A mom, two sons and a service dog tackle the Conquest

[Haljo1935]

8 minutes ago, mz-s said:

Part of the issue may be all of the "service dogs" that are just the family pet.

Yes, it's unfortunate. 

[pe4all]

I am really enjoying your review so far.  We are strongly thinking of getting a seizure-alert dog for dd35, who is Diamond with CCL and has been on every cruise with us- 33 and counting, plus other cruise lines.  Looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

[ChutChut]

So sorry you've encountered ignorant, indelicate people. One of the problems is so many people abuse the service dog situation that a lot people are callous to it. 

[Pellaz]

2 hours ago, ChutChut said:

So sorry you've encountered ignorant, indelicate people. One of the problems is so many people abuse the service dog situation that a lot people are callous to it. 

I was about to post this, too.  

So many people have tried to game the system with "emotional support animals" (including snakes, pigs and, reportedly, a miniature horse 😮 )  that the airlines and cruise lines have had to adopt stricter policies.  It's a darned shame, since trained service dogs are really amazing at what they do...and what they don't do.   

[jimbri]

Enjoying your review!

[brookie848]

14 hours ago, Pellaz said:

I was about to post this, too.  

So many people have tried to game the system with "emotional support animals" (including snakes, pigs and, reportedly, a miniature horse 😮 )  that the airlines and cruise lines have had to adopt stricter policies.  It's a darned shame, since trained service dogs are really amazing at what they do...and what they don't do.   

Actually, miniature horses and dogs are the only actual licensed service animals.

[luvcruzing]

On 12/18/2023 at 9:19 AM, ninjacat123 said:

For the people who ask the same questions, get business cards printed up that answer the most common questions about Max and for anything about C, "none of your business". Hand one over to the nosy person and then walk away.

Love it! 😆

[grima625]

Enjoying your review.  Thank you for sharing.

[momof3cruisers]

On 12/18/2023 at 6:20 AM, carol louise said:

Momof3cruisers, I’m sorry you, C, and Max have to put up with problem people. It is kind of you to attribute the crew’s clumsiness to not understanding the etiquette around service animals. Maybe it would be a good idea to suggest additional training for them, at the very least before cruises where there is going to be a service animal on board.

 

But some of what you encounter is just obtuseness—opening the mouth without thinking. Thank you for your good nature about it, which may serve to educate people to be more careful the next time.

After the holidays, maybe I’ll send a message to the special needs department about it. 
 

we have found it’s much less stressful to just brush off people’s shall we say, missteps than stress about it.

[momof3cruisers]

On 12/18/2023 at 6:31 AM, karriec said:

" to a man who aggressively asked C what was wrong with him one day when C and Max we’re at work. Even doubling down and asking twice. It’s a crazy world out. "

Unfortunately some people are beyond rude and feel so entitled.   So sorry you and your family have to deal with that. 😞

Appreciate that, thanks!

[momof3cruisers]

On 12/18/2023 at 6:28 AM, puppycanducruise said:

Good pictures, even if one was upside down.  Thanks.  Enjoy your cruise.  Thanks for sharing.

I didn’t take too many but a good phone certainly makes a difference. Thank you for your kind words.

[momof3cruisers]

On 12/18/2023 at 7:39 AM, Haljo1935 said:

May be worth suggesting the relief stations for dogs have artificial turf rather than what looks like kitty litter, unless the dogs are used to using a cat litter box. The ones I see in airports and similar places have artificial grass.

Thoughts?

We were hoping for wood chips. That’s what the guy on the phone said he thought it was. Alas, as we discovered quite awhile back, Max avoids artificial turf as well. Crazy dog. If he does another cruise, we will inquire about bringing wood chips on board or verifying that’s what it will be. Or book a cruise with a port every day. 

[momof3cruisers]

On 12/18/2023 at 8:19 AM, ninjacat123 said:

I would be that mom on the elevator "don't even look at the dog, he is working."  I agree, there should be more training/notification to crew regarding service dogs.

For the people who ask the same questions, get business cards printed up that answer the most common questions about Max and for anything about C, "none of your business". Hand one over to the nosy person and then walk away.

Thank you for your review and for the enlightenment of traveling with a service dog.🐕‍🦺

You’re welcome. Thanks for following along. 

