chengkp75

Again, what if the owner of the service dog did not want a cabin with the roll-in shower and all the grab bars that accessible cabins have? Does Viking have accessible cabins in every category? I think the easiest thing would be to designate a portion of each cabin category as "dog free", and have that as a special request, than to limit the cabins available to non-mobility challenged service dog owners.

I wasn't going to return to this thread, but some "solutions" mentioned are just not right. My comments, again, are in regard to service animals, not fake ones, and again I reiterate my belief that if a "code of conduct" was adopted, and enforced, via disembarkation, that most of the fake dogs would be eliminated. What stateroom category would this one cabin be in? What if the person with a service animal did not want to sail in that category, but wanted a better one? What if the cabin was in an upper category, and the person could not afford that category? Just like how most cruise ships have more berths than they can sell, based on lifeboat capacity, that is done so that those who wish to book more than two people in a cabin, can have a choice of category. So, at the very least there should be one "dog" cabin in each category. While, as I have mentioned that the ship's "internal policies and procedures" are not subject to the ADA, I don't believe that a "one dog at a time" policy would be found to be legal under the ADA, or based on Spector v NCL, as they would be denying accommodation based on the disability, since the presence of one dog does not "substantially interfere with the nature of the business", then how do two dogs?

Even with a change to Starlink service, the vast majority of the oceans are not supported yet by the Starlink satellite constellation. It currently is primarily in coastal waters.

As noted in the photo of the outlet, it is restricted to 20va (volt-amps, or watts), so if your nightlight is less than 20 watts, it should work.

Whether or not a dog was trained to sit on the couch or sleep on a bed, these acts are technically in contravention of the ADA code of conduct, and while completely acceptable in private, it could be challenged while in public. But, yes, whether the dog is a true service dog, or a fake, it has to meet the code of conduct.

Sorry, Jim, going to disagree with you; No, as I've said, if you see an animal that is misbehaving as per Viking's policies, then a complaint can be made about that specific behavior. One thing that you "can do" is to ask Congress to amend the ADA regarding documentation, certification, and identification. Never said we should feel sorry for them, or that they are victims, but whether you or I like it, they do have rights, just like you have rights, but topping that, those "rights" you feel you have do not necessarily follow you up the gangway of a foreign flag ship.

With regards to documentation that the dog is a service animal, yes, it would be illegal. They can request an "attestation" by the owner that the dog is a service animal, and describing the "work or tasks" that the dog performs for the owner's benefit. If you look at the Viking FAQ that curlerrob posted a few posts after Viking's response, you will see that the mention of documentation is for entry into the countries visited. It also mentions the "Service Animal Request Form", which may be the "documentation" that is required.

Virtually every cruise line has the same ban on appliances with heating elements, all with the exception for hair care appliances.

I have no knowledge of what criteria, or why, NCL has used to justify banning fans, so no comparison can be made. As for hair care appliances, the insurers have accepted the risk of allowing them to be brought onboard, balanced against the objections that would be made if they were banned as well, and built the risk into the premiums, just like all insurers do. I am assuming that the fan restriction is based on a risk determination balanced by a cost (premium increase) determination. If it was about electricity demand, they could really save money by turning the AC temps up a couple of degrees and allowing fans.

Don't really care if you've reported my post, but just so you know, this is what they said, and I think it says "I don't care" that the ADA doesn't require identification. Please show me the "gratuitous" comments about the poster.

No cruise line, nor any hotel in the US, can ask you to prove that you have a disability that requires an accessible room. All they can do is ask the customer to "attest" that they require an accessible room.

That would be fine, and that addresses the issues I mention, of the "code of conduct", but the poster I was responding to, implied that everyone onboard should be notified that any dogs seen onboard are "certified" service animals.

I don't know the exact physics of a diabetic alert dog, but I do know that the ADA specifically spells out that a service animal can be carried in the owner's arms.

If you go into a store or restaurant at home, and there is a dog sitting under the table, are you entitled to know whether the dog is a service animal or not? That is between the dog's owner and the business owner, not you. If you have a legitimate concern about the dog, such as an allergy or fear, then that is between you and the business owner, not between you and the dog's owner. How would you suggest that the "other pax" on the cruise get to "know" if the dog is a service animal or not? First you want the dog to be a service animal according to the ADA definition, but then you "don't care" about the ADA's requirement for privacy of the disabled person so that the dog has to wear a scarlet letter, just to please you? Sorry, but having been an ADA compliance officer on cruise ships, I don't like the fake animals any more than folks here, but I also respect the privacy of the disabled, and their right to live as normal a life as possible, without having to meet your requirements. Should everyone need to know if you have a colostomy bag, and can have odors around you from this disability? Should everyone know that you have Asperger's syndrome, and may frequently yell out obscenities, and are not just some drunk? It is the business owner's decision as to whether a service animal affects the essential nature of their business, but they don't have to advertise when a service animal is present in the business.

