting January 15, most people with a health plan can go online, or to a pharmacy or store to purchase an at-home over-the-counter COVID-19 diagnostic test authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at no cost, either through reimbursement or free of charge through their insurance"

I learned about the “secret passage“ my first time on board.

It’s how they hustle us double time with the dogs up to the kennels without going through Britannia

thank goodness none of the paintings  in the gallery has a fire hydrant painted on it or it could get dicey 😀

My TA said the Binax Now AG (online observed) test is accepted by Cunard.   I'll go with his answer instead.

I realize that things could be different 87 days from now but I'm planning ahead based on what is what today.

Searching about this I've found some info regarding other lines but nothing from Cunard Passengers.

Has anyone used the Binax Now AG (the online proctored test) for Embarkation in Brooklyn?

I just want to make sure that Cunard accepts that one before I go out and buy it.

I'm going to ask my TA too, but if someone on here as already used it and it was accepted, that would be additional confirmation.

Thanks!

40 minutes ago, Electra 7 said:

I know you will not want to think about this but just wondered when you were sailing back to New York

We sail back Oct 18, 2022

We have a month planned for Scotland.   Last trip was only a week and left us wanting more.

Besides attending a second Tattoo, we are renting a motorhome and going to travel the Northcoast 500 for 10 days with friends from England who also have a motorhome.

It looks like we'll be arriving at Mayflower this May.   I've only embarked and disembarked from Ocean so I have few questions.

We travel with two smaller dogs, so my usual plan is to leave my wife and the pups with luggage at the taxi area, I grab one of the many many cabs waiting, and take it to the rental car agency which is nearby.    Then I drive back and pick everyone up.

In reverse - on Embarkation - I drop everyone and the luggage off - turn in the rental - and make my way back.

I'm assuming that the same process is do able at Mayflower?  I could drive in and out?   Lots of Cabs waiting to pick us up?

We rent a car long-term (5 months) from Hertz.  They are not open on Sunday in S'outn so I am picking one up for a day from Enterprise which is a tad further away, then driving back to S'outn on Monday to exchange for Hertz.   Just want to make sure that there was something that I didn't know about Mayflower that might get in the way.

88 Days till Embarkation in Brooklyn! 😎

Yes - thank you very much for your informative posts.

Friends of ours were on the Christmas cruise and I was starting to wonder if our May TA east was going to happen.   Your posts give me faith that after 2020 and 2021 cancellations that 2022 will be the year we get back to traveling.

We are booked QG for East and West TA's in April and September.   As long as our kennels come thru.  

One of the best things about bringing the dogs is the other owners that you meet and lifelong friendships that you make.

Some (very few) deposit their dogs and are hardly ever seen, but most (like us) forgo most of the other amenities of the ship to spend visiting hours with our pets.   Spending so many hours together with likeminded animal lovers often creates a special bond.   We have made many friends who we now visit and visit us, on our travels.   We even coordinate with some to try and be on similar crossings.

I did a write up of our first crossing experience in 2018 on my blog which might give you a small taste of how we spend our days.   Don't let the naysayers put you off or scare you away.   It really is not a big deal to get it done.   Just a few simple steps to follow in the proper order and you are on your way.  England is super dog friendly.   I was in an old abbey and my wife walked in with our dogs and I told her that I doubted they would be allowed inside.    The deacon overheard me - walked over - and said: "Not only are they allowed - they are welcome".  To me this epitomized the attitude of the country toward dogs.  It is so much more dog friendly than the US

We've made the trip with the dogs 4 times and will be on the May 15 NYC to Sout'n.

Dealing with the USDA office in Albany is a pleasure.   If you include a return prepaid UPS overnight package with your docs, you will get them back the second day after you send them.

For instance - if you see the vet and overnight the docs on Monday, they get them Tuesday.  They process them and send them back on Tuesday and you get them back on Weds.