On 12/18/2023 at 8:36 AM, sanger727 said:

The plane situation is crazy. And I can certainly understand how a very well trained dog would not understand that that litter box was a place to go potty! 

Well, if he decides to do another one, we’ll practice going potty on all kinds of surface areas if we can’t get wood chips. And yeah, they won’t be doing Sun Country again. 😂

On 12/18/2023 at 4:47 PM, ChutChut said:

So sorry you've encountered ignorant, indelicate people. One of the problems is so many people abuse the service dog situation that a lot people are callous to it. 

Yes, it’s aggravating to deal with that. Especially because the fake ones often allow everyone and their cousin to pet their dog which then confuses people when everyone else won’t let them do that. 

On 12/18/2023 at 7:01 PM, Pellaz said:

I was about to post this, too.  

So many people have tried to game the system with "emotional support animals" (including snakes, pigs and, reportedly, a miniature horse 😮 )  that the airlines and cruise lines have had to adopt stricter policies.  It's a darned shame, since trained service dogs are really amazing at what they do...and what they don't do.   

We really appreciate the stricter policies. One thing we have noticed is that the questions about tasks have gotten much more specific about the tasks performed over the years. Which is fine for us and Max has several tasks that are very important. Miniature horses are actually covered by the ADA as service animals but since airlines have slightly different rules that they follow most airlines have made the decision not to allow them. It was a relief when they stopped allowing emotional support animals even dogs, on flights. We had a flight right after Southwest passed that guideline and there was a dog in the same area that was FREAKING out at Max. Max meantime, turned his back to the other dog. The gate agent walked up to check if we were on the same flight. I told her that if the other dog was on the same flight that we wanted to be rebooked on a different flight. She said, “Oh no. You’re going on this flight. They aren’t!” 

Edited December 22, 2023 by momof3cruisers

[momof3cruisers]

Sorry for leaving you all hanging for so long! Holiday preparations have had me busy. 
 

My last point was heading to sleep on day one. Day two saw us porting in Key West nice and early. While normally, I think arriving into a port at 7:30 in the morning is fairly dumb, this time it worked out well—we had a dog that needed to go potty! So, C and I were off the ship as soon as we got the all clear. I knew that if we walked straight ahead we would get to a quiet street lined by grass so that’s where we headed. Max was able to relieve himself, we strolled a bit, finished taking care of his business and they headed back to the ship.
 

I stayed in town planning to do a bit of shopping. Between the hotel in Miami and the ship, our toothpaste had gone missing so I figured I’d head for CVS and see if I could find a tshirt for my husband who was stuck at home working. The first store I went into, the tshirts were $35. Sorry, dude, not happening. I found a few more options to look at on the way to CVS but nothing really grabbed me. Maybe in Cozumel. Got to CVS and made sure we could have clean teeth the rest of the week. Forgot to by Dramamine. Sheesh! I’m useless without a list! 
 

It was already pretty toasty and can we talk about the lack of benches in Key West? Goodness! Not for the faint of heart, or those with MS who tire easily. Phew! I had hoped to go to the museum in the big red building this time around, Maritime, I think. But they didn’t open until 10 and at this point it wasn’t even 9. Both of the comedians made jokes about getting to KW to watch the stores open. Like I said, silly! So, I was a bit tired and I hadn’t eaten so I headed back to the ship to meet the boys in the buffet for breakfast. We all found some good stuff and decided to sit out at the pool on the back of the ship for awhile. It was a lovely day and we all had books to listen to which is one of the favorite things for all three of us.
 

Eventually headed back to the cabin and Max and I hung out on the balcony while the boys took a nap. We were facing away from town so the view was stunning. We saw this funny little floating tiki bar. I’ve never seen anything like it! Several people were out on their balconies in nearby rooms and we all started talking about it. One of the guys figured it would be a good business. Build yourself a raft, take people out in the ocean and once you got them out there, you could charge whatever you wanted to for drinks because they’d be stuck. Hmmm, sounds familiar.