Yeah, that 3 watt USB fan (even if there are 2000 of them onboard all running at the same time), really makes a difference when you are generating 40,000,000 watts of power for propulsion, and 8,000,000 watts of power for the hotel load. Even if every cabin had a 5-6" fan, drawing about 60 watts, that would be less than 0.25% of the electrical load.

Per the ADA, there is no required documentation for a service animal, and it is illegal to ask for it. I have seen quite a few toy breeds used for diabetic detection dogs, as they need to be carried in the owner's arms or a chest carrier to sniff the owner's breath. Given that about 1 in 10 US citizens are diabetic, and that number is growing, it wouldn't surprise me to see that all four animals were diabetic alert dogs. Not saying some of them might be fake, but it wouldn't be out of consideration. As per the ADA, there is no requirement to have a vest or any other form of identification on the animal that it is a service animal. Or, should they shame the owner by making a PA announcement that "so and so" has a small service dog, that alerts when the person is having a seizure or diabetic incident. I do not want to see dogs that are not service animals, or therapy dogs (as Viking's new policy specifically calls out), allowed onboard. However, to jump to conclusions based on the breed or size of the dog is discriminatory, without knowing what the disability the person has, which is not legal for Viking to ask about, nor is it the business of anyone onboard. PTSD dogs and other psychiatric therapy dogs are covered by the ADA, and can perform tasks that no one would think of as being done by a "true" service dog, and some that the larger, more "traditional" breeds would not be a good match for. It all comes down to what I think is the only real solution to this, and that is for the cruise lines, either individually, or as an industry via CLIA, to adopt a "Service Animal Code of Conduct" (as is allowed under Spector v NCL) and remove any animals, and their owners, that don't meet this code of conduct. I have said this for years now, on many forums on CC.

If you think that Viking is the outlier with regards to having "pets" onboard masquerading as service animals, you haven't read any of the other forums here on CC, as I have responded to threads about dogs in strollers, zebra striped poodles, and the like, on every single major (and some minor) cruise line forum. It is an industry wide problem (with cruises from the US), and stems from poor training of employees in the limits of the ADA.

I basically agree with you, Andy. But, triage would dictate whether or not a service animal made it into a lifeboat (and certainly not a raft), as my duty as On Scene Commander would be, as you say, to the humans first, and then only if there is aa whole lot of room would I allow a dog in the boat. The amount of frightened energy in a lifeboat from over a hundred non-mariners would send even the best trained service animal into a frenzy, and in an enclosed boat, that is not a good place to have a panicked dog.

Did I say that? What I said was that the USPH/CDC regulations are stricter than virtually any local/state health regulation in the US. This has been confirmed by the USPH inspectors themselves, most of whom were formerly state/local health inspectors prior to joining USPH.

That may be true for pools, but the turbulence in a hot tub accelerates the off-gassing. Realize that the cruise ships do not follow your local/state health regulations, but those of the CDC, so read the Vessel Sanitation Plan for the required tests and limits. Just a note, that the CDC did a study of several hundred land pools, and found that over 80% of them would fail the CDC's requirements, and about 70% of child splash areas would be immediately closed if subject to the CDC's requirements. Are public hot tubs appealing? Not to me personally. Are they safe? Yes.

What do you mean by "electronic adapters"? If the watch was damaged, that would be a fault in the charger, which is designed to stop high voltage from being sent to the watch, and unless you are talking about thousands of volts coming from the outlet, a properly functioning charger will not allow enough through to damage the watch. Yes, the want to inspect extensions/power strips for wear and tear, and for surge protection, but even if a surge protector fails, it won't send a high voltage to the electronics plugged into it, again unless it is thousands of volts. You do not see the voltage spikes of thousands of volts (caused by lightning or failed transformers) that happen on land, on a ship. It just physically cannot happen. Are you saying that the smart watch was damaged by being plugged into a surge protector?

What do you mean by "electronic adapters"? I would be very surprised that a smart watch charger let something through that would damage the watch, unless it was the charger itself that failed, and that would not necessarily be a fault of the ship's electrical supply. And, yes, they want to inspect extension cords or power strips for wear and tear and surge protectors, but even when a surge protector fails, it does not damage the "downstream" electronics.

Have you experienced this? Because voltage spikes on ships are extremely rare (almost never), due to the design of the power system. Which is why surge protectors, in addition to being dangerous on ships, are not needed, and none of the ship's electronics are protected by them.

Yes, but you don't need a passport for a closed loop cruise out of the US. And, I agree that the only information a cruise line would possibly have is to vet the passengers against a sex offender database, and that would be the only instance of being denied boarding. The passenger does risk being denied going ashore in a country when the ship gets there, or even being taken into custody and deported by the local government.

Combined chlorine, in the form of chloramines will off-gas to the atmosphere.