The first time I had a small problem with a rabies certificate - it listed the manufacturer of the Rabies serum used,  (Merial). but not the specific product (Imrab).    They contacted me and I was able to get the vet to email me a letter which I forwarded to Albany and they still processed the certificate the same day.   I simply now ask the vet to apply the sticker from the box onto the rabies certificate and that solves that.

I simply try to get my certificate validated 7-9 days in advance that gives me room to maneuver should there be some unforeseen issues.      It seems daunting but it really is a simple process and all flows smoothly as long as you have complied with the regs. (Microchip, Rabies then tapeworm)

Cunard will send you your docs (food request, sample defra import form etc) about 4 months from sailing.   If you want to see the defra form ahead of time you can find it on their website

Remember - the 7 days spent traveling to the UK or EU by sea do not count against the 10 days.   So you do not need to get it done 3 days prior to sailing.    Don't stress!    Hope this helps.

Here is a link to the process

And here is a link to the specific health cert for dogs

As far as the travel onward to Ireland.   Since Brexit, the rules have changed and you will need a separate EU certificate.    If you are traveling from the US and immediately onward to Ireland (or any EU country) , you can have the EU certificate produced  in the US at the same time as the UK one.   Its 10 day validity will be extended by the duration of the voyage.    The consignee field on the EU health certificate should indicate the final address in Ireland and “via UK”. So if you Embark 4 days after USDA certifies the document, then you have 6 days after disembarkation to arrive in Ireland.    If you are going to stay in the UK a while then you need to have the EU certificate completed by a OV (Official Veterinarian)    The good thing is that an OV can complete the certificate and you are good to go.  You do not need to send it out to a government agency like USDA.

A morning update from my friend who is presumably no longer on board:

Good morning, I finally got my flight and test results info at 11.45pm. Am now up at 3.45am standing in a line that wraps all around deck 2 waiting to get into the royal court theater to wait to get on to a bus to wait at the airport for an 8am flight. Me grumpy…

Thanks for all of the intelligence and outside support! This has been something 🤣

And I’m still clear….

Most recent update from my friend onboard,  In spite of everything they continue to enjoy time together in the sun:

It looks like I will be flown back to New York on the 2nd. We all tested ourselves again and the 3 of us are still negative. We also had official tests this morning which we are waiting for results.
 

The boys will be flown straight back to the UK and have to get off the ship at 5.30am on the 1st of January. So New Years will be seen in snoring away 😴.  I have booked a flight from New York later on the 2nd, which I really hope happens, and will get me back to houston at about 5.30pm. Again, we will see. Really sad the boys can’t come back to Houston. We have had a lovely time otherwise.

I have also booked my own backup flight with United from here just in case this whole charter flight thing doesn't work out. More soon. It has been and adventure and won’t be forgotten for a while… 😳🤣🎉😷🤞🏼

This was just delivered to some on board

Here is the recent email from my friends on board:

Ok, looks like the #^*% has hit the fan… 😳 We got off in Barbados and got back all well and good. Then at about 5.30pm we had an announcement from the captain that we will be moored off of Barbados for a few days out of the harbor to sort out staff and supplies. Here is the kicker, we will not be stopping anywhere (including New York) again and that our next stop will be Southampton UK 🇬🇧 *****?!?

You can only imagine what kind of drama this has probably set off. I am just processing this all and am not sure what I will do yet. However, so far we have been healthy and I really don’t want to try and get off the ship and end up stuck in a third world country during a worldwide plague. So it may be safer and easier to go to the UK and fly directly back to Houston from there. I want to keep being Cunard’s responsibility and see what options they offer up.

So, the adventure has begun! 🤣😳😬

Let me know what you hear from the outside world. Apparently there are other ships that have tested on board and the cases have been pretty high so the islands are just not letting ships in. Can’t blame them. But not testing people before they get on is kinda stupid… we’ll, maybe getting on a ship at all was a little crazy. More later, Rxx

My friends have stated that they “knew and accepted the risks“ before they boarded. Not only are they “making the best of the situation“, but they are having a genuinely great time!