 

Speaking of drinks, we had told the boys that we’d pay for two or three drinks a day and after that, they could pay for their own. Earlier, C had asked for a drink suggestion and I told him I was getting a sex on the beach. He told me he wasn’t ordering that so I said that a Bahama mama was similar. He ordered that. The bar tender at the Tides bar was a funny guy. He told him no, he would make him a Bahama papa. A lady asked what that was and he said it was a Bahama mama for a guy. lol.  As it turned out, C liked my drink better so we traded but o told him if he wanted another one, he’d have to be brave and order one himself. 
 

At about 1:00, C and Max got off for a quick jaunt to the grass and right back onboard as all aboard time was 1:30. Then we all grabbed a quick lunch. 
 

At 2:30 there was a PG comedy show. One of the main things we like about Carnival is the variety of comedy so we planned on heading there. It was Steve White. He had done a show the night before but we were all too pooped to stay up until 11 so this was the first show of his we saw. He did a lot of audience interactions mixed in with his set. It was fun and we knew we’d watch him again. It started out with very few people in the theater but by the time he finished it was pretty crowded. 
 

The rest of our day was spent sitting outside either on the balcony or by the back pool. We spent a lot of time back there. With Serenity at the front, it’s mighty windy up there when at sea so it’s really nice to have an option other than the main pool. We had dinner in the MDR, hit up the stores for a wander and then the boys headed to karaoke while I went to the Love and marriage show. I joined them in time to hear J do My Way by Frank Sinatra. After this night, we were frequently running into people who just called him Frank. lol. Headed to the cabin at about 10:30. 
 

While lying on the indescribably uncomfortable couch/bed, I wondered how I was going to last three more nights. Man, that thing was hard as a rock. At one point, C looked up at the ceiling and said, “What is that up there?” I said, “It’s a bed.” We then talked about that it was a normal sized twin bed with a regular mattress on it. He suggested we ask the steward to put it down but I said I couldn’t climb the ladder and I was pretty sure I was also over the weight limit. He said he could climb the ladder and he wasn’t over the weight. He’d sleep in that and I could sleep in his current bed. Oh beautiful boy of mine! What an excellent suggestion. 

[TrqoisWtrs]

Great review, always wondered how it worked cruising with a service dog.  Love that they gave Max a life jacket.

With regard to the potty issue - does Max know how to use a puppy pad?  Maybe get him used to that; they would be easy to pack and if there is ever another situation where he doesn't like the provided material, you could just lay a pad over the top?  Just a thought.

[momof3cruisers]

On 12/22/2023 at 3:29 PM, cruisin*tigger said:

Great review, always wondered how it worked cruising with a service dog.  Love that they gave Max a life jacket.

With regard to the potty issue - does Max know how to use a puppy pad?  Maybe get him used to that; they would be easy to pack and if there is ever another situation where he doesn't like the provided material, you could just lay a pad over the top?  Just a thought.

Sadly, we thought of that too late. We’ll be working on that before traveling again. 

[momof3cruisers]

Gracious! Starting a review right before the holidays was not a good plan. I’m not being very consistent!

 

I realized that I had actually gone to the late night comedy in the theater with both comedians and not Love and Marriage. That was the next night. The comedians actually reused quite a bit of their material which I thought was odd but oh well. 
 

This is now Weds and day 3 of the cruise. We would be arriving in Cozumel at about 12:00. The night before, we had gotten a letter in our mailbox to meet in the theater at 11:45 for priority disembarking. Being newly Platinum, I didn’t realize that was a thing. I thought that was only for tender ports. But C and I planned to be there so we could get Max off ASAP. Up to this point, we hadn’t been notified about any requirements for taking him off the ship, but since they had about 82 copies of his medical records we thought that must be all they needed.

 

We were getting ready to leave the cabin at about 10:30 when the phone rang. It was guest services telling us that we would need to present Max to the Mexican authorities in order to take him off. They were not ready yet, it would be in about an hour or so. I told her we were leaving for breakfast and she said to just stop by guest services. So, C and I headed up to Lido. J had decided to try out the port day breakfast as he had woken up earlier. He got pancakes and bacon and said the pancakes were really good. 
 

Lido was PACKED!! It took forever to get through the lines and find a table. Right about as we finished eating, there was an announcement for Julie W… to come to guest services. So, C and I headed down while J went to get a Pepsi and sit by the pool with his book. 
 

Now, our original plans for this trip didn’t really involve getting off of the ship. The boys were for sure staying on. The goal of the whole idea was simply relaxing and getting both of them some sunshine. Both struggle with seasonal affective disorder so the fall in MN is really rough. I was intending to book an excursion in Cozumel once on board. I was debating between the one where you visit a church and local orphanage or the Fury Catamaran. I wanted to wait until I was onboard to see if J changed his mind about doing something. I knew C wouldn’t want to. BUT since Max was refusing to potty in his box, C HAD to get off the ship. I am SO thankful that the folks on the “cruising with a service dog” thread over on the disability board advised me to be sure we had all the paperwork needed for Mexico just in case. With all the potty stuff going on, I decided to just stay on the ship with the boys. 
 

We headed down to guest services (once again very thankful for that priority line!) and the young woman there took us to the library. We waited outside the library for a LONG time. There were no officials inside. Soon another couple arrived and they waited there too. They had their luggage with them. Sad. Maybe an emergency at home. Eventually, several folks arrived and got set up at different spots in the library. The couple was taken in and it they had to have their passports checked etc.  I bet they were glad they had passports! Then our gal came out and brought us in. We went over to a guy in what looked like a police uniform. Guessing border patrol. He looked over Max’s paperwork which I was carrying in my bag wherever we went. 😂 He then looked over Max, checked all along his torso and then tried to look at his teeth. Max knows that people aren’t supposed to touch him while he is in his vest so the looks he was giving C were quite hilarious. Even the agent commented that the dog was thinking “who is this guy.” When it got to the teeth, Max was very confused. C wasn’t sure what to do as he didn’t want to interfere. Eventually he gave the command “open” and Max opened his mouth right up. The agent cracked up and told Max he was a good boy and was good to go. We double checked to be sure he could now reboard and get off again with no problem. He said we were fine but to be aware of the dogs who were checking bags as the handlers would probably have different instructions for us. 
 

C and I headed off the ship. I knew there was grass over by the taxi stand, so that’s where we headed. Job taken care of, we decided to do some shopping. C wanted sunglasses, I wanted a couple of cans of Coke and we thought we’d see whatever else we came across. Found a place with sunglasses and C was looking at some. That of course brings the salespeople. He found some he liked but there wasn’t a price on them. He asked the lady and she said $50. He looked at me, I said, “ I don’t know, dude. That’s kind of pricey.” He agreed. Now, we had no intention of haggling. It didn’t even occur to us. But then the lady asked how he was going to pay. He told her he’d be using his credit card.  She did some fancy maneuvering with her calculator and came up with $40 and no sales tax. He decided that sounded good. After his purchase, she said, “you buy something, you get tequila.” Poured him a shot in the ONE glass behind the counter, handed it to him and said, “drink.” So, he did. 😂😂 As we walked away he commented that he really hoped the alcohol content killed off all the other germs. We wandered a little longer. Found some tacky salt and pepper shakers for my oldest who collects them. Forgot to look for a tshirt for my husband, got a couple of Cokes and headed back. We were able to avoid the port dogs as they weren’t having people walk past them, they were just wandering the crowd. 
 

Got back on board, joined Jacob for lunch. They went off to do I don’t know what and I played some trivia and other games etc. I had fun. Didn’t win anything but met a couple of fun ladies—a mom and daughter sailing together. ONe of the games we did was sort of like Pictionary. Except you had to hold the white board over your head and draw the item the crew member told you to make. It was silly but she wasn’t super creative in her ideas so it was mainly animals. Lol. There were only about six of us playing. Oh! I did win that one. I forgot. The first person to get three right won. It’s a good thing there weren’t all that many people playing because she was keeping score in her head! I got a medallion. I’m getting quite the collection of those! 
 

In the morning, we had asked the cabin steward to change the third bed to the upper Pullman. He had done that so I decided I needed a nap. It was amazing to lay on a real mattress! 
 

After my rest, we went to dinner. ( While I was resting, C got off and let Max have another potty break. We were in port until 7:00.)  This was the first night we sat on the left side of the MDR and we were surprised how much more cheerful all the wait staff was over there. After dinner, we did a combo of karaoke, comedy and this was the night I went to Love and marriage. I have to say, there were a lot of talented singers in karaoke and both the comedians were great. Since those are two of our favorite evening activities, this worked out really well. 
 