Here is the relevant excerpt from today’s message from them:

We are in Barbados and are being let off, so that is a result. They are restricting us to just arranged trips.  I think the service has been good and the food has been great in the Britannia. We decided it was safer to eat in there rather than the Kings Court.  It’s a feeding frenzy in there.😂 Miss you! That is my update for today. 
 

A couple friends of ours are on this cruise and I texted them to see how things were going. I also asked her to check up on a crew member (name omitted, changed to XXX) that we were all friends with.

Here is the reply:

The whole ship was tested yesterday and it sounds like there were maybe 16+ of the guests that tested positive out of 1,600. We were all negative so far. 🎉🎉🍾 Looks like they skipped Tortola and St. Kitts. Heading for Barbados. I think there were some crew that were positive and transferred to the Queen Victoria. The QV looks like it is being used as a support/supplies ship. I think they are using it to quarantine crew etc if needed. Our internet and news has been down due to “global positioning and lack of satellite link” however I wonder if they took it down as panic control. Looks like internet has come back up. We are having a laugh regardless and we knew it would be a risk. Really fun to be crashed out in the sun on our old doggie deck. Do miss our laughs. I did get to see xxxx for a little bit as I asked  the bartender if they could find him up by the pool but I didn’t get to see him for long sadly. They are kinda keeping people separate and xxxx isn’t working in any public spaces. Hope you guys are doing well. Let me know what you hear from the outside world. All the best! Rx

Almost done.  Should be headed to sea for trials in a few days or so

More photos at the following Twitter account:

https://twitter.com/b_ri_laird/status/1440407974464266249?s=21

April 25 QM crossing canceled in March.
Refund requested on April 26.

Checked in  early June was promised by June 15. About June 20th, I called again and was promised by June 30.

Called yesterday I was told it should have been processed already and they would check into it and get back to me this morning.   No word today as promised so I’ll call again tomorrow.

Disappointing.

Get a new TA!   That is not a helpful response from them.

You need to book a year or so in advance or you are put on the wait list.   Some on the wait list do however still get spots as things happen, plans change, and some people reserve more than one crossing and then when the non refundable day arrives they decide which crossing they want and cancel the others.   As long as you are planning a year or so in advance you should be able to find a spot.

You can bring toys and whatever you want to put in the kennel.

they do supply a bed, litter box, food, litter etc.

Play it safe however and bring your own food if it is not readily available as they usually have part of the order wrong.

The process sounds more cumbersome than it really is - but if you mess up.... you don't get on board so its important to get it right.

The 3rd country health certificate has to be signed off by USDA no more than 10 days before you board. We boarded on Thursday May 17 so I made my vet appointment for Tuesday May8. Then overnighted to USDA they had it on Weds May 9 so it was within the 10 day limit. I included a pre-paid, labeled, return overnight package to USDA with my submission and they sent it back that night. I had the docs in my hands on Thur May 10.

Then Tuesday May 15, 2 days prior to boarding I went back to the vet, they did the tapeworm treatment, noted it on the 3rd Country H.C. That was within the window (24hrs - 120 hrs prior) for tapeworm treatment... we were good to go.

We are full-time travelers in our Motorhome and came from Az to NJ where we stored the Motorhome and then traveled to Brooklyn to board. So we found a Vet in NJ who was familiar with the paperwork and has done it before. We stayed in the area for 10 days ahead of time to get everything done plus get the motorcoach ready for 5 months storage.

The Vet that we found - Lawrence Animal Hospital near Princeton, NJ was the best. Dr Walker has done this before and knew exactly what to do. I can't recommend them highly enough. She took a lot of stress out of the procedure and was 100% spot on.

When we overnighted the package to the USDA office in Albany, NY it turned out there was a slight problem with the Rabies Certificates from the Vet in Oregon who gave them the rabies booster (AFTER) implanting the ISO microchips.