Next post is the sea day and I’ll see what pictures I have to post. 

[momof3cruisers]

This was the funny tiki bar and then our cabin with the rearranged beds. 

[momof3cruisers]

Boys on formal night and Max and C on the balcony

[momof3cruisers]

This was the Pictionary-like game. I ne of the ladies I met took pics for me when it was my turn to draw. 

[sanger727]

I'm not much of a haggler. I'm sure I don't usually get the best deals but what I typically do in Mexico is scoff at the price and walk away. They always call you back with a better deal. I do 2-3 rounds of this depending on how badly I want the item. 

[momof3cruisers]

4 hours ago, sanger727 said:

I'm not much of a haggler. I'm sure I don't usually get the best deals but what I typically do in Mexico is scoff at the price and walk away. They always call you back with a better deal. I do 2-3 rounds of this depending on how badly I want the item. 

I had commented that we probably could have gotten her to go lower but he decided that even if it was expensive that paying too much for something in Mexico was part of the tourist experience. He’s funny. 

[momof3cruisers]

So, our sea day began with sea day brunch for C and myself. Jacob wanted pizza so off he went. We were seated pretty quickly but we were right next to a window and C wasn’t feeling it. Or rather, he was feeling it too much. The waves out of his peripheral vision was making him a bit motion sick so we asked to be moved. All we said was not right next to a window but they must have decided we didn’t want to see the ocean at all. We had quite a wait and then figured out why. We were seated by ourselves at a 6 top at the front of the dining room facing away from the windows completely. They were certainly making sure the view wasn’t a problem. 
 

While waiting to be seated the second time, we had the most persistent crew/dog interaction of the whole cruise. We had seen this hostess before and she had tried to talk to Max and C asked her not to. Twice. This morning, we were stuck there. We knew telling her again wouldn’t help. Max will ignore someone for a good long time but she was quite intrusive. Finally, I told her that he was working and she needed to stop distracting him and moved myself between her and the dog. She acted offended but honestly, we didn’t care. 
 

our service at brunch was fantastic. We mentioned the assistant waiter in our post cruise survey. He was fun and very quick. I got my platinum drink—yay! We ordered pretty standard breakfast fare and it was all served exactly right and at a good temp. MDR service and food on this whole cruise was very good. After we finished, we set off to find Jacob. He was….you guessed it at the aft pool.
 

We all enjoyed the sunshine for awhile and then went our separate ways. C was trying again to get Max to use the box, (he tried several times each day) I decided to get my $25 free play in the casino and try my luck and j decided to see if there was anything fun in the arcade.

 

Eventually we all ended up in the casino. Since J hadn’t had any extra drinks all week and C had a few each day, he asked if he could charge a couple of the cash bundle claw games to the room. So, he gave that a shot. By no huge surprise, he didn’t even come close. I discovered that C had never played a slot machine. For their 18th birthdays, the other two had chosen an overnight at a local casino but he wasn’t in a good place healthwise at that time so he had chosen a gift. So he and I sat down to play some slots. I was disappointed that none of the machines I like are on Conquest. we found some random machines and he got tired of losing his money fairly quickly. 😂 I lost about half of my $25 and decided to switch to video poker. Both boys decided to go take a nap. I got my free money cycled through and added an extra $15. 
 

 

[momof3cruisers]

At this point it was early afternoon. I decided to check the line at the deli. Man, that line moves slowly! But today it was short so I got my Cuban sandwich which is one of my favorites and decided to eat outside. Wow! So much wind! Back inside I went to a table near the window to enjoy the view without getting blown away. After lunch, I too decided a nap sounded good. The boys were on the balcony playing something on their Switches and Max was out there watching the ocean. I knew there was a craft coming up at 4:30 and I really wanted to get to that so I set my alarm and took a snooze. 
 