He had put the name (Merial) and the batch/expiration date on the rabies certificate... but not the exact name of the Merial Vaccine product. I guess there is more than 1 Merial Rabies Vaccine. USDA emailed me the day they received the paperwork... I emailed the Vet in Oregon who corrected the certificates - I had them email them back to me so that I could control the paperwork flow and know where we stood... I emailed it to USDA... they replied that it looked good and we were all set.

So... a couple of things to make sure your vets do...

Stamp all forms with their Vet office Stamp. (sometimes its just printed on the form and thats ok)

Sign all forms in BLUE INK. (this is important)

Include the Rabies Brand, Name, Batch # and expiration date on the rabies certificate.

Include the pets microchip # on all forms. (I'll insist on this this from now on)

When you go to the vet for the 3rd country health certificate you should have the above Rabies certificates properly completed and filled out.

You should also have something that shows the date of the microchip implantation. It must show the chip was implanted the same date or prior to the date of the rabies vaccination. A dated invoice from the vet showing the implantation (with the microchip number) would suffice. I made him sign it with BLUE ink to be sure.

The rabies certificate and the proof of microchip date all get sent to USDA with the 3rd country health certificate that your USDA certified vet filled out. They check it all over... Stamp everything and send it back - usually the same day.

Look for a vet that has done this form before and is authorized by USDA to do it. You can email USDA. They will not give you a list of vets... but if you have a name of one that says they are authorized, USDA will verify that name with you.

Hope this helps.

We took our two dogs Eastbound from NYC on the May 18-24, 2018 sailing, and we will be returning on the Oct 18-25 sailing very soon.

We did not have any cats on our crossing.

The kennels - while well run - they are still a stressful time for pets. Especially if yours are like ours and used to spending almost all of their time with you. The first few nights being locked up are certainly stressful...but our dogs - like most - are adaptable and soon fall into the routine, even if they are not 100% happy about if.

The first few days we would have to block one from jumping back out of the combined kennel, while we put the other in with her. After a few days we told them to jump up and get in, and they would grudgingly abide.

Disembarkation in Southampton for us was a snap. We were instructed to meet at the kennels at 0730. They gave us all the call to disembark about 0830 and by about 0900 we were all in the hall looking for our luggage.

I have a travel blog which details all of our travels, including our preparation and crossing etc.

You can find the part referring to the crossing starting at: http://eilean350.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-voyage-has-begun.html

The kennelmaster Oliver does a fantastic job. I can't speak highly enough about him. A top notch employee for sure.

Cunard on the other hand is IMO just so so at best.

Most of the pet owners spend all of their visiting hours with their pets and miss out of much of the amenities the ship has to offer.

Because of the stress on our pets - many pet owners like us make the decision to be with them and miss things like afternoon tea. We've asked Cunard if they would be so kind as to wheel a tray up a few times during the crossing so that we could have our own little group tea.... but no such luck. We even said that we were not looking for it to be served... just how about a tray of some scones - leave them outside the kennel- and we would serve them ourselves. I'd even bring the cart back. But it seems its too much to ask. Small things like that. There were many more shared by all of us but I wont go into it here.

So as a pet owner, most of the other owners (not all) agreed that crossing on the QM2 is just a big ferry ride with a stuffy dress code - but its worth it rather than putting the pets in the cargo hold. But I guess my idea of white glove service is different than theirs.

Thanks everyone.

We board today

My wife and I (and our 2 dogs) are taking our first trip on Cunard this Thursday. Eastbound to Southampton.

Then we'll bounce around Europe for 5 months.

I've read that they only issue so many passes to the Hydrotherapy center to keep it from being crowded.

Is it a problem to obtain passes? Is it something that we should focus on a soon as we get on board or is it not something to worry about?

Can we order from our cabin phone or do we need to go down to the Canyon Ranch to order them?

We thought a daily round of Saunas, steam rooms, etc might be a nice way to kill an hour or two each day.

I'm sure a fair amount of time will be spend up at the kennels.

Totally zero experience with Hydro Therapy Spas so if anybody has done it... is there a suggested routine that works well. Ie: Sauna, then steam then this then that? Inquiring minds need to know.

Thanks!