I seriously considered shutting off that alarm! But I’m really glad I didn’t. The lobby where they were holding the event was packed! And there are very few tables. Not much room for crafting. Why on earth they don’t hold it in an unused club with way more flat surfaces or even by the coffee bar with tons of tables is a mystery to me! But the craft was a cute snow globe type ornament with little wooden parts to glue on, stickers for the year etc. I tried sharing one seat space with two other ladies at the bar but it was really crowded. I finally decided to take my supplies and finish it at home. Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of it. I’ve gone to the craft things before and they usually have pretty cute stuff. I had missed one earlier in the week as it was held earlier than I made it out of our room. I’m not a morning person and it takes me awhile to get going after I wake up. This one being in the afternoon worked out well. 
 

The timing was good too. A lot of the time had been used up waiting in line to get the supplies so by the time I got back to the room, I had some time to get packed up before we checked in for dinner. I got mostly done and then we headed for the lobby to listen to the string trio and check in to dinner on the app.  We really liked this routine each night. They were fun to listen to and it set the mood for a relaxing evening. We never waited more than about ten minutes after we checked in to be assigned a table and every night we were at one of the angled four top ones. This was good placement as it allowed Max to have space underneath. Every night, J had ordered the same thing—two shrimp cocktails and the steak. He’s a simple man. He did add another appetizer here and there but those were his standbys. Tonight, Chicken Parmesan was on the menu and I convinced him to try it instead. I’ve made it at home but it’s not a frequent dish. I was quite surprised when they came out and didn’t have any pasta or sauce. Just a pounded and breaded chicken breast with a piece of cheese on top. Huh? It was good but not what we expected. C on the other hand got the barramundi which he said was excellent. I think this was the same night I tried the fried green tomatoes. I would have loved more than one order of those! They were my favorite app of the week. 
 

 Desserts were the only things that were hot or miss during the week. Crème brûlée was very good for all three of us. One night J and I got the WCMC and it was absolute soup. Not a hit for us. He stuck with ice cream after that. C and I Got the kids banana split one night and it was just right. I forget what I got the last night but C decided to try the WCMC and his was perfect. 
 

After dinner, there was a 7:30 PG show with Sean Finnerty. If you ever have a chance to see him, GO! He’s a very funny guy! We laughed a lot and I got a Whimsy Scarlet. Good thing I remembered as it’s my favorite drink and I hadn’t had one yet! After comedy, we finished off the night with karaoke. All week we had been hoping to hear this one guy sing again. We had dubbed him Usher’s understudy as the first night he did an usher song and was beyond incredible and J had commented that the guy could be Usher’s understudy. We did figure audiences would be pretty irritated if they paid for Usher and got this other guy but he was seriously that good! Sadly, we found out from some gals we had chatted with throughout the week that he sang while we were at comedy. Oh well! Each of the boys sang again and we hung out and cheered others on. We decided to call it a pretty early night as we needed to finish packing and we planned to get off ASAP in the morning. 
 

We had received our group 2 luggage tags and a letter telling us to meet in the mid ship dining room at 8:15. So we got things packed up and two bags set outside before going off to sleep.

 

If you have been wondering or keeping track, at this point, Max had not gone potty since the evening before at about 7:00. By the time we went to bed, he was going (or not!) on 28 hours. Yikes! He has NEVER disobeyed a command but by the afternoon of this last day, he just refused to make eye contact with C when he gave him the potty command. Apparently he felt very strongly about those pellet things! He was still perfectly behaved otherwise and had been continuing to do his tasks, but potty was not happening. I had a super absorbent microfiber beach towel so we put that in his crate for the night just in case and kept a ziploc bag in a backpack in case we needed to rinse it and take it off wet in the morning. 
 

I will try to get our last day in tomorrow but we have extended family Christmas so it might not happen until Sunday. We stayed one more night in Miami due to flight prices and other things so I’ll let you know how that turned out as well as this crazy dog and his shenanigans.

[sanger727]

1 hour ago, momof3cruisers said:

I had commented that we probably could have gotten her to go lower but he decided that even if it was expensive that paying too much for something in Mexico was part of the tourist experience. He’s funny. 

yeah, probably. But I’m guessing he wanted the sunglasses. I just assume that everything there has no value so it just comes down to how much I want it. My friend and I got into a jewelry store in Cozumel that wanted $200 for a ‘silver bracelet’. We walked out w the bracelet and earrings for like $30.